Terran (StarCraft)

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File:Terran1.jpg
The Marines of the Terran Confederacy.

The Terrans are the name given to the human colonists in the StarCraft universe used to distinguish them from the humans of Earth. They have a genetic history of psionic power, but are generations away from reaching this full potential. Most have no psionic powers. The Terrans have found themselves in the middle of a war between the Protoss and the Zerg, and have struggled to survive amidst the war while also dealing with civil wars. However, some seem to also have made alliances with the Protoss.

Template:Spoiler

Prelude

Ahead of the initial campaign there is a prelude-campaign of the demo StarCraft which outlines the confederacy stamping a Korhal-inciated rebellion and the stemming of their research specimens, the Zerg, referred to as "Xenomorphs".

However, they still manage to break loose, and this causes later the attack of many confederacy colonies in outlying regions to be attacked. Therefore, Marshall James Raynor (Known as 'Jim Raynor' to friends) takes up fight with them, but ends up needing the support of the Sons of Korhal to fend them off.

But particularly in Episode III and afterwards, he seems to be accepted among the Protoss as an ally. They became true friends in the last chapter in episode III when Raynor, Zeratul and Tassadar fought the Zerg Overmind together, when Tassadar sacrificed himself to destroy the Overmind.

Plotline attributes

Main article: StarCraft Terran Prehistory
  • Basically the same as humans of the 21st century, but they are slowly evolving into a psionically potent race, and, of course, are much more technologically advanced, but still within the same "style".
  • Originally were criminals rounded up and cast out on settler ships on a one year trip to a colony world. However, the navigation computer shut off during the trip and they ended up in stasis for 31 years. They ended up scattered across three colony worlds (Moria, Tarsonis, and Umoja).
  • After reuniting with the other colony worlds, Tarsonis established several colony worlds and formed the powerful, dictatorial Terran Confederacy. One colony, Korhal, went into rebellion and was nuked into oblivion. Arcturus Mengsk rounded up a force of rebels, the Sons of Korhal and began to wage a type of guerilla war against the Confederacy.
  • It is in December of 2499 when the Protoss and Zerg arrive in Confederate space, attacking the outlying colony worlds of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, respectively. However, the Protoss were obliterating the Zerg infestation of Chau Sara that had gone (supposedly) unnoticed.

Gameplay attributes

Some noticeable traits of the Terrans.

  • Average cost
  • Average power
  • High unit efficiency, if the player uses sufficient micromanagement
  • Very high adaptability: only race without location restrictions (can "lift off" and redeploy most of their structures without restriction)
  • Moderately efficient building method
  • Forces are comparatively weak unless prepared, initially before a battle e.g. In order to fight zerg or protoss effectively, it is essential to 'stimpack' (A drug used to rush the attacks, but damages health a bit) the infantry, put Tanks in Siege mode, construct missile turrets and bunkers for defence, etc.
  • The Space Construction Vehicle, or SCV (The basic worker) can repair buildings and mechanical units such as the Battlecruiser. The Medic (Only in the Brood War expansion) can heal the non-mechanical units and negate a limited number of spells.
  • Every single offensive unit (Except the SCV if you use it as offense) is ranged - even the Terran Firebat has a range of 2 matrix squares.
  • All units except the Valkyrie and the Goliath have a "special" or "secondary" ability.

