Starcraft
Brood War
Zerg colony FAQ - Beginner to Expert
TheManWhoCan (joeyolbean@hotmail.com)
Hey. TheManWhoCan here. Thanks for reading my FAQ on Zerg. If you have
any questions or comments please e-mail at joeyolbean@hotmail.com. You
will get full credit for submitions. Want to play me? then send me
details about when you want to play on Battle.Net (ie, screen name,
password for locked game, room name etc.)
Thanks again. Enjoy.
Version History
Sept 28 - Started FAQ
Table of Contents
1)Introduction to Zerg
-Very Basics
2)Buildings
-abilities
-basic building
-advanced buildings
-costs
-upgrades
-requirements
3)Units
-ground units
-air units
-Heros
-costs
-special abilities
4)Getting Started
-Start your first colony
-Step by step learning
5)Advancing
-using more buildings
-using more units
6)Big colonies
-using all units
-using all buildings
7)Strategies using Zerg
-strategies using Zerg
8)Strategies against AI oppenents(general)
- general strategies concerning all species against AI
9)Strategies against AI opponents(in depth)
-in depth strategies against every AI species
10)Strategies against Human Opponents
-effective and proven strategies against humans
11)Pros and Cons of Zerg
-whats good and whats bad
-what other species have against Zerg
12)Helpful Hints from other people
-hints sent in from other people
13)Playing On Battle.Net
- tips that are very important
14)Appendix
-extra things that wouldnt fit anywhere else
15)Copyright
-copyright
-thanks
-sites FAQ is allowed on
Introduction to Zerg
-very basics
Zerg in my opinion is the second strongest species next to protos. So
why am I writing an FAQ on Zerg? Because I play as Zerg and to me they
are the most fun to play with. Anyway, getting to the FAQ:
Zerg are a species where everything they build is living. Everything
must be built on a "CREEP" except for a "HATCHERY" (the building that
produces drones. Equiv. to Terran Command Centre and Protos Nexus)
Zerg builds all of their units from larvae which are spontainiously made
from the hatchery. Only 3 larva will be made at once. The larvae morph
to eggs, which in turn morph to the species desired.
Zerg are the fastest producing species in the game.
Zerg generally do not have strong units and they win by strength in
numbers.
This is a big part of the game. You must get to know every building
off by heart in order to succeed. You must also produce them quickly.
This should prove to be helpful:
Basic Buildings
Zerg Hatchery
This is the main building. Larva are created here so you can build
units. You must have this in order to produce units. This usually
comes standard in games so don't worry about creating a second one
yet. It can be upgraded 2 times. The better the upgrade, the faster
larva are produced, the more hit points (HP) it has, more buildings
and units are capable of being built.
You do not have to build this building on a Creep, it creates creeps.
Cost: 300 Ore (mineral)
Abilities: Produce Larva, Set Rally point (units go to rally point when
spwaned. Origionally at hatchery), Burrow Ability.
Upgrade to Lair: 150 ore 100 gas
Evolve Burrow Ability: 100 ore 100 gas
Zerg Lair
This is the second stage for the Hatchery. Larva are produced faster
and more buildings can be created.
Cost: 200 ore 200 gas
Upgrade to Hive: 200 ore 150 gas
Requirements: Zerg Hatchery
Evolve Ventral Sacs (Overlords are are able to transport units):
200 ore 200 gas
Evolve Atennae (increased Overloard sight): 150 ore 150 gas
Evolve Pneumatized Carapace (Faster Overloard movement): 150 ore 150 gas
Zerg Hive
The final version of a Hatchery. It produces larva faster and can allow
all buildings to be made and final upgrades.
Cost: 200 ore 150 gas
Requirements: Queens Nest
Creep Colony
These are used to extend your creep. They can also be upgraded to
colonies for defence. If you want a big base with lots of defence,
use these.
Cost: 75 ore
Upgrade to Sunken Colony (ground defence): 50
Upgrade to Spore Colony(air defence):50
Spore colony requires an Evoloution Chamber.
Sunken Colony
Great defence for ground units but completely vulnerable to air attacks.
A building that can only be built over a Gueyser. Use Drones to mine it.
Cost: 50
Evoloution Chamber
Great building used to upgrade units. If you have more than one, you
can upgrade more than one thing at a time.
Cost:75
Upgrade Melee Attacks,
Level 1, 100 ore 100 gas
Level 2, requires lair, 150 ore 150 gas
Level 3, requires Hive, 200 ore 200 gas
Upgrade Missle Attacks,
Level 1, 100 ore 100 gas
Level 2, requires lair, 150 ore 150 gas
Level 3, requires Hive, 200 ore 200 gas
Upgrade Carapace (armor),
Level 1, 150 ore 150 gas
Level 2,requires lair, 225 ore 225 gas
Level 3, requires Hive, 300 ore 300 gas
Zerg Hydralisk Den
Needed to be able to produce Hydralisks at the Hatchery. Great units.
