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This in my opinion is a really awesome RTS(Real Time Strategy) that I have and will play. Then there is the expansion that adds even more fun. Any names in red are only avaible in the expansion versoin of starcraft which is called Broodwar

Terran Troops

Terran Strategy

Training
The Single Player Terran campaigns can give you a chance to learn how to use the basic abilities of Terrans. They start out easy, then increase in difficulty while introducing more units and abilities. After mastering those, players wanting to improve their use of Terrans can try the Veteran campaigns. Go to Single Player -> Play Custom -> then select the Campaign folder (first one on the list). Make sure you serve the game type as Use Map Settings. You can choose to start at the beginning and play the whole campaign in order, or head straight to (1)Enslavers3a.scm. This map starts you as Terrans against Protoss and Terrans. This map is very good training for Terran players. While newer Terran players, and even experienced players will find it very difficult, if you continue playing it over and over, you will eventually be able to beat it. As you play it, you learn new and better ways to fight both the Protoss and Terrans. After you are able to beat this mission, try (1)Enslavers3b.scm which puts you as Terran/Protoss against Zerg and Terran. This one is very difficult but it can be beaten.

Construction
A SCV must work on constructing new buildings until the building is finished. During the construction period, the SCV is still vulnerable to attack. If the SCV stops working or is destroyed, the partially completed building will remain until it is destroyed, cancelled, or another SCV starts to work on it again. Only one SCV can build a structure at one time, but multiple SCVs can be used to repair a damaged building.

Support
Terrans require Supply Depots to provide support for their troops. Each Supply Depot provides 8 Supply, and each Command Center provides 10 Supply. It's vital to keep a close eye on your available Supplies to make sure you always have enough to build new troops, especially at the beginning of the game. A halt in the combat unit production caused by not having enough supply available can make a huge difference.

Critical Damage
The hodge-podge circuitry and components used in Terran buildings make them easy to repair but they can burn up if left alone after being severely damaged in an attack. Once a Terran building has been damaged into the "red zone" (reduced to about 1/3 Hit Points, red wire frame) it will slowly lose hit points until it reaches 0 and is destroyed. You must repair it until it is in the "yellow zone" or greater to stop the decaying process of the building. Note that this only applies to Terran buildings, not units.

Upgrades
You can only research one upgrade at a time at any building, and the wide variety of Terran upgrades means that it can take a while to research everything. It's usually a good idea to build at least two Armories (they are very cheap) and you might want to build three to upgrade faster. Multiple Engineering Bays are less useful but could be helpful if you plan on using a lot of Marines.

Lifting Off (or, "That's it, I'm outta here!")
If you look at most the Terran Buildings you will notice that many have the Lift-Off command available. These buildings are capable of limited flight, and while slow and vulnerable in the air their mobility can be used both for rapid expansion and to flee from enemy ground troops. The Command Center, Barracks, Engineering Bay, Factory, Starport, and Science Facility are all capable of flight.

Buildings may only land on open, buildable land. You cannot land buildings just anywhere. You cannot land it on top of units either, so you cannot crush enemy units with buildings. Buildings have no attack of their own when flying so they are vulnerable to attack, and against most air units they will take even more damage from air-to-air attacks.

Some interesting uses for Lift-Off:

* When a resource spot is mined out, rather than just letting your Command Center sit around, you can fly it to another resource spot.

* When your buildings are being attacked by melee/ground units only, such as Zealots, Zergling, Ultralisks, Reavers, Tanks, etc. lift-off your buildings. The melee units will not be able to attack them. This can save the buildings until reinforcements arrive, or force the enemy to engage other buildings like Bunkers. This is especially useful with Command Centers as they are very expensive.

* In island maps, you can build a Command Center and fly it over to an island without a transport. You can also fly Barracks over early in the game and build a few Marines on different islands to secure them before the enemy is able to transport troops to them.

* You can construct a building on lower ground, then fly it up to the safety of high ground to either build units or to keep the buildings safe. Some maps have secondary resource nodes on high ground that aren't accessible from the ground.

* If you have a building capable of two add-ons such as the Science Facility and Command Center, and decide you want the other add-on, instead of destroying the old add-on and building the new one, you can lift off and build the other add-on and switch between the two as necessary.

* If you find that a Terran enemy has abandoned some valuable add-ons, you can fly your buildings to that location, land by them, and use them. This is of course a rare application.

* If you are being nuked, you can lift-off buildings in the targeted area and run before the nuke hits if you are fast enough. You probably won't escape the blast, but you can get away from ground zero and reduce the damage that you take.

