Heracles

Heracles is a Colonial capital ship in . The ship is first available in the Anabasis DLC, and can be used in Sin & Sacrifice and Resurrection.

Background
The Heracles is an Imperial Wars-era gunship of Leonid descent.

The ship possesses very little finesse, and where it isn't covered in layers of armor plating, it's lined with point defense turrets capable of sustaining high volume flak fields. Its spine is lined with heavy twin-barrel guns, and features a set of "doorkickers" for direct, head-to-head assaults.

Weapons layout and performance
Standard ballistic weapons include Heavy Turrets for the front, top, and bottom, with point defense turrets on the sides.

Special abilities
As a gunship, it holds no squadrons or munitions, but can generate a flak field for additional protection against incoming munitions and squadrons.

Strategy
The Heracles is essentially an upgraded Minotaur gunship, with a more aggressive turret placement and greater armor. Where the Minotaur favors broadside placement, the Heracles can fire in all directions, with particularly powerful broadsides (from top and bottom turrets) and frontal fire. It has equal ballistic firepower to the Artemis battlestar and a comparable rate of fire to the Minerva, but lacks the squadron support and extra munitions of either. Its natural counterpart is the Atlas carrier, as the Atlas trades firepower for squadrons.

Because it lacks munitions or squadron support, the Heracles often functions as a stripped-down battlestar, offering supporting fire for friendly units as they move in towards closer combat, or as a strong vanguard ship to send into the center of the enemy lines. Depending on fleet composition, the Heracles can function well as close-in support for the Atlas carrier and battlestars by protecting it as a third party, generating a flak field for the Atlas or by covering the battlestar's unprotected side.

For escort support, the Heracles pairs well with the Ranger and Janus as their ample munitions slots can balance the Heracles' lack thereof. Alternately, pairing the Heracles with dual Minotaurs on either side help to create a powerful, line-breaking force, allowing the player to hold units with distance munitions in reserve in the rear of the formation.

In terms of fleet dynamics, players will quickly note that it takes roughly three ships: the Heracles, an Atlas, and a Ranger/Janus to bring together all the components inherent to any battlestar. However, in prolonged engagements, the combination of ships may be an advantage. More ships = more targets on the field to draw fire, making it less likely that Cylons will target the fleet flagship alone. Three ships are often more difficult to destroy than one, and the whole may be greater than the sum of their parts. As such, players should not discount the utility of building a small fleet segment around a Heracles core.