starcraft (first one)

[tannish2]

i know its been out for 10 years but i just realized, i never beat the original campaign (i was 8) without cheats... the zerg missions always stumped me... i hate to admit it but... i suck with them. anyway, tips on playing them?

[averagejoe]

Well, for one, you almost never have to go to 200 men when facing the computer, so don't be stingy with workers. When playing the zerg, one mistake people make is not to build scourges. However, until you can get the devourer, which is high on the tech tree, the zerg really have no great anti-air units. The hydralisk is decent, and great when teamed with the defiler, but it isn't mobile enough, and the computer usually has all its tech upgraded first thing. Besides that, scourge are very efficient, though micromanagement is essential.

Other than that, there are varied strategies you can use. I find that one usually wants a healthy mix of different units when fighting the computer. Also, terran get rediculously owned by the defiler's dark swarm ability, as their only units which can get through it are the splash damage from the siege tank and firebat.

Any problems in particular you're having? The key thing to remember that vs. computer strategy tends to be very different from PvP, especially in the campaigns, because, while the computer is much more predictable than a human, they are already fully developed at the start of the game, and you need to catch up.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

i know its been out for 10 years but i just realized, i never beat the original campaign (i was 8) without cheats... the zerg missions always stumped me... i hate to admit it but... i suck with them. anyway, tips on playing them?

Zerglings are good in swarms, but suck muchly individually. Never send out Zerglings in less than two full groups of 12. use grouping (shift + number to set, then press number to recall) to manipulate them easier.

Multiple hatcheries when you have the resources. Multiple hatcheries means more units comming out at a time. With two hatcheries next to each other, you can crank out a full group of Zerglings at once. The key to winning with Zerg is to overwhelm your opponent with massive numbers of opponents, multiple hatcheries vastly increase the number of units you can crank out at a time.

Keep a mobile reserve. If you're sending out two groups of zerglings, make sure you've got at least one group back at base in case you get attacked. Make sure you have enough spore colonies and hydralisks to defend against air assault.

Expand and Conquer. Seriously, you can only build on the Creep, which means you want to freekin' COVER the map in Creep. Drop a colony down anywhere you find resources that you can defend. Aggressively build.

Castle doesn't work. Zerg fixed defenses suck. Spore Colonies are more useful than Sunken, mostly because they are also detectors (like you need detectors with Overlords running around all over the place) and are anti-air, which Zerg suck on (unless they are breaking out Carriers, in which case you swarm with Scourges). With Brood Wars, they get Lurkers, which help offset the problem, but still have plenty of issues, and take up unit resources that could be used in your next massive swarm.

Your best defense is a good offense. Since Zerg defenses suck, you absolutely NEED to put them on the defensive, and KEEP them there. Letting them get their feet under them is a BAD thing.

[Assasinater]

Well, hands down, Starcraft was pretty hard indeed, I don't recall finishing it without cheats and that was because I wanted to see the story through.

Some simple tips, though:

The computer starts heavily fortified in almost all missions, so any chances of rushing is out of question. That means you have to build fast and fortifying your base at the same time. In many games with zergs, I tried to spam sunken colonies, along with a few spore colonies. Scourges tend to work well against an air assault, but you need to control them well.

But there is also the case of resources. If you lock yourself in your base, it's good chance that you'll run out of resources faster than them, so it's imperative to build frontier bases near those extra resources. If possible, keep your forces in a place that can quickly respond to all of your bases. Oh, and spam colonies in those frontier bases too.

That's some basics from me, though people with better tips are sure to follow.

[Tom_Violence]

I remember I found some nifty cheats on the internet that helped me get through it in a timely fashion. But then, I am regularly lazy and impatient.

[Demented]

Just build two dozen hydralisks as fast as possible, expand to a new site, build another two dozen, and proceed thusly.

Occasionally, you may need guardians to deal with threats like siege tanks or well-defended cliffs. But ultimately, the computer isn't equipped to handle an overly large horde of hydralisks.

And averagejoe is right, don't skimp on workers. The more workers you have, the more resources you get, the faster you can build troops, and the faster you can destroy an enemy base. Do that soon enough and you'll earn yourself access to the computer's mostly unharvested resource deposit: You'll find they often have tens of thousands of minerals available to them. (Whereas undefended resource deposits rarely have as many resources.)

Rule of thumb for Zerg:
They don't call it 'zerg'ing for nothing. What you could've done with 12 marines, you need to do with 36 zerglings. What you could've done with 12 wraiths, you need to do with 36 mutalisks. What you could've done with 12 dragoons... Well, dragoons suck on their own, so, nevermind.