Notable abilities

  • Repair — SCV ability; it costs minerals and/or vespene appropriate to the unit or building being repaired. Multiple SCV's can repair the same unit or structure at a faster rate. SCV's are the only unit in the game that can repair structures or mechanical units. However, they may only repair Terran structures or units, and cannot repair Protoss structures or units.
  • Cloaking — Ghost and Wraith ability; It allows the ghost or wraith to go invisible to the naked eye. Costs 25 energy when activated and consumes 1 energy/second for however long it is used. (Keep in mind that it is possible for the opponents to see the unit's sillouettes, and therefore, guess where it is or make "splashed" damage around it with certain units. Also, detecting units of opposing teams will render the ghost visible.)
  • Spider Mine — Vulture ability; When upgraded, each vulture comes equipped with 3 spider mines that cannot be replenished. When a spider mine is set, it "burrows" into the ground and becomes invisible to enemy units without detector support. When a ground unit walks near it (Excluding the worker units, archons, and vultures because they "float"), the spider mine surfaces and skitters toward the enemy unit, when on impact causes 125 splash damage.
  • Lockdown — Ghost ability; it costs 100 energy and makes any robotic unit immobile and "useless" for around 60 seconds. The affected vehicle remains vulnerable to enemy attacks in this state and can still be repaired. The units affected by lockdown are: SCV, Vulture, Siege Tank, Goliath, Wraith, Dropship, Science Vessel, Valkyrie, Battlecruiser (Terran); Probe, Dragoon, Shuttle, Reaver, Observer, Scout, Carrier, Corsair, Arbiter (Protoss); and no Zerg units.
  • Heal — Medic ability: the Medic will restore the HP of any biological unit in its sight range, walking of its own accord towards the damaged unit and Healing without being ordered to. Medics can only Heal one unit at a time, and only one Medic can Heal a unit at a time, so multiple Medics are typically needed for optimum efficiency.
  • Stim Pack — Marine and Firebat ability; it lets the unit affected to fire and walk twice as fast, with the cost of 10 hit points. Often used in Brood War as the medic can quickly heal the Marine or Firebat who used the Stim Pack. The Stim Pack effect is not cumulative (That is, using three Stim Packs at once will not be better than using one by itself).
  • EMP Shockwave — Science Vessel ability; it drains the energy from everything within the shock radius and, on Protoss units and buildings, drains shields.
  • Irradiate — Science Vessel ability; it drains the health of any biological unit (I.e. any zerg unit, as well as some Terran and Protoss units) and does damage to the units adjanced to the irradiated unit. Burrowed units affected by this ability still take damage, but it does not affect other units.
  • Defensive Matrix — Science Vessel ability; places a temporary shield on friendly units that limits incoming attacks to one hit point damage.
  • Nuclear Strike — Requires a nuclear missile to be built in a nuclear silo (add-on to command center); then a Terran Ghost can "paint" a target for the nuke by pinpointing a red dot on screen. Note that all players will be notified that a nuke is being launched. After a short time the missile lands, doing massive damage to all nearby buildings, and killing any unit (except a battlecruiser, who will survive with the number of armor points it had) within the blast radius. A nuke will deal either 2/3 or 500 damage to the target, whichever greater. Anything that is not under the laser point will be dealt reduced splash damage. If the Ghost does not flee after launching, it will be killed unless it has the ocular implants upgrade, which increases the sight radius of the Ghost, thus keeping it out of harm's way. While the Ghost is painting, it can't move, attack or cast other abilities; however, it can remain cloaked if it was cloaked before the nuke was launched. Killing the Ghost during the "painting" phase of the nuke (after the screen has indicated the nuke launch and before the red dot disappears) cancels the launched nuke, which is then lost.
  • Yamato Gun — The Battlecruiser's only ability; it uses 150 energy to charge up and shoot an energy blast that has a range of 10, one of the longest ranges in the game. The blast does about 260 damage, more or less. However, the range of the blast is longer than the sight range of the battlecruiser, so scout the target before firing for longest range. Also, if the targeted unit is destroyed while the cannon is charging up, it will cancel fire, but still consume the 150 energy.
  • Siege Mode — Siege Tank ability that must be researched; It takes tanks around 2 to 3 seconds to deploy in and out of siege mode. While in siege mode, the tanks are immobile and have a minimum attack range of 2 matrix squares. However, they gain the ability to fire high-powered shells (an explosive damage of 70) farther than any other unit in the game.
  • ComSat Scan — When a ComSat Station is attached to a command center, Terran players can perform ComSat scans, which can be used for temporarily revealing areas under the fog of war, as well as cloaked and burrowed units. It can also be used as a scouting ability to increase the range of a weapon for some units such as the battle cruiser's yamato gun or to allow the placement of a nydus canal by a zerg ally.

Units

Divided into land and air.

