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The Harbinger is a massive, heavily armed and armored gunship employed by Wings of Coronia as their epic unit.

Unlike the other epic units, however, the Harbinger is uncontrollable and is instead summoned to bombard the battlefield by a support power available via the Harbinger Tower.

Official description[]

The Harbinger's legend begins in the 20th century, during the days when it was just one of the many projects in the research facilities of Kanegawa Industries. Before the Chinese attacked, research on the particle collision-based weaponry was well underway, and the weapon itself was supposed to give the Pacific Front the ultimate advantage over their enemies, and perhaps even an ace up their sleeve during the Allied leadership negotiations. After most of KI facilities fell into Chinese hands, so did the project and the laboratories, where the tech was being developed. Eventually, the tech resurfaced briefly in the form of several Iron Dragon units, but it was far from what was originally envisioned.

Coincidentally, the same facilities housed massive gunships, equipped with powerful 200mm cannons for siege purposes, concealed from the world for reasons unknown and yet to be launched. However, due to swift actions of the opposing forces, it became impossible for the Chinese to finish the particle collider implementation as well, and the gunships have mostly been destroyed before they could reinforce anyone's army.

However, the actions of the forces of the then shaping Foehn Revolt resulted in the preservation of both. The Harbinger now acts as Coronia's most powerful aerial weapon, using its destructive particle colliders to level entire enemy bases, and eliminate enemy units of any type, be it on the ground or in the water. The Harbinger can be summoned to the battlefield through a support power after its control tower is built.[1]

Overview[]

HarbingerAssault

A Harbinger commencing destruction

The Harbinger is the Wings of Coronia's trump card and the pinnacle of their aerial supremacy doctrine. This heavily armored gunship, upon request of a Coronian commander, will swoop in from off the map and proceed to bombard the designated area with its particle colliders which are capable of dealing heavy damage to any target within its range. It will do so for several runs before its ammunition is exhausted or if it is shot down during the attack run.

The particle colliders mounted on this enormous aircraft are effective against all targets except aircraft, but it is preferably best used against large concentrations of hostile infantry and vehicles, since the projectiles fired from the aircraft deal immense splash damage over a respectable area. They are also heavily armored units, with their protection levels being on par with the Soviets' iconic Kirov Airship.

Harbingers are not without their drawbacks. To start, the gunship cannot be directly commanded by the Coronian commander that summoned it into the battlefield, so it will follow a preset flight path and automatically choose its targets. While they can withstand enormous amounts of anti-aircraft fire, they can and will be shot down if focused with heavy anti-air weaponry. Though their particle colliders are effective against infantry and vehicles, they are only adequately effective against heavily-armored buildings so they should not be entirely relied upon for base destruction purposes. Harbingers can cause unwanted friendly fire too, as they will fire upon any target that are within its range. Last but not least, they come with an enormous price tag for deployment, at $3000 for one sortie - not to mention enemy commanders/generals/proselytes can anticipate and prepare for its arrival, as there is a timer that warns of its impending debut into the battlefield.

AI behavior[]

The AI will use Harbinger similar to how they use superweapons, so they will target the following structures, assuming they are not cloaked. These are ordered according to priority:

If all these does not exist, it will target airfields, base defenses, then finally units.

Appearances[]

The Pacific Front was able to finish and launch U.S. Harbingers into the sky. They're ready to start a massive aerial bombardment, but their ammo is limited.
—Foehn intel during Operation: The Great Beyond
Harbinger prototype cameo

In the campaign, the Harbinger Prototype bears the Allied unit color scheme and is armed with 200m cannons, (which uses the Grand Cannon's effects, are more effective against infantry and structures,[note 1] and lasts for 12 runs instead of 8), has higher hit points (10000 instead of 2000), but slightly slower (19 instead of 20) than the Foehn Harbinger.

Origins[]

  • In The Great Beyond, some time after defeating the Epsilon air armada, the player will be able to call in the Harbinger Strike as a support power which costs nothing and can only be used once. When Harbinger Strike is activated, four Harbinger prototypes appear to attack four predetermined Epsilon positions.
  • In Vanishing Point, the Harbinger can be called via a support power repeatedly during the siege of the stronghold.
  • In The Remnant, an inactive Harbinger can be seen on the map as a prop. If the player clicks on it, Tanya will comment on its origin. Due to the damage sustained in the previous mission, the Harbingers cannot be used. Two Harbingers fly through the map during the final scene in the epilogue.

Special Ops[]

  • In the Epsilon Special Ops Split Seconds, three Harbinger prototypes will appear as an enemy. In the first part of the mission, all three Harbingers will approach the newly built PsiCorps base, destroying it completely. In the second part of the mission, the returning Epsilon strike forces are more prepared to deal with these experimental aircraft, as they have sent their most formidable anti-air forces against it. Shortly after the ally proselyte's base is built, the first Harbinger will attack it after a few mins. A few minutes after the first Harbinger is destroyed, the remaining two Harbingers will each attack the ally's base and the player's base simultaneously.

Trivia[]

See also[]

External links[]

Notes[]

  1. The warhead (named HarbingerOldWH in the game files) has the following multipliers: 110% vs. Light; 105% vs. Medium/Harvester; 100% vs. Basic/Animal, Flak and Drone; 80% vs. Plate and (Big) Light Structure; 60% vs. Heavy and ((Very) Big) Defensive Structure; 50% vs. (Big) Heavy Structure

References[]

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