Tyranid Kraken
Krakens are a species of Frigate-equivalent Tyranid Bio-ships that act as scout vessels for a Hive Fleet and also as escorts for Tyranid Hive Ships. The species is named after Hive Fleet Kraken, the Fleet in which they were first encountered and documented by the Imperium.
Krakens are often in giant swarms accompanying Hive Ships, and Hive Ships have been known to give birth to more Kraken when engaged in battle. Kraken poses no direct threat to planets as the species is entirely space-born. However, they will viciously attack space stations, shuttles, military vessels, and the like.
Breed[edit]
Basic[edit]
Bio-Projectile[edit]
The diminutive missile-boat.
The Bio-Projectile Kraken grants the Tyranids a torpedo escort to match the majority of other factions, as they almost always have one. Unfortunately, the Bio-Projectile Kraken does not come with any backup standard weaponry to rely on once its single set of boarding charges runs dry, or if it finds itself in a situation where there is too much torpedo defence to connect a launch properly.
If you do decide to take one or more Bio-Projectile Kraken ships, once their torpedo charges run dry, you can ram them into enemy ships or use the spore ability to trigger their death and subsequent spore dispersion that can still help you fight the enemy from the afterlife.
It is armed with 2 Bio-Torpedo and Seed Spore Launchers.
- Length: 3.5km; approx
- Mass: 5.3 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Deathburner[edit]
A strange and goofy looking Kraken.
A Deathburner is armed with a huge acidic projectile launcher. Aking to a biological spinal gun. The Deathburner, from the looks and sound of things, is considered as the 'sniper' of bio-ships. It is, therefore, arguably one of the longer-ranged bio-ships in a Tyranid Hive Fleet.
Unfortunately, it looks kind of stupid, resembling more like a giant Flounder or Flatfish than an actual Tyranid organism. Its cannon-mouth also looks like it's french-kissing somebody, make that of what you will.
It is armed with 1 Bio-Plasma Battery.
- Length: 3.5km; approx
- Mass: 5.5 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Ram-Boat[edit]
Doomripper[edit]
The cookie-cutter sharks of the Nids.
A Doomripper binds to a prey vessel with its giant maw and dozens of writhing tentacles. Once attached to a prey, a Doomripper will die rather than let go. It becomes a desperate race against time for the prey vessel as they must kill the creature before their own hull is crushed and their innards are feasted on by the Doomripper. Although all things considered, you could just kill the fucker by squishing it with another allied ship.
Because it is an old model, the Doomripper looks absolutely Derp. Like, what the proverbial fuck are we looking at? It looks like a postmodernist art piece or a clay model shark that has been stretched and rolled by little Timmy.
It is armed with Feeder Tentacles and a giant Suction Mouth.
- Length: 3.2km; approx
- Mass: 5 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.5 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Ramspitter[edit]
An old model of Krakens.
A Ramsmiter is the most common species of Kraken. It has a hook-like proboscis it uses to pierce the armoured hulls of enemy ships and then suck out all the digestible material inside while simultaneously vomiting broods of Genestealers and Hormagaunts into the vessel.
Despite being considered as the most common of Krakens, the Ramspitter has not been given a playable model for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2. It is possible that, due to its way of attack, it was succeeded by the Strangler Kraken as shown below.
It is armed with a Proboscis.
- Length: 3.5km; approx
- Mass: 5.3 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Strangler[edit]
A Kraken with feeder tentacles to OMNOMNOM the ships' crew. The more boarding action-happy of the ram-boats.
The Strangler Kraken is basically the tougher variant of the 3 assault escorts, all equipped with feeder tentacles. Because of the nature of assaults and the tentacles weapons, there is no difference damage-wise between the three, so the differences instead revolve around secondary characteristics of the vessels.
Of the two destroyers, the Strangler Escort Drone is the cheapest basic version. The Strangler Vanguard Drone Ship has the same stats as the Drone except for a slightly higher cost thanks to the Marker ability it brings. Finally, the Strangler Kraken is the most expensive, but doubles the hit points of the two Destroyers, as it is a Frigate class ship, and drops the marker ability for the hull regeneration ability granted to all the Kraken Frigates.
