Basilisk (Tiberian Twilight)

"Basilisk warship: online."

- Basilisk

The Basilisk is a Nod Support Tier 3 heavy air unit. It is unlocked when a Nod Commander reaches Level 12.

Background
The Basilisk is a massive aircraft with two heavy lasers, excellent for attacking other heavy units and Crawlers.

Its heavy armour will shrug off bullets and rockets, but is itself weak against other laser units. It is also rather slow-moving compared to most aircraft.

The Basilisk's lasers are extremely long ranged, able to fire at targets beyond its sight radius without being in range of return fire. This means it is capable of taking out most units before they can ever get close or run away. When upgraded with the Spectrum Beam upgrade, the lasers will prism upon hitting the target, scattering to hit several other units near to the original target. this makes them the unit of choice when going up against large groups of heavy units. The lasers have a minimum range, however, and the Basilisk cannot fire at targets directly beneath them. Also, like all laser units, the Basilisk must come to a halt before opening fire.

The Basilisk also has a secondary stasis field projector which can freeze all units in a medium size area, similarly to the GDI Crystal Shield's Stasis ability. The frozen units cannot move or fire but are also rendered invulnerable while the field is in effect (about 10 seconds), making it useful both for stopping pursuit and for protecting an assaulted unit or Crawler until the Basilisk has destroyed the threat. It can also be used to split up a group of enemy forces, allowing the Basilisk to focus on a smaller group first before destroying the rest. The stasis field has to recharge between uses.

The Basilisk is too large to be constructed within the Support Crawler. As such, they are normally called from high Earth orbit, where Nod and GDI's heavy aircraft cruise while waiting for an assignment, down to combat altitudes when requested.

The GDI equivalent to the Basilisk is the Thunderhead.

In-game
The Basilisk is one of the last units unlocked in the Nod Support arsenal. They are useful in groups during open combat, taking out packs of enemies from long range as a front-line units engage them. They are also good (again in groups) for making sure no enemy heavies ever reach the front line. With Spectrum Lasers and the Mark of Kane support power active, a group can annihilate a full-scale attack force in less then five seconds. Lastly, due to their extreme range and stasis projectors, they are ideal crawler killers, surprising and stopping it with their stasis while it packs up, and using the interval to move close enough that it will not be able to outrun them, as they cannot fire while moving. The stasis field can also be used to neutralize defensive forces until the crawler is taken out.

Created

 * Basilisk warship: online.

Select

 * Basilisk condition green.
 * They will comply or be destroyed.
 * Systems ready.
 * Waiting for designation.
 * Specifications cleared.
 * All will be eliminated.
 * Connected.
 * One mind.

Moving

 * Proceeding.
 * Processing.
 * Resetting.
 * Quadrant identified.
 * Setting route.
 * Destination set.
 * Updating.
 * Displacement in progress.
 * In concurrence.

Attacking

 * As necessary.
 * Targeting.
 * As specified.
 * Eliminating target.
 * Again.
 * Laser cannons, fire.
 * Next.

Attacking Light Units

 * Predicting minimal damage.
 * Sub-optimal results likely.
 * Minimal efficiency detected.

Stasis Field

 * Initializing Stasis Field.
 * Target set for nullification.
 * Nullifiers powering on.
 * Opening field generator.

Move to Attack

 * Prepare main lasers.
 * Moving to weapon range.
 * Target has been designated.
 * Authorized for removal.
 * Ready weapon systems.
 * Combat objective set.

In Combat

 * Diminishing opposition.
 * Neutralizing target.
 * Completion in progress.
 * Continuing engagement.
 * Weapons firing.
 * Target is receiving damage.

Taking Fire

 * Accruing damages.
 * Hull damage increasing.
 * Defense matrix holding.
 * Enemy attacks inbound.
 * Detecting enemy targeting.

Retreating

 * Updating strategy.
 * Disengaging.
 * Withdrawing to new sector.

Development

 * According to the Worldbuilder, it was originally called the Nullifier.