Starcraft Example Story
Name: Jason vs. Evil Jason
Version: Starcraft 1.10
Map: Challenger (2 Player)
Start
Jason: I'm playing the noble Protoss. I tend to try to advance quickly up the tech tree with the Protoss so I can attack with a combined force that includes reavers and carriers. The map starts player with access to crystals and 2 vespene geysers. There are clearly not enough crsytals to build my task force, so I'll have to expand early. Fortunately early in the game, the Protoss can expand easily with little more than a probe and a dragoon as a guard. I'll be doing heavy harvesting to get into a position to expand quickly.
Evil Jason: I'm playing the hungry Zerg. The Zerg have the advantage of being a threat at every point during the game. Noting the lack of initial crystal plus the need of the Zerg for multiple hives, I'll have to expand quickly as well. Fortunately, the Zerg can move more quickly than the Protoss. The disadvantange we have is that our early raiding parties will have to be larger than they would be if fighting Terrans. Those pesky shields must be punctured before real damage can be done. Still, once he's on the defensive, it'll only be a matter of time before he's assimilated.
Jason: Base setup is quick and easy with the Protoss and you don't lose much time from harvesting. It's also nice that the cannons defend from both air and ground attackers. I've got a good defense set up and am building my stargate and second base at the same time. EJ has sent a few probing attacks against my defenses, but the cannons are easy to rebuild.
Evil Jason: I haven't really done too much damage to him yet, but I've slowed him down and managed to get some parasites on his troops. He's behind the power curve and doesn't even know it. It looks like he's trying to build up uber troops again. My defilers will have plague soon. I think I'll give him a strong feint while I build to get guardians.
Jason: Uh-oh. Defilers. I thought defilers only damaged bio units. It seems like my cannons are hurting too. I managed to beat him off, but barely. I need to rebuild units. I'm going to have two fully loaded carriers shortly. Then we'll see how things go.
Evil Jason: Hmm. I guess he's forgotten about my parasites. I can see his carriers and direct my scourges right at them. This will be short and ugly. Zerglings, check, Guardians, check, Mutalisks, check, Hydralisks, check and I still have my defilers from before, now recharged. As soon as my guardians are in position, we attack.
Jason: Ouch. His guardians start attacking my defenses, so I send out the carriers. I suspect a trap, so the scout escort goes along. Good thing, because here come his mutalisks. Right after my scouts engage, a swarm of scourges converge on each of my carriers. Bye bye. Without my carriers, my troops are woefully out numbered. To think that was my main base. I can only hope he doesn't know where my other base is.
Evil Jason: One base down, one to go. It's really just mop up work. Once my guardians get to his next base it's over.
Jason: That was quick. I lost to the Zerg again.
After Thoughts
Jason: Once again I fall prey to my greatest weakness. I turtle too long without engaging the enemy. The way to win with the Protoss is to strike and retreat. Recharge shields and do it again. The Zerg don't heal that fast. I didn't even get to stage 1. I like the big shiny units too much and don't spend enough time with the little guys. Actually, the zealot / dragoon combination can be very tough early in the game, especially if you upgrade the dragoon range. Maybe next time.
Evil Jason: The Zerg pretty much make you aggressive. You won't win defensively with the Zerg. Cheap disposable units are the name of the game and if you don't dispose of them you run into unit cap problems. While he was recovering from each wave of attacks, I was climbing the tech tree and building a main assault force. Also, the ability to target the scourges right at his carriers helped take them out quickly. Not much can stand against a carrier for long.