Starcraft 2 Terran Units: Marines

Marine
Trains From: Barracks
Armament: 8mm C-14 Impaler Gauss Rifle
Role: General-purpose Infantry

The Marine will continue fulfilling his role as the backbone of the Terran army in StarCraft 2. Even though the Marine is the first buildable combat unit, large numbers of them usually stay in the fight for the entirety of the game.

*Marines are the first line of defense for most terran worlds in the Koprulu sector. In the time of the old Confederacy the vast majority of marines were criminals or rebels who had undergone mandatory neural resocialization. Freed from any previous allegiances or ideologies, these fearless soldiers stood ready to defend Confederate interests with their lives.

Marines are normally armed with C-14 Impaler gauss rifles that fire 8mm metal “spikes” at hypersonic speeds. Basic rounds are designed to provide maximum penetration against all armor types, but a number of specialized rounds exist. Of these, the U-238 depleted uranium spike is the most popular because it extends the lethal range of gauss rifles by up to 25%.

*It has been confirmed that the range upgrade for the Marines will appear in StarCraft 2, increasing their range from 4 to 5.



If the practice of using resocialized marines has remained controversial, the use of stimpacks is even more of a hot-button subject. These inbuilt chemical delivery systems dose marines with a powerful mix of synthetic adrenaline, endorphins, and a psychotropic aggression enhancer. Marines on stims benefit from greatly increased speed and reflexes, but are subject to long-term side effects including and not limited to insomnia, weight loss, mania/hypomania, seizures, paranoiac hallucinations, internal hemorrhaging, and cerebral deterioration. Nonetheless, both commanders and the marines themselves stand by the use of stims as essential to their continued survival and effectiveness on the battlefield.

Terran Command Center

Command centers serve as the focal points for all terran outposts. Originally designed to be roving resource processors for Confederate prospectors, the command centers can pick up stakes and move on to new mineral or vespene deposits. They also have the ability to manufacture SCVs and serve as the return point for mining vehicles. Heavily armored and sturdy, the slow-moving command centers are most vulnerable when they are on the move.

*The Command Centers of StarCraft 2 can now carry up to 6 SCVs with them, while airborne.

Recent improvements have included the addition of bay facilities to carry a number of SCVs while the command center is in transit. This facilitates rapid exploitation of fresh mineral fields or vespene pockets, as well as supplying a handy shelter for the SCVs in case of enemy action.

*Lastly, the Command Center, adapted to fill new Terran needs in light of constant, ongoing hostilities, can now be upgraded in two different ways, and take the name of “Surveillance Station” or “Planetary Fortress“.

The increasing use of command centers in combat zones has also led to the development of standard schematics for upgrading them to a dedicated military role. Two of the most popular upgrades with commanders are the surveillance station, which imparts a scanner sweep capability, and the planetary fortress with its increased armor and heavy defensive armament.