The genes of two Space Marine Chapters had already shown the Great Devourer their potential. Did the other Chapters possess similar potential that simply had yet to be discovered?
All Tyranid Tendrils received an order to focus their attacks on Imperial sectors. Devouring biomass was no longer to be their primary objective. Instead, they were to lay traps, lure Space Marines to their deaths, and collect and analyze their genes.
The home systems of certain Space Marine Chapters, in particular, would become priority targets. The closer a Space Marine's genes were to those of his Primarch, the more valuable he was as prey to be lured into a trap.
Nor were the Aeldari to be spared. Any Craftworld discovered was to be destroyed, primarily to collect the memories of elderly Aeldari.
The Necrons had once been a race the Great Devourer particularly loathed. Previously, as long as the Necrons did not attack the Tyranid Swarm first, the swarm would skirt their dynasties.
Now things were different. The Great Devourer ordered the swarm to accept losses and actively attack Necron dynasties whenever biomass reserves were sufficient, all for a single purpose: to collect whatever information the Necrons possessed about the Orks.
In short, the Tyranids' strategy became avoiding the Orks, primarily attacking the Imperium of Man, and giving special attention to the Aeldari and Necrons... As for the other races, it was business as usual: eat and drink their fill.
After Boss Slick won the Battle of Octarius, the situation across the entire universe underwent a tremendous upheaval. The Unbroken Defensive Line was the first to feel the impact.
The Eustali Subsector, once a salient of the Unbroken Defensive Line, was under an all-out assault by Ork fleets, and many of its lesser subsectors had already fallen.
The Unbroken Defensive Line