Zerg Economy Theory

[GRUNT]

Hay guys, I was hoping some of you super pro A-level players could help explanify some things for me :].

Basically I'm wondering how strong the Zerg economy actually IS compared to that of the other races.

For a very long time, I held the belief that the Zerg - with their vulnerability to stuff like Irradiate, or siege tank splash or Psi Storm - rely on a superior economy to offset their army's relative frailness.

Zerg usually needs to be up by at least 1 base when fighting Protoss or Terran opponents, and I simply thought that they needed MORE money than their opponents to compete. This has been my mentality for a long time, and usually try to get very good drone saturation in all my bases (just 10 drones on minerals per base didn't seem right to me, although I do consider 12 acceptable).

However, what I noticed from watching a lot of players who are better than me play (I love this game to bits, but I would lose to even a D-level player) is that even though a Zerg player has more bases, the drone saturation is noticeably lower compared to Terran and Protoss bases. I thought that despite the lower saturation, Zerg still have a superior economy because they have more drones mining overall, but I've been told that Zerg actually use up less minerals than other races and that they actually successfully operate on a weaker economy.

I never thought Zerg units were actually any cheaper or more cost-effective than those of other races. I attributed the Zerg's 'swarminess' to the race's superior production capabilities as well as its economy.

Is it that Zerg units really ARE considered more cost-effective? What is the math behind Zerg being able to churn out such large numbers of troops on a relatively low economy?

I wish my playing was actually good enough for me to answer these questions myself .

[Nytefish]

Well zerg units are a lot cheaper and generally take less supply, 2 zerglings for 1 supply means you can easily have more units than a terran or protoss. Zerg also require a smaller number of buildings and their hatcheries are cheaper (actually in general apart from static defences their buildings are cheap).

Also, often it's not the minerals but gas which is important. Units like the lurker/defiler/scourge are very gas intensive but you can hold back a much more expensive protoss/terran force with these.

[gigant]

the reasons:
1. zerg is more gas heavy race than terran and protoss, thus needing more expansions, gas expansions especially
2. they share larvas for drones AND units. They cannot get as good saturation for as powerful income as terran and protoss with only as many exps.