No edit summary |
|||
| Line 35: | Line 35: | ||
==Overview== |
==Overview== |
||
| + | {{Quote|Similar to the [[Siege Tank]] in its ability to make quick work of ground troops, the Banshee is an aerial harbinger of destruction. Agile twin turbofans accompany cloaking technologies and powerful backlash rockets, making the Banshee our militaryās most capable hit-and-run option when the situation demands nothing less.|[[Raynor's Raiders]] blurb|url=http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/16280610/new-terran-tech-schematics-10-10-2014}} |
||
===Design=== |
===Design=== |
||
Revision as of 07:35, 18 October 2014
- Rory Swann(src)
The AH/G-24 Banshee Tactical-Strike Aircraft[1] is a terran air unit in StarCraft II.
Overview
- Raynor's Raiders blurb(src)
Design
A Banshee
The Banshee is heavily optimized for its intended role. Armament is limited to air-to-ground Backlash rockets. The aircraft is powered by relatively low-thrust and inexpensive turbofans capable of operating only in an atmosphere,[2] or allowing the aircraft to be dropped from orbit;[3] the engines are incapable of attaining escape velocity.[2] However, Banshees are outfitted with special propulsion systems only used in space.[4]
A swooping Banshee
The Banshee received cloaking devices after entering service with militias and guerilla forces. Salvaged cloaking devices from Wraiths allow the Banshee to become an effective raider.[2] By the Second Great War, the Dominion Armed Forces were equipping their Banshees with the DN51 cloak generator; at the time, the DN51 was such a sophisticated example of Dominion technology that special teams were deployed to recover them from crashed aircraft.[1] Wolfe Industries developed an upgrade that embedded cross-spectrum, light dampening, materials into the hull; this enhanced the cloaking effect by allowing it to be maintained with less power.[5]
Additional armament options were also developed. Kel-Morian Banshees were armed with rapid-firing projectile weaponry capable of striking aerial targets.[6] By the Second Great War, Banshees could carry the Shockwave missile battery, which bombarded a longer linear area ahead of the aircraft, rather than just a smaller circular point as with the default Backlashes.[5]
History
A Banshee in operation
The Banshee was designed by Procyon Industries to meet requirements from the Terran Dominion for a dedicated ground attack aircraft[7] for counter-insurgency operations.[1] The Banshee was an entirely new design; adapting an existing design was unlikely to be satisfactory.[2] After much experimentation,[7] the Banshee was in use by the Dominion by 2502,[8][9] and within the same year, the Kel-Morian Combine.[6] It has proven very successful in service.[2]
Initial deployment within the Dominion was disappointing. The aircraft was judged as too inflexible, and many were relegated to minor roles with backwater militias. Overtime, ease of interstellar deployment, the ability to deliver strikes over difficult terrain, and the addition of the cloaking device, led to more widespread deployment within the Dominion. The Banshee gained a reputation as a Dominion terror weapon due to collateral damage caused in urban combat. Guerilla and resistance forces also found the Banshee useful against the Dominion.[2] Banshees are used as light-infantry support,[7] and can operated with Vikings as air cavalry.[10]
Despite its original purpose as a counter-insurgency weapon, the Banshee went on to be used against protoss, zerg, and terran front line forces.[1]
Game Unit
Banshees can quickly destroy buildings, even powering through anti-air defenses, and are strong against heavy armored ground units like the siege tank, ultralisk, and colossus. Other races should deploy specialized anti-air units such as corruptors and phoenixes to keep them in check.[11] Ground unit counters include marines, thors, hydralisks, stalkers equipped with blink, and high templar psionic storms.[12]
In the Wings of Liberty single-player campaign, Banshees can be upgraded to fire their missiles in a straight line, doing splash damage to units in a line similar to the hellion or lurker. They can also be upgraded to consume half of the energy while cloaked, letting the Banshee remain cloaked longer.