* You can run away and set up at another location if your town is about to fall. You can return when it's safe, or run away to some other location to rebuild your town. Flee toward allies in allied games.

* You can lift-off a building and fly it a bit out of your town to spot for your Siege Tanks, increasing their effective range. If your building comes under attack you can always fly it back into town, repair it, and send it back again.

Add-ons
There are six add-on buildings for the Terrans:

* The Command Center has two add-ons: the ComSat Station for performing sensor sweeps, and the Nuclear Silo for manufacturing nukes.

* The Factory has the Machine Shop which allows you to research special abilities for the Vulture and Tank. This add-on is necessary to build Siege Tanks.

* The Starport can build a Control Tower add-on which allows it to build Dropships, Battlecruisers, and Science Vessels (with a Science Facility) as well as research technology upgrades for the Wraith.

* The Science Facility has two add-ons: the Covert Ops lab for training and upgrading Ghosts, and the Physics Lab which allows you to build Battlecruisers and research the Yamato Cannon.

Add-ons must be used with the building they are designed are for them to work. You can land a Factory next to a Control Tower but it won't connect or function properly.

When constructing buildings capable of having add-ons be sure you keep the right side of the building open when you place it. While it's easy to lift-off the building and move it to a place where the add-on can be built, it's much faster to just build well the first time and leave the spot open so you don't have to move the building.

An add-on belongs to you as long as your building remains connected to it. If you lift-off your building, the add-on building becomes neutral. Any other Terran ally (or enemy) can land a building next to it and attach to it. It is possible to capture or use abandoned add-ons, although this isn't something that happens too often.

If the main building is destroyed, but the add-on remains, reuse the add-on by rebuilding in the same spot. For example if your Factory was destroyed but your Machine Shop was not, select a SCV and instruct it to build a Factory. A special placement box will come up indicating to you where you should build the Factory if you want it to attach to the Machine shop.

Sometimes you might want to use one building and switch between add-on buildings. This can be handy if you're trying to save some money and, for instance, want to alternate between building Ghosts and Battlecruisers. You can move your Science Facility between a Covert Ops lab and a Physics Lab. You can do the same thing with Command Centers if you want to launch a few Nukes, then go back to your ComSat Station.

Building Your Town
With Terrans, it's very important to build a nice tight defense to prevent both attacks on your workers and your buildings. With careful planning, you can build your town such that a few Bunkers can cover the entire area, especially with the U-238 upgrade for your Marines.

If you plan on building Bunkers, build your first Bunker in the middle of the SCVs mining resources. SCVs will be traveling between the Minerals and your Command Center while you're trying to place the Bunker, so it might be easier to stop your workers for a moment while you start on the Bunker. The reason to build it here is this is where the enemy usually tries to attack. If you build your Bunkers elsewhere, the enemy may cruise right past them and attack your SCVs, crippling your economy. If they target your buildings instead of going for the Bunker, you can lift them up and fly them over by the Bunker. If they attack the Bunker directly, you can easily select all the SCVs and instruct them to repair the Bunker as it is being attacked. As the game progresses, add more Bunkers around your town. They should be placed close enough to each other that they set up a nice crossfire. Buildings should be placed around the Bunkers to make them more difficult to reach, especially by melee units like Zealots and Zergling.

Protoss Units

Protoss Strategy

Proper Pylon Support.
Protoss buildings and units, to a lesser extent, draw their energy from a great Psionic energy matrix that emanates from Aiur. While the Nexus provides a link to this matrix, Pylons are needed to actually tap into the energy required to provide Psionic energy (Psi) to new colonies. Each Pylon generates a short-ranged aura of Psi, which can provide the power needed by buildings and warp gates. If a Protoss building loses its connection to the Psionic Matrix, it will shut down until it is reconnected, and new units cannot be gated in if there is insufficient Psi to provide them with power. Available Psi energy is displayed in the upper right-handed corner of the Main Screen, and selecting a Pylon or attempting to warp in a new building will display a blue aura that represents the extent of the current Psionic Matrix.

When setting up a Protoss colony, one thing to keep in mind is making sure that every building is being powered by at least two or more Pylons. This will help prevent your opponent from shutting down key facilities by destroying its power source, and if only one Pylon happens to be supplying the power, it makes your opponent's job all the easier. This doesn't mean you have to build pairs of Pylons right next to each other, but try and keep your buildings in the overlapped areas of Pylon auras (the areas will be a brighter blue than the normal aura).

Warp & Run
The Protoss are a meticulous species, and their manufacturing techniques and tools have been developed over generations by Kaalai workers. Protoss structures are produced on the Protoss Homeworld of Aiur. Robotic Probes use special warp beacons to provide an anchor and entry point for a special warp gate that brings in the fully functional building from Aiur. This allows the Protoss to quickly establish a base once they have created a Psionic Matrix.

