Planetary Assault Carriers are among the most fearsome and powerful Scrin aircraft witnessed during the Third Tiberium War.
Background[]
Resembling a giant, floating fish skeleton, the Planetary Assault Carrier floats above the battlefield, armed with a group of smaller, Scrin "Invader" fighters. The carrier itself has no active weapon and must rely upon the fighters once in combat. When close to an enemy, the weak (but many) slave ships will automatically detach and swarm the target. The resulting barrage of lasers can deal significant damage to both ground and air units. If the fighters are destroyed, the carrier will immediately begin construction of new ones, albeit slowly.
These capital ships are perhaps most dangerous when generating a local ion storm, which can be deployed at will by an onboard generator, but only while the ship is unmoving. It has been observed that the carrier can repair damage while in an ion storm. In fact, while harmful to human forces, ion storms enhance the combat abilities of all Scrin aircraft. Planetary Assault Carriers also receive the Forcefield generators upgrade, providing additional shielding that is particularly useful against EMP blasts.
Abilities[]
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Ion storm | The Planetary Assault Carrier manipulates weather via the use of Tiberium to generate an Ion Storm around the carrier that buffs Scrin aircraft by adding +25% damage and reducing incoming damage by adding 25% damage reduction, heals Scrin aircraft by 5% life per second of Ion Storm effect and inflicts damage to hostile units in a short radius around it. Note that all hostile Scrin aircraft only take 20% of this damage. This power has a 60 second cooldown and is canceled if the carrier moves (Ctrl+A). |
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Stormrider | The Planetary Assault Carrier is buffed upon entering an Ion Storm by adding +25% damage and reducing incoming damage by adding 25% damage reduction, and being healed for 5% of its life for every second of the Ion Storm effect. This effect is lost shortly after it leaves the storm. |
Upgrades[]
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Forcefield generators | Planetary Assault Carrier can be equipped with shields that add an additional 2500 hit points protection with the same armor as the carrier. Shields will return to full strength if damaged or destroyed after 2 minutes. Shields protect Planetary Assault Carrier from one EMP blast, but the shield is destroyed if the aircraft is EMP'd (Ctrl+A). | Purchasable at any Technology Assembler for $4000 and takes 1:30 to research. |
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Traveler Engines | Traveler-59 warships can be upgraded with advanced engines for even swifter tactical strikes. Researching Traveler Engines increases the speed of Planetary Assault Carrier by 30% (Ctrl+S). | Purchasable at Traveler-59 Technology Assembler for $1500 and takes 0:40 to research. |
In-game[]
The menacing Planetary Assault Carriers are often the spearheads of a Scrin aerial assault, contributing swarms of Invader Fighters to any battle. The ability to generate Ion Storms and detect stealth units makes them even more valuable in any war fleet. Each Planetary Assault Carrier comes with 8 Invader fighters that can be deployed to destroy targets. Planetary Assault Carriers regenerate lost fighters slowly over time.
Assessment[]
Pros[]
- High firepower
- Feared by all air and ground units, even epic units
- Replaces lost fighters free of charge
- Well-armoured
- Can generate ion storm, and gets the following buffs within them:
- Further 25% damage resistance
- 5% HP/sec Self-repairs
- Able to destroy enemy bases in superior numbers
- Can detect stealth
- Perhaps the most powerful unit in terms of aerial combat
- Virtually matchless in one-on-one fights
Cons[]
- Defenseless without its fighters, and it takes time to replace destroyed ones.
- The EMP Control Center's EMP can take down an unshielded PAC.
- Very expensive, and require Tier 4 (requires Signal Transmitter).
- Ineffective against infantry
- Cannot generate ion storm while moving
- Fighter range is limited, well within the range of most anti-air weapons.
- Extremely slow.
- Defenseless against large groups of enemy AA units
- Most expensive non-epic unit in the war, tied with the Annihilator Tripod, Reaper Tripod, and the Black Hand's Purifier Warmech (3000 credits).
- Despite its stealth detection abilities, Stealth Tanks are still a serious threat in sizable groups.
- Not available to Reaper.
- Has difficulty hitting aircraft with high mobility due to the longer time it takes the fighters to lock on to targets.
Trivia[]
- Planetary Assault Carriers can be considered analogous to our current-day aircraft carriers in that they both carry individual fighter craft at the trade of less armament.
- Planetary Assault Carriers are similar to the Protoss carrier of StarCraft.
Gallery[]
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