Cost: 100 ore 50 gas
Upgrade Muscular Augments (faster Hudralisk movement): 150 ore 150 gas
Upgrade Grooved Spines (increased Hydralisk attack range): 150 ore 150
gas
Evolve Lurker Ability (they're like mobile sunken colonies but better),
requires hive: 200 ore 200 gas
That's the end of the basic buildings. If you haven't played starcraft
before, familiarise yourself with these before moving on. You can still
produce hoards of Zerglings and Hydrlisks with the basic buildings.
Advanced Buildings
Zerg Spire
When built, you are able to hatch Mutalisks and Scourges. This building
is for your air attack.
Cost: 200 ore 150 gas
Requirements: Lair
Upgrade Flyer Attacks,
Level 1, 100 ore 100 gas
Level 2, 175 ore 175 gas
Level 3, requires Hive, 250 ore 250 gas
Upgrade Flyer Carapace,
Level 1, 150 ore 150 gas
Level 2, 225 ore 225 gas
Level 3, requires hive, 300 ore 300 gas
Zerg Greater Spire
This is the upgrade to Spire. It allows you to morph air units to
different ones and allows to finish off upgrading.
Cost: 100 ore 150 gas
Requirements: Hive
Queens Nest
This building allows for Queens to made and is required in order to
upgrade Hatchery to Hive.
Cost: 150 ore 100 gas
Requirements: Lair
Evolve Spawn Brooding (transforms selected ground unit to a Zerg
Broodling): 100 ore 100 gas
Evolve Ensnare (target enemy unit, then ensnare them. It slows rate of
fire and movement): 100 ore 100 gas
Evolve gamete Meiosis (+50 energy for Queen): 150 ore 150 gas
Zerg Ultralisk Cavern
These are the biggest ground units available to Zerg. Very strong. Oh
ya,
the Ultralisk cavern allows you to produce Ultralisks.
Cost: 150 ore 200 gas
Requirements: Hive
Evolve Anabolic Synthesis (faster Ultralisk movement): 200 ore 200 gas
Evolve Chitinous Plating (improved Ultralisk Armor): 150 ore 150 gas
Zerg Difiler Mound
Enables you to create Defilers. Also gives upgrades for them.
Cost: 10 ore 100 gas
Requirements: Hive
Evolve Plague (a cloud of plague. attacks enemies and takes HP down to
a very low number but will not kill them): 200 ore 200 gas
Evolve: Consume (allows Defiler to eat/consume an ally to restore energy
{50 at a time}): 100 ore 100 gas
Evolve Meta Synaptic Node (+50 Defiler energy): 150 ore 150 gas
Zerg Nydus Canal
This allows for quick and easy transportation from you base, instantly
to
anywhere on the map. Buit the entry and exit must be built on a creep.
Cost: 150 ore
Requirements: Hive
Place exit anywhere you want as long as its on a creep.
Infested Terran Command Centre
You Queen is able to infest a severly damaged Terran command centre. It
then becomes part of your base and you can produce Infested Terrans.
They
are suicide bombers that run into people causing 100 damage. They are
very useful in swarms.
Cost: N/A
Requirements: must be seerly damaged. Queen is needed
Thus ends the building part of the FAQ.
All buildings are alive in Zerg and this is an advantage because the
building start to regenerate themselves if they have been attacked. This
means that everything regenerates itself. Pretty useful since drones
don't repair things. Once you have familirized yourself with these,
move on.
Units
-ground units
-air units
-Heros
-costs
-special abilities
Units are obviously a huge part of the game because you cant win without
them. So this part of the FAQ is geared towards the units and upgrades
etc.
Zerg Ground Units
Ground units are very effective throughout the entire game. Most ground
units are capable of burrowing anywhere on the map. This is an extremely
useful technique. Check out strategies using Zerg for a lot of info.
Each unit counts towards you maximum number of units (200). Some cost
more and some cost less (zergling 1/2, ultralisk 4). If you lose units
in battle then your unit number goes down so you are able to produce
more.
Note: all units stats are upgraded
Zerg Drones
The very first ground you should have. These guys create all of the
building and mine ore and gas. They can also attack but they do little
damage (5). They can also burrow in case of danger.
Cost: 50 ore 1 unit
Requirements: Zerg Hatchery
Stats:
40 HP
Attack: Spines
Damage: 5
Armor: 0 + 3
Zerg Zergling
The second unit that you should build. You can produce these guys the
fastest and you will also have the most of these. They only cost 1/2 a
unit so that means you get 2 zergling for every larva.
Cost: 50 ore 1/2 unit
Requirements: Hatchery
Stats:
35 HP
Attack: Claws
Damage: 5 + 2
Armor: 0 + 3
Units attacked: Ground
Hydralisks
Good overall units. They can attack air units as well so it's a good
idea to have lots of these.
Cost: 75 ore 25 gas 1 unit
Requirements: Hydralisk Den
Stats:
80 HP
Attack: Needle Spines
Damage: 10 + 3
Armor: 0 + 2
Units attacked: Ground and Air
Lurker
Upgraded Hydralisk. Only attacks when burrowed and cannot be attacked
unless it's spotted.
