Lessons from a diary...

With Comm-Link #4 out, a host of new community contributions have been brought to the attention of the masses. One that stood out for me was the Diary of a Zergling, written by Launch on the SC2 community forums. Entertaining? Yes indeed. Informative? I think so, even if everything is not right there on the surface.

I think little, but important, lessons can be learned from this diary so I thought I'd go ahead and give my interpretation of these little zergling chronicles.

Day 1
I just got spawned! There was another guy in my egg, though. Not too sure what to think about that. The creep looks pretty cool, I guess. My job is mostly running around the base. Nothing too awesome going on. 

One of the main uses for zerglings are as fast, cheap scouts. Depending on how cheesy I think my opponent might be, I'll scout my base with a drone. If not, then my first zerglings will definitely be making a circuit or two of my main just to make sure there's no cannon rushes or barracks/bunker proxies happening.

Day 2
A whole mess of Zerglings just got spawned recently. Met up with a whole platoon of them. There were so many I couldn't even remember all their names. Most of them are pretty cool, but some are suspicious as to what our purpose is going to be. 

Zerglings' strength are in numbers. They're made to surround individual enemies and tear them to bits. Unless it's for the aforementioned purpose of scouting, the more zerglings the better for any sort of attack or harass.

Day 3
The queen sent Zergling #21 to a 'watchtower'. Not entirely sure what his job is. According to other people, he just has to stand there all day. Sounds like he got the easy job! 

 Watch towers are an important part of maintaining control of the map. The more you see, the more you can react to, and the more you can be ready for surprises from the enemy. I usually have a zergling at all watch towers if I can manage it and if they're taken out by a unit or two, I will take them right back.

Day 4
There was much lament for Zergling #21. Some of my friends are saying that we're all in a suicide mission. I think they're wrong. We're soldiers, not expendable beasts. 

Yes, zerglings are cheap and they're quick to make and replace. They also die quite easily. The skill of a Zerg player can be seen in how well his micro-manages his units and doesn't just fire and forget. Harassing with zerglings doesn't mean send in a group and move on to other things. The point of harassing is to cause more losses than you take in the harassing.

Day 7
We all got our wings today! Everyone's suspicions of a tyranny are being quelled by the minute. All the zerglings are much more pleased to be moving so much faster.

Zergling speed(or officially, Metabolic Boost) is essential to the proper use of zerglings in almost all cases. This speed boost gives zerglings enough of an edge to surround units that are running away from them and allow them to rush in and out of engagements quickly to make harassment a valid option. Nothing helps zerglings survive more than not being there to take the damage.

Day 8
Our entire army has recently received orders to rush into the enemies' base. Our primary objective is to attack SCVs and run around in circles behind other zerglings attacking SCVs. 

Zerglings and zerg units in general fare much better in open ground that allows them to completely surround their foes. If you send in group of zerglings in to kill off his SCVs or probes and you notice a bunch of them just milling about behind the action, it's because there's no openings for them to get in and attack. A few hanging back is ok because they can fill in spots when zerglings die. But if it's more than a few, send those off to a different target. Having zergling swarms divided into two control groups really helps with this.

Day 11
There was a wall.

There was a god damn wall.
We couldn't break through. No matter how many chewed at the supply depot, we couldn't get through the damned thing. We were forced to retreat, losing 7 more soldiers to a small marine force piled behind the depots. The queen had no comment on this matter. The standard funeral is now being postponed by the swarm for 'important measures'. 

This is a troublesome issue. Terrans and, to a limited extent, Protoss can wall themselves into their main with the careful placement of buildings in order to thwart an early rush by the opposing player. There are many ways to beat this sort of tactic, but I won't be covering them this post. Look up Baneling Bust for some ideas of how to deal with this. Remember, adapt and overcome.

Day 21
I've lost all faith in the swarm.

Have you ever seen the bits of your comrades fly past you by a single shot of a Crucio Shock Cannon? Have you ever been so close to the heat of an Hellion that it takes you a minute to realize that your best friend is burning alive? I was hearing every tendon snapping and sinew ripping of my fellow Zerglings. The distorted looks on their faces as they realize they've been hit directly in the skull by a sniper round.

I barely escaped. I should be dead; just like the rest of my platoon. It was only me and 6 others that got away. Over 38 died.

We weren't an army. We were a distraction. The mutalisks were in on it, too. They took out probably 10, maybe 20 SCVs. But how many soldiers was it worth? How much do we have to sacrifice to win this war?! 

Several things to learn from this entry. Yes, Zerglings are a good distraction. People sometimes panic when a rush of toothy death comes at them from nowhere. But make sure it is worth the cost you paid to make them. Sacrificing a several dozen zerglings to take out ten SCVs isn't usually worth it. Especially if your opponent has another 40+ scattered about his expansions. Make your strikes count and attack where you have the obvious advantage.

Oh, and Siege tanks on a hill with ghosts = many dead zerglings.

Day 23
We can see the Terran forces coming over the horizon. They are armed with 2 of those infernal tanks and 4 gigantic mechanical monstrosities I've never seen before. I can taste my death.

Zerg as a race do not usually fare well in direct confrontation. Unit for unit, we tend to be the least armored and the lowest health of all three races. Couple this with both our opponents having a good supply of AOE(area of effect) or rapid-fire weapons and it becomes very obvious that face to face fighting should be avoided at all cost.

Harass, ambush, disable, anything we can do to push the balance in our favour is what Zerg should focus on.

Day 34
The Terran are toying with us. The tanks lie just outside of our homeland supported by rotating missile turrets in every which way. We are being contained. Our supplies are running low, we will be out of minerals soon.

Zerg thrives on map control and good macro-management. Being contained like this is devastating to our ability to gain advantages over our opponents. Luckily, Blizzard has seen fit to give us some tools to get around this.

With burrowing, Roaches can actually move underground as long as our opponent does not have any detectors nearby. Pass a small army out under them and hit them from the rear while you assault their front with above-ground units and air.

Nydus Worms are another method of breaking a containment and should not be overlooked. Despite what their official page says about them, they seem to no longer require creep to be deployed.

Diary of a Siege Tank

Day 48

Spilled some coffee on myself during an attack. My life sucks.

The game is all a matter of perspective.