Marauder

The marauder was a terran heavy infantry unit fielded primarily by the Terran Dominion, developed to support marines against heavy ground targets such as armored zerg and protoss units. Armored in a reinforced infantry suit and armed with twin grenade launchers, the marauder was one of the heaviest of the terran infantry units, its suit built from the chassis of the firebat. (StarCraft Field Manual; StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)

Origin and design#

The marauder arose from post-Brood War studies by the Dominion Armed Forces, which showed a growing need for combat units better able to defeat zerg carapaces. To meet this requirement, engineers developed the 5-4 Armored Infantry Suit from the firebat's CMC-660 chassis and equipped it with two Quad K12 "Punisher" grenade launchers, one mounted on each arm. The suit's grenade auto-loader was stocked with components that let it manufacture and load hundreds of standard Punisher grenades in the field. By 2503, marauders were being fielded. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty; StarCraft: Ghost: Spectres)

The troops who manned the suits were quite different from their firebat counterparts. As of 2504, forty-seven percent of marauders had never been to jail, and only twenty-three percent had ever been accused of murder, a marked contrast to the heavily resocialized, criminal stock that filled the firebat ranks. The suits could also be fitted with kinetic foam, which let operators survive impacts that would otherwise have killed them. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)

Variants and operators#

A more powerful version of the CMC-660 used by marauders was approved for field testing, with any marauder who volunteered compensated in credits. When the Dominion Special Forces surveyed marauders on how to improve their hardware, the resounding answer was to increase the size of their guns, and that feedback was incorporated into a Special Forces variant of the suit. The marauders of the Knights of Tyrador wore suits that weighed twice as much as the standard, with extra hydraulics and exhaust added to compensate for the additional mass. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

Marauders also served outside the Dominion's regular forces. Some made up the original crew of Mira's Marauders, where it was speculated that they were either unusually loyal for mercenaries or simply subject to exceptional blackmail. The Umojan Protectorate likewise fielded marauders, equipped with more advanced suits than their Dominion counterparts. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)