248: Only Zerg Rush In

[Brendan Main]

Only Zerg Rush In

To veteran StarCraft players, the Zerg race is as calculating and strategic as the Terran or Protoss forces. But to Brendan Main - and gamers in general - the Zerg will always mean one thing: mindless, indiscriminate slaughter. Main recalls his time wasted in the Zerg's single-player campaign, where he finally learned what the race was all about.

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[Onyx Oblivion]

Zerg Rushing. My kind of tactic. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR "BASE DEFENSES" and all that fancy horseshit.

If I lose, I lose fast. If I win, I win fast. I can't stand those long, drawn out RTS matches.

 

[the_maestro_sartori]

I gotta admit this hit home for me. I distinctly remember playing online for my first few times and every, single, time, that I played against the Zerg I was wiped out in this fashion, and yet while playing as the Zerg I couldn't pull it off.

Now of course, I know that a careful combination of extra hatcheries, more and more zerglings and overlords to keep them in check, soon you've got 50 zerglings dying to be sent straight to the enemy's main structures.

I love the Zerg

 

[Aptspire]

back when I only had RA, I would pick many, MANY soldiers of all kinds (riflemen, bazookas, fire/electric) with a light group of tanks, with mixed results...
then I switched to SC, and struggled up the tech-tree with Terrans, to oppose my enemies
You can bet I took to Zerg like a duck to water

 

[Polock]

ZERG ZERG ZERG!

I love the Zerg, suits my play style perfectly. Weak units that are not to be underestimated

 

[Asehujiko]

The Zerg aren't a void of strategy, they just require another kind. Every random schmuck with a map can compose a perfect defense of overlapping fire lanes and kill zones. It takes a special kind of strategist to render the majority of those fortifications moot.

Kind of like Supreme Commander(1). You can spend hours constructing a massive fortress of point defenses and multilayered shields but unless you have a kind of airforce capable of going out there and wrecking a grounded Ambassador/Revenant wing, those Strategic Bombers are going to do exactly what their name implies, flying over your defenses and send a 5 kiloton nuke through the windshield of your ACU.

In before "tyranids" as well.

 

[Gxas]

Though I love the Protoss, Zerg have always been my forte. Their playstyle is so easy for me to understand. I don't have to go deep into tech trees. I can win with a spawning pool and a spire.

 

[solidstatemind]

the problem I've always had with the Zerg- well, aside from the fact that they just are the Tyranid renamed, that is- is that there is no (and yes, this is entirely subjective) 'art' to playing them: simply crank out waves and waves of cheap units and overrun your enemy's defenses.

Now, that it not to say that it's 'cheap' or 'cheating' or anything: in fact, swarming is a legitimate military tactic that is recommended for high-population, low-technology countries where the cost of creating and fielding units is actually less than the cost of equipping them. (See: Soviet Russia; China.)

It's just inelegant to me-- the tactical equivalent of "ME SMASH!"... which is why, I suppose, I'm terrible at RTS games...

 

[Caiti Voltaire]

the problem I've always had with the Zerg- well, aside from the fact that they just are the Tyranid renamed, that is- is that there is no (and yes, this is entirely subjective) 'art' to playing them: simply crank out waves and waves of cheap units and overrun your enemy's defenses.

Now, that it not to say that it's 'cheap' or 'cheating' or anything: in fact, swarming is a legitimate military tactic that is recommended for high-population, low-technology countries where the cost of creating and fielding units is actually less than the cost of equipping them. (See: Soviet Russia; China.)

It's just inelegant to me-- the tactical equivalent of "ME SMASH!"... which is why, I suppose, I'm terrible at RTS games...

You ninja'd my tyranid reference, and for this YOU MUST PERISH.

Seriously though, that irks me to no end. It's on the borderline of tasteless how close the zerg 'concept art' is to the art in the old original Tyranid codex.

