Zerg is Underpowered

I'm not one to jump on the claim, and blame every loss on some inherent race balance—but there's no way that Zerg is a balanced race. As one of my opponents put it (in a battle very much like the one in the replay I've posted): "You have to put so much into playing Zerg, but you get nothing out of it."

I know I could have done certain things better, and there's forevermore room for improvement, but the fact that my army was squashed so very easily, though, should say something. I had to mutalisk harass as constantly as I could, and contain him within the space of his natural expansion (although my mutalisks, of course, have to run away from a mass of Terran's 1st offensive unit). I had near full upgrades on everything. I contained him well, positioned myself in a way that would make it easier for me to flank. Expanded. Had a good amount of workers. Etc., etc., etc.

In the end, when my mutalisks did get through, the minerals in his 1st base weren't even fully mined.

Look, a person can give me as many tips as possible, and I'll take them to heart—and ask for more, but . . . seriously? This, I think, is absurd.

 

I ain't no pro, but:

- you left a drone doing nothing for a looooooooooong time at the beginning (near your first extractor). There's seriously no reason for that
- you built a second extractor and didn't move drones into it for aaages
- you were still only on lings 10 minutes into the game. And not even a lot of them
- You took forever to get an overseer while the banshees raped your ultralisks. You should have just ran back completely
- You basically killed off your entire mutalisk army for no purpose in a useless kamikaze mission.
- You never targetted the medivac's
- you stopped making banelings even though they had heaps of marines
- you split your forces up. A lot. He didn't.

I don't know why you're surprised you lost. You handled your army really poorly in battles. :/

 

Srly stop playing zerg.








That is my troll post for the day.

Serious edit: give protoss a try. Youll find they are much easier.

 

Can't watch that replay right now, but after the latest patch zerg really is as balanced against terran as it gets. Overpowered early harrasment is no longer possible and drops are less effective, if you can't win in the long run it's your fault.

 

That was some ****ty zerg macroing.

 

Ok.
no. dont just come and say "omg zerg are SOOOO UP"

does it matter? at least FruitDealer won.

Play better.
Ever seen mass hydra/roach combo? Rape. thats WITHOUT micro. effort? a few extra decisions and clicks per second. it pays off because it might be someone's style of play, or favorite race -- THAT is my motivation to play toss! not cuz its ez. (especially holds true for sc1. zerg was my best race, the race i learned first -- babysitters said it was eziest, they taught me it first-- but Toss was my favorite)

 

Well i did not watch the replay but your statement that zerg is underpowered is not wrong. If you compare them with terran for example.... But while the protoss and terran have a more similar gameplay , zerg are more different (personal opinion !!!) See the fact that they spawn creatures from 1 building , they sacrifice workers , they always need more expansions , need to be more agreesive , cannot wall in, etc... And i think it comes to which one of the two play-styles you prefer to play... (I hope that random race players will come to agree with my statement)

 

I actually watched it. Generally you played quite well, but your macro really sucked. Why didn't you mass expand and drone up when you saw him turtling? Why didn't you expand to gold?

Also it's funny that you could've won a few times easily if you pushed (for example around 22 minutes, you had nice pack of mutas and he had 4 marines for anti air).

 

Zerg isnt underpowered it just takes more effort to use properly and effectively. Zerg is a macro heavy race, while you still need good micro to make your individual units effective.

I used to feel zerg was underpowered as well, but now i look at zerg as having infinite potential.

Though our detection is still a giant piece of ****... My overseer should be cloaked and shoot seeker missles!

 

*meh* i dont think i need to say much here... we all know what zerg really is xD

 

I guess I'm not understanding the difference between the statements, Zerg is underpowered and If you want to play Zerg as effectively as Terran or Protoss, you have to put more effort into it.

. . . That isn't the same thing?

 

You have to put more effort into Zerg, becuase you need another mindset than the average rts-player, since most games´s races are more similar to Protoss and Terran.

 

IM pretty sure I just said to stop playing zerg in favor of protoss.

 

Not many RTS games allow you to control the weird biological creatures. Most of them make you play the humans, or the advanced alien race.

Think of it this way, have you seen SST (starship troopers)? Remember when the roughnecks were defending themselves on the fort... a few humans killed HUNDREDS of the bugs. The bugs finally won when they started coming from the air and underground!

Well, when you play zerg, you're playing the bugs. Simply running into terran will involve in a loss battle. You have to think twice during fights.

Lure them out into the open to surround them
Use the units with the most HP to soak up the damage
Use burrow surprise
Use nydus worms in their base
Use mutas to pick off stragglers, unprotected buildings, or aid your ground army from behind.

My the biggest tip of all, is to NOT just simply run in (especially in a narrow canyon type of area), unless you know you have the upper hand. Plan the fight, be creative.

This is what we mean by mindset, Zerg is not some military race. They're like a swarm of ants that want to surround and engulf their prey.

 

Very interesting analysis, i think i will incorporate that into my future gameplays with the Zerg... But in hindsight, should the enemies have far greater numbers than you, how would you handle that?

 

I will take this to the grave. <3

 

Generally, my army would be equal/larger when I push out for an attack. Zerg in small numbers do not do so great "most of the time." There are of course exceptions, depending on the game an opponent.

However, when you do find yourself in a situations with not many units, there are ways to fight back.
Infestors can FG, slowing your enemy and buying you time to reinforce.
You can attack the enemies mineral line with a few mutas when he pushes out, forcing him to run back.
In early game, 3-4 spine crawlers scares away most small armies. (I've used this to tech up to fast Hydra vs Protoss 4 gate).

 

Zerg is underpowered is some ways but better in others as well. Like all we need is one building and a few queens and hatcheries and we can produce every unit from one building. We need one spire to make mutas and corrupters while they need multiple stargates and starports to produce the same number of air units as we can. I don't like how we don't have an real ultimate air unit like the toss and terran though. The have BC's and Carriers and we have nothing like that. I know we have Brood Lords, but they can only attack ground while the others race's ships attack air and ground. We may not be perfectly even but were not far off.

 

Personally I think there's a pretty large margin between knowing the responses Zerg are designed for and claiming imbalance. I'd say most players are making assertions that don't hold much merit to defending racial I'm alance. Each race has susceptibility to attacks. Zerg are particularly weak if you expand early. Albeit it a necessary step to Zerg design, many players underestimate the need for knowing how to respond to opponents early game. This is particularly true for Zerg off an early expansion. Also, mutas are a great harassment tool and help to shape an advantage, but they generally -emphasizing generally- are not a deal breaker.

Terran players feel powerful, but a lot of that is measured so heavily on what you allow them to do. Containment is a good principle within the game, but forsight can be even better. I've found myself learning that there are certain points in the game Zerg become advantageously geared toward a preemptive strike, even at times becoming dire. A good example of this is when a Terran player prepares a lot of thors. Premptively striking them can win you the game, but you have to consider if a Break in is really possible. Hurling mutas or other units at a well defended base is an absolute waste.