GTB Boanerges

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The GTB Boanerges is a Terran heavy bomber that was brought into active service sometime before the Second Shivan Incursion. While lacking in maneuverability and speed, the Boanerges possesses a remarkably large secondary capacity.

Description:

The GTB Boanerges

FS2 Tech Room Description

The new GTB Boanerges has been assigned to elite bomber squadrons in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Terran battle groups. The challenge of maintaining an aging fleet has motivated the GTVA to develop a new generation of ships able to withstand long-term abuse in the field. By maximizing shielding and payload (while offering enough maneuverability to make it a viable tactical unit), the Boanerges promises to remain in service for decades to come. One test pilot observed that the Boanerges handles better than any other bomber and has enough firepower to make it a formidable anti-capship weapon.

Developer Notes

None

Name Origin

In the Christian religion, Boanerges is the Greek rendition of the names James and John, two brothers that are surnamed by Jesus Christ for their impetuosity, hence the literal meaning of the surname Jesus gave them, "Sons of Thunder".

Performance:

Statistics

Type	Heavy Bomber
Manufacturer	RNI Systems
Maneuverability	Very Poor
Yaw, Pitch, Roll	5.5, 6.0, 6.0 s
Max Velocity	55.0 - 65.0 ms-1
Max Afterburner Velocity	85.0 ms-1
Armor	Very Heavy
Hitpoints	325
Shields	850
Length	34 m

Armaments

• Gun Mounts

FreeSpace 2
Bank	Guns	Standard Loadout
1st	2	Prometheus R
Compatible Primaries
Subach HL-7, Prometheus R, UD-8 Kayser, Prometheus S, Lamprey, Circe, Maxim

• Missile Banks

Freespace 2
Bank	Capacity	Standard Loadout
1st	40	Hornet
2nd	100	Cyclops
3rd	100	Cyclops
Compatible Secondaries
MX-64, EMP Adv., Stiletto II, Piranha, Hornet, Tornado, Trebuchet, Infyrno, Cyclops, Helios

Modding Resources

HTL Boanerges.

Retail:

$POF File: bomber2t-01.pof

Textures: bomber2T-03a(/b/CD), thruster01

MediaVPs 3.6.14:

$POF File: boanerges.pof

Textures: Boanerges, glass, Tercoc01, damage, boadebris

Model by AthlonBoy.

Mesh adjustments and textures by Sab0o.

Release thread: GTB Boanerges; texturing. on 05 March 2011.

Gallery

• 

  A Boanerges escapes a stricken SJ Sathanas. (A Time for Heroes)

Veteran Comments

Please read the Veteran Comments policy before editing this section.

The Boanerges is a flying coffin for me. I flew it in Slaying Ravana and died every time flying it. I took an Ursa and made it back on the first try. The Boanerges may have a bigger payload, but the Ursa has more gun points, a turret, and a faster afterburner velocity, and for me, slightly better handling. The Boanerges may be smaller, but it doesn't have the afterburner power or the turret to ward off incoming hostiles.

Most people seem to have been disappointed with the Boanerges. I'm one of them. Despite the tech description, the Boanerges really does not seem to handle better than an Ursa. It also lacks the Ursa's second primary bank, having only a single two-gun set of primaries. In most anti-capital missions you'll want a Maxim primary, and dogfighting with a Maxim is an exercise in futility most of the time. This leaves you to fall back on your secondaries for anti-fighter protection, an uncomfortable situation, as secondaries run out. (And if you're not going after caps, why are you in a heavy bomber anyways?) It also does not seem to have a significantly stronger set of shields or a much stronger hull than an Ursa. Its only saving grace is that it has larger secondary bays and so can put a greater amount of weight on target before it runs dry... but sometimes this really does not seem enough to justify its use.

IMO the Boanerges is the better pure bomber, assuming that all heavy bomber wings are escorted by fighters, as they should be (but sometimes aren't), if you want to dogfight as well as bomb then you should really be using a light bomber like the Artemis or a Zeus, not a heavy bomber at all.

The primary guns of the Boanerges shoot slightly upwards, making it a bit tricky to hit smaller targets by relying solely on the HUD target indicator. This quirk is similar to the triple side-mounted gun bank on the Ursa.

The Boanerges actually has less armour than the Ursa (325 vs 550), and its secondary capacity is equal, but redistributed (40-100-100 as opposed to 80-80-80). This means that overall, it still does less damage, due to the lack of the turret and triple gun rack. Also note that the larger the bank capacity, the longer it takes to fill, and each bank is filled at the simultaneously (i.e. the Ursa will spend less time as a sitting duck while rearming).

Although the Boanerges has the same secondary capacity as the Ursa, it carries two more Cyclops torpedoes (in an all-Cyclops loadout) than the Ursa because of the redistribution. The Ursa has a 5/5/5 (15 total) distribution while the Boanerges has a 3/7/7 (17 total) distribution. However, when carrying Cyclops in only the last two banks (for example, to accommodate an anti-fighter missile in the first bank), the Boanerges is able to carry 4 more Cyclops torpedoes than the Ursa (14 versus the Ursa's 10).

The Boanerges is faster than the GTB Ursa by 10 meters per second, and it also has a smaller profile. However, the Ursa has a higher afterburner velocity and hull integrity, while the other stats are nearly identical.

The largest advantage the Boanerges has over the Ursa is its ability to get more bombs out in a shorter period of time. Due to the distribution of the Boanerges' missile capacity, it can fire 5 dual-linked Helios before running dry, whereas the Ursa only manages 3 dual-fires, with "leftovers" that need to be fired individually.