The newest edition to the Terran army is a larger cousin of the SCV and a replacement vehicle for the Science Vessel, it is dubbed the TF-620 NOMAD.
This hovering sentry is a support/construction unit that is produced at the Starport. Unlike most of the space vessels deployed by the Terran armies, this interesting craft is shaped like a horse shoe. At the end of each of its pronged ends are two mechanical arms which are two aft-mounted nano-welders. This unique feature allows the unit to build small semi-permanent defensive structures such as the auto turret, a small machine gun version of the larger anti-air turret.
The smaller turrets are not only good defensive options, but can make for a quick offensive harass as well. In one of the screenshots provided by Blizzard, we see three Nomads assaulting a Protoss mineral line by placing several auto turrets surrounding the Protoss Nexus. In one of the videos, we see a Nomad dispatch two of these turrets at the same time in almost an instance. However, further examining of the videos and screenshots provided by Blizzard suggest that Nomads can only deploy two turrets at a time. There are no more than two turrets for each Nomad in any given video or screenshot.
Several Nomads deploy their auto turrets
So how has the Nomad replaced the Science Vessel? First off its auto turrets mean that it does physical damage rather than the spell damage that an Irradiate or an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) did. Second, it no longer provides a defensive shield matrix, but rather two auto turrets, which do take damage as possible decoys or meatshields. Mobile detection seems to still be its prime roll. It has also kept its ability to be an effective mineral line harassment option, just as the Irradiate ability had been against Zerg in Brood War. Now with its auto turrets, it can harass Protoss mineral lines instead, and depending on how the Zerg are designed, the auto turrets would technically not be able to deploy on creep. This is only assuming creep characteristics from Brood War are also the same in StarCraft II.
All in all, the Nomad seems to only replace the Science Vessel in detection, but has given up spells for two turrets. In the video we can see the turrets firing away at Dark Templars as the last hope for the Terran player to destroy the Protoss force. Maybe one day these turrets will become the turning point in a game, possibly defeating a Protoss force at the last second with half a dozen of deployed turrets and causing a loud uproar in one of the stadiums in Korea.
An on-going discussion on the Nomad can be found in the GosuGamers.net StarCraft II Forum, just click on the link below.
Links
StarCraft II - TF-620 NOMAD
GosuGamers.net - Nomad Thread
