The official Starcraft 2 site has released new information about the Terran Viking. Here’s the Viking’s historical background:

The Brood War revealed critical weaknesses in terran anti-air capability. The new Wraith combat fighters and Valkyrie missile frigates proved to be an unwieldy combination against agile zerg airborne organisms. Ground-based anti-air support from goliath assault walkers was too limited in its mobility: all too often airborne attackers would simply move out of the goliath’s range and find less well-defended targets to destroy.

In the aftermath of the war, terran weapon technicians proposed a radical new concept to resolve both of these problems. Based heavily on the transformation design of the terran siege tank, the viking was designed to be the ultimate anti-air and ground-support weapon system. With the ability to change its combat role from an assault walker to an air-superiority fighter, the viking can switch smoothly to fulfill tactical needs in a developing battle.

It looks like the Viking is designed as a replacement for the Wraith, which was never really a very popular unit in the original Starcraft. It remains to be seen whether the Valkyrie, introduced in Starcraft: Brood War will make a return. From the animation on Starcraft2.com, it looks like the Viking’s mech form will fire some sort of chain gun, perhaps similar to the Goliath. There is no word yet whether the Goliath will make a return, but if they do I suspect there will be several changes as the Viking is essentially the Goliath with flight capability. The transformer ability adds a great deal of maneuverability and versatility to the unit.

Here we can see a Vikings and Marines engaging Zerglings and Mutalisks. It appears that the Viking will be an air superiority fighter as well as a ground support role.

Related Posts:

• New Terran Units Uncovered!
• New Terran Gameplay Video Released
• Terran Banshee Released