3 Zerglings – So Many SCVs for the killn’
Some players would have you believe that surviving the early game of Starcraft II is simply about build orders, churning out a rush force and charging blindly across shifting sands, barren rock, or altered alien metal. Sure, there’s some truth to this, and every player will develop their own build priorities and “survival strategies” as their experience with the game grows, but it’s not the end-all be-all.
To date, our most successful strategy has been to read about something on the web, co-opt it for our use, then use it exclusively until an opponent blows us out of the water. Then, we curse, grumble, mutter about the unfairness of it all, and start the cycle over.
But despite our need for minor psychiatric treatment, we’ve actually been able to determine that the early game of Starcraft II is not just about who does what the fastest. As a note to any nerd with the outside chance of a relationship with a real live girl, this advice is gospel for that action as well.
Without further adieu or slightly humorous commentary, we present to you three solutions we have found to the problem of “the rush” in early-game Starcraft. We may not win a lot, but we post stuff – ON THE INTERWEBS – surely you can trust us!
First up – the Terrans. The key here is to actually not rush. Sure, build a barracks and start pumping our Marines, but make sure to take the time to build an Engineering Bay and then upgrade your Command Center to a Planetary Fortress. If an early-game rush comes, it’s going to be ground. If you’re smart and get your SCV inside and out of the line of fire, you’ll be laughing as Zerglings and Zealots go up in flames while you watch old episodes of M*A*S*H and make air-popped popcorn. You won’t be laughing at M*A*S*H, of course, since in its entire run only one episode actually contained a joke worth laughing at, but you’ll laugh at the deaths of your enemies, and enjoy your popcorn. M*A*S*H just happens to be the only thing on, and the Fortress only gets basic cable. You wanted to spring for HBO, but Raynor said it was a “luxury”.
The Planetary Fortress. Build it and save yourself from an early-game defeat.
For Zerg, the trick is to build Zerglings. We can hear you crying “but we know that already!”, but we don’t care. The trick isn’t simply to building Zerglings, but to build them and then use them intelligently. Don’t go to your enemy’s base and attack his Barracks, or kill her Vespene Extractor – kill their workers. In early game, killing 10 or 15 workers is the kiss of death if you’re smart enough to keep churning out units while you’re away from your base. Disrupting economies – it’s both fun and hilarious. Just watch out for Planetary Fortresses.
The Protoss actually get one of the most fun early game strategies, at least as far as we’re concerned. Many players will use an SCV, probe or even and Overlord for scouting purposes, but the Protoss Probe actually has greater function than many people give it credit for, owing to the way in which Protoss create buildings. A Protoss building only needs to be started and then can be left alone to complete, leaving the Probe free to wreak more havoc. Zerg Harvesters can also start buildings quickly, but they become the building, rendering the unit useless.
Two great Protoss ideas are to sneak in before the enemy has ground forces and build a vespene Assimilator or a Pylon and a Photon Cannon. Either way, it will take your opponent time to undo what you’ve done, and if you’re lucky and they don’t see your cannon, you may kill quite a few of their workers before they figure out just what the hell is going on.
That’s what real early game mitigation is all about – stopping an early rush cold and leaving your opponent without forces, ruining their economy, or just screwing with them because you can. Playing smart isn’t that hard – it’s just been lost in a sea of “PEWPEW GO NOW IMA KILL UNOOB”. Take some time, think it through, and you’ll find you can counter just about anything that comes your way.
“Therefore one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skilful.” – Sun Tzu, Art of War
If it’s good enough for ancient Chinese tacticians, it’s good enough for us. Plus, it makes us sound smrt. Er, smart.
