New beta player - trying zerg but having issues

[variantavatar]

OK so brand new to the beta, and I have read through many of the threads regarding zerg build order and what not, and maybe I am just not doing something right because it doesn't matter if I play against terran or protoss I seem to get overrun.

Here is what I am doing

1. Initially - Have all drones start mining minerals
2. Build a drone, who will then create an extractor
3. Build drones until maxed, then build overlord. Have all drones on minerals
4. Once overlord is created, have a drone build spawning pool
5. Build 3 drones to gather gas
6. Once spawning pool is done advance to a Lair
7. Build a queen + zerglings
8. Build a spire
9. Build a drone to expand
10. Build mutalisks + zerglings
11. Build up some defenses
12. Began going down the path of building roaches

At this point I usually have 24-48 zerglings and 4-8 mutalisks. Its at this point where I am typically either overrun, or my troops are just not enough.

Any assistance will be useful. Also I have downloaded some replays, and maybe I am just blindly missing it, but how do you go about watching them?

I appreciate the assistance

[TWD]

I think part of the problem is that you're going for mutalisks. In order to build them quickly enough you really need to have 4 extractors. If muta is what you really want focus on a build that gets the expand with gas up as quickly as possible. Plus you have to realize that mutas are really for harassment. It's so easy to counter that it's not really worth the effort. I would instead go for roaches or hydras. I also don't think early gas like that is a good idea for Zerg. I'm usually doing something like 10 pool 12 or 14 extractor.
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Glass bubblers

[variantavatar]

ok, when you say 10 pool, 12-14 extractor, are you talking about how many drones you have?

So hydras are more bang for the buck then than mutalisks, I was going for them as my main force, but if they are 2nd rate, I will redo my strat.

You said roaches or hydras, how would I counter air attacks if I went with roaches? Any suggestions?

Appreciate the help.

[TWD]

Hydralisks are best for anti-air, but if your gas is dedicated to roaches you might have a hard time getting there. However, spore crawlers are fairly effective, and having extra Queens can help stop voidray rushes etc. Neither of these cost gas so while they're just trying to harass you can wipe them out with ground forces.
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Angelica02 cam

[Nicol Bolas]

This is a very bad build. 10 Pool is fundamentally aggressive; you don't need a pool that early unless you are going for early-game aggression. Going for an aggressive build without the, you know, aggression is not a good idea.

If you want a kind of middle-ground 1-base build, you want 14-Pool. Possibly 13-Pool, but the distinction is fairly minor. However, you cannot one-base Mutalisks for any real length of time; they cost too much gas for that.

Also, your transition from Mutalisks to Roaches... well, that just doesn't make sense. You spent all this time teching to the slowest producing Tier 2 building (Spire takes 100 seconds), only to pump a few Mutalisks and transition into Roaches. And you didn't even bother to get defenses until after the Spire?

There's no way this build can be expected to survive.

It's also an overly mechanical build, particularly for your level of play. Your build needs to be able to adapt to what the enemy is doing. That's why I'm starting to like 14-Pool/14-Hatch. If I see early aggression, I can cancel the Hatch for later and get more Zerglings. If I see a fast-expo, I can drone up massively. If I detect some kind of timing push, I can throw down whatever buildings and units that are necessary to thwart it.

What does your build do against early Zealot pressure? How do you plan to survive that when your Roach Warren doesn't happen until after your Spire and Mutalisks finish?

Your build needs to be less rigid and more flexible.

[variantavatar]

I appreciate the help folks, I understand my build is bad, thats why I am here trying to fix it.

The biggest part of clarification is when you say 14-pool, is that "14" meaning how many drones you have? Please excuse this obvious entry level question.

The last fight I just did I went with the following (in the following order)

10 drones
1 overlord
1 pool
1 extractor
1 queen
3 drones for gas
48 zerglings
1 Roach Warren
2 ground defenses
1 drone to expand
*overlords sprinkled in there to grow
Produced Roaches
Tech'd movement while burrowed for roaches

I started to feel really good, I couldn't produce troops fast enough, but then I was overrun by terrans and my 20 roaches and 48 zerglings were toast

[tam]

when they say 10 pool yes they are referring to your supply, not ur drones, but at that point u'll have nothing but drones and overlords anyways



now im not a zerg player, so only advice i can give is through watching the replay and see how ur macroing and microing and help that way, other than that, basically what i said above

[variantavatar]

Ah gotcha.

As for the replays when I download them, how do I watch them? Someone said drag them onto the SC2.exe file, but that didn't seem to work

Also this last fight, I took some more of the above suggestions and got 3 queens, that held off the void rays, and also built up a lot of base defenses before I started to expand.

Also went for hydras, and they definitely helped, still lost but I got closer. Now any suggestion on how to detect the invisible units in protoss other than overlords?

[Fyrinite]

You're going to need overseers to detect. You should have plenty overlords around to spare though. Spore crawlers can detect too if you want a less gas heavy detection, but the mobility of the overseer is far more helpful.

Base defenses are nice, but it's probably a bit better to invest some of that money in units unless you know you need the defenses. Still, a well places spine/spore crawler can be critical in repelling certain attacks.

[tam]

there should be a replays folder under documents/starcraft 2 beta

inside replays there should be 2 folders, multiplayer and recent

put the replays in multiplayer, than boot up the game u should be able to view em using the replays option there in bnet interface