Macro: The Overall Strategy

I have talked about macro in another post but I didn't talk about overall strategy, as that post was getting too long, so that is what I want to do here. In terms of grand strategy each race plays quite differently but it's really up to the player how they plan ahead; so I'm going to talk about what my strategy with each race normally is.

Firstly, with Zerg, I either like to end the game quickly or keep the opponent in their base and take a massive economic advantage over them. Throughout the mid game I drone like crazy whilst keeping an eye on what they are doing with zerglings and overseers so that I can get the optimal balance between economy and army. My aim in the longer games is to keep them on as few a bases as possible whilst taking the rest of the map and getting top tier units and good upgrades to move in and attack with. If you get to the point where you can reproduce units as soon as they are killed and they are limited on bases you have won. Playing against Zerg I like the game to be over as quickly as possible as my nerves can't take how aggressive ZvZ is or how temperamental.

Map control and macroing are the key to playing well as Zerg.

As a Protoss I like to defend for as long as possible on one or two bases whilst building up a force of diverse units. The overall aim is to build up a big enough 'deathball' that the opponent cannot kill it so that you can destroy their production and tech. To prevent the enemy getting total control of the map I like to use dark templars or void rays to harass or warp prisms to drop zealots into the mineral line. As a Protoss I also like to proxy void ray with four zealots as early game aggression, it's  not cheese; but early game aggression. Without observers I often have a very limited idea of what the enemy is doing so a diverse army prevents being countered too heavily. I haven't played a PvP since the patch but I used to go 3 gate robo to get out immortals to counter most people's 4 gate, if anything this should be stronger and more standard now.

Proxy stargate against Zerg is surprisingly effective.

When I'm a Terran I like to use a reaper, hellion or banshee early game to harass the mineral line. My overall aim is usually to lock down my first expansion with siege tanks and bio; unless I'm against a Protoss in which can I prefer a marauder heavy bio army with medivac support. The siege tank line can be placed outside the enemy base to prevent them from expanding. My overall strategy is normally to starve the enemy of resources so they can't build enough units to counter me, drops help to achieve this. For the final push continually building bio usually helps to tip the balance. Against Terran I find that mech is definatedly the best way to play though I'm not a fan of watching TvT; as it's often just lines of siege tanks inching forwards. I haven't been playing Terran for all that long so my play style will probably change over time.

Spreading out siege tanks is vital for survival.

As always thanks for reading and please fell free to leave a comment and/or follow me.