Choosing Your Race

Choosing Your Race (A low level guide)

So you're absolutely brand-new to Starcraft. Or, at best, you've played some games and can't seem to make it out of Bronze/Silver. You've seen the three races, and you may or may not have developed a liking to one or more based on their aesthetics (Zerg are just badass) or immediately perceived strengths (OMG void rays). You may think you have a pretty clear picture of why you play the race that you play, but like anything else in this game, the race dynamics are a difficult thing to grasp right away-- even at a very basic level-- and people often fall victim to pitfalls in reasoning. For example, the popular notion of Zerg for many uninitiated players is an aggressive, rush-based race, simply because of early zergling all-ins. The phrase "zerg rush" is ubiquitous, and players stuck in this mindset seem to think that small 1v1 maps would be good for Zerg when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. Don't believe me? Keep reading, because you are exactly who I'm hoping to help.

I'll start with some brief description and discussion of the low-level pros and cons of each race. Low-level is important to note here, because the pros I'm going to mention are things that make learning the race easier, not necessarily actual advantages, just as cons are challenges you're going to face early on more than true disadvantages. If you want high-level analysis, you can maybe check out the other forums around here (maybe later, hopefully written by someone more qualified...) or just check out teamliquid.net. Stuff like that exists almost everywhere on the web.

Terran
Terran are a good choice for learning the game because they have a lot of "safety nets" with regards to some of the things that give new players a lot of problems-- rush defense, scouting, detection, and expansion timing. Their cons won't pop up right away, so you're a little more free to develop your basic mechanics.

Pros:

• Walling-- Terrans have the simplest form of rush defense there is. They can wall off and move buildings out of the way later on, and they can even use their SCV's to repair their wall if need be. It requires almost no reaction time or micro, and until you reach higher levels you aren't really sacrificing anything noteworthy to do it. This aids greatly in surviving the early game-- something that most new players have difficulty with. If you're one of these players, you might consider trying out Terran if only for the walls. As you improve, you'll learn that walling isn't perfect and that rush defense is a much more involved issue at higher levels, but for now walling will help you a lot.
  
  
• Scans-- Scouting and keeping up with detection are other areas that cause difficulty for newer players. Scanner Sweep offers a quick and dirty solution to both. Like walling, however, you'll learn to appreciate the shortcomings of Scans as you improve-- most importantly, every scan sacrifices a MULE. Knowing where and when to scan will become an important skill, but for now just having the ability to scan in the first place may help you greatly.
  
  
• Less Pressure to Expand-- Because of MULEs and generally much more gas-efficient units, Terran are usually able to survive off of fewer bases than the other two races. The benefits this provides to newer players is obvious. Expansion timing is one of the most difficult things to learn in SC, and while you should definitely focus on learning it, Terran is a little bit more forgiving than the other two should you wait a little too long.
  

Cons:

• Positioning-- Unlike melee units, which can only attack if they are directly on the front line, ranged units are able to have multiple "lines" engaging all at once. The guys in the front fire, and the guys behind them, and the guys behind them, and so on. To balance this, ranged units are often out-damaged by melee units, and in order to win fights they have to press this "multiple line" advantage. Think of the guys exposed to the melee units as the "surface" units. If you're the guy with the ranged army, you want to have as few surface units to attacking units as possible. If you have too many, your army will be torn apart like tissue paper.
  
  With that in mind, note how every single fighting unit the Terran has is a ranged unit. Couple that with the fact that, aside from marines, all of their units are relatively difficult to replace due to build time, money, or both. Thus, positioning is a big issue for the Terran. In order to play them you have to utilize the terrain and scout well to make sure that you don't get caught out of position. If your army gets surrounded by speedlings or trapped against a wall by a bunch of zealots, you are going to lose every last unit, and it will be a good long while before you're able to do anything to affect your opponent again. Often this is how Terrans lose at a low-level (short of being straight up out-macroed), so if you want to succeed with this race you'll have to learn to avoid such things.
  
