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Active: 33449 users

Analysis of Terran Weaponry

Forum Index > SC2 General
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desarrisc
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Canada226 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-29 02:42:31
September 21 2012 05:15 GMT
#1
Updates:
Marine added. Sept 22
Reaper added. Sept 23
Wraith added. Sept 28 *New*


Poll on what unit you would like to see next:

+ Show Spoiler +
Poll: Which Terran unit's next for me to analyze?

Science Vessel (20)
 
25%

Thor (19)
 
24%

Command center series (PF/Orbital) (9)
 
11%

Ghost (6)
 
8%

Raven (6)
 
8%

Marauder (6)
 
8%

Medivac (5)
 
6%

Battlecruiser (5)
 
6%

Viking (3)
 
4%

79 total votes

Your vote: Which Terran unit's next for me to analyze?

(Vote): Medivac
(Vote): Ghost
(Vote): Raven
(Vote): Science Vessel
(Vote): Command center series (PF/Orbital)
(Vote): Thor
(Vote): Viking
(Vote): Battlecruiser
(Vote): Marauder




//////////////////
Hey guys,

Ever since Ponera published his ideas on Anatomy of Starcraft in analysing Zerg morphology, I had this burning urge to analyze the Terran units in terms of functionality, structure, and army role. I'm a second year science student in pharmacology, so my knowledge may not be in depth, but I'll try my best to rationalize in context of the lore and general graphics within the game.

This is not a discussion on balance, but rather to ask:

Why are these units designed in these fashion? What mechanics allow them to function? Why did Terran army stop production of certain units?

I hope to answer and discuss some of these questions in qualitative fashion. And I would love any feedbacks & comments & disagreements to whatever I post.

So without further ado, allow me to present to you:


[image loading]


Hellion

The Hellion is an odd beast of war. Moving at high velocity, they attack with intermittent massive bursts of flames. These "fire cars" can effectively leave a settlement in flames and leave unscathed within minutes of their arrival.

However, compared to equally agile Brood War-era Vulture bikes that provided both raiding potential and zone control with hazardous minefield against a large ground force, many impartial observers were left scratching their heads: Why would Terran switch out an effective weapon of war for something that is somewhat weaker?

[image loading]

I believe the answer to the question is that vultures were too powerful in absence of major war. The Dominion Terran realized after the end of the Brood War, vultures even in small numbers provided a highly efficient vehicle for small rebel factions. Packs of vulture bikes can move into Dominion compound in the cover of the night, use their fragmentation grenade launchers while the bikes were still in motion to sabotage much as possible without slowing down. Then as the Dominion forces group up, the vultures can simply lay down spider mines and escape with relatively few losses whereas the Dominion army would need to carefully remove the deployed mines or risk death. Vultures and spider mines became too much of a liability than an asset.

Upon the end of Brood War, the Dominion stopped the production of vulture bikes, started destroying the blueprints, and scrapped any bikes confiscated from the rebels. Soon Vultures were no longer seen on battlefields, not due to their weakness, but due to their sheer power and cost-efficiency.

So you may wonder, where on earth Hellions come from then?

I believe hellions are designed not necessarily for war, but rather as tools of oppression. These flame cars are flashy in combat, showing massive fireballs that are only effective versus lightly armored marines or thinly plated vehicles (which are the major components of dissident forces). Also, they leave a trail of scorched rebel villages, leaving a clear warning to any dissatisfied civilian populace to fear the Dominion. People just simply fear death by fire.

Finally, these mobile vehicles in the hands of rebels do not pose as much of a threat to the Dominion army as vulture bikes did due to lack of mine-zone-control and motion-based firing.

Now onto the structural design of hellions. Hellions are four-wheeled, very thinly plated with some sort of titanium-alloy or other light metal alloy with extremely high melting point that can withstand its own firepower. I'm guestimating top speeds of 200km/h, but this is just a wild guess since relative move speed is not clear from just the gameplay. It seems to have one major flamethrower on top of the vehicle above the driver's seat.

[image loading]

The flamethrower is a peculiar weapon. In an anoxic environment, flames are quickly squashed due to lack of oxygen. So my conjecture is that the flamethrower uses a composite of pressurized hydrocarbon source, superoxidants, and thermite mixture (all of which are likely to be by-products of mineral mining) to create a beautiful wave of orange or blue flame. The quality of thermite likely dictates the potency of fire and the colour of the fireball. The recipe for thermite is kept top secret and very precise, that's why we need to research "Infernal Pre-Igniter" within each game. The flamethrower seems to have a range of few hundred meters, but once again this is a wild guess from the gameplay.

The fun part about this vehicle is that it likely uses the same hydrocarbon source for it's motor fuel. This design was implemented to minimize the mass of the hellion. This means that the hellion must slow down nearly to a stop to fire its weapon. When firing the giant burst of flame in direction of driving would not only mean that the thermite flame would burn the hellion itself, but also risk an explosion due to thermite-superoxidant backdraft into the engine.

