Thor

The thor is a very large terran mechanical unit.

Thor Project
The Thor project was the most significant Terran Dominion military development since the Brood War. It was developed at the Simonson munitions factory on Korhal under a complete security lockdown; the workers were effectively all under arrest to prevent any leak of information. As the project came closer to fruition Umojan Protectorate spies observed an increasing flow of high-ranking Dominion officers coming and going from the plant. Their hacking of cargo manifests showed deliveries of battlecruiser-weight neosteel armor and their sensors showed regular seismic shocks. Nonetheless, their information was extremely limited. Umojan agent Ulli Trey sneaked into the facility and, using an array of stealthy drones, finally acquired the information the Protectorate had sought; the secrets of the Thor Project were bared; a vehicle armed as heavily as a battlecruiser. The Protectorate feared that no counter to this weapon would be discovered.

A thor is armed with a pair of "Thor's Hammer" particle accelerators (fired from the arms) and flak cannons (for use against aerial opponents) mounted on the shoulders. It only requires one crew member.

Game Unit
A thor has a relatively large size when compared to other units. It has a long firing range and splash damage.

The March 2008 version of the thor could move at about the speed of a siege tank in assault mode.

Blizzard is currently looking at the possibility of medivac dropships being used to transport the thor, as they would be limited in use if built on an island. However, the fact that the thor is several times larger than a dropship begs consideration.

The thor's air attack graphics are being changed to missile attacks.

Combat Roles
As of November 2008, the thor's primary roles are to act as the "tip of the spear", a big tough unit that can push past an artillery barrage or fortified positions or push into an enemy base and lead marines into battle.

Its other primary role is to defend allies from air attacks with its powerful anti-air attacks especially against groups of smaller air units. The anti-air attacks have an area of effect that is devastating against small air units such as zerg flyers but is inefficient unless the air units are tightly grouped. The attack is not as effective against heavily armored air units such as battlecruisers.

The thor is countered by range, mobility, and certain anti-armor units. It doesn't deal enough splash damage to effectively deal with units like marines.

Thor vs Siege Tanks
Some features that existed on the thor in previous builds led to a concern that its role was overlapping with that of the siege tank. Unlike the siege tank, the thor is an assault unit rather than a siege unit. Its ground attack has much less range than a siege tank's 120 mm cannon, so it is exposed to enemy fire while attacking.

Another difference from the siege tank is that the thor can also function as a ground to air attacker.

Development
Blizzard Entertainment has had trouble finding a role for the Thor.

In early builds, the thor could be constructed by SCVs in the field, though is now built from the factory. The Thor "structure" cost 300 minerals/ 300 gas/ 6 supply/ 100 seconds, hotkey T

The thor had a slow turning speed in the BlizzCon 2007 build, enabling units such as the Cobra to destroy it easily with micromanagement. It now turns fairly quickly, and the turning speed is no longer a balancing factor.

The thor was scaled down in size as it was vulnerable to micro-ing from smaller units that could be built in only a fraction of the time and resources required to build a thor.

As of March 2008 the thor has been shrunk from its original size and can move faster in order to suit its anti-air role better. However, its anti-ground attack was weakened.

250mm Cannons
Artillery Strike was a powerful long-ranged area-of-effect attack. To use the Artillery Strike, the thor had to expend energy, then it "stabilized" itself as the cannons on its back were lowered. The four 250mm bombardment cannons alternated raining damage upon the area. This ability needed to be researched. The ability was later removed.

Thundergod

 * Main article: Thundergod

The thor was featured in the StarCraft: Frontline short story, Thundergod.

Known Pilots

 * Sandin Forst

Trivia

 * "The Mighty Thor" is a comic book written and drawn by Walter Simonson. It appears the Simonson Munitions Factory was named after him. Simonson is also the author of the World of Warcraft comic series.


 * The thor is named after Thor himself - the Norse god of thunder.