  
• One Control-Group Syndrome (OCGS)-- This refers to the tendency of players to move their entire army as a single massive group even when the situation calls for more involved micro. It is something that can be a problem for any race, but even starting off it can be a huge issue for Terran for two reasons-- the first being marines. Marines are generally an important part of any Terran composition, but they're also very fragile and clump together worse than any other unit in the game. If you're moving your army as a single unit, any kind of splash damage will absolutely annihilate you in a straight up fight. Banelings, Fungal Growth, Ultralisks, Colossi, Psi-Storm, Siege Tanks, whatever. Most of these kill marines in only one or two hits, and all are capable of hitting several of them at once if you let it happen. New Terrans have to be wary of this problem or they'll have a very difficult time against players who use these units/abilities.
  
  The second reason is the Stim-Pack upgrade. Like marines, it's vital for almost any Terran composition, especially as the game goes on. The problem, however, is that hitting stim when you have your entire army selected will, naturally, stim your entire army. There are times when this is absolutely not necessary and hurts you far more than it helps. All your opponent has to do is retreat until the stim expires and they come out ahead. A marine-marauder medivac army with no energy left for healing will go down like nothing to just about anything. You're much better off getting used to selecting a smaller group before stimming.
  
  
• Map Vision-- Though I did note that Scanner Sweep helps with scouting, that really only applies to spotting tech, expansions, army compositions, and other things that you only need to spot for a moment or so for the information to be valuable. It still doesn't provide consistent vision of the map. Whereas Protoss have Observers and Zerg have Creep Tumors and Overlords, Terran have nothing that's very great for keeping this constant vision. This increases the importance of controlling watchtowers as well generally knowing the map and opponent behaviors so you don't get caught off-guard.
  

Zerg
Playing Zerg as a beginner is like a trial by fire. The "safety nets" enjoyed by the Terran just aren't there. Some people learn best under duress, so if you're among them you may consider Zerg. After all, good play in Starcraft revolves around strong economy and unit production. Zerg basically forces this style upon you. Read "More Pressure to Expand" in the con section to understand why. If you learned better with training wheels than band-aids, though, definitely steer clear of these guys until you've got your basics down.

Note: Yes, we've all heard people say "hurr hurr zerg rush." Amongst terms coined within the game of Starcraft, "zerg rush" is certainly the most endearing to the uninitiated. Ironically, though, the Zerg have arguably the weakest rush game-- not because the rushes themselves are necessarily weaker, but because they need to do a lot more damage for the rush to be worth it-- again, see "More Pressure to Expand" below. The safest and generally best way to play zerg is powering econ.

Pros:

• Adaptability-- Zerg's main strength at all levels of play is the fact that they never have to permanently commit to anything. This is because every single zerg unit is built from the same place, whereas the other two races have tech-specific unit-producing structures such as Starports and so forth. Larvae can be spent on whatever you need at the time, whereas a Starport can only produce air units. On top of this, the Zerg are capable of saving up Larvae, so you're not forced to decide exactly what to do with them right away. This can be very helpful for low-level players, provided they're able to deal with the added complications (I will also be listing the Larva management as a con, so you can read more there).
  
  
• Expendable Units-- As you know, Zerg units are cheaper and can be produced much faster for the most part. They have much less survivability, however. The upside of this double-edged sword is that messing up and losing your whole army isn't nearly as bad for a Zerg player as it is for the other two races. Often times you can just rebuild the whole thing, even bigger and better than it was before you lost it. The units you want to be careful with are Mutas and Infestors-- otherwise most of what you have is either expendable or basically guaranteed to do so much damage before it goes down that you come out ahead anyway (Ultras, Broods). I'll be addressing this in the con section a bit, because like the adaptability it comes with some fine print.
  
  
• Map Vision-- Zerg are, hands down, the best race for maintaining constant vision of the map. Overlords are a flying unit that you have to produce a bunch of anyways, so you can spread them around to keep watch on key areas (expansions, etc). Creep tumors are cloaked and provide vision like all buildings, and they don't cost anything but a bit if Queen energy and the attention it takes to spread them.
  