Cost: 200 ore 200 gas to evolve ability
50 ore 100 gas 2 unit for actual lurker
Requirements:Hydralisk Den, 1 Hydralisk
Stats:
125 HP
Attack: Subterranean Spines (a line of spikes that hits multiple
enemies)
Damage: 20 + 6
Armor: 1+ 3
Units attacked: Ground
Defiler
These guys use spells instead of attacking. Great strategy to hit and
run
or hit and burrow
Cost: 50 ore 100 gas 2 unit
Requirements: Defiler Mound
Stats:
80 HP
Attack: Plague, Dark swarm
Damage: Depens on unit attacked
Units attacked: Ground and Air
Ultralisk
Biggest ground troops in Zerg colony. Very strong but expensive.
Cost: 200 ore 200 gas 4 unit
Requirements: Ultralisk Cavern
Stats:
400 HP
Attack: Kaiser Blades
Damage: 20 + 9
Armor: 1 + 3
Units Attacked: Ground
Infested Terran
Huge amounts of damage at once! Great units.
Cost 50 ore 50 gas 1 unit
Requirements: Infested Terran Command Centre
Stats.
60 HP
Attack: Suicidc
Damage: 500!
Armor: 0 + 3
Units Attacked: Ground
This is the end of ground units. These guys cause serious damage and can
be made rather quickly. Remember that the key to winning with Zerg is
strength in numbers, so ALWAYS keep producing guys. You hatcheries
should
NEVER stop producing units
.
Air Units
Air Units can attack air units and ground units depending on the air
unit used. Catch that? Compared to other species air units, they are
relatively weak. But you can produce twice as many so that makes up for
it.
Overlord
Their main function is so that you can have more units. They increse
the number of units you can have at one time up to a max of 200. They
do have upgrades (check lair upgrades for info). They are also used as
scouts. The overlord detects enemies and cloaked units so that you can
see them and attack them.
Cost: 100 ore
Requirements: Hatchery
Stats:
100 HP
Armor: 0 + 3
Mutalisk
Main flyers that are pretty effective. Their attack bounces off the
enemy and damages another one at the same time.
Cost: 100 ore 100 gas 2 unit
Requirements: Spire
Stats:
120 HP
Attack: Glave Wurm
Damage: 9 + 3
Armor: 0 + 3
Units attacked: Ground and Air
Guardian Aspect
One upgrade from mutalisk. They a big and slow moving but have a long
attack range and do pretty decent damage.
Cost: 50 ore 100 gas
Requirements: Greater Spire
Stats:
150 HP
Attack: Acid Spore
Damage 20 + 6
Armor: 2 + 3
Units attacked: Ground
Devourer Aspect
The other option of upgrading Mutalisks. Very good air defence.
Cost: 150 ore 50 gas
Requirements: Greater Spire
Stats:
250 HP
Attack: Corrosive Acid
Damage: 25 + 6
Armor: 2 + 3
Units Attacked: Air
Scourage
Probably the best air defence available to Zerg. Very low costs for
everything and they do huge amounts of damage. But they blow themselves
up for the damage.
Cost: 25 ore 75 gas 1 unit
Requirements: Spire
Stats:
25 HP
Attack: Suicide
Damage: 110
Armor: 0 + 3
Units attacked: Air
Heros
Heros are over powered units that can cause havoc on pretty much
anything given the chance.
Note: I'm not gonna go any of the heros except Infested Kerrigen because
heros are usually not included in any games because they can provide too
much of a swing in your favour.
Infested Kerrigen
An amazing hero and my personal favourite. She uses powerful spells and
can attack with incredible force.
Cost:?
Requirements:?
Stats:
400 HP
Attack: Claws
Damage: 50 + 3
Armor:2 + 3
Units attacked: Ground and Air
Infested Kerrigen can also use Psy Storm (a powerful lightning attack
on selected unit), consume and Cloak.
Getting Started
-Start your first colony
-Step by step learning
Alright. You're gonna start your first colony and you need some help.
Well here's the help.
Step 1)
( Assuming you start with 4 drones, 1 Overlord and no minerals or gas.
if you start with 2 drones just mine)
Start the 4 Drones by mining and wait until you have approx.
50 or more ore.
Step 2) After you have mined at least 50 ore, create 1 more Drone with
50 ore and get him to mine. Wait until you have at least 50 again and
make another Drone. Continue to do this until you have about 8 Drones.
Note: it's a good idea to make all of your drones mine as soon as they
hatch if you don't have a specific duty for them right away..
Step 3) Create a Spawning Pool for 200 ore using a drone.
Step 4) As you are creating your spawning pool, wait until you have 100
ore so you can build an Overlord.
Note: check the top right hand corner of your screen to see how many
units
you currently have, and what the maximum is.
Step 5) Build 2 more drones for 100 ore
Step 6) Spawning Pool should be just about finished, if it's not then,
build another drone. If it is make some Zerglings.
