Ghost

"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 successfully completed the Ghost Program's rigorous training and augmentations. These individuals 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 channelled 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

 * See: 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, which also used covertly-acquired Protoss technology as part of its research. The result were "enhanced" Ghosts known as Spectres.

StarCraft
Ghosts are support units, best trained for their special abilities. Against Terran and Protoss opponents a small number of Ghosts can cripple an army with Lockdown. On the offensive, the judicious use of Cloaking can get a Ghost close enough to launch a devestating nuclear strike. Detectors are critical to guard against infiltrating Ghosts since it is difficult to spot the tell tale 'shimmering' that cloaked units exhibit for such a small unit, especially when the Ghost is not moving.

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 0 200
 * Researched at: Covert Ops
 * Energy Cost: 100
 * Disables a mechanical unit for short period of time. Useless against Zerg.
 * Personal Cloaking
 * Cost: 100 0 100
 * 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 0 100
 * Upgraded at: Covert Ops
 * Increases Ghost sight to 11. Allows the Ghost to use Nuclear Strike from beyond the blast radius.
 * Moebius Reactor
 * Cost: 150 0 150
 * 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.

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

All information here is tentative and subject to change pending the release of the game.

Abilities

 * Cloaking
 * Ability Cost: 25 plus 1  per second
 * Nuclear Strike
 * Similar to the ability in StarCraft but does less damage. Launching player sees a large red symbol on the target area while the opponent only sees a red dot.
 * Sniping
 * Costs 50 energy
 * Deals 50 damage to light units + 100 damage vs light armor, giving it the ability to instantly eliminate smaller units, like Marines, in single shots.
 * EMP shot
 * Ability Cost: 100
 * This upgrade enhances attacks against Protoss and energy-using units. It is an area of effect attack which drains shields and energy from units and structures.
 * Energy Detection
 * Ghosts passively detect units with an energy bar, even within the fog of war.

Known Ghosts

 * Main article: Known Ghosts