Nuclear missile

"Nuclear Launch Detected"

- A notification that someone is about to be nuked

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.

History
"Whenever I see a world untouched by war, a world of innocence, a world of lush forests and clear rivers... I just wanna nuke the crap out of it!"

- A ghost

Nuclear weapons were first developed by humans during the 20th century on Earth. Following the Long Sleep, the Koprulu Sector colonials redeveloped these weapons. They were deployed during the Guild Wars.

In 2491, the Terran Confederacy bombarded Korhal IV with one thousand Apocalypse-class missiles to suppress the. Life on the world was devastated and millions killed. . However Arcturus Mengsk, the rebel leader, was off world at the time and proceeded to rebuild the movement.

As a political consequence, the destruction of Korhal forced the Confederates to limit themselves to tactical weapons. Battlefield targeting was provided by ghosts. The cataclysm removed the inhibitions the remaining Korhalians had on using their own arsenal.

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

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.

StarCraft II
In StarCraft II, nuclear missiles are once again directed by ghosts. However, they are built in and launched from the ghost academy. Though the nuke's target is still shown as a small red dot to enemies, to the player and allies a large red target with cross hairs shows the nuke's target, with the cross hairs growing closer together as the targeting of the nuke completes. The size of the target approximates the area of effect of the nuke, giving the player and allies a clear area to evacuate from. Nukes directed by tosh and nova will do 700 damage to anything and an extra 500 against structures.