Terran Unit Guide
Barracks Units Factory Units Starport Units
SCV
The Terran SCV is the worst peon of all. On the upside, it is the buffest, which helps to defend against early cheese rushes. However, it gathers minerals the most slowly and has to stop mining to construct buildings while Probes just quickly warp them in and Drones become them. Furthermore, they have the slowest acceleration of any other workers making them the worst scouts. Enough said.
The Marine is cost-for-cost the best unit in the game. They are frighteningly efficient killers in numbers, especially with the aid of stimpacks, and they are the only initial game unit to be able to shoot air targets. They are extremely vulnerable to psi storm and scarabs, but at 50 minerals a pop, I'm not complaining.
Firebat
Firebats are a very specialized unit, and what they do, they do well. Unfortunately, they don't do much. Great for massacering masses of Zealots and Zerglings, but it's not like anyone usually masses those against Terran anymore anyway. Firebats? What the fuck kinda name is that anyway?
Medic
Second only to the Corsair as the best unit addition in Brood War. They are durable, heal efficiently, and make stimpack one of the best upgrades in the game. They are the saving grace for Terran infantry, for without these, in BW, Terran would be truly screwed. Two marines + a medic can take on 2 hydras, even without stim. Very cost efficient. "Ohh, where does it hurt?"
Ghost
The Terran Ghost is a very interesting unit. They never have, even in SC, been built as much as they deserve, and they frankly never will. Lockdown is amazingly useful against capital ships and siege weapons, and cloaking is always a valuable asset. Nukes are so rarely used, that they are actually many times effective. Best of all, they some bad little motherfuckers. They sound like Clint Eastwood, and they look like Doomsday of "Death of Superman" fame.
This unit is much like the firebat, in that it does one, and only one, thing very well. That is a zealot counter and probe raider. Unfortunately, they take too much micro to convince me to build them over bats, but they are a necessary part of the Heavy Metal strategy. That is, they lay a mine field out in front of siege tanks, and then when the zealots and goons come out to defend, the mines protect the tanks while the Vultures clean up the leftovers. At this, they excel very well. They're also an option for early DT detection, if you're willing to delay tanks. Totally suck ass against Zerg and Terran though, beware.
Siege Tank
The best ground unit in the game, period. They have the longest attack range in the game, so long that it is actually longer than their sight range. Tanks are an absolutely CRUCIAL part of any Terran offensive or defensive. Terrans are completely dependant on these babies. That said, they are used for many a gay strategy, such as ledging, shooting across islands, and firing on refineries on The Lost Temple. I guess if Terrans have to deal with bitch-ass Corsairs and Lurkers, they are allowed a guilty pleasure.
Goliath
Goliaths suck. Period. Even with the range upgrade, their crappy pathing and large size makes them nearly worthless against Carriers, which is where Terran really need them. Throw in gayweb and it's all over for Gollies. Wraiths and Valks will take care of BC's and Guardians just fine, but these can't do shit against the Finger of God. They are valuable in Terran vs. Terran bitchmatches, but that's about it.
Crappy. They are basically paper planes. Crappy air attack, crappy ground attack, crappy mana cloaking. Worst of all, they lose to Mutas, Scourge, Valkyries, and any type of ground-to-air attack. They're slower than Corsairs and Mutas, but cost equal/more, respectively. Did I mention they get absolutely, positively RAPED by Corsairs? 12 Corsairs vs. 28 Wraiths is so much a slaughter, it resembles psi storm vs. Terran infantry. All you see is cool neutron flares and exploding Wraiths everywhere. Worst of all, against Sairs, if one is uncloaked, they may as well all be, because splash doesn't discriminate.
Valkyrie Frigate
Due to the high cost and supply, tech requirements, sprite bug, and the fact that they get worse with upgrades, they suck. They do annihilate Zerg air, but they usually come too late for it to matter. Here's hoping they're beefed up in 1.08 because they definitely have potential. Awesome as fuck in conjunction with Devourers in 2v2s.
Dropship
Far and away the crappiest transport in the game. They are expensive, slow, and carry the same payload as the other transports. Other than the fact that they can be defensive-matrixed, they are woefully underpowered.
Science Vessel
These weren't ever built in StarCraft, until Brood War came along and made mobile detection absolutely necessary. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because irradiate is one of the coolest spells in the game, an absolute Zerg-waster. EMP is crappy but sometimes useful, and D-matrix makes for potent drops. How good they are is pretty irrelevant though, because like I said, you have to build these mothers.
Battle Cruiser
BC's, as compared to Carriers, suck. Although they have high armor and high power, they are PAINFULLY slow in every sense of the word, bitch, better trust and believe 'em. They are at the tip top of the tech tree, take forever to build, take forever to upgrade, and take forever to get to their target. Yamato is cool, but they are so slow and expensive they aren't realistic. They aren't effective in small numbers, either, so you have to make a total committment. 12 BC's is an amazing attack force, but you'll only be able to mass it in 1 out of 100 games.