Tols Take on the Terran 07.01.2008

The Terran have been re imagined, and I think they are the most interesting race in Starcraft 2. They have retained their identity, but they have gained flexibility and adaptability that they were clearly lacking in the original. The new Terran are fast, mobile, and offensive. While you still have the option to wall yourself in and turtle, it is much less effective.

The addition of cliff climbers, teleports, and a plethora of anti-building units, walls have become a secondary defense, following that of a good offense. The Terran now, must always be moving, hunting, and harassing. From what I am able to tell, Blizzard has envision the Terran as a guerrilla strike force, and has geared them as such.

The Marine

The new Marine is amazingly powerful. They have lost their U238 Shells, but have gained Combat Shields that allow them to stay alive longer in the heat of combat. The traditional Stim Pack ability is back, and it is as powerful as it always was. The real improvement the Marines have gained is the UI. The Marines clearly gain more from large groups than their Zerg or Protoss counterparts, the Zergling and the Zealot. Their ranged attacks make them extremely devastating in large groups, and now the UI allows you to manage these groups effectively.

The Marine has become a staple unit. One that is never out classed, or underpowered. Early game, the Marine is powerful in groups, and once a game reaches the mid stage, they gain the support of Medivac Drop Ship, which is much more potent than their ground based counterparts, the Medic.

The Marauder

The Marauder's concept is very powerful, and one that I think should be explored. The Marauder is effective against small groups of units, but beyond that the lack of AoE slow, negates its concept. Slowing one of the ten Zealots attacking you does very little. Along with this, its large cost makes it undesirable.

With this being said, I am not a pro player. I can see the Marauder being powerful if micro'd effectively, but I do not have the skill to be able to do this. So in pro games, this opinion may be inaccurate, but at a normal level, this unit is largely ignored.

The Jackal

The Jackal is the new assault buggy that was the replacement to the Firebat. While many fans, including myself, hated to see the Firebat go, I think that the Jackal is an amazing replacement. It is fast and devastating. Although weak if engaged, it lays waste to masses of units the same way that the Firebat did, however, the Jackal can also perform hit and run missions that Firebats were too slow to make.

The Jackal clearly fits into the role of guerrilla tactics as it is very easy to raid enemy expansions with. A combined assault of Jackals and Reapers can leave an expansion devastated. The Jackal is a great next stage in the advancing Terran military.

The Medivac Dropship

The Medivac Dropship was the controversial replacement to the Medic. In traditional Starcraft this change would not have worked because the Terran played much differently. With that being said, I think that while the Medic would have been used in Starcraft 2, it would have been much less effective. The Medivac Dropship improves the effectiveness of drops because you are essentially dropping Medics too at no extra charge.

The Medivac Dropship, combined with enhanced Marine, makes for a devastating combination. This strategy was the most common one that I used to defeat people.

The Reaper

Reapers are the true guerrilla fighters of the Terran. With their ability to hop cliffs, no base is safe from raid. At the WWI, most players were still leaning on original Starcraft build strategies, and because of this, 90% of players were wide open for a Reaper attack in the earl-mid game. I am sure this will change as more people play the game, but as of now, the Reaper is devastating in almost every aspect of its play.

The Siege Tank

The Siege Tank has not changed at all since the original Starcraft. Due to this lack of change, I don't feel that it factors in well with the new Terran feel of guerrilla fighting. Siege Tanks are great for base defense, however that is about it. There are very limited times when using Siege Tanks for offense can help, but at this point, the Terran hit so fast it is very hard for players to get any kind of defense up before the harassment starts. Largely, I ignored this unit in many of my games.

The Viking

The Viking takes the concept of hit and run to the max. It is your go to unit as soon as you are able to get it. It is great anti air, and it does very nice damage in walker form. If you really want to know how the new Terran play, all you need to do is look at the concept of the Viking. It is fast and devastating. With all of the compliments going out to it, it is a bit on the pricey side, but if you plan your economy for it, it is not much of an issue.

The Ghost

The Ghost has been reborn. With its new abilities to Snipe and find units with energy, it has become a very scary unit on the battle field. Snipe does 80 damage to all of the worker units in the game, meaning that the Ghost can one shot them from stealth, effectively halting an economy without ever being seen. Even when it is not using snipe, the Ghost still does respectible damage.

I was only able to drop one Nuke on an enemy Zerg player, but one thing to note is that there was a lack of announcement of "Nuclear Launch Detected". Whether it went off for my opponent, I have no idea, but I know I did not get the warning.

The Thor

Most people have been wondering what has been happening to the Terran powerhouse, the Thor. In the build that I played, the Thor was in the game, and after a bit of testing, I found it to be useful in small groups. The Thors huge single target damage, and AoE air damage makes it an all around fighter. It is also the only effective counter for the Colosus that I was able to find. The Thor I think still needs some tweaking, but I think it is a good unit to help push the Terran out of "harrassment mode" and into "kill mode".

The Battle Cruiser

The Battle Cruiser is the most damaging unit I was able to find out of the two races I played. Its attack does 64 damage without upgrades. Fully upgraded I believe it does 88 damage. This is a massive amount of damage seeing as it is able to do this damage about every two seconds. It also has two different upgrades, Yamato Cannon, and Missile Barrage that allow it to combat swarms of flayers, which I can only assume is an anti-Mutalisk ability.

In the event the Terran are able to build these, whoever you are fighting should watch out, they are nasty.

In conclusion, I say that the Terran are a wonderfully built race. I look forward to playing them some more. With only a small amount of knowledge, I had a slight bias trying to play them the way I am used to playing them. Once I broke this, they became very fast and deadly. The Terran are truly a force that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

If you have any questions that were not covered in this article, you can post them here Gameplay Questins: Terran