Strato Destroyer Bomber

Strato Destroyer Bomber
Western Fronter Strato Destroyer Bomber
Vital statistics
Title	Strato Destroyer Bomber
Faction	Xylvania and Western Frontier
Health	Most Heavily Armored Aircraft
Level
Status
Location

Strato Destroyer Bomber
Stats
Health	Most Heavily Armored Aircraft
Resistances	{{{resistances}}}
Weaknesses	{{{weaknesses}}}

What?! The Shields are destroyed?!! ALL STRATO DESTROYERS REPORT TO THE MINING SPIDER IMMEDIATELY!

—Kaiser Vlad in The Reckoning

A Strato Destroyer Bomber is a massive, remarkably well-armed air unit best described as a combination between a Fighter and Bomber with heavy armour. It's a unique unit, bristling with machine guns, that it uses two types of weapons: AA missiles and computer-controlled bombs automatically dropped when an enemy is below. It's vulnerable to attacks aimed at it's rear and fuel tank (located on its belly), as these areas feature lighter armour. They appear only a handful of times in Battalion Wars and only once in Battalion Wars 2. In BWii, Kaiser Vlad called in several of them to protect his Mining Spider after the spider's three Shield Generators were destroyed. They were one of three units effective at dispatching a Battlestation, the other two being a Gunship and a Bomber.

In the first Battalion Wars, the first Strato Destroyer appeared on the Coral Atolls mission: X-Day. Two more Strato Destroyers are deployed by Kaiser Vlad to assault the Western Frontier forces in the mission: "Call Sign Eagle". In said mission, the player is given control of the only Western Frontier Strato Destroyer in the game to counter the Xylvanian ones.

As of BWII, the unit is no longer accessible to the player, making its only appearance as an NPC Xylvanian SD ordered to bombard the Tundran Battlestation. When operating the unit, the player controls the mounted missiles while the bombs are automatically deployed when an enemy is directly below the craft.

Countries' Descriptions

Western Frontier

Now obsolete due to erratic flight controls, the B-5000 strato destroyer was armed with both air-to-air missiles and the ability to deliver a heavy consignment of high-explosiv bombs. The only chink in its armor was its lack of significant rear-facing armaments.

Concept Art

Xylvania

The Zornier Z-1 “Skyhammer” provides Xylvanian High Command with long-range strike capability. It can perform air interdiction and offensive counter-ground duties, incorporating heavy load adaptor channels for carrying 3,000-kilo bombs.

Concept Art

Cut-Content

Anglo Isles

The Anglo Isles were expected to at one point have a Strato-Destroyer in their arsenal, as shown in the concept art of Battalion Wars 2.

Concept Art

Tundran Territories

Just like the Anglo Isles, it is suspected that the Tundran Territories would have also had a Strato-Destroyer in the sequel game. The only evidence of this is a left-over unit icon which appears to be a placeholder icon (similar to the Western Frontier's Light Tank being used as a placeholder for the later Solar Empire Light Tank).

Gallery

W

Strategy

The Strato Destroyer is capable of firing more missiles than a Fighter, making a frontal attack on one, ill-advised. Its best to pilot a Fighter, swing around to the unit's rear and fire at the giant airship from there. It is, in fact, easier to down a Strato Destroyer with an Anti-Air Veteran than it is to blast a Gunship with an Anti-air Vet, since Gunships can immediately retaliate when targeted, compared to the Strato Destroyer which must circle around first Strato destroyers cannot barrel roll, turn sharply or dive quickly, making it difficult for them break missile lock.

Frigates are also a viable tactic for dispatching these units because they can match them for speed.

Appearances

Strato Destroyer Appearances (Battalion Wars 1)

	1-1	1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	1-6	1-7	1-B	2-1	2-2	2-3	2-4	2-B	3-1	3-2	3-3	3-4	3-5	3-B	4-1	4-2	4-3	4-4	4-B
Player	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NPC Ally	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Enemy	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Strato Destroyer Appearances (Battalion Wars 2)

	1-1	1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	2-1	2-2	2-3	3-1	3-2	3-3	3-4	4-1	4-2	4-3	5-1	5-2	5-3	5-4	C-1	C-2	C-3	C-4
Player 1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NPC Ally (Campaign) Player 2 (Co-Op)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Enemy	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-

Trivia

• The Western Frontier Strato Destroyer resembles the B-2 Spirit, a real-life stealth bomber employed by the USAF. However, it is closer in size to the YB-49, an experimental heavy bomber developed during the Cold War.
• Parts of the Anglo Isles Strato Destroyer resemble that of the real-life Britain's Lancaster bomber. It was not featured in the final release of BW2 due to time and budget constraints.

Aircraft
Bomber - Fighter - Strato Destroyer - Gunship - Air Transport