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This article concerns StarCraft/StarCraft: Brood War gameplay. You may be looking for:
"Battlecruiser operational!"

- A battlecruiser commander(src)

The battlecruiser is the terran capital airship.

The unit was voiced by Chris Metzen.[1]

Game Unit[]

The battlecruiser has a staggering 500 hit points; no other standard game unit tops this margin. This makes the battlecruiser the only non-hero unit in the game able to withstand a nuclear strike, which do 500 damage thus allowing a full health battlecruiser to survive with minimal HP due to their armor. Their laser batteries can inflict 25 base points of normal damage to air or ground targets. The battlecruiser's attack kills zerg scourge with one shot, and in groups they can shoot down flocks of scourge with minimal damage. In large groups, battlecruisers can quickly decimate enemy troops even in inferior numbers, and are a force to be reckoned with. However, they are very expensive and slow to build, and are only potent in groups. Alone, battlecruisers are easily destroyed. Battlecruisers are often used to shield weaker units, helping them survive longer in battle.

There are several effective counters against battlecruisers. Spell-casters can quickly cripple them with abilities like Lockdown, Psionic Storm and Plague, specially if the battlecruisers are stacked. Dark archons can use Feedback to quickly deplete the energy of battlecruisers in quick succession, preventing them from using their Yamato Guns and causing heavy damage or even mind control them turning them against their team. Goliaths, dragoons, wraiths and scouts can defeat battlecruisers in large numbers due to their strong anti-air attacks. Devourers are useful counters with its corrosive acid, making battlecruisers more vulnerable to mutalisks and hydralisks. The defiler's Dark Swarm allows hydralisks to attack battlecruisers without fear, and the queen can use Ensnare to hamper their movement and attack rates, which are slow in the first place.

The very slow speed of the battlecruiser makes it difficult to disengage if a battle takes a turn for the worse, especially in an open area. Carriers should not be used against battlecruisers as the interceptors individually do little damage to the battlecruiser's armor, and the battlecruiser's Yamato Gun can quickly deplete half a carrier's health, leaving them weakened against the battlecruiser's superior firepower. Similarly, marines, corsairs and valkyries do low damage and so are not as effective as other units due to the battlecruiser's high armor.

In the campaign, battlecruisers become available to the player in "New Gettysburg" in Episode 1 and in "Emperor's Fall" in Episode V.

Abilities[]

The Yamato Gun is a powerful weapon that focuses a nuclear explosion into a beam using magnetic fields. It deals 260 damage.

Usage
Hotkey Y
Cost 150 Energy
Range 10
Acquisition
Purchased from Physics lab
Hotkey Y
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 120seconds
ve

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
Purchased from Armory
Hotkey S
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 267seconds
Level 2
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 300seconds
Required Science facility
Level 3
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 333seconds
Required Science facility
ve
Acquisition
Purchased from Armory
Hotkey H
Level 1
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 267seconds
Level 2
Cost 225 Minerals 225 Vespene gas 300seconds
Required Science facility
Level 3
Cost 300 Minerals 300 Vespene gas 333seconds
Required Science facility
ve
  • Increases battlecruiser maximum energy by 50.
  • Increases battlecruiser starting energy from 50 to 62.5.
Acquisition
Purchased from Physics lab
Hotkey C
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 166seconds
ve

Quotations[]

Quotes
Trained
Selected Confirming order
Repeatedly selected
Other lines
Abilities


Battlecruiser Heroes[]

Development[]

The battlecruiser was designed by Samwise Didier. He took squares and rectangles and "smashed them together," as, in his words, it didn't have to be precise. Years later, the battlecruiser's hammerhead iconography remains one of his proudest contributions to Blizzard's universes.[2]

During the StarCraft beta, battlecruisers were once also equipped with a pair of Nova cannons.[3]

Along with every other unit, the battlecruiser received a visual upgrade for StarCraft: Remastered. The upgraded version allows its bulkheads, engines, and viewports to be viewed on the unit model.[4]

Notes[]

  • A StarCraft II "Classic" skin modeled after the StarCraft battlecruiser is available for purchasing a BlizzCon 2019 physical or virtual ticket, and will be available for purchase at a later date.

Images[]

References[]

  1. Chris Metzen (2009). BlizzCon Panel. BlizzCon 2009. YouTube. Accessed 2010-06-07.
  2. 2017-04-27, Rock and Roll Days of StarCraft: a Development Retrospective. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2017-04-29
  3. Beta. StarCraft Evolution. Accessed 2011-08-18.
  4. 2017-04-21, Remastering StarCraft's Art. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2017-04-21.
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