The Probe has the distinct advantage over the workers of other species in that it only needs to set the warp anchor for a building before moving on to other tasks. Setting the anchor only takes a moment and once the warp gate is opened, you can command your Probe to return to mining or on to setting another warp anchor.

This advantage gives the Protoss the ability to set up expansion colonies in a very short time period and all with a single Probe. The Terrans need to send an SCV for every structure they wish to immediately build at an expansion or if they choose to send only one, they have to wait for it to complete the construction of each building. The Zerg can only produce a Hatchery to begin with when expanding before they can even think about setting up any defensive structures (Spore or Sunken Colonies). The Warp & Run advantage also allows the Protoss to get their mining operation at full capacity in the shortest amount of time (by returning a Probe to mining as soon as it sets down a warp anchor). However, this is usually offset by the cost of Protoss building and unit production.

Plasma Shields
Defensive energy shields protect all Protoss military units, and this provides perhaps their greatest advantage in battle. During the Aeon of Strife, Protoss warriors used focused Psionic energy to surround themselves in impregnable energy shields. Over time, Conclave scholars and Templar sages learned to reproduce the energy shield using induced psi-field generators, which allowed even the smallest robotic machine to surround itself with a protective field. Protoss energy shields are effective at stopping all manner of physical and energy attacks, but they can be depleted during an attack. Given time, a shield will recharge to full strength, and Shield Batteries can be accessed to increases the rate of regeneration.

Protoss units are produced with full Plasma Shields and Protoss buildings are charged with shields during their warp-in process. When a Protoss unit or building is attacked, full damage (regardless of damage type) is applied to the shields first (if they haven't already been depleted) and you will always be able to tell if there are shields present in one of two ways:

* The top status bar, when selecting a unit or building, will indicate the amount of shields that unit/building has left.
* Unit shields, when hit, will flicker around the unit at the moment of deflection.

Once the shields are gone, any attack damage will then be applied to the building or unit's health. Shields will regenerate at a slow pace, while health cannot be regenerated (a primary Protoss weakness).

If your units need their shields regenerated immediately, use the Shield Battery. The Shield Battery can recharge a unit's shields almost instantly, however, it cannot be used to regenerate the shields of buildings. The Shield Battery is also limited by the energy reserve it has built up and will only recharge two Plasma Shield Points for one Energy Reserve Point. It can hold a maximum of 200 Energy Points, which is enough to recharge the shields of almost any unit (except the Archon and Dark Archon, if their shields are fully depleted). Note that if you command the Shield Battery to recharge, it will simultaneously recharge the shields of all nearby units until its energy reserve is gone, so if you are planning to recharge the shields of an entire force at one time, make sure you build multiple Shield Batteries.

Shields Upgrades
By far the most useful upgrade for the Protoss, the Plasma Shield upgrade will add to the shield maximum for all units and buildings. Combined with Armor upgrades, you can noticeably increase the lifespan of your units. As such, the Plasma Shield Upgrade should always be researched as early as possible.

Resource Protection
Always keep your resources and your mining Probes protected during all stages of the game. The best method of protection is probably the Photon Cannon, since they are a rooted means of defense and will not harm your Probes when fending off enemy units. They can also be produced early on and can defend against both ground and air units.

This image shows a good defensive array of Photon Cannons near the resources and will be very useful in fending off enemy "drop" attempts. Note, however, that although more Photon Cannons = better defense, if you clog the mining paths of your Probes with too many Photon Cannons, you can be putting yourself at a disadvantage by slowing your resource production. Also the Photon Cannon array in this image, while excellent for the early game, will not withstand a flood of enemy ground or air units. So if you have units to spare, make use of them to help defend your resources as well (i.e. High Templar, Reavers, Carriers, etc.).

Zerg Units

Zerg Strategy

The Creep
Zerg structures are effectively giant organs, making a Zerg colony a living creature. To provide the required nourishment and infrastructure, the Zerg produce a living carpet of bio-matter that invading forces have dubbed the Creep. Creep, produced by both Hatcheries and the aptly named Creep Colonies, will spread rather quickly across any fertile ground. The Hatchery is the only structure that can be built without the benefit of existing Creep since it has been genetically designed to automatcially produce enough to fuel its own growth. The Creep itself is extremely durable and capable of near-instananeous regeneration, only retreating from infested ground when a Hatchery or Colony is destroyed.