Step 7) Using one of your drones, build an Extractor
Step 8) While the Zerglings are being produced and your Extractor is
also,
produce some more drones.
Step 9) If the Extractor is done take some mining Drones (3 is a good
number) and make them mine some gas, then make 2 drones using 2 larva,
and 2 Zergling using 1 larva.
Step 10) Build a Hydralisk Den and create some more drones to take the
place of the one that's becoming the Hyrdalisk Den.
Step 11) Continue mining and make some Zerglings incase someone wants
to attack.
Step 12) Set up come creep colonies and make them sunken colonies
Step 13) Make an evoloution Chamber
Tada. You have finished making a small colony. You can now make
Hyrdalisks
and Zerglings. And you should have about 300 minerals or more at this
point. If you don't then you should make some more drones and mine some
more. Soon you will see that Zerg produces things really fast and that
you should always be busy doing something.
Advancing
-using more buildings
-using more units
This is continuation of the basics. So you should have at least the
above mentioned.
Step 14) Build another Hatchery because you can't do enough with one.
Step 15) Build 1 drone and 4 Zerglings
Step 16) Build 4 Zerglings and 1 Drone
Step 17) Start evolving melee attacks first
Step 18) Build an Overlord if not already done
Step 19) Build more Zerglings
Step 20) Hatchery should be done now, build a drone from Hatchery 2
Step 21) Build a Hydralisk from H1
Step 22) Build a drone from H2 and H1
This is where it can get complicated
Step 23) Build Zerglings from both Hatcheries and send 12 of them after
the enemy (you should have more than 12 now. You could have sent the
Zerglings out earlier if you wanted to)
Step 24) Build another drone from H2, and build a creep colony with a
drone and make it a sunken colony
Step 25) Start to build another hatchery (H3)
Step 26) Evoloution Complete. If you have the minerals and gas evolve
Carapace
Step 27) Evolve To lair
Currently you should have at least 100 minerals available and 500 + gas
Step 28) Build a drone from H1 and one from H2
Step 29) Because you have so many drones mining ore, it should replenish
to about 200 rather quick. When that happens, Evolve Burrow.
Step 30) Evolve Faster Zergling Movement at Spawning Pool and create 2
more Drones, 4 Zerglings and 2 Overlords.
Step 31) Hatchery 3 Complete. Build Zerglings
Step 32) Create a Spire using a ore mining drone and buil 1 to take
its place
Step 33) Build a Queens Nest
Step 34) Build 3 or 4 creep colonies
Tada. Now you have a pretty strong coony that can produce units at an
incredible rate. Bravo.
Big colonies
-using all units
-using all buildings
If you thought that the above was hard to follow then this isn't gonna
be easy. I will do the best I can to keep things organized.
Step 35) Build Drones to take the place of the ones that are becoming
creep colonies, queens nest and spire.
Step 36) H1 builds 6 Zerglings, H2 builds 2 drones and 1 Hydralisk, H3
produces 4 Zerglings and 1 Drone
At this point minerals might be tough so you can breathe a bit while
you start mining again.
Step 37) Queens Nest, Spire, Spawning Pool and Evoloution Chamber are
done. Do nothing with these right now.
Step 38) H1 Evolves to Hive H2 produces Hydralisks, and H3 produces
Zerglings
Step 39) Relax and let the mineral count increase ( it won't take long)
Step 40) H2 builds 1 Drone H3 produce 2 Drones and use Evoloution
Chamber
to increase Hydralisk missle attack
Step 41) Turn Creep Colonies into Sunken Colonies and launch another
attack (this should have been done a while ago actually but this is
meant
for building and getting established)
Step 42) Hive Completed. Upgrade Faster Zergling Attack at the Spawning
Pool. H3 Produces 6 Zerglings, H2 produces 1 Queen, 1 Mutalisk and 1
Hydralisk.
Step 43) Get more drones. Now we need to really start mining the mineral
because some expensive things are comin. Build some More Overlords
Step 44) Evolve Hydralisk Attack Range and evolve Hydralisk Attacks Den
and Spire
Step 45) Create an Ultralisk Cavern and when that is made, upgrade
Ultralisk armor.
Step 46) Build Defiler Mound and when thats finished Evolve Plague
Step 47) Evolve Queen's Brooding Ability
Step 48) Previous evoloutions are complete. Make any attacking unit you
wish and create another Evoloution chamber.
Step 49) Create Creep Colonies and mix them with spore and Sunken
Colonies
Step 50) Envoke Lurker Aspect at Hydralisk Den
Step 51) Upgrade the Spire whenever you get the chance
Congrats. You have a great army and from previous attacks using
Zerglings
the enemy should be a little bit damaged. Mind you that all of the
above
is just a good starting method, you can mix and match everything if you
want. IE, build guys earlier, make different guys, make different
buildings etc.
The Next section I think is the most important because it has a lot of
good strategies using Zerg.
Strategies using Zerg
-strategies using Zerg
This is a good section. In here will be some proven strategies that work
with Zerg. It will also feature strategies and tips sent in by others
to help others.