[Krytha]

The only zerg mission I had problems with was the second last zerg mission (or was it the last one?) where you had to destroy the protoss temple in the top middle of the map. You had lots of minerals but not a lot of vespene and there would be periodic reaver drops to wreck your defenses and any burrowed groups that were hanging around. I would just build up 200 units worth of lings, hydras and some ultralisks (couldn't really afford to get air) and then just rush up the map.

Hrmm... maybe I want to play starcraft again tonight...

[TSGames]

The only zerg mission I had problems with was the second last zerg mission (or was it the last one?) where you had to destroy the protoss temple in the top middle of the map. You had lots of minerals but not a lot of vespene and there would be periodic reaver drops to wreck your defenses and any burrowed groups that were hanging around. I would just build up 200 units worth of lings, hydras and some ultralisks (couldn't really afford to get air) and then just rush up the map.

Hrmm... maybe I want to play starcraft again tonight...

I thought that was the one where you just had to bring Duran to all the beacons... Mass zerglings made that pretty easy for me.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I thought that was the one where you just had to bring Duran to all the beacons... Mass zerglings made that pretty easy for me.

He's talking classic Starcraft, not Brood Wars.

[Cybren]

Zerg don't have good anti-air?
huh?


Scourge for capital ships, Mutas and Hydras for fighters. Mutas count as small units, so they take only half damage from wraiths or (or anything else that deals "explosive" damage). Toss in a couple of defilers to protect your ground troops as they ravage enemy buildings anyway.
heck, a group of fully decked out zerglings (3/3 with speed and attack speed, aka, "cracklings") should destroy the computers buildings before their air units could all die.

[Vonriel]

He was saying that besides scourges, Zerg have no truly powerful anti-air until devourers (Which are awesome - slowed rate of fire and increased damage from attacks? Yes, please!) so early on against air you need scourges hanging around.

As for help with Zerg campaigns, demented is right. Just about every single map can be conquered with a few dozen hydralisks. Once you get to the 7th-8th mission, you need to add 12 guardians to your force, but that's about it.

In player versus player, however, you need to change your tactics. First, you get burrow, use it. Hide zerglings at every resource node you can, preferrably right next to a mineral patch. You can watch them all for a paltry amount of resources and control. A lot of Sheenkey's advice is good: Your best defense will be a good offense. If you keep pressing the attack and can keep your opponent from mounting an offense of their own, you're in very good shape. Keep a reserve of hydralisks and zerglings at your main base to handle any surprise attacks, but otherwise, just keep pumping out units and attacking. Zerg are different from the other two races in that you're on the level of macromanagement instead of micromanagement. Their units are much cheaper than their Terran/Protoss counterparts, and can be built in greater numbers and much faster (in the time it takes to create 1 marine, for example, you can create 6 zerglings). The tradeoff is that, one on one, your units will lose. Variety is key, too. You want to take advantage of all your "caster" abilities, which means dropping down layers of dark swarms leading up to your opponents line of defenses right before attacking, or using ensnare with a queen to reveal that wraith force that's harassing you on the move. Or, quite possibly the best use, sniping a terran opponent's defenses with broodlings. Bunkers are taken down easily by zerglings under a dark swarm, but they gotta get to them first. Ultralisks make very juicy targets, and even though zerglings are more effective, ultras can still bust up a defense. Last, but definitely not least, never stop pressing your attack. If you send six waves of a certain size that do some damage but get repulsed each time, the eighth wave of the same size may be the one to break your opponent. But if you stop to build a larger force, you give him time to rebuild lost units/buildings and add on to his existing defenses. This will likely spell doom for you.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Zerg don't have good anti-air?
huh?


Scourge for capital ships, Mutas and Hydras for fighters. Mutas count as small units, so they take only half damage from wraiths or (or anything else that deals "explosive" damage). Toss in a couple of defilers to protect your ground troops as they ravage enemy buildings anyway.
heck, a group of fully decked out zerglings (3/3 with speed and attack speed, aka, "cracklings") should destroy the computers buildings before their air units could all die.

Wraiths royally rip Mutas in any kind of force parity. Wraiths are doing almost three times the damage the mutas are doing, because their air-to-air damage is so much nastier.

I agree Scourges for capital ships, but they just aren't cost-effective against regular air units like Wraiths or Scouts. This is where the weakness against air assault comes in. That's why you need spore colonies and hydras to cover your bacon.