Cons:

• Larva Management-- This is the number one concern for starting players, and the main reason I do not recommend Zerg as your first race. The absolute most basic element of good play-- strong economy-- is muddled by the very same thing that gives the Zerg their adaptability. Every Zerg unit, except for the Queen, comes from larvae. This means every fighting unit you make is a "lost" drone, and vice versa. If you make too many fighting units, your econ gets outpaced and you lose later in the game. If you make too many drones, your army gets overwhelmed and you lose right now. Because of this, larvae are literally an entirely new resource for Zerg players to worry about. As with minerals and gas, Zergs have to carefully consider how they spend their larvae. Terran and Protoss have no complex decision-making when it comes to their worker production. Their base buildings build only workers, so you never have to worry about when to build workers and when not to build them. You just build them. It's not necessarily better, but it is much more straightforward.
  
  
• Least Forgiving Macro-- All three races have a spell that's used to accelerate economy and production-- the Terran have MULEs, Protoss have Chronoboost, and Zerg have Spawn Larvae. Of these three, Spawn Larvae is by far the most vital to its race, especially at low levels of play where 240 minerals or 2-3 game seconds isn't really that big of a deal. Four larvae? That's always a big deal. Spawn Larvae is also incredibly unforgiving because of its casting time. MULE Calldown and Chronoboost can be cast in rapid succession, so if you miss them you can just "sprint" to catch up. A low-level Terran, for example, might neglect his MULEs for minutes on end, and when he realizes he's falling behind he can call down five or six of them at once and still reap some benefit. It's not ideal by any means, but it still keeps him in the game. Spawn Larvae, however, cannot be cast more that once every 40 game seconds on each hatchery, so if you miss it? You just miss it. There is no "sprinting." Just two game minutes of forgetfulness with two hatcheries-- about 80 seconds real time-- results in 24 larvae lost that you cannot reclaim by any means. That's 48 Zerglings or, assuming you had the cash to blow, 24-- yes, twenty frigging four-- Ultralisks. If that's not a game-changer, then nothing is. If you're playing Zerg, you have to learn to keep up with your Larvae. If you don't, you will lose. A lot. Even in Bronze.
  
  
• More Pressure to Expand-- Zerg have to stay at least one base ahead of their opponent at all times. If they don't, they are losing. There are many reasons for this-- ranging from their need for gas to additional hatcheries boosting production, but for the most part it's because their units die so damn much. Protoss and Terran are capable of winning battles with minimal losses, whereas the Zerg will always lose at least a few units in every fight no matter how well they're controlled. The Zerg needs to have a very strong economy so they can replace their losses and still come out ahead. This may seem strange since I listed "Expendable Units" as a pro, but I also noted some "fine print" so bear with me for a moment...
  
  A Zerg hatchery costs only 300 minerals. That's 100 less than a Nexus or Command Center. You lose a drone when you do it, so over time the cost is balanced out a bit, but in an immediate sense Zerg are able to take expansions much faster and much easier than the other two races. Hatcheries also double as your production facilities. Terran and Protoss are dropping at least 150 minerals apiece on those, so considering all that, your expansion might as well be free. As you can see, Zerg are intentionally designed to outpace the others in base count. This is the exact reason why Zerg units are expendable. Not only are they cheaper and easier to produce; they're also backed up by a powerful economy. That's the fine print. In order to reap this benefit, you have to play the race to its strengths by taking expansions early and often. Expansion timing, however, is one of those things that new players have a very hard time with, and very close to 100% of the time the problem lies in not expanding early enough.
  

Protoss
As far as absolute beginners are concerned, these guys really aren't that much different from the Terrans. Their economy and production work mostly the same way. Their "safety nets," however, are in different places. Instead of saving you from failed rush defense, scouting, or expansion timing, they help save you from bad positioning and momentary forgetfulness in macro. They are, however, very unforgiving when it comes to other important facets, namely losing units. If you lose your entire army as Protoss, you're in some very serious trouble.

Pros:

• Easiest Macro-- Protoss are unquestionably the most straightforward and relaxed race when it comes to economy and production. They are quite similar to Terran in this regard, but because Marines build significantly faster than any Protoss fighting unit, Terran has to return to macro much more often than Protoss. Chronoboost can throw a wrench into the works here and there, but it's worth noting that Chronoboost is by far the most forgiving of all the "macro" spells. It becomes much less relevant as the game goes on, such that at low levels it's arguably not even worth spending your attention on it past the first five minutes. It certainly won't need to be very high on your list of priorities, so if you have a hard time remembering your macro spells you may consider giving Protoss a try.
  