During the early game, the Hatchery produces enough Creep to build the early tech tree structures. However as a battle progresses you'll want to build Creep Colonies to extend the Creep for colony growth as well as to lay down the defensive foundation for the colony, converting them to Sunken or Spore Colonies as resources allow.

One of the quirks of the Creep is that it will provide the nourishment for any Zerg structure built on it whether they are friendly or not. This presents several very interesting possibilities with early and late game strategies. Early in the game, scout quickly, find the enemy base, and build your own Creep Colonies on the outer edges of their Creep and convert to Sunken Colonies as quickly as possible. In some cases, this will catch another Zerg brood by surprise and can devastate their colony before they know it. Note that this is only a viable strategy on smaller maps, since traveling the long distances to an enemy base on large maps will give the enemy enough time to build ample defenses whether they suspect this strategy coming or not.

In the later game, use flying units or Parasites to gain sight of enemy Creep. Then build a Nydus Canal and place the exit node on the enemy Creep. Note that if the node is built within enemy Sunken Colony attack range, the node will be attacked, so be careful with the exit node placement. If the node goes unnoticed by the enemy, once it finishes building you'll be able to flood the enemy town with all your ground troops from within their own base.

Health Regeneration
Perhaps the greatest advantage of the Zerg and their biological nature is an amazing healing and regenerative ability. A Zerg colony will remain viable unless every creature and structure is completely destroyed, as even a Zerg on the verge of death will eventually return to full health.

The Zerg ability to regenerate health makes the option to retreat from battle an extremely viable one. Should your units get damaged in a battle, retreat and use a new force to press the attack while the injured force uses time to their advantage as they heal. By cycling between two major forces and healing between attacks, you'll save time and money as newly produced units can be used to bolster your forces rather than replace them. To further protect the injured units during their healing phase, Burrow them to keep them out of the enemy's sight and prevent further damage.

Attack/Defense Upgrades
With the sheer number of units the Zerg can produce, getting upgrades can make a noticeable difference in the battlefield. Unless both you and your opponent go for a heavy air battle strategy, you will usually want to get the upgrades for the ground based units first. To help speed the upgrade process, build 2 or more Evolution Chambers early to upgrade both the attacks and carapace as quickly as possible. Fully upgraded Zerglings and Hydralisks can really turn the tide in a battle, especially since in most cases, they will outnumber the enemy 2 to 1 with their cheap cost and quick production.

Burrowing
Once this ability is evolved at a Hatchery/Lair/Hive, every Zerg ground unit (with the exception of the Ultralisk) will be able to Burrow. Burrowing can provide several advantages for the Zerg both offensively and defensively and the ability should not be underestimated.

First of all, as mentioned before, Burrowing can help preserve units that need to regenerate their health. If possible, Burrow these units at your main base so that should the base need immediate protection, these units can provide the last line of defense, even in their injured condition and perhaps give you the advantage of surprise as they Unburrow.

Another key use for Burrowing is for reconnaisance. By using Burrowed Zerglings, you can keep an eye on every resource node on the map as well as any key choke points at a minimal cost. The placement of these Burrowed Zerglings can also be a strategy in itself. Burrow Zerglings at the optimal build area (nearest to both the minerals and gas) to prevent your enemy from building there and either forcing them to build further away or moving to another expansion area. If you wish to watch enemy expansion a little more passively and wait to pounce on them, Burrow your Zerglings right behind or next to a Mineral cluster. Even if they can detect the Burrowed Zergling, this will help make it more difficult for the enemy to spot your scout.

Burrowing can also be highly useful in expansion attempts. In the early to mid game, send out and Burrow Drones at key expansion areas and keep them there in hiding until you are ready to expand. Should your main base be invaded and lost, these Drones will also provide you the chance to quickly rebuild without having to worry about getting a Drone past the invading forces. This comes in handy particularly in Team or Allied games where you have a better chance at rebuilding while your teammate or ally occupies the enemy.

Finally, use Burrow to set up ambushes. The element of surprise can greatly affect the outcome of a battle and you should use it to your advantage whenever possible. Choke points are excellent locations for ambushing (See the side image) and even if the enemy outnumbers you, these positions can give you the advantage. By placing your units at a choke point exit, they'll be able to overwhelm enemy units trying to cross in a line no more than 2 or 3 units wide. Using this method, your force should be able to take an enemy army twice their size with a minimum of effort.

The key in this type of ambush is to Unburrow just before the enemy can make it out of the choke point. This will maximize the element of surprise and ensure that you can kill a few of the enemy before they can retreat. Also if possible, keep a row of Melee Attackers (i.e. Zerglings) in the front line closely backed by ranged attack units (i.e. Hydralisks) to make the ambush as destructive as it can be.