Welcome to the Swarm, if you have made your choice to master the basics of the Zerg race. If not, may this guide sway your decision to live for the Swarm. We are going to start by going over some basic ideas, and then we will get into the meat of this section. A big thanks to CoffeeCast viewer Jon for writing all information contained in Learning Zerg: The Basics!
Who... What are the Zerg?
The Zerg are the swarm. They are an alien race of mindless insect-oid critters. You want to play them because you want to control a flock of locusts, as the Zerg are known for expanding from planet to planet, consuming everything in their path. Their lower tier fledgling units have low damage output, low health, but are incredibly inexpensive, the idea being that Zerg is the swarm race, they want a lot of really cheap, weaker units. The Zerg high tier units are gigantic, expensive, and pack one hell of a punch.
As you'll find through this guide and personal experience, Zerg has to be played with an entirely different mindset than the other races, derived from the monumental differences between Zerg's mechanics and the mechanics of Protoss and Terran. As opposed to the other races, who build all their units from a combination of four production facilities (like the Gateway for the Protoss, or the Barracks for the Terran), the Zerg make all of their units from just one production structure, the Hatchery (which can be later upgraded to unlock new capabilities). This gives the Zerg the ability to switch its primary unit composition at the drop of a hat- all it takes is the building that unlocks the new unit/tech.
The Zerg look distinctly different than every one else.
Prepared for the onslaught?
Good... Then without further ado, let's begin our talk about the Zerg.