Battlecruiser (StarCraft)

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"Battlecruiser operational!"

- A battlecruiser commander^(src)

Battlecruiser
Unit
Race	Terran
Affiliation	Terran Confederacy Sons of Korhal Terran Dominion Raynor's Raiders United Earth Directorate Kel-Morian Combine
Role	Capital Ship
Armament	Burst laser batteries Yamato gun
Protection	Neosteel
Properties
Maximum energy	200 (init. 50)
Size	Large
Sight	11
Production
Minerals	400
Gas	300
Supply	6
Build time	133
Produced from	Starport
Requires	Control tower (attached) Science facility Physics lab (attached)
Hotkey	B
Movement
Speed	2.5
Protection
Hit points	500
Armor	3
Combat
Ground attack	25 (+3 per upgrade) (lasers) 260 (Yamato gun)
Air attack	25 (+3 per upgrade) (lasers) 260 (Yamato gun)
Cooldown	30
Attack range	6 (lasers) 10 (Yamato gun)

The battlecruiser is the major terran air unit.

The unit was voiced by Chris Metzen.

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 the battlecruiser to survive with minimal HP. 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 while those weaker units last 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 slow speed of the battlecruiser makes it difficult to disengage if a battle makes a turn for the worst, or to extract a damaged ship for repair. 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

Yamato Gun

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 Range 10

Acquisition
Purchased from Physics lab Hotkey Y Cost 100 100 120

v • e

Upgrades

Ship Weapons

• +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 100 100 267 Level 2 Cost 150 150 300 Required Science facility Level 3 Cost 200 200 333 Required Science facility

v • e

Ship Plating

• +1 armor to Wraith, dropship, battlecruiser, science vessel, Valkyrie per level.

Acquisition
Purchased from Armory Hotkey H Level 1 Cost 150 150 267 Level 2 Cost 225 225 300 Required Science facility Level 3 Cost 300 300 333 Required Science facility

v • e

Colossus Reactor

• Increases battlecruiser maximum energy by 50.
• Increases battlecruiser starting energy from 50 to 62.5.

Acquisition
Purchased from Physics lab Hotkey C Cost 150 150 166

v • e

Battlecruiser Heroes

• Hyperion
• Norad II
• Norad III
• Leviathan
• Aleksander

Quotations

See: StarCraft Battlecruiser Quotations

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.

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

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.

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

The battlecruiser in StarCraft: Remastered

References

Terran Units and Structures of StarCraft/Brood War v • e

Infantry SCV Marine Firebat Medic (BW) Ghost Ground vehicles Vulture Goliath Siege tank Air units Wraith Dropship Valkyrie (BW) Science vessel Battlecruiser Basic buildings Command center ComSat station Nuclear silo Supply depot Engineering bay Barracks Refinery Missile turret Academy Bunker Advanced buildings Factory Machine shop Armory Starport Control tower Science facility Physics lab Covert ops Other Nuclear missile Spider mine Scrapped units Cargo ship Merc biker Mercenary gunship Raider Spysat Scrapped buildings Cantina Dry docks Power station Repair bay Star base