Zerg is the speices that wins by strength in numbers. Knowing this,
it should be the main goal to produce as many units as you can handle.
To do this, build lots of Hatcheries. It can get confusing trying to
keep up with about 6 but it should do you well in any battle. For those
who are counting, thats 18 Ultralisks at once, 36 Zerglings or 18
Hydralisks etc. See how the numbers add up. Your Hatcheries should never
be doing anything and neither should you. You have to keep sending waves
of units at the enemy.
After sending units to attack the enemy, make sure that you have many
more
in reserve in case they counter attack. The worst thing that could
happen
is that you launch an attack and it does next to nothing, and they
counter
attack and destroy you because you have no unit protecting your base
(Sunken Colonies and Spore Colonies work well but they are not nearly
enough). If however your units cause some pretty serious damage but they
all die while attacking, take the units that should be being made from
the Hatcheries, and set a rally point next to the enemies base. This way
you don't have to worry about selecting the desired unit and telling
them to attack, it will do it for you.
Burrow lots of guys. If there is an enemy near your base watching whats
going on and you don't see it, he will think that not much is going on
so he might launch an attack. If he does you will be prepared and you
could also possibly counter attack. You should also burrow guys near
the enemy base because when they try to launch an attack with lots of
guys you can either interupt them on the spot, or you can let them run
over top of you and then attack their base. Wait until they are about
half way to your base and then attack because this way it gives them
an option of what to do; keep attacking the base or defend their own,
and they might hesitate before making a descision.
Use lots of creep colonies. They are pretty good defence when you have
a lot of them. Try to accumulate 3 rows of Sunken and Spore colonies
(mixed together) covering your base. After you have those, make lots of
lurkers and Scourages. If they get passed your 3 rows of Colonies
(which will be tough), then you have an awesome last defence waiting for
them. Lurkers are EXTREMELY good defence for ground troops and since not
many people bring scouters with them to the battle field, the Lurkers
will cause some serious damage before they die. I've had Lurkers last
the
whole game without being detected. Scourages on the other hand are great
for taking down Battlecruisers and other heavy air units. They cause 110
damage per unit and they can be built fast, cheap and easily. You can
send the Scrouages out on patrol around your entire base so they will
alert you (by attacking) if you are about to be attacked.
Use the Overlords. You can produce as many of them as you want. If you
take an Overlord with you (right click on O.L, then click on unit you
wish it to follow), then it will detect any cloaked units so you can
attack them with ease. Plus, they will draw a lot of attention to
themselves so it basically occupies the enemy for a while as well.
Creating as many Ultralisks as you can may not be as good of an idea as
you think. If you do this, you are vulnerable to air attacks, and it
will suck up unit numbers like mad and it will be really expensive.
Sure you can use a bunch of them but don't do it all at once and mix
them
in with some air attackers as well.
Evolve! This is a huge part. The evoloution chamber is very useful and
must be used. Everytime you build a new building, check to see what
kind of evoloution it has and use that to evolve the guys your going to
attack with. If your not planning on attacking with Hydralisks right
away, but with Zerglings, then upgrade the Zerglings. This is a huge
part,
to restate the above mentioned.
Spread everything out. Do not keep everything in a big bundle because it
makes your building easier to attack. Say you get nuked my the Terran
and they drop it in the centre of the base where your 4 Hatcheries,
spawning pool , Evoloution Chamber etc. is, you might as well start
building somewhere else as soon as you hear "Nuclear Launch Detected".
Go find the Ghost that launched and kill him immediately. This is a
great strategy. If you spread everything out, then either the enemy has
to break up it's troops or they all concentrate on killing ONLY ONE
thing. You should be pretty safe with this.
Build two of everything. If one spawning pool dies, you will still have
another one to make Zerglings and Hydralisks with. If one of your
important building die, then you don't have to worry about it because
you can still produce many units. Also, if you have 2 of everything
while you are still evolving units, then you can evolve 2 differnt
things
at the same time. If you have 3 Evoloution chambers then you can
upgrade like crazy, then if they die, it's not a problem because your
units are upgraded. They become decoys instead of a priority.
Set traps. This is also a great technique. Have a bunch of units
burrowed
somewhere, and have about 4 of them unburrowed. Now go find some enemies
to kill. When you do that, start to retreat as fast as you can back to
where your units are burrowed. When the enemy get there, unburrow all
of them and take them out. It really fun when it works.
Use some units as scouts. Send in a couple of guys early (even a Drone)
just to see what the enemy is doing so you know how to counter it.
Knowing what the enemy has is a great advantage.
Always have LOTS of Drones mining ore and gas. Now I mean lots. You want
to have enough minerals so that you can build and upgrade anything
without having to worry about costs.
In case you missed it, set rally points near the enemy base so that you
have a constant onslaught of attacking units. Very useful for hot seat
games where you need guys attacking fast but can't control all of them.
Note: a good goal to set for attacking fast is to try to beat the Terran
race (AI) on Insane in under 11 min.
