Eclipse Skin: Banger

Commanders!

The Banger skin is one of the earlier Eclipse Battle Path prizes and today we’d like to tell you more about it.

The name Banger might sound familiar to you as it is mentioned in the Wages of Sin PvE mission – if you discover a certain semi-secret dialogue, that is. A bit of lore first:

The Banger was an old M113 leased to Perihelion for its training duration by the U.S. Army. The official version is that it gained its nickname from a large recoilless rifle mounted on top. Several days before the arrival of Samuel Thorpe, the gun was accidentally discharged in the middle of the camp, resulting in severe hearing issues for several Perihelion mercenaries. There are some who claim the name came from the stretcher found in the troop compartment, which a number of Perihelion troops used as their private hideaway. The Banger was lost during the battle for the U.S. Army base, the fate of its crew unknown.

As we promised before, pretty much every prize in the Eclipse Battle Path is tied to the Battle Path’s story and you can learn about every aspect from its description in the Customizations menu. Even vehicle descriptions change upon installing the skin.

This skin is connected to the earlier part of the tale where the forces of Perihelion fight an unknown enemy in Arizona covered, as we mentioned before, by the Wages of Sin mission. That much you already know. But we’d like to give you an overview why the skin does look the way it look.

The overall look of the skin matches an M113 that was previously mothballed and only brought to working order so that it could be transferred to the Perihelion mercenaries as a training vehicle. It was placed in Arizona for a long time (since the 1970s in fact), that is why it is painted using the MERDC “red desert” camouflage pattern, a perfect fit for Arizona.

Several signs indicate the history of the vehicle goes all the way back to the Vietnam War. The hull was modified by removing its side skirts. This was typically done to wartime M113s so that branches and mud wouldn’t stick behind them – those were a pain to clean up). Additionally, the vehicle carries spare parts on it which nobody really bothered to remove.

And last but not least, the rolled metal grid attached to the front turned out to be very useful when travelling across soft, wet or sandy surfaces.

The vehicle’s tactical markings were painted over by the military so that it wouldn’t pass as regular U.S. Army vehicle.

And last but not least, the vehicle was personalized by the Perihelion mercenaries to an extent.

We hope that you’ll enjoy this skin and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!