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The Valkyrie missile frigate[1] is a human-designed anti-fighter spacecraft.
Overview
The Valkyrie first appeared in the Koprulu Sector as part of the United Earth Directorate pacification force at the beginning of the Brood War.[2] Equipped for both atmospheric[3] and space flight,[4] a Valkyrie can take substantial punishment from enemy fire before suffering any core systems failures.[2]
Valkyries are equipped for ship-to-ship combat. To this end, they employ H.A.L.O. (short for High Altitude Long Operating) cluster rockets, firing the missiles in volleys of multiple projectiles, impacting with a large area of effect. The dispersal radius of its targeting system is designed to achieve maximum damage to not only its intended target, but also adjacent targets within the blast area.[2]
In addition to its combat role, Valkyries also function as aerial transport. Up to thirty individuals can be seated in its rear section, in addition to the craft's pilot and co-pilot. Due to its VTOL abilities, deployment and extraction are carried out quickly and efficiently.[5]
In the aftermath of the Brood War, Valkyries entered into the service of various terran factions.[6] However, the precedent for this was in question; the Brood War had revealed critical weaknesses in terran anti-air capability. Valkyrie and Wraith formations proved to be an unwieldy combination against agile zerg airborne organisms. With the shortcomings of ground to air support from the goliath also made clear, research led to the development of the Viking; a more flexible craft which could take over the Valkyrie's air-to-air role.[7]
Despite the advances in technology, Valkyries continue to be used by the Terran Dominion after the Brood War.[4][8] Other factions, such as the Alliance, have used them as well.[9]
Game Unit
StarCraft
Unit profile
The Valkyrie fires rockets in salvos of eight. Each rocket has a base damage of 6 (explosive) and causes splash damage to enemy units within a 3x3 matrix around its detonation. The rate of fire overcomes the weakness of the damage type against small- and medium-sized targets. However, since target armor affects each rocket individually, high armor units such as battlecruisers and carriers are particularly resistant to the Valkyrie. Valkyries are best used against tightly packed groups of low armor targets, similar to the corsair. This makes them especially deadly against wraiths, mutalisks, overlords, guardians, queens, corsairs, shuttles and dropships. They are not very efficient against groups of scouts however, since the scout has an additional 100 shield points along with its 150 hitpoints and the scout's missiles being one of the most powerful in the game.
The Valkyrie, unlike most other air units in Brood War, cannot fly away before it deaccelerates, since the firing animation is longer than the amount of time it can maintain speed. This makes it impossible to harrass against a defended base with.[10]
Valkyries have very resistant armor too, making it survive fairly punishing damage from ground units.
If the sprite limit has been reached on a map the Valkyrie cannot fire anymore since each attack uses 8 sprites.
Upgrades
- +1 bonus to attack per level for Wraith ground attack and Valkyrie attack.
- +2 bonus to attack per level for Wraith air attack.
- +3 bonus to attack per level for battlecruiser attack.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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- +1 armor to Wraith, dropship, battlecruiser, science vessel, Valkyrie per level.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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Quotations
Development
The gunship
During the StarCraft beta, the gunship[11] functioned as a ground-attack bomber but never made it into the final version of StarCraft. [12] It bore great resemblance to the Valkyrie.[11]
The Valkyrie was later included in the expansion StarCraft: Brood War. During development of the expansion they had an ability called "Afterburners", which gave them a very high speed for a limited time and cost energy. However, it was found that it was far too easy for Valkyries to fly into a zerg base and destroy all of its overlords. To prevent the use of such a "cheesy" strategy, "Afterburners" was removed from the final release.[12]
StarCraft II
At some point, Valkyries were present in the StarCraft II game engine.[13] In the final product, the Viking takes its place as the terran air-to-air assault unit.
Valkyries make an appearance in the campaign of Heart of the Swarm, where they are found as enemy units under the command of Mira Han. They look and behave remarkably differently however.[14]
Known Valkyries
Known Valkyrie Pilots
Notes
The Valkyrie may have been named after the American experimental XB-70 Valkyrie bomber, a Cold War aircraft with afterburners, capable of reaching Mach 3 and flying past Soviet interceptors while delivering nuclear weapons. Early versions of the Brood War unit were bombers with an afterburner ability.
Valkyries are minor female deities in Norse mythology tasked with selecting the victors of battle and choosing the brave amongst the slain for admission into Valhalla. Similar personalities play a major role in Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre, the second work in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Confederate Valkyries
In StarCraft: Ghost: Nova, the Confederate Annihilators used a "stealth" Valkyrie to assist in their raid of Fagin's headquarters during the Fall of Tarsonis.[15] The Brood War Valkyrie was introduced by the United Earth Directorate after the fall of the Confederacy.[16] This Valkyrie may be of an entirely different kind of vehicle from those introduced by the UED, being described as being "used as both an air combat vehicle and a troop transport-sat thirty in rear section".[15]
References
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at XB-70 Valkyrie The list of authors can be seen in the page history of XB-70 Valkyrie. Wikipedia content was licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License prior to June 15, 2009 is. Wikipedia content from June 15, 2009, and StarCraft Wiki content, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported). |