In short, hellion is much harder vehicle to operate. Its primary design was never meant for war but subjugation. It's even more expensive in terms of minerals compared to the vulture, but as this crazy said:
+ Show Spoiler +

[image loading]


So upon the return of the war against Raynor's Raiders, Zerg, and the Protoss, these hellions are not considered as the best weapon of war compared to the old school vulture bikes. However, they still are brutally efficient versus the thin exoskeletons on the drones and zerglings. So every day, hellion drivers are called to either terrorize civillians or assault Zerg mineral fields. Survival rate of the latter mission is approximated to be 15%.

Hope you enjoyed my little interpretation!

-Dessarisc
"Your opponent's doing anything out of the ordinary? Just go f**king kill him." -Day [9]
desarrisc
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Canada226 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-29 02:39:56
September 21 2012 05:15 GMT
#2
Reserved for comments/ future posts on other Terran units.

Poll on what unit you would like to see next:

+ Show Spoiler +
Poll: Which Terran unit's next for me to analyze?

Science Vessel (20)
 
25%

Thor (19)
 
24%

Command center series (PF/Orbital) (9)
 
11%

Ghost (6)
 
8%

Raven (6)
 
8%

Marauder (6)
 
8%

Medivac (5)
 
6%

Battlecruiser (5)
 
6%

Viking (3)
 
4%

79 total votes

Your vote: Which Terran unit's next for me to analyze?

(Vote): Medivac
(Vote): Ghost
(Vote): Raven
(Vote): Science Vessel
(Vote): Command center series (PF/Orbital)
(Vote): Thor
(Vote): Viking
(Vote): Battlecruiser
(Vote): Marauder



Edits:

Added Marine 09/22/2012.
Added Reaper 09/23/2012.
Added Wraith 09/28/2012.
"Your opponent's doing anything out of the ordinary? Just go f**king kill him." -Day [9]
Zombo Joe
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada850 Posts
September 21 2012 05:18 GMT
#3
All this did was remind me of all the plot holes SC2 introduced.
I am Terranfying.
jhlee820
Profile Joined June 2011
149 Posts
September 21 2012 05:20 GMT
#4
Well I personally found this a pretty interesting read. I like your explanation for the hellion as a rebel suppression tool, and I'd like to see more, so keep up the good work!
X3GoldDot
Profile Joined August 2011
Malaysia3840 Posts
September 21 2012 05:21 GMT
#5
i didnt knew dustin browder drove a vulture
prime/startale/[SexComaZerg, RoyalRoaderZerg, SirLifealot] ingame ID = GoodGame
Nazza
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Australia1654 Posts
September 21 2012 05:21 GMT
#6
Nice read.

Good luck trying to explain why the Crucio does less damage than the Arclite though....
No one ever remembers second place, eh? eh? GIVE ME COMMAND
Brutaxilos
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States2624 Posts
September 21 2012 05:40 GMT
#7
Yay! I like these threads. Keep it up!
Jangbi favorite player. Forever~ CJ herO the King of IEM. BOMBERRRRRRRR. Sexy Boy Rogue. soO #1! Oliveira China Represent!
b0mBerMan
Profile Joined April 2012
Japan271 Posts
September 21 2012 05:40 GMT
#8
On September 21 2012 14:18 Zombo Joe wrote:
All this did was remind me of all the plot holes SC2 introduced.

True.

Good analysis on the use of flames by the hellions. 5/5 if blog.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20284 Posts
September 21 2012 05:41 GMT
#9
I believe the answer to the question is that vultures were too powerful in absence of major war. The Dominion Terran realized after the end of the Brood War, vultures even in small numbers provided a highly efficient vehicle for small rebel factions. Packs of vulture bikes can move into Dominion compound in the cover of the night, use their fragmentation grenade launchers while the bikes were still in motion to sabotage much as possible without slowing down. Then as the Dominion forces group up, the vultures can simply lay down spider mines and escape with relatively few losses whereas the Dominion army would need to carefully remove the deployed mines or risk death. Vultures and spider mines became too much of a liability than an asset.

Upon the end of Brood War, the Dominion stopped the production of vulture bikes, started destroying the blueprints, and scrapped any bikes confiscated from the rebels. Soon Vultures were no longer seen on battlefields, not due to their weakness, but due to their sheer power and cost-efficiency.


