Shuttle



The shuttle is a protoss aerospace transport.

Overview
With skilled pilots at a premium, the protoss turned to robotic shuttles to ferry troops over rough terrain and into hostile territory. They are equipped with powerful thrusters &mdash;powerful enough to reach escape velocity  and even allowing them to carry even massive reavers within their hulls. However, shuttles are not armed with any defensive systems other than a basic plasma shield and a heavily armored hull. However, there have been exceptions where shuttles have possessed weapons.

After the Brood War, the protoss continue(d) to use shuttles. However, they feature a sleeker, less curved design. Eventually, they were replaced by warp prisms prior to the Second Great War.

StarCraft
Shuttles are commonly used to transport reavers given the reavers' slow speed. One notable strategy is the "Reaver Drop", whereas a group of reavers and dragoons are transported by shuttle and attempt to land near an opponent's mineral and gas harvesting operation. The reavers quickly destroy workers while dragoons provide cover.

Compared to the terran dropship and zerg overlord, the shuttle has superior acceleration and top speed once upgraded, but is not as durable. Its carrying capacity is also constricted by the large size of protoss combat units.

StarCraft: Ghost
Based on screenshots, the shuttle was to appears in StarCraft: Ghost.

Known Shuttles

 * Aetherian III