Nuclear missile

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"Thank God for cold fusion!"

―Terran marine^[src]

The nuclear missile, or nuke, is a terran weapon of mass destruction, fired from a structure. It must be guided to its destination by a ghost.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 The Nuke in StarCraft I 3 The Nuke in StarCraft II 4 References

[edit] History

During the Rebellion of Korhal, which took place on Korhal IV, the Korhalians drove the Terran Confederacy from their world. The Confederates assassinated the Korhalian leader, who was simply replaced with his more dangerous son, Arcturus Mengsk.^[1]

In 2491,^[2] when Mengsk was visiting his secret ally, the Umojan Protectorate, the Confederates fired one thousand Apocalypse-class missiles at Korhal, destroying virtually all life on the world. Millions of Korhalian colonists were killed,^[1] although the rebel movement still survived - with very small numbers.^[3]

As a political consequence of this extreme action, the Confederates limited their use of nuclear weaponry to tactical nukes. These nukes would be guided to their destinations by ghosts.^[1]

Due to the nuclear devastation of their homeworld, Korhalians have demonstrated complete willingness to use their own nuclear arsenal against any potential enemy.^[4]

[edit] The Nuke in StarCraft I

Nukes are built within a nuclear silo, an add-on to the command center.

Nuclear Strike
Acquisition Researched at Nuclear silo	Usage Minerals 200 Gas 200 Range 8 or 10 (1 less than ghost's sight range)
Notes
Deploys a nuclear missile at a given nuclear silo; each silo can only hold one nuke. The costs include 8 supply. To launch the loaded missile, the ghost must direct it; standing uncontrollable and "frozen" for 10-15 seconds until the missile reaches the target. Nuclear launches are announced to all players with the audio and visual message "Nuclear Launch Detected" and the target location is visible to all players by a small flashing red dot. If the ghost is interrupted or the missile is canceled before the process finishes, the nuclear missile is wasted. Without Ocular Implants, the ghost's targeting distance is within the blast radius. The missile itself has a large blast radius and will usually kill any units and critically damage buildings in one shot. It deals 500 damage or removes two thirds of the victim's total hit points, whichever is greater; thus, two nukes will destroy almost any unit or building, if the building was the one targeted point.

The dot indicating the point on which the nuclear missile is about to fall can be hidden by various methods. The easiest way is to place an air unit over the point so that the dot is effectively hidden. When fighting against the zerg, targeting a missile on a bleeding zerg structure will also disguise the dot as some of the blood from the structure, and it will be impossible to distinguish the dot. Another easy alternative is to use firebats, whose flames can actually hide the dot as long as both the missile and the firebat are targeting the same structure.

[edit] The Nuke in StarCraft II

	This article or section contains information about a StarCraft II unit or structure.
	The content may be significantly out of date as StarCraft II experiences a new build weekly and may change substantially as more information becomes available. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.

In StarCraft II, nuclear missiles are once again directed by ghosts.

Nuclear Strike
Acquisition Research time 60 seconds (to arm a silo)[5] Researched at Ghost academy[6][7] Requires Factory[8]	Usage Minerals 100[9][8] Gas 100[9][8] Duration 10 second drop time[11] Hotkey N[10]
Notes
Ghosts can call down nuclear strikes, dealing 300 damage + 200 vs buildings.[8] An immortal will only take 10 damage, however, due to its hardened shields.[12] The launching player sees a large red symbol on the target area[13] while the opponent only sees a red dot.[14] When the ghost is aiming the nuke, it will be "frozen", but it can still be given the order to "move away", which it will do the moment it is unfrozen.
Edit

[edit] References

List of Terran Weapons
Antiques	Blunderbuss · Double-barreled shotgun · Luger · Musket
Close quarters	Balisong · Combat knife · Psyblade · Stunner
Pistols	Blaster · C-7 · C-150 · Flak pistol · Needle gun · P-45 · P30 · P100 · P180 · P220 · P500 · P1000 · Pulse pistol · Repeating pistol · Revolver · Slugthrower · Spike pistol · TX2 · T10 · T20 · Z50
Rifles	AGR-14 · BOSUN FN92 · C-10 · C-14 · C-20A · C-141 AC · Chain rifle · E-9 · Gauss rifle · Pulse rifle · Submachine gun
Other personal	Chain-gun cannon · E-11 lockdown device · Torrent SR-8 shotgun · Wrist cannon
Machine guns	Automated chain gun · Gun turret
Ordnance projectors	A-13 grenade launcher · Bazooka ·Boulder-blaster · C-140 flamethrower · Perdition flamethrower · Tactical nuke launcher
Grenades	BE3 · EMP · Flash · Fragmentation · Hellfire · Irradiation · Lockdown
Charges	D-8 · Satchel · Thermonuclear charge
Mines	Heuristic · Hopper · Shape-charge · Spider
Missiles and rockets	Apocalypse-class nuclear missile · Hellfire missile · Napalm rocket · Nuclear missile
Other ordnance	Deuterium-eight charge · Mercer-class doomsday device