StarCraft/General strategies

Basic Zerg Strategy
The Zerg have some pretty awesome stuff going for them. To begin with, the Zerg have the unique ability to produce multiple units from only one building! This, combined with the fact that the Zerg's units are relatively cheap to produce, allows for masses of units to be quickly built. Therein lies the Zerg's true power, their units aren't very powerful, but they have a lot of them. Another intersting asset of the zerg is that all their units (including buildings) regenrate health over time, for free!

The Creep

Zerg have what is possibly the most restrictive building requirement in the game. The only buildings that don't require that they be built on the "creep" are the Hatchery and the Assimilator. The creep is an expanding carpet that originates from Hatcheries; though it can be expanded by Creep Colonies. An important thing to remember is that any Zerg player may build upon any Creep. It doesn't have to be "your" creep. Indeed, players don't own the creep at all.

Upgrades

Upgrades are essential for the Zerg. Because the Zerg can produce so many units upgrading their attack and defence is very rewarding. Zerglings fully upgraded with Metabolic Boost, Adrenal Gland and Melee and Carapace upgrades can devastate an enemy's base before they know they are under attack. Burrowing is an extremely usefull ability as it allows any ground unit asside from the Ultralisk to hide from enemy units. It also makes Zerg very effective at scouting as a burrowed unit can remain unobserved anywhere -unless a detector is nearby or a Terran player does a Scanner Sweep of the area- while still able to see all around.

Strategies
Six Pool Rush

Send your Drones to mine minerals imediately. Start Morphing one of your Larva into another Drone. Quickly send your Overlord to explore. Continue to mine and construct more Drones as soon as you have enough minerals. Once you have 6 Drones mining stop producing Drones. Continue to amass minerals until you have 200. The moment your minerals reach 200 produce a Spawning Pool. Build one more Drone while the Spawning Pool completes its morph and send it to mine. When your Spawning Pool completes you should have 3 Larva and at least 150 minerals. Use this to quickly produce six zerglings (two Zerglings hatch from each Egg). As soon as you have your Zerglings, attack your opponent with them. If you haven't already found your oponent with the Overlord the 'lings should find the base quickly. Note that the Six Pool Rush is most effective on smaller maps with few players. If executed properly you can usualy criple if not outright kill your oponent. If the attack fails however, you're usualy dead and will not have time to recover before your oponent finds and kills you. Weigh the ups and the downs of the Six Pool Rush carefully.

Four Pool Rush

This is essentialy the same thing as the Six Pool Rush except that you build no Drones. Simply set your drones to mining and when you reach 200 morph one of them into a spawning pool. Don't build any more drones! When the pool completes you should either have 150 minerals or be extremely close to that tolal. Agian, turn the three Larva into six Zerglings ar rush their base. This is even faster then the Six Pool Rush but should not be atempted unless the map is very small.

Multiple Hatcheries

In most maps (and especialy in "money maps") it is wise to have many Hatcheries so as to produce even more units even faster. If you have enough minerals also build extra Hatcheries at your expansions, this will allow you to rebuild quickly if your enemie finds a base.

Nydus Canal

Nydus Canals are buildings that allow ground units to move instantly from one end to another. After constructing the first end of a Nydus Canal you may place the other end on any creep that you can see. This allows you to move quickly from one base to the next so as to defend against attacks. Personally I've found the Nydus Canal to be instrumental in several instances where a Zerg oponent has gaurded only the entrance to their base. Either infest a unit with Parasite (a Queen ability) or send a pack of Overlords or Scourge to your oponents base so that you can see their creep. Make sure that you have plenty of ground units and a Nydus Canal without an exit placed before you do this. Once you can see the area you are going to build on quickly place the exit of your Nydus Canal. Send all your units through the Canal and destroy as much of their base as possible before they notice you.