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The Terran are a race found in the StarCraft universe — a fictional universe where computer games and books are set. They are a fictional race based on humans with psionic abilities.
Main plotline attributes
- Basically the same as humans of the 21st century, but they are slowly evolving into a psionically potent race.
Gameplay attributes:
- Average cost
- Average power
- Very high adaptability; only race without location restrictions
- Moderately efficient building method
- The SCV unit (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.
Notable abilities:
- EMP Shockwave - This is a Science Vessel ability; it drains the energy from its target and, on Protoss units and buildings, drains shields. This makes the Science Vessel extremely effective against Protoss units, especially those like the Archons who have great shield defense but few armor hit points.
- Nuke - This requires a nuclear missile to be built in a nuclear silo (addon to command center); then a Ghost can "lase" a target for the nuke by pinpointing a red dot on screen. After a short time the missile lands, doing massive damage to all nearby units and buildings. Typically, all units in the blast area are destroyed(a Battlecruiser with full armor is the only unit that can survive a nuke,) while buildings are left standing but heavily damaged (2 successive nukes are needed to destroy a majority of buildings, and usually at ground zero). If the Ghost does not run away after lasing, it is killed unless it has the ocular implants, which increases the sight radius of all ghosts, thus keeping them out of harm's way. While the Ghost is painting, it can't move, attack or cast other spells; however, it can remain cloaked if it was cloaked before the nuke was launched. Killing the Ghost during the "lasing" phase of the nuke (after the screen has indicated the nuke launch and before the red dot disappears,) cancels the launched nuke, and the nuke is lost to the launcher.
Units
Land
- SCV (Space Construction Vehicle) - worker. 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. Using the (researchable) stim pack ability temporarily doubles attack rate and movement but sacrifices 10 hit points.
There is also 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.
- Firebat - attacks only ground units, it has a short-ranged attack that does splash damage. Splash does not hurt friendly units, but will damage allied units. It also has stim pack upgrade with same effects. Firebats are very specialized units. They annihilate Zerglings, Zealots, and workers, but later in the game, once the opponent has more ranged units, Firebats become less useful.
- 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.
- Siege Tank - can change from "Tank" mode to "Siege" mode, making it a stationary long range heavy artillery piece, and back to "Tank" mode again to move. During transformation phase, the siege tank cannot move. Siege mode has the longest attack range of any unit, and can shoot farther than it can actually see. Siege mode has splash damage while tank mode does not. Great siege weapon as well as for defensive measures. Siege mode must be researched before use.
- Vulture - This Terran hoverbike is best known for its ability to deploy Spider Mines, and for its speed. With speed upgrade it is the fastest land unit. The Spider Mine (when idle) mimics Zerg burrowing capability. When activated ( by proximity to a ground enemy), it tracks its target and detonates dealing direct and splash damage. 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 detectors, making them useful against Ghosts and Dark Templar. Vultures are excellent scouts and skirmishers, but are fairly useless in heavy combat.
- Medic - The Medic's main purpose is to heal biological ground units. Apart from its basic "heal" ability, the Optical Flare and Restoration abilities can also be researched. Optical Flare "blinds" its target, meaning its sight range is reduced to one, and any applicable detection abilities are lost. 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. All conditions can be removed but Stasis Field. The Medic is only available in the Brood War expansion.
- Ghost - The Ghost has several special abilities. It can engage a cloaking device (draining additional energy as it stays cloaked.) It can "Lockdown" enemy mechanical units, immobilizing and disabling them for a short period of time. With their most devistating avility, can target a specific point to launch a nuclear strike. The Ocular Implants upgrade allows the ghost to have a larger range of sight, allowing a Ghost to avoid nuking itself.
Air
- Valkyrie - air-to-air attack for small damage, with large splash damage area (Brood War only).
- Wraith - Starfighter produced at the Starport, can be upgraded at the Control Tower. One can research the cloaking ability that allows it to turn invisible for a period of time. The Wraith is good for hit-and-run attacks on enemy workers, escorting larger ships, and engaging enemy air units. It is fairly effective in groups against other air units but does little damage against ground units and buildings.
- Battlecruiser - most powerful Terran unit in the game, can be outfitted with Yamato cannons (must be researched), can attack air and land units. Spell upgrade and magic point upgrade available.
- Science Vessel - spellcaster, no attack. can detect cloaked enemy units in its vicinity; 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 (absorbs approximately 200-250 normal damage); or can fire an EMP shockwave to drain all buildings and units of shields or psionic points that are in a given area; can "irradiate" an organic unit, causing organic units to slowly lose hit points until they die or 250 damage (which ever comes first) -- damages organic units adjacent to irradiated unit.
- Dropship - flying transport, no attack. Slowest transport ship in the game
Buildings
Basic buildings
- Command Center
- ComSat add-on: scans a spot on the map for several seconds, using energy. Reveals all enemy units (cloaked or burrowed) and buildings.