Banshees bank on turns like some other air units.[13]
Abilities
Enables terran Banshees to cloak.
| Usage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Acquisition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Upgrades
Wings of Liberty
- +1 damage for banshees and battlecruisers
- +1 air damageļ¼+1 base ground damage and +1 bonus damage for vikings
- +1 air damageļ¼+5 ground damage for liberators
| Acquisition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
Increases the armor of all terran air units.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
Heart of the Swarm
Increases the attack damage of terran vehicles and spacecraft.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
Increases the armor of terran vehicles and spacecraft.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
Wings of Liberty Campaign
Banshees are unlocked by playing the mission "Supernova".[14] Their cloaking ability is automatically researched.
Banshees deal linear splash damage.[5]
The Shockwave Missile Battery fires multiple missiles in a straight line with each shot allowing the Banshee to hit multiple ground targets. This upgrade is useful when fighting ground targets that are packed close together.
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Doubles the amount of time Banshees can stay cloaked.
Wolfe Industries offers a new model of Banshee that embeds light-dampening materials into the hull. This new hull material requires far less energy to conceal and makes it much easier for the Banshee to maintain cloak once initiated.[5]
| Campaign Acquisition | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Attack upgrades improve attack cooldown of affected units by 5% per level. These self-replicating ultra capacitors reduce the reload time of weapons and systems. Now each of the weapon upgrades at the armory and engineering bay increases attack speed by 5% in addition to increasing damage.
|
 Vanadium Plating Armor upgrades increase health of affected units by 5% per level.[15] We have created a new lightweight alloy called vanadium. Vanadium diffuses weapon impacts much more efficiently than traditional armor plating, and it better preserves the life of our units. Now each of the armor upgrades in the armory and engineering bay increases unit life by 5% in addition to increasing armor.
|
Increase starting energy of all units by 100. Increase maximum energy of all units by 100.[16]
|
Damaged mechanical units recover hit points when out of combat, at a rate of 0.6015 each second.[16]
|
Development
The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
|
Banshee concept art
In the game engine as early as 2006,[17] the Banshee was one of the first terran units conceived for StarCraft II, replacing the Wraith.[18] It was made to be both similar and different to the Wraith, the key difference being the nature of their attack. As many cloak detector units are aerial, this would prevent the Banshee from attacking the units which presented the greatest threat to it. As such, the Banshee fulfills the role of a base raider of a "combined-arms" terran force.[19] Visually, it hardly diverged from its original conception.[18]
In early builds, the Banshee delivered an area of effect attack, which was removed March 2008.[20] The area of effect attack returned in the single-player campaign in the final product.
In addition the Banshee had three unused upgrades; Cloaked Damage, Distortion Blasters and Distortion Thrusters. Distortion Blasters enabled the Banshee to deal 25% more damage, while Distortion Thrusters likewise increased the base movement speed and acceleration by 25%. Both upgrades took effect only while the Banshee remained cloaked. Cloaked Damage has no effect in-game as it remains incomplete.[21]
The original portrait was female,[22] but was replaced by a male as of April 2009.[23] By June 2009, the portrait was female again[24] but at some stage, switched back to being male.[25] However, with the release of the StarCraft II beta, the portrait had again gone back to being female. In addition, a variant Banshee profile was available for players in the StarCraft II beta, used instead of the in-game one. The portrait was later updated.
Quotations
Heroes of the Storm
|
The following section contains information from Heroes of the Storm and is not canon to StarCraft continuity
|
Banshees can be summoned by Jim Raynor in Heroes of the Storm.[26]
Known Squadrons
A Banshee squadron
Notes
In in-game videos, the Banshee has been seen over space platforms. These platforms have gravity accelerators,[27][28] which could sustain an artificial atmosphere of sorts and so explain how Banshees can operate there.
When cloaked the pilot's visor in the portrait slides down and covers her eyes. This also happens when the Banshee flies under a friendly mothership, even if the cloak ability is not activated.
The Night Elf Banshee portrait is a StarCraft II Easter egg.
References
|