Liberator
Terran Transforming Gunship
The liberator was a terran gunship armed with twin anti-air missile launchers and able to transform into a stationary platform mounting a heavy anti-ground cannon, an aerial counterpart to the siege tank.
The liberator was a terran air unit, a versatile medium-sized gunship that carried twin missile launchers to strike clusters of aerial threats and could transform into a stationary air platform deploying a powerful anti-ground cannon. It served the Terran Dominion and was widely copied and modified across the Koprulu sector. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)
Development and design#
The liberator was an aerial counterpart to the siege tank: a versatile medium-sized gunship armed with twin missile launchers to strike clusters of aerial threats, which could also deploy an anti-ground cannon after transforming into a stationary air platform. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)
Dominion liberators had a standardized design, meaning they could be piloted by anyone familiar with other Dominion spacecraft, and the ships were outfitted with multiple escape pods. The craft attacked in two mutually exclusive modes. In anti-air mode it remained mobile and delivered multi-targeting splash attacks well suited to massed aircraft. In anti-surface mode it selected a fixed circular area on the ground, became immobile, and concentrated very high single-target damage on anything within that zone, with switching between modes taking roughly a second. Those two modes make it one of the odder entries in the Terran unit roster. (StarCraft: Scavengers; StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)
Variants and service#
The liberator was widely adapted across terran forces. The Dominion Special Forces used advanced neosteel research to improve their liberators, giving them a more complex plating system that augmented the transformation process and making them the pride of the Dominion Fleet. Some mercenaries acquired liberators, though they were a rare commodity, and the Umojan Protectorate developed its own version only a few years after the craft was first deployed, its wholly reimagined rear thrusters becoming the envy of the original Dominion engineering team. Liberators belonging to the Covert Ops Crew were equipped with the ability to cloak. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void; StarCraft II: Shadow Wars)
Planetary militias also fielded the craft. The Knights of Tyrador equipped their liberators with numerous forward-facing floodlights to increase visibility across the wilderness of Tyrador IX. In the co-op missions set during the End War against Amon, Alexei Stukov deployed infested liberators, while Nova Terra deployed raid liberators against Amon's minions. Captain Barlow of the Dominion Marine Corps brought her liberator into action against a Kel-Morian salvage crew. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void; StarCraft II Co-op Missions; StarCraft: Scavengers)
Frequently asked questions
- What is a liberator in StarCraft?
- The liberator was a terran air unit, a medium-sized gunship that carried twin missile launchers to strike clusters of aerial threats and could transform into a stationary air platform deploying a powerful anti-ground cannon. That made it an aerial counterpart to the siege tank.
- Who could fly a Dominion liberator?
- Dominion liberators had a standardized design, so anyone familiar with other Dominion spacecraft could pilot one. The ships also carried multiple escape pods.
- How do the liberator's two modes work?
- The liberator attacked in two mutually exclusive modes. In anti-air mode it stayed mobile and delivered multi-targeting splash attacks suited to massed aircraft, while in anti-surface mode it selected a fixed circular area on the ground, became immobile, and concentrated very high single-target damage on anything within that zone, with switching taking roughly a second.
- Who used the liberator?
- The liberator served the Terran Dominion and was widely adapted across terran forces, including the Dominion Special Forces, the Umojan Protectorate, planetary militias, and mercenaries. The Covert Ops Crew equipped theirs with the ability to cloak, and the Knights of Tyrador added forward-facing floodlights.
- What liberator variants exist?
- Infested and raid variants appear in the co-op missions set during the End War against Amon. Alexei Stukov deployed infested liberators, while Nova Terra deployed raid liberators against Amon's minions.
Sources
- GameStarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, Blizzard Entertainment, 2015 (including Collections skin descriptions)
- GameStarCraft II Co-op Missions, Blizzard Entertainment
- ComicStarCraft II: Shadow Wars, Valerie Watrous (w), Carlos Rodriguez (a), Blizzard Entertainment, 2018
- ComicStarCraft: Scavengers, Jody Houser (w), Gabriel Guzman (a), Dark Horse Comics, 2018
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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