History Characters / StarcraftTerrans

* GlassCannon: ZigZagged, they're low on health by structure standards, but a light air target(s) will usually be shredded quickly by the structure(s) before they can be razed. Mutalisks were problematic in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' due to the turret's damage typing dealing 1/2 damage, letting a swarm quickly scrap turrets 1-by-1. The turrets got buffed in the sequel, dealing full damage to all targets with a marginal {{nerf}} from being changed to fire two missiles in an attack instead of just one, making them even more deadly to general fliers. They require support against heavy siege fliers, however, who can quickly destroy the turrets with impunity, so be ready to reinforce with your army.

* TookALevelInBadass: In ''II'', the Ghost became a much more versatile unit, trading their weapon's weakness against any armor stronger than light for passable damage against all targets but with bonus damage against light armor. (A baseline of 10 (+10 VS Light). ) On top of that, their sniping skills were brought front and center, allowing them to spend energy perform Steady Targeting and deliver devastation Biological targets. They also traded their Mechanical-only Lockdown for a more versatile EMP Round that removes up to 100 shields and energy on ''any'' target, and got an increase of hitpoints to 100 from 45. They now require more resources and twice the supply but are generally well worth it if you use their abilities well.

** Snipe or Steady Targeting are actually spells even though they involve Ghosts using their rifles. Armor points are completely ignored for the damage dealt. Some itterations of Snipe only deal full damage to Psionic targets, however, as a balance rule but Steady Targeting succeeded the former ultimately.

* TookALevelInBadass: In ''II'', the Ghost became a much more versatile unit, trading their weapon's weakness against any armor stronger than light for passable damage against all targets but with bonus damage against light armor. (A baseline of 10 (+10 VS Light). ) On top of that, their sniping skills were brought front and center, allowing them to spend energy perform Steady Targeting and deliver a whopping 170 unresistable damage to a Biological target. They also traded their Mechanical-only Lockdown for a more versatile EMP Round that removes up to 100 shields and energy on ''any'' target, and got an increase of hitpoints to 100 from 45. They now require more resources and twice the supply but are generally well worth it if you use their abilities well.

** While the Zerg need to build numerous different support structures that they can access as they evolve their Hatchery, and the Protoss tech tree splits into three off the Cybernetics Core, the Terran chain of production is linear through their three production structures; Barracks-Factory-Starport. Some build orders for them have the player quickly tech to a Starport in the name of flexibility, as from there either every unit is available or the structure needed to product it is, giving the player the freedom to choose a more dedicated tech path. ''Starcraft II'' further gives these three structures interchangeable add-ons that can alter which units they can build or allow two basic units to train simultaneously. Thus, a Terran can change their entire army composition in a few seconds by swapping their buildings around. However, while the Zerg and Protoss have at least some degree of overlap in their low and high-tier units both in where they build them and what upgrades they use, the Terran infantry from their Barracks is decidedly low-tier save for the Ghost, while most of their mechanical units are the high-tier, and army upgrades are split between infantry, ground mechanical, and aircraft (though the latter two's armor upgrades were merged later in the sequel, and infantry upgrades were reduced in level 2 & 3 costs). This means that while they ''can'' quickly switch their army composition, they need time and/or preparation to get momentum going on their new tech path so they can build more production structures and catch up in upgrades; the Terran player might shift from infantry to mech &/or air when the map has fewer expansions left that can be easily defended by the heavier, slow units, and make a push against the enemy.

** While the Zerg need to build numerous different support structures that they can access as they evolve their Hatchery, and the Protoss tech tree splits into three off the Cybernetics Core, the Terran chain of production is linear through their three production structures; Barracks-Factory-Starport. Some build orders for them have the player quickly tech to a Starport in the name of flexibility, as from there either every unit is available or the structure needed to product it is, giving the player the freedom to choose a more dedicated tech path. ''Starcraft II'' further gives these three structures interchangeable add-ons that can alter which units they can build or allow two basic units to train simultaneously. Thus, a Terran can change their entire army composition in a few seconds by swapping their buildings around. However, while the Zerg and Protoss have at least some degree of overlap in their low and high-tier units both in where they build them and what upgrades they use, the Terran infantry from their Barracks is decidedly low-tier save for the Ghost, while most of their mechanical units are the high-tier, and army upgrades are split between infantry, ground mechanical, and aircraft (though the latter two's armor upgrades were merged over the course of balancing in the sequel). This means that while they ''can'' quickly switch their army composition, they need time and/or preparation to get momentum going on their new tech path so they can build more production structures and catch up in upgrades; the Terran player might shift from infantry to mech &/or air when the map has fewer expansions left that can be easily defended by the heavier, slow units, and make a push against the enemy.