Land

  • Terran Civilian, a unit with no attack. It is a special unit, and cannot be created. It is used in some missions of the Starcraft campaign mode.
  • SCV (Space Construction Vehicle) — Worker, the toughest of the three. The SCV is considered to be both biological and mechanical; that is, it can be either repaired by another SCV or healed by a medic. It is also vulnerable to a Ghost's Lockdown and a Queen's Spawn Broodling.
  • Marine — Basic attack unit, can attack land and air units. They are a very good all-around unit. They also are the only "first-tier" unit that can attack air targets. They have an attack range upgrade as well. Marines are among the most versatile units in the game; they can be useful even in the late game so long as upgrades are researched. Marines wear the CMC-300 powered armor suit and wield the C-14 "Impaler" Gauss rifle, which fires 8 mm spikes at hypersonic speeds through magnetic acceleration. The U-238 Shell upgrade replaces these spikes with depleted Uranium shells, giving their weapons greater range. Once researched, the Marine can also use the stim pack ability, which allows him to sacrifice some of his health (as the stim pack causes a large variety of health problems) for a temporary increase in attack and movement speed. Its effect is not cumulative. In Brood War the medic can restore the health of a stimpacked marine or firebat while allowing it to keep the benefits.
  • Firebat — Attacks only ground units, it has a short-ranged attack (a pair of Perdition plasma flamethrowers) that does splash damage. Splash does not hurt friendly units, but will damage allied units. It shares the stim pack upgrade of the Marine. Firebats are powerful against small-sized units, but weak against medium and large enemies. They are extremely powerful against "first-tier" enemies, especially Zerglings, and a stimpacked group can decimate even zealots. The Firebat uses the CMC-660 heavy combat suit. Requires Academy.
  • Goliath — Mech assault unit, attacks air and land units, using dual autocannons against ground, and missiles against air. Missile range upgrade (Brood War only) rivals Guardian range. Goliaths are very large and have difficulties traveling in large groups. Goliaths are more meant for anti-air combat rather than ground combat. Requires Armory.
    • The Goliath was originally manufactured by LarsCorp Technologies, and was used by the Kel-Morian Combine for urban warfare and infantry support. Corporate saboteurs stole the plans and sold them to Confederate interests, and to this day the Goliath is well-known along the Rim.
  • Siege Tank — Can change from "Tank" mode to "Siege" mode (once it is researched), making it a stationary short range heavy artillery piece, and back to "Tank" mode again to move. During transformation phase and in siege mode, the siege tank cannot move or attack. A tank in siege mode has the longest attack range of any unit, and can shoot farther than it can actually see with the help of another unit scouting ahead. Siege mode has splash damage while tank mode does not. When placed behind bunkers, Siege Tanks in siege mode make an excellent defensive unit. Requires Machine Shop add-on.
  • 'Vulture — This single-seat Terran hoverbike is capable of deploying Spider Mines, as well as moving at great speed. With the speed upgrade it is the fastest unit. The Vultures fire grenades, which are powerful against small units, but weak against bigger ones. The grenades can only attack ground units.
    • The Spider Mine (when idle) mimics the Zerg burrowing capability. When activated (by proximity to a ground enemy that is not floating: floating units include Archons, workers, and Vultures), it tracks its target and detonates, dealing direct and splash damage. A Medic casting Optical Flare on friendly Spider Mines reduces the Mines' sight range, causing it to only unburrow when an enemy unit is close by. Spider Mines can be destroyed either while they are tracking their target, or by other units with the help of a detector. Spider Mines themselves are not detectors, but they will still target cloaked units, making them useful against Ghosts and Dark Templar.
  • Medic — The Medic's main purpose is to heal biological ground units (Brood War only). Apart from its basic "heal" ability, the Optical Flare and Restoration abilities can also be researched. Optical Flare "blinds" its target, reducing its sight range to one and removing any detection abilities. Optical Flare can only be removed by other Medics using the Restoration ability. Restoration is a handy ability that allows the player to remove the effects of an enemy's special abilities from a single unit (except for the Protoss stasis field). The Medic also heals allied units. Requires Academy.
  • Ghost — The Ghost has several special abilities. It can engage a cloaking device (draining additional energy as it stays cloaked) and "Lockdown" enemy mechanical units, immobilizing and disabling them for a short period of time. Their most devastating ability is the targeting of a specific point for a nuclear strike. The Ocular Implants upgrade allows the ghost to have a larger range of sight, allowing a Ghost to avoid being killed by its own nuke. The Ghost's rifle is well-suited for light-weight enemies, but does poorly against medium or heavy targets. Requires Science Facility and Covert Ops Add-On.

