StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty/Terran units

SCV
The worker of the terran forces, allowing the construction of buildings and repair of units.

Medivac DropShip


Dropships will appear in StarCraft II this time armed with a healing weapon.

AH/G-24 Banshee
A Stealth Aircraft that is effective against ground forces.

The AH/G-24 Banshee is a Terran aircraft designed by Procyon Industries in response to the Terran Dominion's requirement for a dedicated ground attack aircraft. Experience had shown that it was unlikely that adapting an existing design would prove satisfactory. Thus, Procyon designed an entirely new craft.

The design was heavily optimized for its intended role. Armament was limited to air-to-ground Backlash cluster rockets, eschewing any anti-aircraft weapons. As the Banshee was never intended to operate outside of an atmosphere only relatively low-thrust turbofans were fitted, wholly unable to achieve escape velocity, but much cheaper than engines capable of achieving space flight. Later Banshees were further modified with cloaking devices taken from CF/A-17 Wraith starfighters.

The Banshee has proven successful in service. Easily transported from world to world, its mobility and firepower has proven most useful, especially in inhospitable terrain and against hostile irregular forces. The Banshee has also acquired a reputation as a Dominion terror weapon, a result of a significant number of civilians being killed by Banshees employed in urban combat.

The Banshee appears to be weak against dedicated anti-aircraft structures, such as Phase Cannons.

Strategically, the Banshee appears to be similar to a Terran version of the Zerg Guardian as a dedicated air-to-ground role.

Battlecruiser


The default weaponry of the battlecruiser is no longer a single powerful attack. Instead it will fire multiple laser bolts, each inflicting 8 damage.

The battlecruiser types depicted in StarCraft II are the Hercules- and Minotaur-class.

The battlecruiser will have the choice of being upgraded with either the Yamato Cannon or the Plasma Torpedo attack, but not both for no reason. Once one has been chosen, the battlecruiser may not switch for no reason. The upgrade will visually change the unit model allowing players to easily determine which upgrade has been chosen.


 * Yamato Cannon
 * Analogous to StarCraft's "Yamato Gun".
 * Adds a large central gun to the bow. Prior to firing, the 'head' splits apart, and the 'neck' recoils when the weapon is fired.


 * Plasma Torpedo
 * An area-of-effect weapon effective against weak swarming units (like Marines and Zerglings).
 * Adds multiple small barrels to the front of the ship's hammerhead.

Each version of the Battlecruiser is treated as a different unit for UI purposes; double clicking on a Yamato-equipped battlecruiser will select all such battlecruisers but will not select battlecruisers with the Plasma Torpedo upgrade.

Crucio Siege Tank


The Siege Tank continues to function as it did in previous games with the dual tank and artillery modes. The tank cannot fire when moving, leaving the tank vulnerable to attacks by melee units.

The Siege Tank is a heavy mechanical ground unit with a long range and high damage capabilities. When in Siege Mode, the tank now spreads its treads in four directions while still sprouting two clamps to help keep it stationary. The Siege Mode attack has an area of effect; however the Protoss Immortals are able to reduce its damaging effects to a minimum. Mobile and stationary, siege tanks can only attack ground units.

Ghost


Ghosts gain some new abilities suiting their role as special forces troopers. They also have a higher rate of fire.

Ghosts are trained at a Barracks with an attached Tech Lab and require a Shadow Ops. Ghosts may be available earlier in tech tree, but abilities like Cloaking would only be available afterwards.

All information here is tentative and subject to change pending the release of the game.


 * 1) Cloaking again
 * 2) Drop Pods


 * Summons up to 12 infantry reinforcements.


 * 1)  Nuclear Strike


 * Similar to the ability in StarCraft but does less damage. Launching player sees a large red symbol on the target area while the opponent only sees a red dot.


 * 1) Sniping


 * Costs 50 energy
 * Deals 50 damage to light units + 100 damage vs light armor, giving it the ability to instantly eliminate smaller units, like Marines, in single shots.


 * 1) EMP shot


 * This upgrade enhances attacks against Protoss and energy-using units. It is an area of effect attack which drains shields and energy from units and structures. There is a possibility that the Ghost will lose this ability due to game balance.

Marauder
The Marauder is equipped with dual concussion-grenade launchers which slow down biological units, and does extra damage against armored units. It can use stimpacks.

The Marauder is considered an early support unit, designed to pick off early game units. It is useful for slowing down fast melee units such as the Zealot.

Marine


In StarCraft II, Marines will be able to receive a ballistic alloy combat shield upgrade that increases their hit points by 10. Once upgraded, the marines' game model will change to include a shield and bayonet. Marines will have two more upgrades beyond the weapon and armor upgrades: stimpacks and U-238 shells (abilities possessed at BlizzCon 2007).

