Ghost


 * This article is about the game unit. For the lore behind the Ghost, see Ghost Program.

"You call down the thunder and I'll reap the whirlwind."

- Terran Ghost

Ghosts are Terran covert operatives known for their psychic abilities.

Overview
Ghosts were chosen from psychically-gifted individuals who were quarantined by the Terran Confederacy and trained from infancy to channel their psionic energies to augment their natural phsyical strength and endurance. Conscripts who successfully completed the Ghost Program's rigorous training and augmentations then served as commandos and assassins.

Standard Confederate practice was to implant Psychic Dampeners into all Ghosts as a safeguard against insubordination, however these implants could be disabled.

Ghosts channeled their psionic energies through their Hostile Environment Suit, a specialized skinsuit laced with psi-sensitive artificial muscle fiber, to augment their physical capabilities. A cloaking device and requisite power supply were frequently issued as well.

At the fall of the Confederacy, the standard Ghost armament was the C-10 Canister Rifle, firing 25mm HE rounds in addition to more specialized ordnance such as lockdown missiles.

Ghosts were frequently tasked to locate targets for and provide targeting for tactical nuclear strikes. Their reconnaissance role was aided by cybernetic enhancements to their eyes.

Spectres

 * Main article: Spectres

After the Brood War some Ghosts were exposed to terrazine gas, a substance known to drive genetic mutation in psychics. This was part of General Horace Warfield's Project Shadow Blade. The result were "enhanced" Ghosts known as Spectres.

StarCraft
The Ghost is a support unit. Its attack and vitality are unremarkable for the cost. Ghosts are especially effective against protoss and terran armies due to Lockdown.

Ghosts however, are still very fragile units and do very little damage to armored units. Their attack however, is still highly effective against lightly armored units such as Marines and Zealots.

Countering Ghosts requires the usual vigilance and strategies against cloaking and spellcasters.

Abilities

 * Nuclear Strike
 * Starting ability
 * Requires: Arm Nuke
 * Deploys a nuclear missiles at a given location. The Ghost must stand still for 10-15 seconds to successfully target the missile. Nuclear launches are announced by the audio and visual message "Nuclear Launch Detected" and the target location is visible to all players by a flashing red dot. If the Ghost is interupted before the process finishes, the nuclear missile is wasted. Without Ocular Implants, the Ghost's targeting distance is within the blast radius.
 * Lockdown
 * Cost: 200 200
 * Researched at: Covert Ops
 * Energy Cost: 100
 * Disables a mechanical unit for short period of time. Useless against Zerg.
 * Personal Cloaking
 * Cost: 100 100
 * Researched at: Covert Ops
 * Energy Cost: 25 (+ 1  more per second to remain cloaked)
 * Allows the Ghost to cloak. Ghosts may attack and use their abilities while cloaked.

Upgrades

 * Infantry Weapons
 * Infantry Armor
 * Ocular Implants
 * Cost: 100 100
 * Upgraded at: Covert Ops
 * Increases Ghost sight from 9 to 11. Allows the Ghost to use Nuclear Strike from beyond the blast radius.
 * Moebius Reactor
 * Cost: 150 150
 * Upgraded at: Covert Ops
 * Increases maximum Ghost energy by 50.

Quotations

 * See: StarCraft I Ghost Quotations

StarCraft: Ghost
The player-character in the game was a Ghost named Nova. Ghosts were also a playable 'class' in multiplayer.

Psionic powers

 * Cloak
 * Psionic sight
 * Allows the Ghost to see through walls and spot weak points in armor and security features.

Weapons

 * AGR-14 Assault Rifle
 * BOSUN FN92 Sniper Rifle
 * E-11 Lockdown Device
 * Psyblade
 * BE-3 Sticky Grenades
 * E-16 Lockdown Grenades
 * Tactical Nuclear Launchers

Calldowns

 * Arclite
 * EMP burst
 * Identify
 * Irradiate
 * Nuclear Strike
 * Yamato Cannon

StarCraft II
Ghosts gain some new abilities suiting their role as special forces troopers. They also have a higher rate of fire. Blizzard Entertainment is planning on giving them lore-based abilities from novels, graphic novels and a previous project.

Ghosts are trained at a Barracks with an attached Tech Lab and require a Ghost Academy. Ghosts may be available earlier in tech tree, but abilities like Cloaking would only be available afterwards.

Abilities

 * Cloaking
 * Ability Cost: 25 plus 1  per second
 * Nuclear Strike
 * Similar to the ability in StarCraft I, but does a flat 800 damage to units and structures, regardless of their maximum HP. Launching player sees a large red symbol on the target area while the opponent only sees a red dot.
 * Sniping
 * Ability Cost: 50
 * Deals 50 damage to light units + 100 damage vs light armor, giving it the ability to instantly eliminate smaller units, such as Marines, in single shots but will do almost nothing to armored units such as Ultralisks. It cannot penetrate an Infestor's Dark Swarm.
 * EMP shot
 * Ability Cost: 100
 * This upgrade enhances attacks against Protoss and energy-using units. It is an area of effect attack which works exactly like the Science Vessel's ability.
 * Energy Detection
 * Ghosts passively detect units with an energy bar, even within the fog of war, up to a range of 30. This does not enable them to target or Snipe opponents within the Fog of War.

Known Ghosts

 * Main article: Known Ghosts