Marine

The Marine is the basic infantry unit of the Terran race in the video game of StarCraft.

Background
Marines are the first line of defense for many of the Terran colonies. Most were convicts or rebels (referred to as "culturally challenged" by the Confederacy) who have been "resocialized" via brain surgery, implants such as aggression inhibitor, and, according to StarCraft: Speed of Darkness, Resocialization Tanks. It appears that this is unknown to many of the Confederacy's citizens, believing that a unit is never made up of more than 50% resocialised individuals.

Resocialization removes the emotionally charged violent criminal memories from the subjects and replaces them with filler memories. The process leaves the subject inclined to automaticly take orders, sometimes with no regard for its source. Despite these memory changes, marines tend to have numerous graffiti on their armor, such as skulls, vulgarities, and such. UED Marines, do not have usually have such graffiti, possibly meaning the UED uses a different process, or, judging from in-game UED marine dialogue, different troop discipline. The resocialization process is considered advanced and infallible by the Terrans but trivial and easily disabled by the Protoss.. Even Terran psychics can undo the process to an extent. It can also 'shatter' in times of extreme stress.

Each marine is armed with a C-14 "Impaler" Gauss Rifle. The rifle propels an 8 mm "spike" at hypersonic speeds through the use of electro-magnets.

A Marine wears a Powered Combat Suit (according to the manual) somewhat like the Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers (albeit without the jump jets). Marines are afforded full life-support, NBC shielding, and in-field stimulant delivery systems called stimpacks. The stimpack provides increased speed but the user suffers tissue damage and other negative effects.

In-game, they behave similarly to the marines from Aliens, even quoting lines from the film.

Game Unit
Marines cost 50 minerals, and are built at a Barracks. They are the most basic combat unit of the Terrans. Unlike the Zerg's Zergling or the Zealot of the Protoss, Marines have a ranged attack and are capable of attacking air units, making them more versatile in comparison. The fact that they do Normal (equal) damage to all types of units also makes them the most balanced of units in the game. Once the Stimpack ability is researched, Marines and Firebats can use stimpacks, which increase their movement speed and firing rate at the expense of 10 hit points. In Brood War this ability can be used more often as Medics will heal Marines and Firebats of all damage, including stimpack-induced damage. If you listen closely as the stimpacks are activated, the Marines say "Ahh thats the stuff!"

One tactic of the game is to specialize in mass-training Marines. They are also used for early game rushing.

The Marine in StarCraft: Ghost
The Marine in StarCraft: Ghost is a heavily armored, slowly moving unit, compared to the more lightly equipped Light Infantry unit. Marines carry powerful Gauss rifles which, according to BlizzCon information, may be attached to grenade launchers. The Marines can also carry flak pistols which inflict area-of-effect damage.

The Marine in StarCraft II
As of the StarCraft II gameplay footage released on May 21, 2007, the marines in the video appear to be carrying riot shields; their rifles are also equipped with bayonets. Marines will undergo the graphical upgrade if the player selects a defensive upgrade.

Quotes
"I vote we frag this commander."

"How do I get out of this chickensh*t outfit?!" (From Aliens).

"Oh my god, he's whacked!"

"You want a piece of me, boy?"

"If it weren't for these damned neural implants you'd be a smoking crater by now!"

"Give me something to shoot."

Abilities

 * Stim Pack Tech

Upgrades

 * Infantry Weapons
 * Infantry Armor

U-238 Shells
Increases Marine range to 5.
 * Cost: 150\150
 * Upgraded at: Academy