In a Melee game of
StarCraft:
Brood War (who actually plays
Vanilla SC?), Terrans are the race that require the most
micromanagement. Every Terran unit has an ability that has to be weaned from it, be it
Stim Packing,
Spider Mine laying, repairing with
SCVs or, in the case of the underused
Valkyrie, running away after firing a barrage.
Against
Zerg, Terrans can opt for many different strategies. The Terran can try a
Bunker Rush (in which the Terran builds a Bunker near the opponent's base, loads it with Marines and repairs it as it gets attacked), the classic
Marine and Medic attack/containment (in which the Terran builds a group of Marines and Medics and then attacks with them or camps outside the Zerg's base), a
Wraith Rush (in which the Terran tries to kill as many Overlords as he can with
Wraiths to irritate the Zerg) or
Metal (in which the Terran builds Factory class units).
Against
Protoss, Terrans commonly
wall in (that is, they build a
Barracks at the
choke point and climb up the
tech tree while staying safe within the main base) use the Factory class units to counter the Protoss' force of
Zealots and
Dragoons (
Vultures counter Zealots,
Siege Tanks counter Dragoons, Spider Mines deal heavy splash). Occasionally a Protoss will encounter a Terran that uses
Infantry units. This strategy is rare for a reason: Infantry are easily defeated by
Psionic Storm or a few
Scarabs from a
Reaver, or even a group of them. If a Terran player can accept these sacrifices or counter these methods (through EMP Shockwave, which eliminates the
High Templar's energy or Lockdown, which disables the Reaver), this is an effective strategy because of the relative cheapness of Infantry units.
Against other Terrans, the game is unpredictable. Many Terrans opt to play a different race when presented with the Terran vs Terran matchup. Terran vs Terran games can go in any direction, but the most common endgame involves a very underused unit, the
Ghost. In the Terran vs Terran endgame,
Nuclear Missiles and
Lockdown are both used consistently unlike a vs Zerg game, where there is nothing to Lockdown and Nukes are easily spotted by passing Overlords or a game against a Protoss, where Ghosts are usually tossed aside because they aren't needed that much and the
Vespene Gas is better spent on Siege Tanks or upgrades.
Overall, the Terrans are a fun race to play. It's fun to see a group of Marines and Medics march upon a Zerg base and wipe out the units there. It's great to see a skilled player wildly command his Vultures to hit and run their opponent into submission. Terrans are awesome.