Air

  • Valkyrie (Brood War only) — This heavily armored flying attack frigate utilizes an extensive supply of air-to-air missiles that, individually, do light damage, but have a large area of effect. Valkyries are well-suited for dealing with light-weight air units, such as Mutalisks or Scourges. Requires Armory.
    • The Valkyrie was present in the Alpha version of StarCraft as a ground-attack bomber and gunship. It was named for the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber, a Vietnam War-era bomber that was never put into production. The original Brood War version may have been a ground-attack craft, and featured "afterburners" which required energy but enabled it to fly at great speed. However, it became an anti-spacecraft vehicle and the afterburner ability was removed.
    • It should be noted that having very large numbers of units on a map at one time can interfere with the Valkyrie's ability to attack. The reason for this is unknown.
  • Wraith — Starfighter produced at the Starport, can be upgraded at the Control Tower and the armory. One can research the cloaking ability that allows it to turn invisible for a period of time. The Wraith burst lasers do little damage against ground units and buildings. The air to air missles however do a great deal of damage quickly. The wraith's relatively high airspeed and cloak also makes it a good first responder to an attack.
    • During the Guild Wars most space battles took place between battlecruisers and "gunships" (No longer in production), but the Wraith, agile enough to evade battery laser fire, has since replaced the gunship.
  • Battlecruiser — Arguably the most powerful Terran unit in the game, it can be outfitted with the Yamato Cannon (a magnetically-focused nuclear blast that must be researched), and can attack air and land units. However, its normal laser attack has an extremely slow firing rate, and does a relatively small amount of damage for a unit of its cost. The Yamato Cannon expends a great deal of energy, but can allow the Battlecruisers to fire a tremendous beam that can obliterate any small units or buildings in one hit, such as the Protoss Photon Cannon. An upgrade of the amount of energy points is available. Requires Physics Lab add on.
  • Science Vessel — This air unit is a spellcaster that can't attack. It can detect cloaked enemy units in its vicinity. One of its notable features is the fact it can place a "defensive grid matrix" around other units, including other Science Vessels, but not itself, which functions as an extra shield for a limited time, as the shield absorbs approximately 250 normal damage. It can also fire an EMP shockwave to drain all buildings and units of shields or energy that are within its blast radius (this is extremely useful against the shield-dependent Archons and Dark Archons), and can "irradiate" an organic unit, causing it to slowly lose hit points until it dies or takes 250 damage (whichever comes first). This also damages other nearby organic units. Requires Science Facility. (Seems to share a striking voice similarity to Mr Burns).
  • Dropship — This is a flying transport that has no attack abilities. It is slightly faster than a Protoss Shuttle without Gravitic Drive, but much slower than one with. It is also faster than upgraded Overlords, and its toughness lies between them and the more fragile Shuttles. It can hold up to eight unit slots (Each unit takes up a certain number of slots; infantry take up one, light metal take up two, and heavy metal take up four). Requires Control Tower add-on.
    • The name of the unit, as well as many quotes by the pilot, comes from Aliens, the movie and its sequels.

Buildings

Divided into Basic and Advanced buildings.

Basic buildings

Unlike the buildings of other races, the major Terran buildings are mobile; they can lift off, fly slowly, and land elsewhere. Only air-to-air or ground-to-air attacks can damage these buildings when in the air. Buildings that have been lifted off can be repaired in mid-air by SCVs. If the building has an add-on, the add-on is left behind. Add-ons can only function when the main building is attached, and any one building may only have one add-on attached. If an add-on is left behind, any Terran player may take possession of it later by landing or building next to it.

Unlike other races, a Terran building will burn down (Take damage automatically) if its hit points are in the red zone (less than 1/3 of total hit points). Hit points slowly decrease until they reach 0, when the building is destroyed and must be rebuilt. Only SCVs can prevent the building from burning down by repairing the building into the yellow or green state (greater than 1/3 or 2/3 of total hit points, respectively).