  
• Cost Efficiency-- My favorite way of thinking of Protoss is a guy with a split lip and a black eye saying, "You should see the other guy." Yes, Protoss units are expensive, but they are also incredibly durable and effective if utilized properly. A Zealot, for example, costs as much as two marines, but it will kill a lot more than two marines unless caught in a bad position. Similarly, a Stalker is pretty expensive for how much damage it does, but it also is one of the fastest and most micro-able ground units in the game. Colossi and High Templar are very gas-heavy but they can deal positively disgusting amounts of damage to clumped up units-- really unmatched by anything possessed by the other races.
  
  Another neat thing that a lot of low-level players seem to forget about is the recharging shields. Think like Halo, if you've ever played that-- If you can avoid taking hits for a few seconds, your unit's shields will rapidly recharge. Knowing when to pull units away will increase your units' survivability. With proper tactics (and yes, this does sometimes involve full retreat) you should rarely take significant losses without taking a bunch of your enemy's stuff down with you. There is some fine print here, though, so have a look at the con section if you please.
  
  
• Warpgates-- There's a lot to be said about these, pro and con, so I'll list them as both. Before saying anything else, though, I will note that Warpgates are absolutely ESSENTIAL to the Protoss race. They are to Protoss what Queens are to Zerg. I've seen some bronze players in the b.net forums try to make a case for keeping normal gateways going all game, and frankly they have no idea what they're talking about. There are about a thousand good reasons to use warpgates, and not a single good reason not to. I'll probably wind up going over this in full somewhere else (maybe the Starcraft 101 thread), but for now you'll have to take my word for it... and please do.
  
  Anyways, new players trying out Protoss should see immediate advantages from these. They'll find that Protoss are much more able to respond to drops, harassment, counter-attacks and other positional plays compared to the other races. Warpgates function sort of like a "backwards" Gateway in that the unit builds before the cooldown instead of after. Because of this, you can choose what units you need right as they warp in, instead of starting them up and not being able to use them until they finish building 30-40 seconds later. Couple this with the ability to warp them in anywhere you have pylon power (which should include all of your bases) and you can have a decent defense against almost any positional play. See a drop coming in? Warp in some Stalkers to shoot down the medivacs. See a speedling runby? Warp a few zealots into position on your ramp and block them. At the very least, the warped-in units can delay until your army shows up to help, so if you're having trouble defending drops and the like, consider giving Protoss a shot.
  
  Another advantage that players of any level can enjoy is reinforcement. Get into the habit of putting pylons in key places around the map when you're getting ready to attack. As you push forward you can warp additional units directly into your army. This forms the central crux of the four warpgate rush, or "4-gate" as you may have heard of it. This simple trick is actually so powerful that there are Protoss players in 1500+ Diamond that do quite literally nothing but 4-gate. If you want to try out an aggressive strategy, it is one of the strongest and easiest to start with, though I do recommend diversifying your play so you don't wind up banging your head against a wall later.
  

Cons:

• Gas-Heavy-- Aside from Stalkers and Zealots, every single Protoss unit costs at least 100 gas. That's four times as much as a Marauder. Their tech certainly isn't cheap, either, with each building past the Cybernetics Core being around 100-200, and the upgrades within them costing even more. Protoss need positively stupid amounts of vespene gas as the game goes on. This combined with the cost-effectiveness of their units puts them in a weird balance. The best way I can think of to describe it is that they need expansions, but unlike the Zerg they don't necessarily require more than their opponent. In a one base game, for example, Terran has an advantage over Protoss, but in a two base situation they're pretty close to even. Likewise, a zerg with two bases will destroy a one-base Protoss, but at three versus two it's much more even. As I've noted previously, expansion timing is one of the most difficult things for a new player to learn. Usually people don't get their second base up fast enough, and Protoss absolutely cannot function off of one base for very long.
  