- Nuclear Silo add-on (advanced add-on): required to build nuke and launch nuke
- Supply Depot
- Engineering Bay
- Barracks
- Refinery
- Missile Turret (surface-to-air attack only) (detector)
- Academy
- Bunker: has no attack on its own, but can house up to four infantry units (Marine, Firebat, Ghost, Medic, or SCV). The units inside sustain no damage until the bunker is destroyed, and can fire on enemy units.
Advanced buildings
- Factory
- Armory
- Starport
- Science Facility
- Physics Lab add-on
- Covert Ops add-on
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-on can only function when the main building is attached.
Unlike other races, Terran buildings will burn down (take damage automatically) if the hitpoints are in the red (less than 1/3 of total hit points). Hit points slowly decline 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 of total hit points).
See also: Protoss, Zerg
Strategy and Techs
Techs
Terran users usually follow one of two main general tech trees: 1) infantry and 2) metal. It is not good to mix and match (unless engaged in a long match) because many buildings (such as academy/engineering bay and armory) upgrades for only one of the two tech trees.
1) Infantry is often used against Zerg opponents because of just how effective marine/medic is against almost all Zerg units (with the exception of lurkers). It is not as effective against Protoss or Terran units because of psi storm from Protoss high templars and Terran tanks/goliaths/vultures.
Against Zerg opponents, a typical build order would be a couple Barracks (can also implement building block - see Strategies), Refinery, Academy, ComSat, Factory, Engineering Bays, Starport, Science Facility, and then expand to more buildings as you see fit. Generally (especially in long games), Terrans would just pump out Marine+Medic, some Tanks for siege support, ComSat for detection, and Science Vessels for detection and irradiate.
2) Metal is almost always used against Protoss and other Terrans because infantry is often ineffective. Metal refers to mechanical units (Tanks, Vultures, Goliaths, and maybe Wraiths and Battlecruisers).
Against Protoss and Terran opponents, a typical build order would be a Supply Depot + Barrack building block (see Strategies), Factory (2), Starport. From then on, the Terran will have to choose which specific strategy to implement, depending on various circumstances.
Strategies
Here is a list of some simple common strategies being used for Terrans:
Building block - on certain maps (especially the most popular ones) there are positions where one can build a Supply Depot and Barrack where the two buildings can block units from entering or leaving (although this can be remedied by lifting the Barracks). This allows the Terran to defend their block from within their base (although this has rarely also been used offensively) with ranged units such as Tanks, Marines, etc. This is extremely effective because the block are actual buildings and can be quickly repaired by SCVs if under attack, similar to repairing a wall from where one can mow down the enemy forces with barely any casualties. This is often used in the early stages of the game, where Terrans would generally tech up to metal units and would need a reliable wall to stop enemy forces from ravaging the base until reinforcements can come.
Dropping - one of the most notorious attacks Terrans are known for. After teching to Starport and getting Dropships, Terrans can drop units by loading them into Dropships and dropping them near weaknesses in the enemy base, causing large amounts of damage. For example, Terrans often drop Tanks onto cliffs overlooking the enemy base and immediately siege them, attacking their buildings and units. Because the Tanks are on high ground, the enemy cannot (or at least, have extreme difficulty) in destroying the Tanks. Drops can also be tactically used to destroy the enemy resource gatherers (using fast-attacking concussive/normal damage type units such as vultures and marines) and delay their economy for quite a while. And finally, drops can also be used as a large-scale attack force. Sending a group of 6-8 dropships and a Science Vessel or two, Terrans can unload a whole army of Tanks, Goliaths, and Marines+Medics inside an unguarded point in the enemy base.
Wraiths - Wraiths are often used against enemy Terrans, due to their lack of ready detectors (unlike Photon Cannons for Protoss and Overlords for Zerg). With their Cloaking ability, Wraiths can attack targets unguarded by stationary Turrets or Science Vessels. Even with a ComSat scanner, detection is only temporary; the Wraiths can retreat, and attack again.
Irradiate- used primarily against Zerg opponents, or expensive Protoss units such as a High Templar or Dark Templar. Basically, since Irradiate only kills/damages non-mechanical units, if used on a mechanical unit (such as the Sci Vessel itself), the spell will not damage the Science Vessel but will damage surrounding units for the full duration of the spell. This is most commonly done with 2 Science Vessels, with one irradiating the other. After this is done, the two Vessels will run into the enemy Zerg base and usually fly around the Zerg Drones, damaging and killing as much as possible before the Science Vessels are destroyed or before the Irradiate spell wears off.
Tank pushing - this refers to the practice of "leapfrogging" Siege Tanks into enemy positions. Since the range of sieged Tanks is so large, one can attack the enemy base and destroy its frontline defenses, then inch some Tanks forward and continue destroying the defenses behind those.
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