* LongRangeFighter: in terms of gameplay, this is one of the Terrans' hats. While the Tempest took from them the title of "Longest-ranged attack in the game," for most of the franchise's existence it belonged to the Siege Tank; and the Terrans ''overall'' have the largest preponderance of ranged attackers in the game; in fact, they're the only race to have a unit with an ArbitraryWeaponRange!

* MechanicallyUnusualClass: The only faction who starts out with a ranged attacker and techs up to a CQC unit, the only spellcaster with a basic attack (Ghosts, or Specters in the ''Wings of Liberty'' campaign mode depending on player choice), and the only faction with no build radius requirements for their structures. They are also the only faction with two distinct ground armies; Barracks and Factory units. Unlike the other two factions, these two ground forces don't share any upgrades, [[note]]With one notable exception, the Protoss Reaver does not benefit from Protoss Ground Weapons in ''Brood War'', requiring its own upgrade for a 25% boost in damage.[[/note]] so the Barracks is mainly used for support units when performing Factory build orders and vice versa when doing infantry builds. As of ''Heart of the Swarm'' and beyond, ground vehicles and air ships share the same armor upgrade unlike with Protoss and Zerg. They're also unique in that they have a "super weapon" of sorts in the form of a Nuclear Strike that no other faction can quite match for its raw instantaneous damage in gameplay; although Protoss orbital strike capabilities outclass Terran nukes in lore, these abilities can NOT be utilized in [[PvPBalanced competitive melee matches]].

* AntiArmor: Mag-Field Accelerator doubled its damage against armored targets when it was present. In the current balance model, Cyclones do an approximately 27% better rate of damage against Armored units.

* PatrioticFervor: Their weapons -- the Lexington Rockets and Concord Cannon -- are named after UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, delivers freedom through said weapons, quotes ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice''... About as 'Murican as it can get without a stars-and-stripes paint job.

* NoSell: In melee, just like the Protoss Mothership, Battlecruisers have powerful spells that simply go on cooldown after use instead using an energy pool. This renders battlecruisers immune to [[ManaBurn EMP or Feedback]] spam.

* ApeShallNeverKillApe: The way Terrans avert this is one of the main reasons that the Protoss continue to not trust them. While Zerg and Protoss infighting are not unheard of, the former is rare and requires very specific conditions due to the Zerg's HiveMind, while the latter is something Protoss consider as intolerable and put great efforts in avoiding whenever they can. Terrans, meanwhile, not only fight each others on regular basis, but also tend to do it more often than facing the two alien races.

* MadeOfIron: In ''[=StarCraft I=]'' they're the only unit able to survive a direct hit from a nuclear missile, having exactly as much HP as the missile does damage, along with 3 points of armor. Granted, unless you get them to an SCV quickly they won't last long after that. In ''[=StarCraft II=]'', they gained ''50'' hitpoints and retained their high armor points, and gained the ability to perform Tactical Jump and become immune to most damage sources while going to warp (they can't attack during this time though). In melee, only the Protoss Mothership has higher total health but the Battlecruiser beats it in base armor and physical health, lacks a UniquenessRule and can be rapidly repaired thanks to [=SCVs=] and [=MULEs=].

* MacrossMissileMassacre: It lives and breathes this trope. It can fire Typhoon Missiles slighter faster than two per game second.

* BalanceBuff: Like the unit it replaces in multiplayer, the Diamondback, the Cyclone had the issue of not having anything to make it stand out other than its gimmick, as it's far too expensive and fragile to be useful past early game anti-air and harassment. Patch 3.8 reworked the Cyclone completely, made it more durable, and reduced its cost, to give it a more defined niche as a frontline anti-armor unit for mech compositions. Finally, 4.7.1 reverted their health back to pre-3.8 and redesigned them towards being a JackOfAllStats with high damage potential when using the Lock-On mode correctly. Cyclone play became much more common with this configuration.

* MechanicallyUnusualClass: They are very unusual in that unlike regular units with a standard attack radius, the Liberator projects its anti-ground radius to a select point as a "Liberation Zone". This is a balance restriction because their Concord Cannon deals incredible damage and fires moderately fast. The opponent also sees the liberation zone on the battlefield.
* NecessaryDrawback: The killzone mechanic from a balance perspective as simply allowing the ship to attack ground targets would make their weaponry way too powerful and even obsolete Siege Tanks. Same thing with allowing them to even attack structures because their DPS is colossal, and buildings can not dodge out of the killzone. This enforces their role as a ground-area-denial craft -- similar to Widow Mines, but without stealth (melee) -- and anti-light-flier craft. Yet despite all these drawbacks, they are still very effective gunships throughout a match, can even be trained two-simultaneously from a Reactored Starport, and see frequent play in melee.