Those engineers should get their asses to work on a new blueprint ASAP
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
tehemperorer
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2183 Posts
September 21 2012 05:44 GMT
#10
Very awesome analysis, great read!
Knowing is half the battle... the other half is lasers.
ArvickHero
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
10387 Posts
September 21 2012 05:53 GMT
#11
On September 21 2012 14:18 Zombo Joe wrote:
All this did was remind me of all the plot holes SC2 introduced.

bahahahaha seriously
Writerptrk
Typhoon1789
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
Australia292 Posts
September 21 2012 06:23 GMT
#12
Nice short story about SC. :p

Professional Cunt.
FreekSharkHD
Profile Joined January 2011
United States26 Posts
September 21 2012 06:26 GMT
#13
This was awesome. Very nicely done.
If you aren't attacking, your probably losing. -coLqxc
Gamegene
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States8308 Posts
September 21 2012 06:28 GMT
#14
aaa. i really enjoy the StarCraft lore. I think it has the same potential as the Halo Expanded Universe, and maybe it already has reached that because for some reason i'm always extremely disinterested in the Starcraft novels.

has anyone read a significant number of the series? and more importantly: are they good?
Throw on your favorite jacket and you're good to roll. Stroll through the trees and let your miseries go.
-NegativeZero-
Profile Joined August 2011
United States2141 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-21 06:28:52
September 21 2012 06:28 GMT
#15
obviously the vultures were retired because they had outdated navigational computers which only allowed them to move in 8 directions
vibeo gane,
desarrisc
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Canada226 Posts
September 21 2012 07:31 GMT
#16
On September 21 2012 14:21 X3GoldDot wrote:
i didnt knew dustin browder drove a vulture


Dayum, just realized that now too. :O


On September 21 2012 14:41 Cyro wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
I believe the answer to the question is that vultures were too powerful in absence of major war. The Dominion Terran realized after the end of the Brood War, vultures even in small numbers provided a highly efficient vehicle for small rebel factions. Packs of vulture bikes can move into Dominion compound in the cover of the night, use their fragmentation grenade launchers while the bikes were still in motion to sabotage much as possible without slowing down. Then as the Dominion forces group up, the vultures can simply lay down spider mines and escape with relatively few losses whereas the Dominion army would need to carefully remove the deployed mines or risk death. Vultures and spider mines became too much of a liability than an asset.

Upon the end of Brood War, the Dominion stopped the production of vulture bikes, started destroying the blueprints, and scrapped any bikes confiscated from the rebels. Soon Vultures were no longer seen on battlefields, not due to their weakness, but due to their sheer power and cost-efficiency.


Those engineers should get their asses to work on a new blueprint ASAP


Haha, I believe that Dominion probably has copies of the blueprint in their defense facility. Also, some raiders/scrapper factions still have few copies of the blueprint. That's why there was easy technology for the Dominion to modify the Spider Mine into the Widow Mine, which is just rocket propulsion system copied from the Vulture grenade launcher + standard target detection system and its walking design copied from Spider Mine.

Diamondback from the campaign I believe held the spirit of vulture, but it too was deemed to be too strong at raiding, and scrapped.


On September 21 2012 14:21 Nazza wrote:
Nice read.

Good luck trying to explain why the Crucio does less damage than the Arclite though....


Challenge accepted. I'll definitely do seige tanks later. (I think Crucio and Arclite refers to cannons on tank, otherwise how embarassing).

//

Thanks for your support! Is there a particular Terran unit that you want analyzed in terms of lore + mechanics? I'll try to stay close to what Blizzard intended in conjunction with my extrapolation of the army functions of specific units.
"Your opponent's doing anything out of the ordinary? Just go f**king kill him." -Day [9]
Zrana
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United Kingdom698 Posts
September 21 2012 07:52 GMT
#17
What about wraiths to banshees and vikings? I loved wraiths in bw, such a badass looking unit.
Aerisky
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
United States12129 Posts
September 21 2012 07:53 GMT
#18
On September 21 2012 14:21 Nazza wrote:
Nice read.

Good luck trying to explain why the Crucio does less damage than the Arclite though....

Improvement in Zerg body composition and Protoss technology or something? :D

But hahahaha yeah, so many plot holes :X
Jim while Johnny had had had had had had had; had had had had the better effect on the teacher.
13JackaL
Profile Joined March 2011
United States577 Posts
September 21 2012 08:06 GMT
#19
I liked this, a nice read. Although for all the parts you are unsure of you should probably make up something out of thin air to make it sound more serious. Would love to see the other units
and my axe
13JackaL
Profile Joined March 2011
United States577 Posts
September 21 2012 08:09 GMT
#20
On September 21 2012 16:53 Aerisky wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 21 2012 14:21 Nazza wrote:
Nice read.

Good luck trying to explain why the Crucio does less damage than the Arclite though....

Improvement in Zerg body composition and Protoss technology or something? :D

But hahahaha yeah, so many plot holes :X


Perhaps the upgrade in targeting from BW to SC2 came at the cost of firepower. At least they are wasting 20 shots on a single zealot
and my axe
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