|Forum|Articles|Starcraft. By Anubis   HOW TO PLAY STARCRAFT ZERG Zerg are my favorite species, I say that to explain why my Zerg tactics are somewhat more comprehensive than for the other species. Also all things I say in here apply to the Brood Wars version of Starcraft. On a unit to unit basis, Zerg is the weakest of the three species, Zerg tactics revolve around their superior build speed and numbers. Having a large number of hatcheries is pivotal to a successful Zerg strategy, one should have at least three or more hatcheries spread across multiple bases. Zerg offensives should take the form of saturation attacks, ie throwing large numbers of cheap and easy to produce units at the enemy to confuse and disorient him. To counteract the Zerg units inferior strength, one should amass large reserves early in the game by taking multiple mineral deposits( this also satisfies the need for multiple hatcheries) and then use those multiple hatcheries along with the Zerg's superior build speed to launch successive saturation attacks later in the game. ZERGLING: Wait, don't laugh yet. Cracklings may be weak,but as a Zerg player you are not playing for quality. For a mere 150 mineral points, each hatchery can turn out six cracklings at at time, which means a player with several hatcheries can amass a huge force of them in no time at all. The speed and attack upgrades at the spawning pool are necessary upgrades for a crackling offensive, as they increase the effectiveness of a cracking rush by 300 to 400 percent. Small forces of cracklings (12-24) can be used to destroy unguarded expansions while larger forces should be mixed with more powerful units, like ultralisks. Most players will target the ultralisks first, giving the cracklings time to eat the base out from under them. Lurkers, Carriers, Dark Templar,Firebats, and Siege Tanks are highly effective against cracklings, so if your opponent is using those units, pick another strategy. HYDRALISKS: Hydras are more expensive and time consuming to build than cracklings, but they are also much more effective. There is practically nothing that can stand up to a good hydralisk rush. When upgrading, the range upgrade is by far the most important, and should be purchased as soon as possible. Tanks, Reavers, and Guardians are most effective at killing hydras, so if your opponent has any number of these, you should consider a different strategy OVERLORDS: Overlords are one of the Zerg's strengths. Not only do they provide necessary supply points, they are mobile, they are detectors, and they can transport units. Overlords allow you to preform maneuvers that would not be possible with the other species,such as dropping 100 guys into the center of a poorly protected base. The speed upgrade is vital, it should be the first upgrade you make regardless of what your strategy is. LURKERS: Lurkers are best for defensive purposes. Lurkers can be used to monitor unused mineral deposits, or can be placed near your bases front line to protect against ghosts. Offensively Lurkers offer the Zerg player a rare opportunity to micromanage, they can be deployed to destroy portions of a base that are not covered by detector structures. Again reavers, siege tanks, and guardians are the best defense against them MUTALISKS: Mutalisks are unfortunately not terribly useful in combat. They are weak and their attack has both a limited range and does not do much damage. Mutilisks are quick to build and have a very high speed, this gives then some use as a quick strike force to destroy expansions or as a follow up attack to finish off a base that was weakened by previous waves of units. Mutilisks can be easily defended against by turrets and the close range nature of their attacks makes them easy targets for area effect spells like Ensnare or Pisonic Storm. SCOURGE: Scourge are another unit that is not terribly useful for most combat situations. As a cheap air unit they do have some use for scouting missions or to test for weaknesses in the borders of an enemies base. Offensively, they have some use in softening up battlecrusiers and carriers before launching an attack but they are not really cost effective when used against smaller units. QUEEN: Queens have several useful spells. Parasite is probably the most useful of the three, as proper intelligence is key to launching an effective attack against the enemy. Unfortunately Parasite is completely useless against Terran comps, they will immediately remove it with a restoration spell. When using paracite on Zerg and Protoss comps, shuttles and overlords is ideal, as the computer AI will fly their transport units between all their bases. Ensnare is mainly useful against tightly clumped enemy units, like carriers and battlecruisers. Spawn Broodlings is probably the least effective of the three, the broodlings are far too weak to do any actual damage. Spawn broodlings can be used however to clear a base of tanks or templar before launching an attack. ULTRALISK: Unlike most other Zerg units, ultralisks are expensive both in resources and supply points. Fortunately they are so strong that only the most anal retentive ground defense will be able to kill them before they can do some damage. Utlralisks are best used as a first strike unit, they can be sent in to soften up a bases front line defenses so that a secondary wave of cracklings or hydras can finish them off. The best defense against ultralisks are powerful air units, like guardians and battlecruisers. DEFILER: Defilers are highly useful spellcasting units that have several spells at their disposal. Plague is the most useful of the three, it sprays an area effect goo that will take any object it hits down to one point of health. Consume allows the defiler to regain mana by killing off another one of your units. Since as far as l can tell, the amount of mana gained is the same for a cheap unit as it is for an expensive one, you can send in a detachment of cracklings to serve as "food" so a single defiler can plague a bases entire exterior. Dark Swarm is probably the least useful of the three, it casts a cloud that interferes with the AI of any unit that is caught inside of it. DEVOUER: If you need to attack an enemy that is predominately heavy air units (like carriers or battlecruisers) then devourers are the way to go. Devourers are much stronger than mutalisks and can withstand multiple blasts from Pisonic Storm and Irradiate. Compared to most Zerg units they are fairly expensive, you will not be able to carry out an effective campaign without at least one expansion. Devourers are best killed by ground units, they are also not very effective against "cheap" air units like wraiths and corsairs. GUARDIAN: Guardians are in my opinion the most powerful Zerg unit. The guardians long range, damaging attack, and flying ability make it dominate just about any other ground unit. Guardians are fairly vulnerable to the Irradiate and Psionic Storm spells and can also be quickly killed by a good Wraith or Scout rush if they are not covered by another unit. If they are covered by another unit the best way to go is Goliaths with the missile range upgrade.     Syntax Error/:|Forum|Articles|