Tips on Using Queens and Defilers.
Queens and defilers can be very useful if used correctly. Queens have
the Spawn Broodling abilty, which allows her to destry a singly unit
outright. Plus it turns them into Broodlings. Their not strong but it's
still a bonus. Use the queen to Parasite a unit. Go to their base and
Parasite a highly valued or high price unit. Note: Parasite allows you
to see the enemy base. The reasoning behind Parasiting the high priced
unit is that the only way to get rid of a parasite is to kill it. Queens
also have the ability to Infest a severly damaged Terran Command Centre.
If you are going to launch an attack on the enemy command centre, take a
Queen with you and have her ready to infest. Once this is completed,
start production of infested marines immediately.
Defilers are also really good units for taking down lots of troops. When
you first hatch them, take them near the enemy base and burrow them to
let their energy charge up. When that happens, unburrow one of them and
send them into the base. When you reach a part that has lots of building
in a clump, Plague them. It won't kill the buildings, but it will take
it down to such a low number that 1 Zergling could take it out. Then
burrow you defiler. Now repeat the process with the other Defilers.
I've heard from people I have played against that it really sucks to get
Plagued because if you want to keep your buildings you have to repair
them using Drones, and that takes time and it occupies a drone as well.
Against units the defiler is also deadly. If you ensnare them with a
Queen, it slows them down considerably and slows the rate of fire, then
Plague them with the Defiler so that a low unit of your can come and
finish the job.
You can also set a Defiler trap which is really effective. I actually
did this to someone and it worked like a charm.
They had about 10 Protoss Zealots and I had a bunch of guys burried
somewhere waiting. I sent in a Defiler to get their attention, and it
worked. They ran after my Defiler immediately. I got to where I had my
guys burried and burried my Defiler and the top of a 3 Defiler triangle.
My Zerglings and Hydralisks were in the middle of the triangle, right
under the Zealots. Anyway, I unburried the Defiler at the bottom right
and Plagued them. Right after that they ran towards me and I burrowed
my Defiler. I then unburrowed the one at the left and Ensnared them
then burrowed again. They ran after it and I popped up the Defiler at
the top and Dark Swarmed them then burrowed. Immediately after that,
I unburrowed my the Zerglings and Hydralisk and destroyed all of them
with only losing 1 or 2 guys. I thought that was needed to show the
effectiveness of the Defilers and trap making.
Note:If you think that a different strategy would be more useful in any
situation, then use it. Don't solely use this FAQ as a means to try to
gain victory, it is mearly a guide to help people get better at the
game.
For instance, you could build the evoloution Chamber earlier and build
the Spire earlier as well. Whatever fits the game you are playing is
what you should do.
Strategies against AI oppenents(general)
- general strategies concerning all species against AI
The following strategies are for computer AI. They aren't specific
strategies against each species (that's next) but they are general
strategies that will hopefully gain you a victory.
Start attacking as early as you can because you want the jump on them.
Do not give them a chance to get established. If your Zerglings do some
decent damage during your first attack, then produce more Zerglings and
stop upgrading anything that isn't Zergling related. As soon as you
Zerglings ger creamed (if they do), then continue on schedule as before.
So basically, if it works to try to fiz it. If you find a strategy tht
works then stick with it until it doesn't. That's good advice for any
game.
Attack from different angles. IE, send units to the side but DON'T
attack
yet, then send units to the other side and send some straight down the
middle. Attack with the ones at the top first. If your squad is big
enough
then it will draw the attention of all other threats to the middle.
When that happens and you have a clear path, attack with the ones at the
left. Wait until attention is focused on them and attack with the ones
at the right.
Use Defilers a lot and use the Plague spell especially. If you get a
squad of Defilers ready, they can cause some serious damage. Spread
them out and if you're good, you can Plague the whole base! Then send
in the troops. The Plague spell does not lower the shields of Protos
but it attacks their HP so it will still take lots of damage to kill
them still. They wont be push overs so don't underestimate them. Terran
has no shields and the Plague spell is especially effective against
them.
Still, do not underestimate them either.
Try to target either Command Centres or Barrcks of some sort first. This
point may cause some disputes and for good reason. Anyway, if you take
out the Command Centres first, then they can't collect ore or gas. If
you take out the Barracks then they cant prodce guys. Also take out
anything that produces units. Against the computer they will have lots
of these so it's a good idea to take them out. The last thing you want
is for the enemy to be able to produce as many guys as you can, as
quick as you can. Because then, you will lose.
Strategies against AI opponents(in depth)
-in depth strategies against every AI species
This part is Strategies concerning each species. It's more in depth
then the above.
Against Protos:
Protos is an amazing species. If they ever have as many units as you
do you're done for without even a prayer. So guess what the key is here.
Attack early and fast. You basically have to just wear protoss down
without them getting established at all. 1 Protos Zealot can take about
2-3 Zerglings out. So you literally have to make twice as many guys
as they can. If Protos is so strong, what is their weakness? Protos
are the slowest developing race in the game. This doesn't mean that you
can just slack off and wait to build units and launch an attack. This
means you have to attack more then they do.
