StarCraft

[DrSpike]

Prima guides are usually pretty awful, at least the ones I've seen.

[lord of the mark]

i reinstalled this again this weekend, and started from the beginning.

[DrSpike]

A good choice.

[Elok]

Well, now that it's been bumped, I don't have to feel bad about mentioning that I'm now on Protoss expansion mission eight. It's looking tough just from the sheer number of the vermin and the delicacy of my starting position.

I intend to fight on through until I've beaten the Terran missions, and then probably call it quits, because I am now all but certain that I hate the freaking Zerg. I like aerial combat, I like being able to build what I want freely without a massive initial investment of time and money, I like lots of versatile special abilities, I like troops with staying power, I like siege weapons that can be moved in a hurry, and I like mobile detectors that don't have "shoot me" signs on their backs. And so on.

[Barinthus]

Aw, come on!

Why not keep going until you've completed all missions?

Do you have brood wars?

[Elok]

Yeah, that's what I mean by "the expansion missions." And I just really dislike playing as the Zerg. I might give them another shot, but they're just so clunky to play. Even with their new Lurker units, they have poor stealth attack capabilities, for example. No Dark Templar, Arbiters, Ghosts or Wraiths for them. Just a few mobile field traps, like weaker Sunken Colonies. And that's another thing; their defensive structures are so large and specialized that it's incredibly difficult to get good overlap. Lurkers will actually probably help in that respect; they could be used like DT defensively. But all the same...there are just so many awkward things about the Zerg. I know they're balanced in the long run, but I prefer more intuitive and individually-tough "civs."

[Jon Miller]

Zerg is a very offensive race.

They are good to use to break the defensive mindset that some players of Terran and Protoss get into.

Jon Miller(
I prefer Zerg)

[Elok]

Yeah, they're pretty offensive to me. Repulsive vermin...

I know they're ultimately balanced in many ways, like their ability to churn out tons of troops in a hurry for little cost. But their weaknesses are just a little too apparent. I mean, just four DTs at a base can slaughter an entire legion of Zerg invaders. By the time they bring in the Overlord half their force is already gone, and the Overlord doesn't stay for long because the Corsairs chase it down and kill it, fast. After, that is, one of them pauses to use disruption web on a group of Hydras to protect the Templar. Now, if they had a Comsat station or an Observer...or I guess they could use Ensnare more effectively, but the Corsairs usually chase off the Queens too, before they get a chance. And while a dozen Guardians can indeed quickly mow down entrenched defenses...half a dozen Reavers are even quicker about it, and they can be transported by Shuttles. Bottom line, I just don't like the constant-attrition style needed to win as Zerg. Others do, well, more power to them.

[Kataphraktoi]

Without playing starcraft much, let me say that zerg are favoured in MP and have been toned down again and again to balance their zergling rush-discussing them as if they are weak looks a little funny...

[Whoha]

Now a days people go random in multiplayer. ever since the spawn rate on larva was toned down, and the spawn pool increased in cost life is good. if you are expecting a zerg rush you can even mount a credable defense against it.

[Elok]

Well, I'm not talking about MP, where you start with just a town hall building and four workers. I'm talking about the single-player missions, in which both sides already have at least some sort of base built up. Zergling rush just doesn't work in the missions. I should know, after all the AI's pitiful attempts, and my own. Hydralisks are the real danger, and eventually Guardians and Mutas. The Zerg are far easier to defend against than Terrans or Protoss in my experience.

Again, I should stress that I'm not what one would call a good player anyway. If you wish, you can say that the Zerg "require more skillful handling." By which I mean constantly churning out endless soldiers for a long, boring war of attrition. That does require skill, after a fashion (micromanagement). And an iron resolve. I play the game to have fun.

[Whoha]

actually not, again in MP zerg requires the least control of all 3, just pump out your army and attack move them at the enemy base. But that is not to say that there aren't strategies(skillful use of zerg units can be quite frightening), or that zerg don't have durable units(ultras and devourers are both quite nice in broodwars).

[DrSpike]

It's best to play all the campaigns - the races are very different, and this is a good thing.

In time you may learn to appreciate the zergy goodness.

[Elok]

Huh? They'd better micromanage if they don't want to be completely sodomized. Their answer to Capital ships, the Scourge, are kamikaze one-shot wonders, and have to be constantly replaced to continue aerial warfare (unless you're very good with Defilers, which is another kind of MM). Overlords, as I noted, have to be used very carefully to avoid either your armies getting slaughtered by cloaked units on the one hand, or running out of control and shuttles as your detectors get splattered on the other. Plus, Zerg armies aren't exactly built for reuse, are they? You inevitably lose quite a few Zerglings in each rush, and then you have to rebuild them, in addition to waiting for the survivors to heal (which is roughly equivalent to Shield Battery recharges or Medics/repairs for the other players).

I know Ultras are durable, but since the Zerg have no quick-heal ability you have to either rotate out Ultras continuously or just use them continuously until they're finally offed. They're also one-trick ponies. Durability is all they have; twenty attack is hardly impressive, they're stuck on the ground, and they have no Yamato or interceptors (I think of them as the closest equivalent the Zerg have to Carriers and BCs).

Not much different from Archons, really, except that they can't butcher groups, be recharged in seconds, or defend against aerial attacks. Oh, and they're slower and higher up on the tech tree. In return, they're marginally cheaper, and also significantly more durable in terms of defense. But, when that durability keeps getting gradually whittled away and takes AGES to recover...the Zerg just aren't how I like to play, is all.

Devourers I haven't tried myself, but I'm told they have the slowest attack in the game, and function as rough equivalents to Corsairs and Valkyries--they smash enemy air units when properly used but have definite vulnerabilities.

[Whoha]

"Huh? They'd better micromanage if they don't want to be completely sodomized. answer to Capital ships, the Scourge, are kamikaze one-shot wonders, and have to be constantly replaced to continue aerial warfare (unless you're very good with Defilers, which is another kind of MM). "

capital ships aren't so scary, its mainly the suprise. hydras with defilers, or mutalisks and devourers both do quite well against them. devourers, in addition to their normal attack(as good as a bc initially, but less per upgrade) can slow down an enemy ship's rate of fire to a little more then double the original cooldown, and make it take 9 more damage, or double for a hydralisk, and up to 4 times as much damage for a mutalisk.

"Overlords, as I noted, have to be used very carefully to avoid either your armies getting slaughtered by cloaked units on the one hand, or running out of control and shuttles as your detectors get splattered on the other."

overlord hunting does have to be accounted for(both at your base and out on the field), but it is not the insurmountable problem you make it out to be. with the speed upgrade, and the support of hydras on the ground your overlords should do ok.

"in addition to waiting for the survivors to heal"
a unit with 1 hp attacks just as well as a unit with full health.

and about ultras, in broodwars they got two new upgrades: an armor one, and more importantly a speed upgrade. they aren't defensive units though, sunkens are cheaper and better for that sort of work. Ultras can take fire while the rest of your expendable vermin get into position