Starting out with Protoss
Protoss
Protoss are probably the most difficult race to master in terms of getting
past the early game. On certain maps they can be quite vulnerable to
Zergling rushes. Also, the fact that their buildings take so long to warp in,
and their units are more expensive, make playing as Protoss an
"unforgiving" experience if you make a mistake with them. Efficiency is
crucial.
Here's one good general build order
1) Build 4 probes
2) While the fourth Probe is warping in, use one of the existing
Probes to make a Pylon
3) Make a 5th Probe, and when it appears, your Pylon should be
just about done, so warp in a Gateway.
4) Another Probe, then use it to make another Gateway
5) Another Probe, then make a Pylon
6) Your first Gateway should be through warping in, so make a
Zealot.
7) Make another Probe, then a Pylon
8) As soon as that second Gateway finishes warping in, construct
a Zealot there.
What about the Zergling rush?
If you think a Zergling rush is coming you should change up and build a
Pylon right after building your second Probe. Try to stack your Zealots
side by side at a choke point, so the Zerglings cannot break through or
surround your Zealots for an optimal attack. For instance, on Lost Temple,
have your Zealots stand right a top the ramp to your base. This will force
any Zerglings to take on your Zealots on a one for one basis, which is a
losing proposition for the Zerg player, even if you're badly outnumbered.
After beating back that first wave, if you have a reasonable number of
Zealots left over, start an immediate counter attack. Your objective is to
try to push your Zerg opponent into a defensive mode.
OK what if no rush comes?
If you're not rushed first, at some point you need to use at least one of
your Probes and your first Zealot to scout around and find your opponent
(if you don't already know where the enemy base is). After locating the
base, just send in your first 5 Zealots and try to wreak some havoc.
Hopefully this attack will accomplish several things. One, you want
intelligence information on what he or she is building. This will give you a
rough idea of what strategy your opponent is employing, and allow you a
chance to counter that strategy accordingly. For instance, if you see a
Zerg player upgrading to Lair quickly, you can bet he's going for
Mutalisks. Go all out on Zealots and rush, while building up to Templars
back at your own base. Two, you want to try and break through the first
line defenses and do damage to the harvesting line. Three, initiating a
successful first attack gives you a psychological edge and puts your
opponent on the defensive, which is the first step toward success.
The Economy
In the beginning, concentrate on gathering minerals to buy Zealots. Once
you saturate your mineral fields with Probes, sending more to gather
minerals probably won't improve the situation-now it's time to build your
Assimilator. Don't bother building a Forge or Cybernetics Core until you
have an Assimilator and are already rapidly gathering Vespene Gas. The
Forge allows you to upgrade your units and allows you to build Photon
Cannons. However, you can't upgrade your units unless you have the
Vespene Gas, and in the beginning it's more worthwhile to build two
Zealots than one Photon Cannon. The Cybernetics Core is a requirement
for the more advanced buildings, but the more advanced buildings require
a lot of Vespene Gas for construction.
How many Gateways again?
A lot of hard core Protoss players swear by the strategy of getting up
three Gateways as quickly as possible. Personally, I think it's wiser to
stick with 2 Gateways that are CONSTANTLY churning out Zealots until
your economy is up to the point where you can have 3 Gateways
CONSTANTLY churning out Zealots. Add a fourth or fifth Gateway later as
the economy is built up. If you think about it, it's pointless to have so
many Gateways and yet, any one of them may be sitting idle because
your economy cannot handle the production load. Another key is to not be
tempted into queuing your production too early. Don't use one of your
Gateways to queue up 3 Zealots while another is sitting idle. Early on,
queuing is bad because the development of your town and economy
requires having all your resources accessible, not tied up inside the Zealot
production queue. Until you reach the mid game stage, it's better to build
only one or two Zealots at a time, per Gateway.
Defense and Recon
Defensively, it's prudent to use more Shield Batteries and Dragoons than
Photon Towers. Naturally, you'll need some kind of detector ability if you
see a Terran opponent making Wraiths. A couple of Photons scattered
about will provide detection until Observers can be made.
As important as reconnaissance is, Protoss probably have the worst
recon capability of any race. Terrans can use ComSats to safely take a
peek at any part of the map. Zerg can use Parasites to peer into enemy
territory safely as well. Protoss don't have any capability of the sort,
except for Observers, and once towers are constructed in the enemy
town, you can pretty much forget about keeping Observers over the
enemy base. For this reason, it's probably a good idea to have a Zealot or
two run a suicide mission through enemy bases to try and gain
intelligence. If the entrance is plugged up, air drop one or two in the rear to
run around and see what's going on. Later on, Scouts with speed and
sight upgrade can speed over top of enemy bases to see what's going on.
Another possibility is creating a Hallucination of a Scout to run the suicide
recon runs.
Click to the next section and learn about some mid game tricks.