The Imperial forces certainly had formidable firepower, but they soon faced their first serious problem.
Supplies were rapidly dwindling, and their weapons systems were approaching their load limits.
The Tyranid Swarm was so dense that the fleet barely needed to aim. Whether Macro-cannons, Lances, or other small weapons arrays, once they entered battle, they kept firing until their ammunition ran dry.
Every Imperial ship exhausted its ammunition load within a matter of hours.
Afterward, they could only continue firing their Lances while gradually retreating behind the battle line to dock with the Imperial Transport Guild's supply ships and replenish their stores.
Loading ammunition for smaller weapons and Torpedoes was relatively easy.
But Macro-cannon shells were too enormous. Without the assistance of a spaceport, replenishing a ship's entire ammunition load was practically impossible.
An Imperial battleship typically mounted six to eight large Macro-cannons on either side of its hull, along with Macro-cannon arrays composed of numerous smaller guns.
Its dorsal deck usually mounted four to eight large Lances.
Some battleships also carried a Nova Cannon in the bow, aligned with the hull's central axis.
And the most powerful battleship in the Imperium was the Emperor's former flagship.
The Emperor's Dream.
This battleship, whose origins were known only to the Emperor himself, mounted three hundred Macro-cannons of varying sizes on just one side of its hull.
The Central Hull's deck also held numerous concealed turrets beneath its armor.
No one knew exactly what weapons these turrets carried.
The only certainty was that a large proportion of them were devices of dark technology.
Their power was even more astonishing than that of the densely packed Macro-cannon arrays.
In truth, Imperial warships rarely exhausted all their ammunition and supplies in battle.
Large Macro-cannons were devastatingly powerful, but their rate of fire was absurdly slow.