Build lots and lots of Air Defences because Protos has really strong air
units. Scourages and Guardians are great here because Scourages can take
out lots of strong units. Guardians are great for taking out Photon
Cannons
because they destroy the cannons, but the cannons cannot attack back
because they are too far away. Use the Guardians a lot. In short, the
Guardians can attack the cannons without worrying about a counter
attack.
Bring extra Overlords with your units because Protos has lots of
Cloaking
capabilities.
Against Terran:
Terran I guess you could say has the best of bothe worlds. If they have
lots of Barracks, then they can produce mediun to strong units pretty
fast, and they have really goo air support as well. They also have
Nukes!
These suck and can destryou your entire base with a well positioned
Nuke.
The strategy here is to attack fast again and keep pressure on them. You
can destroy them quicker then Protos because they aren't as strong.
Again, set some good traps for them to walk into because you can kill a
lot guys of theirs with less units of yours. Sunken Colonies and Lurkers
are soooo effective here becuse they attack fast and very hard. If you
are gonna get swarmed by Infantry, have lots of Lurkers. They could save
your life.
Destroy the ghosts becasue they are able to target your base for Nukes
and that sucks, so use your Overlords as scouts and also use some
Zerglings to patrol the outskirts of your base. With this strategy, they
will take care of the Ghost.
This next strategy is good against any species. Burrow lots of guys
around
your Hatcheries so in case they get through your defences and start
attacking your Hatcheries, you can unborrow a swarm of guys and
hopefully
drive them away.
Against Zerg
Fighting the Zerg race is different from fighting others because the
enemy
can produce units as fast as you can. So, build up your army some more,
instead of attacking faster. If you have the bigger army, you should win
because you have equal power.
Build up guys and evolve them sooner. By building up I mean send 20
Zerglings for first attack instead of 10. The more guys you have the
better. Plus, if you get them evolved first, you will have an edge in
power which should mean, you can take out of them per unit of yours.
2 Evoloution chambers is effectivee.
Lots of ground defence first, then lots of air defence. Zerg should come
out with lots of ground attacks first otherwise they are concentrating
on building flying units and will get swarmed (by you) using ground
units
and they will lose; so the more ground defence you have the better. Use
lots of sunken colonies and Lurkers here, then pump up your Mutalisks in
a combonation of Devourers and Guardians. These are extremely powerful
units. Send Scourages patrolling your base for air units. Lots of these
will dispose of plenty of enemies very shortly.
Pros and Cons of Zerg
-whats good and whats bad
-what other species have against Zerg
Pros:
Everything Zerg has regenerates itself over time
Zerg produce units the fastest
You can launch attacks very soon in the game
You can have massive bases to help destroy the enemy
You can burrow anywhere on the map
Most of your units move fast
Some units are hard to kill when evolved to their max
Cons:
Most units arent very strong at all
If the enemy has the same amount of units you do, you lost
Air defence isn't that great
Air attackers arent the best
Most units either attack Ground or Air, not both
A Nuke will kill you
So you see, there are good and bad things about Zerg. If used properly,
they can be the most devestating race out there, but if used
incorrectly,
you undoubtly become the worst.
Helpful Hints from other people
-hints sent in from other people
Send in tips or strategies using Zerg here.
Thanks to AnonamousZergMan for this tip :
When you get lurkers burrow them at any choke point you know the enemy will have to
pass through for some reason or another. Then ally the person you will want to attack.
This will allow their units to walk right on top of your lurkers without them attacking and
giving away their position. When the bulk of the enemy force is in the middle of the
lurker field, unally that person. The result is a bloodbath and usually the person will
accuse you of hacking but you really didnt. The trick is to always remember to unally if
they are attacking you or you are going to attack them. Another good idea is to put one
zergling in front of the lurkers so you know when the enemy is coming to give you time
to unally.
I do not recommend using this in any ladder games or other games where "cheating" is
not allowed because this is a cheat in a way but is quite effective when playing games
with "no rules".
Thanks to El Conrado for this tip :
You wanna' kill Carriers? Use Dark Swarm. YES, Dark Swarm. Unlike whatever you
think, Dark Swarm DOES protect you from the Carrier ships attack.
Here's how you do it: :
Have approximately 1 group of 12 Hydralisks for every 6 Carriers the enemy uses. (As
best upgraded as you can)
Have at least 2 pairs of Defilers fully charged and ready. (With Dark Swarm and Plague)
For extra spice, have a Queen ready. (With Ensnare) Here's the trick.
As soon as you see the Carriers approach, use Dark Swarm below them with 2 or 3 of
your defilers. DO NOT throw the swarms on the same spot, spread it below the Carriers,
covering the most extended area possible. With the last Defiler, use Plague trying to hit as
many as you can.
Now, move your Hyds into the swarms, WITHOUT attacking, getting them as close to
the Carriers as the map allows you. Select a group of Hyds, and (here's the kicker), while
holding the SHIFT KEY, Right-Click EACH CARRIER ONCE. Repeat with the other
groups of Hyds. To prevent them from escaping, Ensnare them with the Queen if you can.
