StarCraft 2

Race: Terran
Role: General Infantry
Built From: Barracks
Supply: 1
Cost: 50
Build Time: 20
Health:
Attack:

Description

The Marines are the basic troops of the Terran ground force, much like Zealots are for the Protoss and the Zerglings for the Zerg. Equipped with a Gauss Rifle that allows them to hit both ground and air units, the basic Marine is indeed a highly versatile unit, considering that the Marines give the Terran a very early source of air defense, as opposed to the Zealots or Zerglings that are helpless versus an air assault.

For all their versatility, they are also particularly fragile and should not be relied on to take hits, especially from large area-of-effect attacks that can quickly slaughter masses of Marines.

A key difference between Marines and the other basic troopers is that Marines are ranged. This might not seem like much, but considering the fact that Marines can shoot from behind a classic Terran 'wall-in' (where the Terran player blocks his ramp or choke point with his stationary and floatable buildings), or 'dance' around melee forces: one realizes that Marines are overall much more 'micro-able' when compared to Zealots and Zerglings. Indeed, any player familiar with the original Starcraft may have heard of BoxeR and NaDa's legendary moves with their lowly Marines to take on overwhelming forces by virtue of micro-management alone. These aspects of the Marines should prove very attractive to players who enjoy controlling their forces to their maximum potential.

So far, from gaming footage, we can confirm that Marines, as well as any other small, easily-massed units with anti-air capabilities, are a strong match for the otherwise formidable Protoss Warp Rays which can lay waste to Battle Cruisers and bases alike, but which lose much of their accumulative damage potential against many small units like in a Marine mass.

Marines are a recurring unit from the original Starcraft, being deemed as one of the units that define Terran as Terran. As such, it would be logical to assume that the new Marines would more or less resemble their Brood War counterparts. In Starcraft: Broodwar, Marines were able to consume 'Stim-Packs' after the appropriate research, which allowed the Marine to attack much faster in exchange for health. This ability is in Starcraft 2 along with the range and health upgrade.

A new feature added to the Marines in Starcraft 2 can be seen in their new Riot Shields, which is a visual indication of a health upgrade available at the tech lab. The health upgrade gives all Marines +15 health for a total of 55, scaling Marines up and making them slightly less vulnerable to splash. It seems likely that this move will make the Marine feature more prominently not only in their traditional role against Zerg, but also against Protoss and the mirror where Marines were often skipped in Starcraft: Brood War in favor of faster metal units. As confirmed by blizzard the shields are an upgrade one can research for the Marine, which would give Marines a boost in total hit points (HP), making them tougher. It seems that the Terran have adapted and developed equipment to better combat the melee assaults of otherworldly forces such as Zerglings.

Strategy

Marines retain their famed Stim-Pack ability from Starcraft: Brood War, taking unnamed substances that greatly enhance their movement speed and rate of attack, at the cost of health. With their cheap cost and easily massable nature, a group of Marines activating Stim has some of the most fearsome damage-per-second (DPS) values of any unit combination in the game. This makes the Marine an excellent unit to use against the Zerg, whose army is comprised of many weak and easily killed units.

The Marine featured less prominently in standard TvP and TvT play in Starcraft: Brood War, as Protoss tech (either Reavers or Templars) as well as Terran mines were capable of complete devastation to Marine armies, relatively early in the game as well. In Starcraft 2, Protoss Templar tech is slowed down, and Terran no longer has mines, which means that Terran themselves are going to need an early-game army capable of holding off Protoss Stalker/Zealot raids. It is thus likely that we will be seeing a more healthy mix of infantry and metal in all 3 match-ups in Starcraft 2.

Marine Rush: The ranged nature of Marines (they are the only ranged units that come out so early as they don't need gas) also means that they can combine effectively with Terran SCVs (acting as shields) in early assaults, and many a game has been won unexpectedly with a proxy Barracks Marine rush with SCV support.

Marine Drop: Up to 8 Marines can be fit into a single Dropship, and with clever use of Stim, these 8 Marines can quickly devastate an unprotected mineral line much faster than a Tank drop can, especially Zerg ones where each mineral line is tended often by only a few drones. A Marine drop is hence capable of massive destruction when timed well and targetted at the right spot.

Unit Abilities

Stim-Pack: Increases the Marines speed and attack for a short period while reducing the Marines health.

Upgrades at Tech Lab

• Combat shield (increased health)
• U238 shells (increased range)
• Stim Packs (see above)

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