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. Buildings -abilities -basic buildings -advanced buildings -abilities -costs -upgrades -requirements 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. Cost:50 ore Requirements: Creep Colony Spore Colony Good defence for air attacks only. Cost: 50 Requirements: Creep Colony Spawning Pool You need one of these in order to create units. Cost: 200 ore Upgrade Metabolic Boost (faster Zeergling movement): 100 ore 100 gas Upgrade Adrenal Glands (faster Zergling Zergling attack): 200 ore 200 gas Adrenal Glands require a Hive Extractor 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. 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