Reaper


Reapers specialize in hit-and-run, close-quarters combat. They are more mobile than Marines as their jet packs allow them to surmount obstacles independently. Reapers are clad in self-contained body suits, and are armed with dual P-45 Scythe Gauss Pistols and deuterium-eight demolition charges.

Reapers are drawn from Marine recruits that could not be successfully subjugated by neural resocialization. These resistant recruits tend to be among the most hardened of criminals, and are sent instead to the "Icehouse" in the Torus system to be inducted into the Reaper Corps. Reaper recruits are chemically altered to make them even more aggressive before being subjected to brutal training in close-quarters combat and the use of their jet packs.

While theoretically a Reaper who survives two years of duty would be pardoned and released back to civilian life, in its five years the Reaper Corps has yet to have a single trooped survive more than six months.

Nighthawk
Same as the Science Vessel only it replaces it.

The Nighthawk is analogous to the Science Vessel of the original StarCraft, and are "primarily support craft" for the Terran faction. Nighthawks aesthetically appear to "look like a floating construction crane that's been bent into a square".

In addition to being detectors, Nighthawks have several special abilities:


 * A defensive matrix that reduces incoming damage by 50% to all units within an area of effect, including enemy ones, rather than the version used by the Science Vessel.


 * Nano-repair, which uses energy to instantly repair a friendly mechanical unit.


 * Auto-Turret, which uses Vespene to drop an Auto-Turret. The turret is a decent defender and makes for an even better harasser.


 * Mine Drone, which quickly creates a stationary structure, costing the Nighthawk energy. The Drone creates four mines, similar to spider mines, then immediately cloaks itself and the mines. Each mine does 50 damage plus an extra 50 damage against armored units. The Drone replaces the mines after they detonate, but this temporarily decloaks it.

In addition, Nomads may be able to create several other forms of stationary defenses.

* EMP, suggested by Cavez.

Thor
The Thor is a Terran mechanical unit which is named after the Norse god of thunder. Despite its intimidating appearance, it is not a super-unit; and more than one can be built.

A Thor is not built through a building, but rather is built by an SCV, due to its large size. A Thor is too large to be transported, but the SCV that builds it can be transported, therefore opening new strategies for building a Thor in secret locations.

The Thor is large, but it was reduced from its initial size to make for better pathing. The slow turn rate is no longer a balance factor.

A Thor has a relatively large size when compared to other units. It has a long firing range and big splash damage, but a significant cooldown. The attacks do high damage against armored units but waste damage against weaker units. It is powerful against Stalkers and several other (unannounced) Terran and Zerg units.

In a recent build, the Thor needs to be "killed" twice, once to make it immobilized, due to its large size, and then the second time to kill it for good. When immobilized, the Thor will still be able to attack. While the Thor is immobilized, an SCV can repair it back to full health, having it regain mobility. It is balanced so that if a player's forces destroy one and then the Disabled Thor is left alone, that player will do pretty well. Attacking the Disabled Thor makes things go pretty well for the Thor's cost.

The Thor is countered by range, mobility, and certain anti-armor units.

The Thor can only target ground units (a change from a previous build).

Viking


The Brood War revealed weaknesses in Terran anti-air capability. Wraith combat fighters and Valkyrie missile frigates proved to be an unwieldy combination against agile Zerg airborne organisms. In addition, ground-based anti-air support from Goliath assault walkers was too limited in its mobility: all too often airborne attackers would simply move out of the Goliath's range.

In the aftermath of the war, Terran weapon technicians proposed a radical new concept to resolve both of these problems. Based heavily on the transformation design of the Siege Tank, the Viking was designed to be the ultimate anti-air and ground-support weapon system. With the ability to change its combat role from an assault walker to an air-superiority fighter, the Viking can switch smoothly to fulfill tactical needs in a developing battle.

While the Viking's versatility is its greatest asset, it is also one of its drawbacks. Few pilots are able to handle both combat modes and the majority of Viking pilots are killed in their first battle. Those who survive however, become amongst the most skilled pilots.

The Viking is produced from the Factory (a change from previous builds).

Ground Mode

In the walker mode the Viking has low armor, leaving it vulnerable to powerful ground units such as Siege Tanks.

The walker mode is armed with twin gatling cannons. it can only attack ground units (a change from previous builds).

Karune stated that its ground mode could attack both ground and air units but that ability currently undergoing balancing testing and may have been removed.

Air Mode

When in this mode the Viking has an extremely powerful anti-air attack (MT50 Lanzer Torpedoes) designed to destroy capital ships but does not have the ability to attack ground units. In this mode, it has superior mobility and base-raiding capabilities.