Hi everyone, just got the game a week or so ago and have already gotten a few good games under my belt. 1 Terran vs Zerg matchup and 3 Zerg vs Protoss battles. The Protoss battles were basically one day of rematches as my girlfriend with the first 2 plays as the Protoss had a fair problem trying to play as them, mainly finding the high unit cost as too prohibitive in order to combat a steady flow of Zerg rushing.

She really wants to like the Protoss but right now can't quite figure out how to play them. Any tips would be appreciated, anti-zerg tactics would be nice but also more general play such as order timing would help too.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Overture

In my (admittedly limited) experience, the Protoss player benefits greatly against the Zerg by very quickly developing Reavers and researching their related technologies. This investment gives you tremendous staying power (splash damage) against the flood of Zerglings you're very likely to encounter against many Zerg opponents. This should allow you to hold them at bay while you try to gain some ground and acquire the resources needed to produce an army that truly represents your strength (either Carriers or Templar/Archons). Pouring out hordes of Zealots in the early game is your only way to stave off the initial assaults, and you can be aided in this by building some extra Probes at the earliest chance you have. They'll pay for themselves quickly and will allow you to partially negate the extra expense of a Protoss army. Just don't get overly ambitious early on, and it should be manageable. Difficult, but manageable.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I did in the 3rd Zerg vs Protoss match up where we switched sides and I played as Aldaris. I think the main problem she's been having with the game is knowing when to play order tokens and how to balance out her economy. Perhaps she should try playing as Tassadar instead? I'm guessing that the extra worker is better long term, but I was curious about everyone elses opinion.

What I do like about Aldaris though is the ability to research and gain new combat cards fairly constantly with little worries, being able to ensure that your small army always had the cards relevant to them was key aid in beating back her assaults.

I think the key advice I've learnt is that even though you get an extra two cards when on defense as the Protoss, it's always better to attack in any situation and a mobilize back to home is a great way to hit and run in order to prevent even one casuality. I'm really loving all the little tactics and strategies this game provides.

My first hint is to run if you are playing Protos. It takes time before you are able to set up sufficient good units and techs so you can squish the irritating Zergs.

If the Zergs give you any room to develop in the beginning of the game (or you can buly to do so with 1 or 2 well timed attacks) it should be fairly even.

Another hint is to stay on area's with a maximum population of 2. 2 Protos units agianst 4 Zergs give you a surviving chance. If you allow 2 vs. 6 you will loose at least 1 unit, and 2 if played well by the Zerg. Use the stacking LIMIT against the Zergs, you don't need that many units to be efficient.

But all in all, in a 2 player game I would put my money on the Zergs, because they are great early game while the protos need time. Even so, I hope those 2 comments can help you a bit.

Some tips for a protoss, okay (1) if facing anything just get some archons if you have the resources, they are tanks with splash on all cards, and can hit air!. (2) get your techs! Protoss need their techs to win (like any other race). you should definetly get the psionic storm, the dragoons attack upgrade, and the observers. (3) remember that you are a power race!!! you can't mass all your units like zerg, or go average with terran, your gonna have a small force, but a powerful one.

No, they definately do help. I had never considered using unit limit 2 areas to aid Protoss in early game. Although a lot of that will be controlled by starting planets, I'll be sure to try it when I get a chance. What I've been doing the last few games is putting a base on a high unit area (mostly surrounded by lower areas) and using air support to force the Zerg player to drip his forces in and then be hit by an immediate counter attack. It's an expensive early buy, but it's saved my bases a good few times. In future games it might become less useful as my opponent learns though.

Thanks again for the tips.

And to Grim, I agree about Archons being extremely powerful, but I'd find it a bit of a struggle to buy all of that tech, I think in the last game the only tech card I bought was to unlock Archons, everything else was spent on new units, mostly Reavers. Maybe it's bad economy management on my side, knowing when to build workers is quite important I'm learning.

Overture said:

thanks for agreeing! i can usually make them with tech, then again i'm good with money lol.

I'd be the opposite, if I didn't have a budget or smarter girlfriend to look after me, my flat would be full of nothing other than snacks and games . I did manage to get one Archon out last game, along with my Reaver force and a free event card Carrier... well it wasn't a very good day to be Zerg.

My next game is most likely going to be Protoss vs Terran, so any advice would be great.

Well, if your opponent doesn't press you too hard, you can plop out an Archon and attack with it on turn two. Of course, you can have an active reaver on turn one. Sadly, reavers don't have too good defense values.

Shield batteries are cool, because it is exceedingly difficult to kick out an archon from your base when he is backed by one.

Also, when aided by psionic storm, your archon is sure to inflict three kills WITH DETECTOR. Attack 11, thank you, dear opponent, go home and take your fail with you. Those templars are also good to soak up splash damage that would otherwise kill your archon, with their 1 gas cost. Hallucination allows you to discard that chitinous plating and the yamato gun cards. Or, even, a nuke.

When going for the archon, keep in mind that converting two templars to one counts as one unit built, thus, get that golden build or a supply module to be able to rebuild the two templars you just sacrificed with one order.

Also, that archon is cheap, costing 3 gas. You need 3 minerals and 1 gas invested in buildings and tech to be able to build him. His cost leaves the minerals free to bouild those zealots.

Basically, what you need to do with protoss is to lose as few units as possible. In 1 on 1 games, the zerg will concentrate on you, thus it is difficult. In multiplayer, it's easier to demonstrate one total massacre that makes others hesitant to go against you.

It might be possible to do a Zealot rush.

In a 1 vs 1 game chances are high that your first bases are connected. So going with two build orders and two mobilize orders could flood the enemy with lots of the superior tier one zealots. They can break through most of the initial setups of the other races. Crippling the enemy's first foothold on the map might pave your way to victory. The opponent might be tempted to retaliate, and this way sacrifice tech advancemt in favor of a larger number of available units which are still weaker. From there, you can chose if you continue on building zealots or start production on the reavers.

There are only what, 5 zealot cards? The zealot is superior only as long as he has a good card. One marine splash card can ruin your day, too.

I give a go to the reaver rush. you can easily get one at the end of the second round if your planets are fine and they will rip through zerglings with ease.

If near a zerg player I would keep the air units for much later in the game. templars/archons/reavers will do the job with their Splash.

The protoss always start in numerical disadvantage. Unless you draw awesome cards at the beginning, expand slowly and play defensive (shield battery, A-A gunz,...)

Good luck!