Battlecruiser

The battlecruiser is a type of terran capital ship employed in the Koprulu Sector.

Overview
Battlecruisers were employed during the Guild Wars when space engagements were fought by capital ships and medium-sized gunships. The development of anti-capital ship starfighters, such as Wraiths, did not spell the end of battlecruisers. The large warships adapted to carry strike craft which augmented and complemented the combat value of both. Battlecruisers continue to be an integral part of terran space forces as general purpose warships and command ships during extended campaigns.

While there are many classes of battlecruisers, all are armed with lasers and protected by neosteel armor. Gravity accelerators are also found on all battlecruisers.

Classes
Many battlecruiser classes exist. Known classes include;

Leviathan-class
The Leviathan-class battlecruiser is an uncommon battlecruiser class and although still operating at the dawn of the 26th century, had largely been supplanted by the Behemoth-class variant. The Leviathan-class is capable of traveling through warp space and features ports for transport craft, smaller craft linking into the ship via hydraulics. These ports are located perilously close to the bridge however, making a Leviathan vulnerable to any enemy boarding action.

Behemoth-class
The Behemoth-class battlecruiser was the most common battlecruiser class and represented the "standard" battlecruiser variant during the Great War. The Behemoth variant is greatly advanced from its Leviathan-class predecessor, featuring the ability to operate within planetary atmospheres and even land on planets. It also features a total of four docking bays (as opposed to hydraulic entry points) which are equipped with force fields, allowing easy deployment of fighters without fear of decompression and greater resilience to enemy boarding actions. Like the Leviathan, it is capable of traveling through warp space, even capable of making jumps within a planet's atmosphere.

Behemoth-class armor consists of the standard neosteel, along with force fields, while armament consists of multiple burst laser batteries and a complement of nuclear warheads. Despite the heavy arsenal, Behemoth armament is slightly constricted in that its laser batteries cannot fire at targets to the side and its warheads are reserved for orbital bombardment rather than space combat. A saving grace for the Behemoth-class exists in the form of the Yamato Cannon.

Fighters are an integral component to battlecruiser deployment and the Behemoth-class conforms to this, capable of deploying Wraiths and scoutships to engage the enemy. It also akin to a terran carrier, capable of housing hundreds of soldiers and hardware and maintaining dropships and shuttles for rapid deployment.

The Behemoth-class battlecruiser's primary weakness is its huge energy requirements and while the installation of a Colossus Reactor allows for increased energy storage, it is not a long term solution. Behemoths require access to Physics lab particle accelerators to power up their weapon systems. Should a fleet commander lose access to these accelerators, an entire Behemoth-class fleet can be crippled.

Despite its shortcomings, the Behemoth-class has proven to be an enduring design, keeping up to date with periodic upgrades while its hammerhead design had provided the basis for future classes. Although more advanced classes of battlecruiser have been developed, the Behemoth-class continues to remain in service.



Hercules- and Minotaur-class
The Hercules-class and Minotaur-class battlecruisers are two recently developed battlecruiser classes, based largely off their Behemoth-class predecessor. Additional laser batteries have been installed on these ships, allowing for a greater rate and amount of fire.

The Yamato Cannon is still available as an option; the Minotaur-class battlecruiser is equipped with it.

Missile Barrage systems can also be equipped, giving these craft an armament capable of saturating the air with a lethal deluge of fire, ideal for destroying weak spacecraft. Like the Yamato Cannon, these craft need to build up a significant amount of energy before activating this weapon system.

Starcruiser
The Starcruiser is an advanced battlecruiser prototype sold by Crazy Bob's Bazaar.

StarCraft
The Behemoth-class battlecruiser has a staggering 500 hit points; no other standard game unit tops this margin. The devastating ATA/ATS laser batteries can inflict 25 base points of normal damage to air or ground targets. It is important to note that the terran battlecruiser is the only non-hero unit in the game able to withstand a nuclear strike (as nukes do 500 damage, it will survive with HP equal to its armor rating). It is also notable to state that (in groups) the battlecruiser is the only capital ship class unit that the zerg scourge does not kill with ease (the battlecruiser's base damage can kill a scourge in one shot). With the Yamato Gun, it can one-shot most defenses and units.