 

[Tonimata]

Well, there really is no other way to playing the Zerg...
Unless you spawn lots of Mutalisks. Lots. And lots. AND LOTS of Mutalisks

 

[GloatingSwine]

Zerg Rushing. My kind of tactic. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR "BASE DEFENSES" and all that fancy horseshit.

If I lose, I lose fast. If I win, I win fast. I can't stand those long, drawn out RTS matches.

See, the arch zergrush is the Ultraling, quite a late game strategy. Simply: An Ultralisk with lots and lots of gibbering little friends. Everyone concentrates all their fire on the Ultralisk (as does the target choice AI, so you have to micro it to do otherwise), but the zerglings have almost as much DPS.

This is the real power of the zergling, it's cheap and numerous, but it's damage output is immense because of it's lightning fast attack (especially with Adrenal Glands).

 

[John Funk]

Zerg Rushing. My kind of tactic. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR "BASE DEFENSES" and all that fancy horseshit.

If I lose, I lose fast. If I win, I win fast. I can't stand those long, drawn out RTS matches.

See, the arch zergrush is the Ultraling, quite a late game strategy. Simply: An Ultralisk with lots and lots of gibbering little friends. Everyone concentrates all their fire on the Ultralisk (as does the target choice AI, so you have to micro it to do otherwise), but the zerglings have almost as much DPS.

This is the real power of the zergling, it's cheap and numerous, but it's damage output is immense because of it's lightning fast attack (especially with Adrenal Glands).

Early-game in SC2, Roaches are the way to go. But late-game, if you get fully-upgraded cracklings (3/3 attack/armor upgrades, speed boost and adrenal glands) those things are the *ultimate* support unit.

I won a match last night by just fielding a force of Mutas and Cracklings.

 

[fanklok]

How did you not know that crack lings tear the shit out of everything that doesn't shoot fire and can match their numbers?

 

[Brickcups]

simply crank out waves and waves of cheap units and overrun your enemy's defenses.

Yes, a lot of zerg players use the mass unit zerg-horde strategy... but when you get into matches with more experienced players simple waves rarely(if ever) work. In games like that a small group of units and proper micro can go a LONG way. =]

How did you not know that crack lings tear the shit out of everything that doesn't shoot fire and can match their numbers?

A couple high templars would definitely make those crackling sad-face. lol

 

[Chasmodius]

Like Brenden Main said he used to, I approach RTS scenarios as puzzles, which absolutely led me to prefer groups like the Protoss. It also led me to lose nearly every multiplayer match I ever tried, because I'm used to sitting back, building defenses capable of withstanding the (admittedly anemic) computer attacks, and planning a destruction of guile and precision. This is a great strategy for some situations, but it is rather too slow (or at least, I am) for the realities of multiplayer combat. With a real, live opponent, speed is absolutely essential, especially for a game like StarCraft. A good commander must be lightning-quick, both in developing overall strategy and delivering the orders to carry it out; these are two things of which I am not particularly capable in a time-sensitive environment.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

There's a line that just sticks out for me, that I kind of want to get framed somewhere.

I had been looking at the mission like a riddle or mathematical equation to be broken down into its elements and solved piece by piece. But some problems you solve with a hammer.

It's almost one of those quotes you would see on one of those overly cliche quote lists, or at least of the kind of repeatable quality that those consist of.

 

[ark123]

Uh, as far as I know nazis were known for discriminate slaughter. Very discriminate in fact.

 

[technoted]

To this day I still remember the first time I was Zerg rushed, I said "Dear god they're everywhere. help me please!" and I kept begging for help as my SCV's tried in vain to defeat the ever growing massing swarm. Those were the good old days.

 

[Shjade]

Well, there really is no other way to playing the Zerg...
Unless you spawn lots of Mutalisks. Lots. And lots. AND LOTS of Mutalisks

My preferred method at the moment given how often I'm attacked by purely ground forces. If you can get mutalisks out before the real pressure comes along you can do a lot with just a few of them.

Takes time, though. An aggressive opponent will be in your face before you can get much in the air.