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C&C Tiberian history: Hints & Tips #59

nod banshee tiberian sun

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#1 Madin

Madin

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Posted 14 October 2014 - 06:29 PM

Name: Banshee
Side: Nod

Tier: 3
ERA: Tiberian Sun

Cost: $2000

Base asset: Tiberian Aftermath

 

Banshee_Info_04.jpg

 

Gameplay

The Nod Banshee is a multi-role attack aircraft for Nod. It is a tier 3 unit that is quite expensive, and in the classic Nod tradition while it does not have high health (the Scrin storm rider for example has more health) it more than makes up for it in attack power.

 

Let us look at a list of the Banshee's attributes:

  1. High attack power.
  2. Does 'CANNON' damage.
  3. Has a separate 'SNIPER' damage nugget for anti-infantry purposes.
  4. Can hit air and ground targets.
  5. Weapon homes in on targets.
  6. Very good movement speed.
  7. Limited clip that requires reloading at Air tower.
  8. Depending on whether the target is moving and in what direction, requires multiple passes before it empties its clip.

Now for some more detail. The Banshee hits very hard (1). It excels in an anti-vehicle role (2), but it is basically good vs all targets, including infantry (3).

One extremely important factor is that the Banshee can do anti-air. Having lost the C&C3 Venom, Nod have lacked a fast anti-air unit for the duration of the Tiberian History mod series. Well now Nod have got that covered, and as you might expect the Banshee is very good in an anti-air role. What is also great about the Banshee anti-air VS the GDI Fire hawk, is that the Banshee uses the same weapon for AA and anti-ground roles (4), it is not forced to chose a role before take off unlike the Fire hawk.

 

The Banshee is equal in speed (6) to the GDI Fire hawk (both are faster than the Scrin Storm rider), which makes its ability to respond to an aerial threat, or to quickly move to take out speedy ground threats, impressive.

 

BAN_FIR_01.jpg

 

While the Banshee has similarities to the Scrin Storm rider, the obvious major difference is the limited clip (7) of the Banshee. At its simplest this means that you should be a little more choosy in what you target with the Banshee, especially due to the large destructive power (one Banshee can take out a Disruptor using their full clip) at your command.

One major thing to think about is that the Banshee will often take at least 3 passes (8) to finish its clip on a static target. In a similar style to the Storm rider (and like the Banshee in Tiberian Sun), the Banshee will fly past a target after it has fired some shots at it, and will go quite a distance so it can swing back and go for another attack run. There will be a number of times when you do not want this to happen, indeed it goes without saying that one of the most important aspects of mastering Banshee control, is cancelling the fly past.

Why would you want to do this? because the Banshee moves at such speed that it travels a long distance before turning around. This long distance could include flying too close to anti-air, or flying into an enemy's base, it is often bad news, and it is always a bad habit to not maintain full control over your Banshees movement (same thing for Storm riders it must be said).

So instead of allowing the fly past to happen, once you have got a number of shots off and are near to passing the target, click in the direction you just came from, and once you have a fair distance, turn around and attack again. This is the preferred way of using the Banshee. There will be occasions were it is safe to allow the Banshee to do its fly past, and there will also be occasions were you will be controlling other units and want the Banshees to pick their own targets.

 

 

Aircraft Signature Scan

 

Banshee_ScanInfo_01.jpg

 

Once you build your first Banshee, this support power becomes available (it requires that at least one Banshee is alive).

Basically this is very similar to the Scrin Tiberium vibration scan, except that it looks for aircraft. Like the Tiberium scan, it shows enemy aircraft through the shroud, which as you can imagine is very useful for assessing the enemies aerial capabilities. It is a cheap special power to use, and it is really no big deal to use it, there is nothing that your enemy can do to counter it other than destroying all your Banshees.

 

BAN_SCAN_01.jpg

Enemy Orca bombers, spotted on their way out!

 

BAN_SCAN_FIR_01.jpg

Which makes them easy to intercept!

 

 

Elite Amour

 

Banshee_ArmourInfo_01.jpg

 

This is a very simple upgrade. It reduces all damage that the Banshee takes to 65% (by default the Banshee takes 100% from all damage types).

 

BAN_ELITE_01.jpg

Easy to spot an upgraded Banshee!

 

Obviously this allows the Banshee to survive for longer, it does not mean that you no longer have to look after your Banshee! it just means that you can go for slightly more. I personally always get this upgrade first.

 

 

Transpulse Plasma

 

Banshee_TranspulseInfo_01.jpg

 

This is a weapon upgrade that allows the Banshee's plasma weapon to do rebound damage!

Once a target has been hit, if another target is very close to it, the original shot will rebound, and a smaller plasma projectile will hit the other target! It should be noted that it is not possible for the first target to be hit with the rebound shot!