There are several effective counters against battlecruisers: terran players can utilize massed Goliaths or the Lockdown ability of their ghost units in order to quickly neutralize a battlecruiser fleet. Abilities such as Psionic Storm, Feedback, and Plague are also devastating against battlecruiser fleets, especially those not escorted by science vessels capable of casting EMP Shockwave against enemy spell-casters. Protoss scout fighters can also swarm a battlecruiser in groups or with support, their missiles stronger than laser batteries of the battlecruiser. Wraith squads are also capable of wasting battlecruiser fleets rather quickly due to their heavy damage, especially if cloaked. Devourers are useful counters with its corrosive acid but are vulnerable to the Yamato Cannon. The slow speed of the battlecruiser also makes it difficult to disengage if a battle makes a turn for the worst, or to extract a damaged ship for repair.

Quotations

 * See: StarCraft Quotations

StarCraft: Ghost


In StarCraft: Ghost, the battlecruiser acted as a support unit for Nova. Through targeting, the player could call down a Yamato Cannon strike that dealt damage to all objects in an area.

StarCraft II
The battlecruiser types depicted in StarCraft II are the Hercules- and Minotaur-class.

Attacks
The default weaponry of the battlecruiser is no longer a single powerful attack although its earliest renders did so. Instead it will fire multiple laser bolts, each inflicting 8 damage. This attack can only target one unit, but once a target is dead, the rest of the blasts immediately move to the next target, thus wasting no attack on any target.

Battlecruisers can destroy enemy structures in only a few volleys.

Abilities
The battlecruiser will have the choice of being upgraded with either the Yamato Cannon or the Missile Barrage attack, but not both. Once one has been chosen, the battlecruiser may not switch. The ability has no additional resource cost. The upgrade will visually change the unit model allowing players to easily determine which upgrade has been chosen. The upgrades are made individually (by selecting the battlecruiser).



Each version of the battlecruiser is treated as a different unit for UI purposes; double clicking on a Yamato-equipped battlecruiser will select all such battlecruisers but will not select battlecruisers with the Missile Barrage upgrade.

Development
The battlecruiser has undergone some changes in development, such as replacing its Plasma Torpedo ability with a Missile Barrage ability. This was changed as the plasma torpedoes did splash damage, thus overlapping with the role of the siege tank.
 * Plasma Torpedoes: An area-of-effect air-to-ground weapon which was effective against weak swarming units (like marines and zerglings). It did damage over time. Added multiple small barrels to the front of the ship's hammerhead. Although the Plasma Torpedoes are no longer in the game, it has still seen some use, being an ability used by the Hyperion in Wings of Liberty

Leviathan-class

 * Merrimack (converted prison ship)
 * Thunder Child

Behemoth-class

 * Bismarck
 * Gray Tiger
 * Huey Long
 * Hyperion
 * Iron Fist
 * Jackson V
 * Napoleon
 * Ragnorak
 * Theodore G. Bilbo

Norad-series

 * Norad II
 * Norad III

Other or unknown classes

 * Aleksander
 * The Kimera
 * Kimeran Juggernaut

Known Battlecruiser Commanders

 * Admiral Gerard DuGalle
 * General Edmund Duke
 * General Arcturus Mengsk
 * Captain Bolshev
 * Captain Buzan
 * Captain Robert Mason
 * Captain Jim Raynor
 * Captain Elias Tudbury
 * Commander Hale
 * Commander Haley
 * El Kang the Quixotic

StarCraft II Battlecruiser footage
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Trivia
The Yamato Gun is a reference to the title ship of Space Battleship Yamato and its wave motion gun.