  
• Micro: This is the fine print from the "Cost Efficiency" above. At entry level, Protoss requires more micromanagement of their army than the other two races by far. There are many reasons for this, the most obvious being the prevalence of targeted abilities within the Protoss arsenal-- force field, psionic storm, blink, and so forth. The other races have them, yes, but they don't absolutely *need* them in order to function in low level play. To win a battle as Protoss you'll usually have to cast a bunch of these, and unlike stim not only do you have to activate them, you also have to aim them. Less obvious is the fact that Protoss's main melee unit (Zealot) is slower than its main ranged unit (Stalker) before upgrades, and only equal after upgrades, so if you send a large zealot-stalker force on attack move, the Stalkers might pull ahead and block the zealots from reaching the battle when they stop to shoot. It takes a bit finagling before every engagement to prevent this potentially fatal occurrence. Long story short, your units are only cost-effective if you micro them. Otherwise you just have a really expensive army and not much to show for it. Especially if you lose that whole army at once, which will usually cost you the game (PS don't do that).
  
  
• Warpgates-- As I said before, there's a lot to be said here, both "pro" and "con." Do not mistake me describing them as a "con" as a suggestion to try playing without them. Again, they are absolutely vital to this race. The only "con" is that learning to utilize them can prove to be a challenge for new players. So, where does this extra challenge come from? Your first instinct might point you towards the lack of building queues. With other production facilities, you can queue up units to build one right after the other, so you don't have to return to macro as often. Your first instinct, however, would be dead wrong. Please note: QUEUEING. IS. BAD. It locks up money that you could be spending elsewhere. Ideally you don't want to be queuing up anything ever. I'll explain this more in depth in another thread maybe (probably Starcraft 101?) but suffice it to say... I'd actually consider having no building queues a pro because it forces you away from some terrible habits.
  
  The challenge of warpgates comes from the fact that you have to manually place every single unit into pylon power. Contrast this with a Terran macroing off of two reactor barracks. If he groups all of his barracks to 5, for example, he can simply hit 5AAAA at any time to build a round of marines. He doesn't have to be looking at any part of the map in particular-- hell, he doesn't even have to move his mouse cursor. Zerg can do the same thing with their hatcheries-- 4sdddd for drones, 4sv for an overlord, whatever. Protoss, however, do not have this option. They require a power zone on screen, and they must use their mouse to click inside it. The problem for newer players is that during a battle, it's hard enough to have the presence of mind to remember something as simple as "5AAAA." If you're new, you can expect to struggle with macro during battles regardless of what race you play. For Protoss in particular, though, expect a true ordeal. Forcing yourself to tear your eyes from the battle so you can warp in units is going to seem next to impossible.
  

Summary
Use Terran if:

• You have trouble with rush defense, scouting/detection, or expanding on time.
  
• You want to play a strategic game with careful positioning and decisive maneuvers.

Don't use Terran if:

• You have trouble judging what to do based on limited information. This conflicts with their lack of consistent map vision.
  
• You can't be bothered to select subgroups of your army during a fight. This of course conflicts with stimpack and marines in general.

Use Zerg if:

• You learn better under pressure.
  
• You want to play a reactionary game where you control as much of the map as possible, ready to respond to your opponent's every move.
  
• You'd like to amass a huge lead then overrun your opponent with wave after wave of a-moving units to finish him off (always fun).
  

Don't use Zerg if:

• You find yourself lacking in economy in most games
  
• You don't take losses well (because you will lose a lot until you get the hang of it).
  
• You have trouble keeping awareness over a large area.

Use Protoss if:

• You have difficulty with pure macro mechanics-- macro spells especially.
  
• You want to play a tactical game focused on unit control.
  
• You like watching large numbers of enemy units die at once.

Don't use Protoss if:

• You have great difficulty remembering to macro during battles.
  
• You have a poor sense of when to engage and when to retreat.

good post is good. /happyface

now write one up for the other races you lazy bum! (I <3 u)

I think this kind of thing is really helpful for me, especially when I'm trying to learn from watching other ppl play. It helps me know what to look for.

Whoo, something resembling a finished guide! I think that calls for a bump.

Yes I realize it's the only non-stickied thread in here. :\