It is armed with 1 Feeder Tentacles and Hook Tentacles.
- Length: 3.5km; approx
- Mass: 5.5 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Clutch[edit]
A Kraken with a giant mouth to OMNOMNOM ships. They are only good for ramming and nothing else, as they lack any other range weapons other than its giant Claws.
The Clutch Kraken, therefore, is the only Tyranid escort to come equipped with the special Claws melee weapons. Unlike the feeder tentacles, the Claws do not work on a cooldown, basically always "firing" whenever the Clutch Kraken, or any other of the "melee" ships, is in contact with an enemy ship.
Thanks to the conferred immunity to frontal rams, the Clutch Kraken is safe to use Rush for the burst of speed, into larger enemy ships without worrying about suiciding your Frigates in the process. If they get rammed or make contact with their sides or rear in a collision, they are still likely to insta-pop, especially if at speed and against anything larger than a Light Cruiser.
It is armed with Claws.
- Length: 3.7km; approx
- Mass: 5.8 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Ordnance-Boat[edit]
Corrosive[edit]
The acid-spewing Kraken. The Corrosive Kraken works to drown their enemies in a tidal wave of Pyro-Acids at short range.
The Corrosive Kraken is the one Tyranid Frigate with "standard" weaponry, coming equipped with the Tyranids' macro type weaponry, the fire-starting Pyro-Acid Battery. While the Corrosive Kraken adds another uptick in damage over the other Corrosive/Caustic destroyers, the main benefit is the increase in crit chance, since starting those fires really adds some extra damage and chaos for your enemy to deal with.
Remember of all the factions Necrons are immune to fires while Orks take 100% increased damage from them.
It is armed with 1 Heavy Pyro-Acid Battery.
- Length: 3.6km; approx
- Mass: 5.5 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Other[edit]
Hellblaster[edit]
Not to be confused with the Hellblaster Primaris Space Marines.
A strange and unique Kraken.
A Hellblaster is the rarest of all Kraken species. It is designed to make contact with the hull or shields on an enemy vessel and then discharge a massive amount of electronic energy, overloading the ship's systems and weakening it beyond repair, or alternatively deliver a massive build-up of acid at short range. It is a rough equivalent of the Imperial Navy's Castellan Shield Ship, albeit, more offensive.
They are largely made up of a huge shielded carapace, making them virtually unstoppable when attacking an enemy vessel. Parts that are not made up of hard carapace are almost entirely comprised of immense acid sacs and titanic firing chambers.
It is armed with Acid Sacs and Pyro-Acid Batteries.
- Length: 3.5km; approx
- Mass: 5.4 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Thousands of organisms
- Acceleration: 2.3 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2[edit]
The Frigates of the Tyranid fleet represent the larger of the two sub-classes of escort ships, small craft that serve to supplement the capabilities of the larger line ships while working as scouts and vanguards that can fly ahead of your main fleet looking for threats or targets.
All of the Kraken type Frigate vessels come with a special hull regeneration ability that isn't really seen much elsewhere in the Tyranid fleet, which gives them a function similar to the Necron's hull repairing, though it happens at a faster rate. Unfortunately, the usefulness is limited by the Frigate's low beginning hull point pool, however considering their cheap cost and versatility in options, it's a pretty decent choice to have.
| Vessels of the Tyranids | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Battleships | Hive Ship (Ancient One) | |
| Cruisers | Void Prowler - Cruiser (Razorfiend Dark Prowler - Void Fiend) - Devourer | |
| Escorts | Escort (Escort Drone - Vanguard Drone Ship Kraken) | |
| Logistics | Narvhal | |
| Landships | ||
| Bio-titans | Viciator - Dominatrix Hierophant - Hydraphant | |
| Airships | ||
| Flying Fortress | Harridan | |