 

Want some more details? The Transpulse plasma is unique because it gets better with each level that the Banshee ranks up, not only a special 'HEROIC' version, here is a list for you:

  • Rank 1 = 1 plasma rebound at 1/3 the strength of the main plasma weapon, range = 175.
  • Rank 2 (Veteran) = 1 plasma rebound at 2/3 the strength of the main plasma weapon, range = 275.
  • Rank 3 (Eilite) = 2 plasma rebounds. First at 2/3 the strength of the main plasma weapon, range = 275. Second (off the first rebound) is equal to the rank 1 rebound.
  • Rank 4 (Heroic) = 2 plasma rebounds. First at 2/3 the strength of the main plasma weapon, range = 275. Second (off the first rebound) is equal to the rank 2 rebound.

What you may find interesting is that from rank 3 onwards it is possible to have 'bounce-back'. This is a condition were the original target gets hit, a secondary target gets hit with the rebound, and then the second rebound hits the original target!

Complicated? all you need to know is that with this upgrade your Banshee's crowd control ability increases greatly (especially once you rank up).

 

Combine the Transpulse upgrade with the Elite armour? all of a sudden you have a heavy attack craft that can wipe out large crowds of units. A group of fully upgraded Banshees is no joking matter. A heroic Banshee? read on.

 

Heroic

Once the Banshee reaches 'HEROIC' rank it gets a force field (similar to the Scrin aerial fleet). The difference between the Banshee force field and the Scrin's, is that the Banshee's force field has double the health!

Provided the controlling player is not silly (in Tiberian History it is possible in the late game to get anti-air set-ups that will destroy a heroic Banshee easily, force field and all!), it will be extremely difficult for an opposing player to destroy your Banshee (hint: know when to run!). As an added bonus if your force field is depleted, it will be ready in half the time it takes for the Scrin force fields to regenerate!

 

BAN_Heroic_01.jpg

Tough to destroy!

 

Dealing with enemy Banshees

For GDI an AA load-out Fire hawk is the preferred method of dealing with a Banshee. If that is not possible, then you want one Hover MLRS for every Banshee that you are facing. You will lose some, or all of the HMLRS, but you will force the Banshees to engage them, and provided you maintain micro control, you should take out some Banshees.

While it might not seem logical, if you match the cost of Banshees you are up against with Hummers, you will make life extremely difficult for the Banshees due to the number of targets (of course the Transpulse can counter this), and they are actually decent at anti-air and have good speed.

Lastly of course is matching the cost of the Banshees with Missile squads. You will lack the speed of movement of the other alternatives, but you might cause your opponent to think twice about attacking an area saturated with Missile squads.

 

For the Scrin believe it or not well controlled Strom riders are worth a go. To defeat the Banshees you must play to the Storm riders strength, while covering for their weakness (they are slower than the Banshee). The strength of the Storm rider is that it can hit with its weapon 360 degrees around the aircraft, the Banshee conversely has to line a target up in order to hit it. So rather than attempting to out run the Banshee (not possible), make a lot of small turns that keep the Banshees constantly trying to line up their weapon and mostly failing to get shots off, while you are constantly hitting them. Do not attempt to flee from the Banshees, because if they get behind you, they will simply unload their weapon until your Storm rider is destroyed!

If you are going to use Gun walkers, then it helps greatly if they have been upgraded (the further, the better!). They are very slow, so it will basically be about attempting to ward off the Banshees, or taking a few out if you are defending a target that the Banshees are attacking.

Plasma upgraded Shock troopers can certainly deal with Banshees, although it helps if you can control them (clever blink usage would also help, although you must be careful that them bunching up does not allow a Banshee to kill a bunch of them).

 

Some Stats:
Speed: 190
Hit points: 3,000
Plasma Weapon
Weapon strength: 500
Weapon Clip size: 15
Weapon range: 350
Weapon Reload: 10 seconds
Plasma Weapon Ratings
Primary use: Anti-Vehicle
Anti-Vehicle rating: Very good+. A very efficient vehicle killer.

Secondary use: Anti-Air
Anti-Air rating: Very good+. Very good damage that is delivered very quickly.

Tertiary use: Anti-Structure
Anti-Structure rating: Very good-. Again very good damage that is delivered very quickly.

 

 

It is time for Nod to retake the skies!

 

Release 6.10 Update:

  • Nod Banshee 'Elite armour' upgrade cost increased from $1000 to $1500, upgrade time increased from 30s to 45s. Upgrade was available too fast for its effectiveness.
  • Nod Banshee health reduced from 3500 to 3000. The Banshee had far too much survivability for its speed and attack power, this change makes the Banshee more reasonable, whilst still very strong.

Release 7 Update:

  • Health reduced to 2625 (was 3000). Now matches Warhawk.
  • Weapon damage to 'STRUCTURE' reduced to 75% (was 100%). The Banshees in even small groups did far too much damage to base defences and other structures. This meant that massing Banshees was a reliable alternative to building artillery in order to break through a well defended enemy base.

 


Edited by Madin, 18 February 2016 - 06:53 PM.





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