Greetings, this is an addition to my recent reports on my games using zerg in an attempt to better understand how BW has changed the game. I have played vanilla for a while, and was mainly a protoss player, but am slowly learning the ways of the zerg, especially how they play in Brood War. I would appreciate any feed-back on my tactics for this game and any advice on playing zerg in BW. Without further ado…

I get a lesson in BW zerg…

I joined another pubbie game the other day, where I once again, being new to BW, would try to use my old school strats to win in the new school. Here is what happened…

The.Confessor

vs

TF-Redhawk^X

TF-Redhawk^X joined the game with a 5-1-0 record, so I guessed he was someone who had created a new account and was betting on a good game (at least, compared to most pubbies) I selected my customary zerg and he elected to go random. The map was Lost Temple.

I found myself starting at the 9:00 position, while TF-Redhawk^X started out 3:00. I went with my usual random build of:

8 OL, 9 pool, 12 hatch, with plans to get an extractor at 15. Basically this assures an early ling count so a zerg cant rush you, but still allows for you to catch up with him on gas if he goes all out mutas. It is also effective early game vs toss, though I am still trying to find a better build for anti-terran. I sent my first OL to scout 12:00, and finding it empty, I sent a drone out on 10 to scout the rest of the map. I was pumping lings early, and was about to lay down an extractor when my drone ran into something interesting at 3:00. He had to lings on hold blocking his ramp, making it so I could not scout his main. I took the early troop count to mean he was teching like mad, and since he had seen me select zerg, I was betting on mutas.

At this point I was feeling confident, plopping down a third hatchery at the top of my choke in place of an extractor and pumping continuos lings from what became three hatcheries. At this point, I was feeling very confident, as I knew 3 hatch lings will simply overrun a muta rusher, as even if the spire finishes before you get there, you will simply overwhelm him as the mutas can not take the lings down fast enough. As soon as I have about 27 lings, I decide to pay TF-Redhawk^X a visit, sending 2 control groups outside his natural and 2 lings up his ramp to scout out the defense. What I saw shocked me, 6 lurker eggs morphing at the top of my ramp, which would absolutely own my early ling force. I throw my scouting lings into his base to buy some time and get some recon and run my lings back to my base, at the same time pumping 15 drones from my 3 hatches and begin moving my Ols from above my mineral line to my ramp. My distraction was actually very successful, as he had to pull some drones off mining to get rid of them, and I see a spire going up. By now I am completely baffled, as he is launching a VERY gas intensive campaign. I have just begun to put down an extractor and a sunken at the top of my ramp, positioned to hit any troops as the come through my natural when his 6 lurkers show up. TF-Redhawk^X first tries to charge up my ramp, but my sunken finishes in time, and with the aid of my large force of lings and OL sighting, I drive him down the ramp. He burrows 2 of them at the bottom of my ramp, and then literally inches his way up it, creating a sort of lurker push, trying to get free hits at my lings.

I now have 3 drones on gas, and am putting up a hydra den, thinking that it is only a matter of time before I break containment and teach this guy exactly how far you can go using crazy strats against me. Thats when I realize exactly what he had planned. 2 scourges swing by my ramp and take out the OL stationed there, as my heart drops into my stomach. I immediately slap down an evolution chamber and send another sluggish OL on its way to my ramp. I wait until he unburrows to attack with my lings, and along with my sunken manage to kill 4 of the lurkers before he burrows. I retreat my remaining lings as he begins chipping away at my sunken, when finally my OL arrives and I drive him off. I slap down another colony at my ramp, soon making it a spore, and begin pumping hydras when another wave of scourges comes along, taking about 3 Ols with them momentarily halting my trop production. I realize this guys knows hat he is doing, as I consider zerg vs zerg my specialty and he has dominated the entire game so far. I decide to spend the money I have piled up from not being able to make troops to make a spore colony next to my hatchery and gathering my Ols around it to discourage any more scourge raids, at the same time morphing a lair and researching hydra speed and +1 attack for range. I send 2 lings out to ee if my natural is clear, but decide against expanding when they are torn apart by mutaslisks until I have a larger hydra force.

At this point, I believe the game is over as he has contained me long enough to expand like crazy, and now consider it only a matter of time. He launches an occasional scourge raid and tries some muta harassment, but my hydras and well positioned spore covering my mineral line make him back off, and he goes quiet for a while. I decide the only way I will have a shot is a doom drop on his base, so I start researching OL transport from my lair and upgrading ling speed, while conituing to produce troops as fast as possible. Finally my upgrades complete and I load up 7 Ols with assorted lings and hydras and make the trek across the map to his main. I find his main essentially bare, with a flock of Ols hovering to the left of his creep and land my troops right underneath them. My hydras unload and kill about 6 Ols before he escapes with the rest and I go to work on his main when some cracklings show up. He has a greater spire done, so I am also fearing a large guardian force. My speed upgraded lings prove invaluable, as they engage his crackling, my +1 hydras tear his forces up from the back. I then focus fire on his greater spire, then den, then spawning pool so he at least can not make many troops for a while after if this attack fails. I am cleaning up his main, and feeling confident when the guardians arrive.

I immediately leave my lings to finish his main, and take my hydras, focus firing on the guardians until only 3 are left, where upon he immediately retreats them to his natural. I decide to charge ahead and see his fully operation natural and pool morphing in as his guardians take position above his cliff, raining acid down on my hydras. Instead of futilely engaging the guars when they have cliff advantage, I take my hydras and move them to the other side of his natural and begin to take out the forming pool and hatchery. This forces him to draw out his guardians and I again focus fire on them while sending my lings to raze his natural. I finish off the last of his natural, but as expected, he has an expansion somewhere. At home, I take the temporary shift in momentum to expand to my natural and mineral only natural while researching lurker aspect and slapping down a spire, still making lings and hydras. (+2 range researching) I scatter my Ols from my drop to cover all recourse nodes and am relieved to find he has only taken the 6:00 natural and his a sunken, lings and a newly built den as defense.

At this point, I know the game is in hand, and all that awaits is delivering TF-Redhawk^X his fate. Seeing no Ols around his base, I make 12 scourges, and move my forces outside his base. I morph 6 hydras into lurkers and decide to finally end the game. I first send in my lings to take all the attacks and then run in my lurkers and have them burrow. I send my scourges over, but he has no Ols nearby and am content to set them on patrol over his 2 hatcheries there waiting for Ols to pop out while my lurkers raze the last of his base. TF-Redhawk^X mutters that he deserved to win the game, and I could only agree whole heartedly. GGs were exchanged and he leaves.

After game thoughts: Well, I am obviously still learning all the changes BW has in it, as the lurkers caught me with my pants down, and the lurker scourge combo was very effective until I got spores up. I think he defenitely should have had me, and once he had me contained with lurkers, should have expanded and simply over ran me with troops rather then spend all the time teching to guardians to finish me off. In any case, it was an excellent game, and TF-Redhawk^X has defenitely earned my respect, now making me rethink my entire zerg vs zerg tactics. Thanks for reading, hope to keep learning more about BW as I keep playing, any thoughts on how I played zerg and things I could do to improve my zerg game??