ITT: more Race pros/cons, 2 most common answers to "why you lost"

*On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 6:36 PM, eian wrote:

Leo introduced the races succinctly, so what you (a new player) should ask himself is "what play style am I comfortable with." All 3 races can cater to the various styles "Harassment / mobility" "mass armies" some just cater better for certain situations. I'll recap Leo's statements and highlight the important notes to reiterate them and add my own thoughts:

Terran: Most initially played race because the campaign teaches players how to use them. Widely believed to be the the most "forgiving" and easy to handle. Terran strengths are being defensive turtles. Their main battle M.O. is to hide behind a wall and build up massive armies (bioball infantry) or hightech units (mech) and then when their enemy makes the mistake of trying to attack, Terran counters. The disadvantage of being defensive aligned is that they aren't as mobile as Zerg and unit to unit aren't as powerful as Protoss. They are great for new players who love to build up big armies, research everything they can, and then send an army of doom. However, once you graduate from the newbie league, this strategy doesn't work. As Leo points out, experts utilize this race amazingly because they exploit all the advantages Teran has inherited (mobile healing, cloaking, salvageable static defenses, fast unit production, cheap technology). Lots of the pro-level players complain that starcraft tournaments are turning into "Terrancraft" because of perceived over-powered nature of the race.

Zerg: Probably the least played race because 1) their mechanics are very different then Protoss/Terran 2) players have awful experiences playing as zerg because the learning curve is high coupled with the fact that the race is currently the "weakest." Again this comes back to marketing. The next expansion to the game will include a Zerg campaign which will bring new units/abilities to the Zerg army composition. While in the long run it will help "balance" the game, the current reality is that Zerg is very limited in their performance. With that said they are still a very fun race to play (up until the point in the game where you realize you played great and still lost). IF you execute things near perfectly or your enemy is too clumsy, you will win. I believe they make a great support race but pound for pound there is a lot lacking. Smart players win with Zerg because they make the "winning" play (create the proper counter unit, or hit the enemy there they are exposed/weak), but making this "winning" play is usually easier for the other 2 races. Zerg are for players who really want to test their ability to multitask. Their advantage is mobility and numbers (but not strength). You can split your forces and make guerrilla strikes on players which harasses their economy. Like Leo pointed out, zerg win by wearing down the enemy and "outproducing" them, not by military might (which is what Terran does).

Protoss: My "main" race. Naturally a popular race (since Zerg is underplayed) and players want to branch out of Terran. It's true what leo says is that they are "harder" to play than Terran because their units are more specialized and army composition can become complex with spellcasters. Terran are often referred to as "fire and forget" because you can send a massive army of marines/marauders supported by a few tanks and medivacs and you won't have to worry about "casting spells" or focusing on which enemy to attack since you'll usually outnumber them (focus fire at higher levels however is always important). Zerg also usually ends up massing a large number of units and just "auto-attacking." Protoss on the other hand usually has a smaller number of units but their advantage is they are a bit tougher. I like the race because of the "tricks" even though I have only begun to "tap" the full toolbox. I also enjoy their durability. Their disadvantages are their mobility and their cost. Good players do their best to limit these effects (building warps closer to the enemy, protecting their economy, utilizing fast air or cloaked scouts).

(Learn counters by going to the forums...and search for posts like "what do I do when Zerg fast expand," "how to deal with turtling Terran," or "I can't stop void rays."

Ultimately there are 2 basic answers * 1) you didn't scout enough * 2) your economy was weaker

Once you have solved those two problems, you'll get into more detailed strategies like "build your gas at supply 12 so you will have enough to research the tech you want to harass them with early" or "send your detector unit ahead of your main army," "if you haven't had a battle with protoss in the first 6 minutes you better have good anti-air units." These specific details will reveal themselves with time. Just like poker. Is the player to my left being a call-station because he is waiting to bait me? (i.e. zerg keeps sending harassing zerglings who die while he secretly techs up to mutalisks). There are a lot of "all-in" plays to watch out for and learning how to respond takes time. for example in 2v2 or 3v3 one player usually goes "all-in" with a strong early attack that focused on military production and sacrificed their economy. The proper response is usually to attack that player's base rather than their field army because you can wipe out the HQ (even if it means one of your allies will suffer the brunt of their assault)