  • Command Center — Constructs SCVs and serves as a drop-off point for resources (minerals and vespene gas). Also contributes 10 to the supply limit.
    • ComSat Station add-on — Scans anywhere on the map for several seconds, using 50 energy. Reveals all enemy units (even cloaked or burrowed) and buildings. It is an efficient and risk-free way of scouting out an enemy base (requires Academy).
    • Nuclear Missile Silo add-on — Produces and launches nuclear missiles (200 Minerals and 200 Gas; 8 Supply). Requires a covert ops add-on for the science facility.
  • Supply Depot — Contributes 8 to the supply limit, with a maximum of 200 (each unit takes up a certain amount of supply points). Supply Depots are the main reason that Terran bases are mostly cluttered. As they are needed for supply, they are constructed in great numbers. However, unlike Zerg overlords (which are units and take up no space) and Protoss Pylons (which are also needed for powering structures), Supply Depots serve no other inherent purpose, and take up by far the most space of any main supply-providing units or structures.
  • Engineering Bay — Provides three levels of armor and weapons upgrades for Barracks units and SCVs (SCV weapon is not upgraded but its armor is). Also is needed to build missile turrets.
  • Barracks — Trains Marines, Firebats, Ghosts, and (in Brood War) Medics. (Medics, firebats and ghosts require Academy).
  • Refinery — Allows the harvesting of vespene gas by SCVs. The SCV which builds the refinery will automatically start harvesting from it.
  • Missile Turret — Provides automated surface-to-air attack - includes detector. It is often necessary, in Brood War, to back them up with upgraded Goliaths, as their range is not sufficient to attack Guardians.
  • Academy — Provides upgrades for infantry and the ability to train Firebats and Medics (upgrades include stim packs for Marines and Firebats, range upgrade for Marine, Restoration, Optical Flare, and energy upgrade for Medic) (requires Barracks).
  • Bunker — Has no attack of its own, but can house up to four infantry units (Marine, Firebat, Ghost, Medic, or SCV). Units inside sustain no damage, and are free to return fire. Marines also receive a slight range increase, that, combined with U-238 Shells, puts them on equal range footing with upgraded Protoss Dragoons (requires Barracks).

Advanced buildings

  • Factory — Constructs Vultures, Siege Tanks, and Goliaths (requires Armory).
    • Machine Shop add-on — Required to produce siege tanks. Provides upgrades for mechanized ground units (Spider Mines and speed upgrade for Vulture, siege mode for Siege Tanks, and the Goliath air range upgrade (Brood War only)).
  • Armory — Allows for three levels of weapon and armor upgrades for Factory and Starport units and is also required for Goliaths and Valkyries (requires Factory).
  • Starport — Constructs Wraiths, Dropships, Battlecruisers, Science Vessels, and Valkyries (requires Factory).
    • Control Tower add-on — Required for Dropships, Battlecruisers, Science vessels, and Valkyries. Allows for upgrades to the Wraith (cloaking ability and energy upgrade).
  • Science Facility — Allows for the construction of and upgrades to Terran Science Vessels (EMP shockwave, irradiate, and energy upgrade) (also required for second and third level armor and weapons upgrades at Engineering Bay and Armory) (requires Starport).
    • Physics Lab add-on — Allows production of Battlecruisers and provides upgrades for them (Yamato Cannon and energy upgrade)
    • Covert Ops add-on — Allows production of and provides upgrades for Ghosts (sight upgrade, lockdown, cloaking, and energy upgrade)


See also: Protoss, Zerg

Strategy and Techs

Terran players usually follow one of two main general tech trees: Infantry and Metal.

1) Infantry refers to producing mass numbers of Marines supported by Medics. This strategy is generally used against Zerg opponents and is also called "M&M", referring to the Medic-Marine combo.

(Off-strategy note: This only counts for the Broodwar-expansion.)

2) Metal refers to focusing on mechanical units (Tanks, Vultures, Goliaths, Wraiths and Battlecruisers). This strategy is generally used against Protoss and Terran players.

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