Mutas just aren't all that good, really. They're expensive, both in terms of minerals and gas, to build in quantity, and do little damage. Guardians are better at damage output, with enough range to blow through defenses uncontested, but no anti-air means they go down quick when the opponent dispatches the wraiths/scouts. And they are slow. You pretty much have to have at least two groups of mutas to protect one group of guardians, and micromanage them to make sure they don't get sucked into getting too close to the base defenses you're in the process of bombarding. In short, I'd rather just build a crapton of Zerglings and save the gas for upgrades and/or scourges/hydras.

[Cybren]

Mutas are are built faster, cost 50 less minerals, you will be able to build more at once due to the way zerg produce units, and their attacks bounce from one unit to the next (albeit for reduced damage) making them even more useful in large numbers. Like many zerg units, their strength will be in numbers, mobility, and the ability to quickly replace lost men. Generally zerg don't want to fight with force parity against anything. Proper micro will also allow you to defeat enemies with inferior forces (against a player you have to assume they'll be microing as well, of course).

[Winterwind]

Wraiths royally rip Mutas in any kind of force parity. Wraiths are doing almost three times the damage the mutas are doing, because their air-to-air damage is so much nastier.No, they don't. Like Cybren said, this damage is halved against Mutalisks. They still win, because their attack speed is higher (plus, any decent player would focus out the Overlords first and switch to Cloak after that), but they are more expensive, and a Zerg can replace the losses much faster than a Terran.

@OP: I guess hydralisks are your best bet. Lots of 'em. Toss in guardians and/or queens later on, to take out tanks and alike.

[Ailurus]

Another thing to keep in mind is you want to get a second hatchery up early in most of the missions - with Terrans, you can have your SCV doing workers, a barracks or two doing marines, and your factory/starport making stuff, all at once. Zerg you only have a couple larva which you need to use for everything, meaning with just one hatchery you'll be going slow. Get a couple more up, however, and you can then be putting out 6 or 9 or even more units at once.

With the Mutas vs. wraiths, don't forget about the shot bouncing. With low unit numbers, you'll lose. But as the number of units increase, the mutas get progressively better, since you'll have your second a third wraiths badly hurt when the first blows.

[Thrawn183]

Queen's are great for wreaking siege tanks and dragoons in elevated defensive positions.

Zerglings are good early game, bad middle game and then good again late game with the attack speed upgrade.

Hydra's are commonly used in swarms, but once you reach a certain number, you can't get any more into firing range (easily) and you have units backed up not doing anything. They only serve to keep the push going longer. Once you reach this point you need to start adding 'lings and muta's or guardians. These units will be attacking without getting in the way of your hydras, making it so that you do more damage per second which makes you take less damage overall (by killing your foes faster)

Ultralisks shouldn't be used en masse. They are good in groups of no more than 4 (and that's pushing it) with their armor maxed, tipping an assault force. They exist only to negate the attacks of marines and firebats (marines lose a large percentage of their damage to the armor of the Ultra's, and firebats don't have armor piercing weapons which means they do 1/4 damage to heavy armor). If sent in first, they can also keep siege tank attacks away from groups of units.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Ultralisks are also good vs Reavers. A pair of reavers can mow down a zergling swarm without any significant damage taken. However, an Ultralisk can eat two Reaver boms and keep going. Stick a couple in front of a 'ling swarm to draw Reaver fire, they won't get a second shot off.

[averagejoe]

Actually, in the campaign missions it tends to be a mistake to build a lot of stationary defenses. The only exception is terran, because you can turn bunkers and siege tanks into mobile attack units. Even so, it tends to be best to just build guys and defend choke points. (For zerg, burrow is actually excellent on defense. Just wait for the attacking force to walk over the burrowed units, and have a bunch of 'lings pop up and tear them apart. Destroys reavers/siege tanks, and the computer doesn't tend to send detectors until it needs them, i.e. gets attacked by a cloaked unit. If you can't be arsed to pay attention to the minimap, then just set up a sunken or some hydras to lure them onto your field of burrowed 'lings. Also, ctrl+1 is crucial to this.) Anywho, fixed defenses can help suppliment your guys, but the only reason you really need to build a lot is when you have a long strech of coast/cliff to defend, and even then you only want to build sparsly enough to delay the attackers, so your mutas/scourge/etc. have time to get there and take care of them. The reason being is in campaign missions resources tend to be much more valuable than supplies, so you usually want to use less resources when possible, especially with the zerg who have such fast build times.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. There were one or two missions where, I believe, I was rushing a bit, and had much more minirals than gas, so I built a buncha sunken colonies to take out their buildings. However, that was a long time ago, and I can't remember if I was just doing that for fun, or any of the exact reasons for doing it. Either way, it isn't something I'd reccomend for a beginner.