The Carriers are probably dead by now. Why? The Carrier Ships' attacks are ranged, and
the Dark Swarm prevents any none-splash range damage to be incurred by any unit below
it. While the Plague doesn't damage their shields, the Carriers lose the only sort of energy
they can't repair, Hit Points, and while their HPs are going down by it, the Hyds are
destroying their shields, making them to basically to suffer double damage (or be left with
only 1 hit point when their shield is out).
Why use the Shift Key? Because it queues every attack command. If you leave them
alone, the Hyds will only return fire to those attacking them, the smaller ships. If you
command them to area-attack, they will do the same. They are never going to attack the
Carriers on their own as long as they have ships (and any decent Protos player always
has). If you right-click each Carrier while holding SHIFT, the Hyds will automatically
attack them in the order they where selected up to 12 times. If you don't do this, as soon
as they kill the Carrier you ordered them to attack first, they will go back to killing the
smaller ships of the other Carriers. Devourers are a good backup for this Carrier killing
method, as they will make the Carrier suffer +1 damage more from ANY attack (read:
Hyds) they receive after every hit by them, up to +9 damage.
There is only one important flaw in this technique, which is easily prevented if you're
smart. Dark Swarm doesn't protect you from melee attacks, meaning Zealots, Dark
Templars, Firebats, Zerglings, Lurkers, Ultralisks, can have a party killing the Hyds
bellow it, without the Hyds being capable to retaliate (ranged attacks can go out of the
Swarm, but not in). In order to prevent this, just gave a group of strong ground-only
melee units (Ultralisks, Lurkers or lots and lots of Zerglings) under the swarm with the
Hyds, and some Overlords or Spore Colonies near to detect invisible units (Dark
Templars or Zealots under an Arbiter). This may not prevent your Hyds from getting
killed, but nether will it save the Carriers.
This trick works 9 our of 10 times, with me even destroying 3 groups of 12 Carriers with
only 6 Hyds.
Try it.
Playing on Battle.Net
- very useful tips
The following are very useful tips for playing on Battle.Net.
Protoss Carriers are nearly unstopable in large numbers!! Destroy these
things immediately because they will make you lose if the hang around.
You need an unimaginable amout of Scourages to destroy a lot of
Carriers.
If anyone has a sure fire strategy for eliminating Carriers then please
let me know!!
The Carriers little ships are the ones that do the damage, however they
have unlimited ships and they keep respawning unless the Carrier is
destroyed. The Defilers Dark Swarm doesnt work (i dont think) so ure
best
to plague them.
I found that a good way (not fullproof) of getting rid of Carriers is to
ensnare all of them with the Queen and then plague them with lots of
Defilers. This helps a lot but won't kill them.
In a map called Faster map Possible or Fastest map Ever there is no
point
in putting up Spore colonies if you have any time. This is for the
following reasons:
Spore colonies will not attack the actual Carriers (much like every
other
unit)
Because you have unlimited resources comin in to you, you have the
ability to build around 16 Hatcheries or more. This means you have to
manage them all at once. Good luck finding time to build Spore Colonies.
Their not very strong.
In this map you should reach your underling limit in under 20 min.
Defilers are VERY USEFUL. Read that over and over again. Use the Dark
swarm a lot for ground troops because you cannot take damage when
underneath it. Certain enemies ignore the dark swarm, ie. Lurkers, or
Carriers, so be careful.
Each Defiler can shoot the Dark Swarm 2 times before having to recharge.
Whenever you get the chance to build a Defiler, do so because they
can very well keep you in the game long enough to win it.
Nydus cannals are great because you should have loads of hatcheries all
over the place and with Cannals, you can transport much needed support
instantly to anywhere you're being attacked.
Rush time sucks. Because you are Zerg, your advantage is is that you can
produce units the FASTEST. If the rush time (time before you can attack
the enemy) is like 20 or even 15, or any for that matter, you are at a
HUGE disadvantage. This gives the enemy a chance to produce as many
units as you can. And we all know what happens when the enemy has as
many units as you. Try to stay away from games with high rush times or
you are going to lose :).
Appendix
-extra things that wouldnt fit anywhere else
If you play on the Internet and you get smoked like 2 minutes into the
game by a bunch of Protos or Terran. Or if you launch an attack, and get
creamed by a bunch of Carriers, Ultralisks, or Battlecruisers
(at the beginning), the person you are fighting against has map hacked
and you had no chance of winning from the beginning. They just waited
for you to launch an attack, so it gave them an excuse to attack back.
Don't feel bad :) lots of people map hack and there are only a few who
don't. Now, if you get smoked like 40 minutes into the game, and you are
just starting to produce Ultralisks, or Guardians, theres a good chance
that the enemy will have a bigger army then you, and they will have lots
of air support so they could not be map hacking, so use your discretion.
Copyright
-copyright
-thanks
-sites FAQ is allowed on
