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Island games

Island maps don't have direct land access between towns -- depending on the map's tileset, start spots and expansions are surrounded by water, magma or space.  Good examples of this kind of map are Island Hop, Dire Straits and Solar Station.  Another kind of "island" is a plateau, such as the one found on Green Valleys.   Some maps that have land access between start spots also have one or more island expansions (such as A Bridge Too Near, Killing Fields, Lost Temple, Challenger, and many others).  The following tips apply to games on island maps.  Some of the tips may also help on land maps with island expansions.

• Air power rules island maps -- control the skies and you have a great advantage, because the enemy cannot easily expand to a new island or invade one of yours.  If you keep him stuck on one island he will eventually run out of resources.  Meanwhile you can freely expand all over the map.
• The Zerg early game generally goes one of two directions (mutalisks or a quick invasion drop), but both directions require an early lair upgrade.  Use a build order that yields an early lair.  Once you have the lair you can get a spire and the ventral sacs upgrade.
• Mutalisks are the Zerg's main tool for most island games.  They require a lot of gas, they are not very tough and they do little damage -- so do not use them for a direct assault on a defended position.  However they are fairly speedy and they excel in many roles: blockading enemy coastlines, chasing down transports, recon of unoccupied islands, squashing expansion attempts, protecting guardians, defending new expansions, and covering overlords as they unload troops.  Mutalisks are indispensable in island games -- devote most of your gas to their production.  Keep them in one or two large groups near the enemy islands (but out of range of turrets, templars and defilers), with a few overlords and queens.  Use individual mutalisks to patrol the remainder of the map.  When the patrollers locate a transport or an air force, send the big group in for the kill.
• An early drop can be effective on maps with large starting islands (such as Dire Straits) that have a good 'landing zone' out of view of the main town.  Zerglings are a good bet for the invasion because they cost no gas and they can be made quickly.   Make sure you scout the landing zone first, as you may arrive to find it loaded with missile turrets, photon cannons or hydralisks.
• An early expansion is a great boon, so do it as soon as you have ventral sacs.   Expansions don't cost any gas, so they won't hurt your mutalisk output; on the contrary, the new gas mines you open up will help your air power immensely.  If you already have a decent air force, you can probably get one or two expansions going early on without much trouble.  If you are blockading the enemy, he is desperately trying to get his own transports through your mutalisk net and he isn't trying to find your expansions.  Put up a few spore colonies on your expansions for detection and air defense.  The colonies plus your air forces will make it tough for the enemy to hurt your expansions too much.
• Use overlords and mutalisks for recon.  At all times, you want to know who or what is on every island.  In the early stages, set mutalisks patrolling over expansion sites.  In the midgame, get an overlord sitting at each expansion site to expose any cloakers.  Use your airforce to keep observers and burrowers away from the expansions once they are exposed.
• Use nydus canals to connect your bases.  Use them to ferry drones and defenders from mined-out towns to new expansions.  Against another zerg, try the offensive nydus attack by putting a nydus exit in a parasited town.  For best results, use a diversionary attack to keep attention away from the base you are nydusing.
• Queens are incredibly useful in island games.  Make several (five to ten) and keep them near your mutalisks or at the edges and corners of the map.  Parasite a few workers in each enemy town.  Make sure you also parasite important enemy units: battlecruisers, templars, arbiters, scouts, wraiths, mutalisks, guardians and especially dropships and shuttles.  If you have enough queens building up mana, you can keep up a steady stream of parasites and still have plenty of mana for ensnaring enemy air forces and broodlinging tanks and templars.
• Likewise, defilers can really make a difference on islands.  They make great base defenders -- plague can really hammer an attacking air force, and dark swarm makes defending hydras impervious to air attacks.  Defilers are also good with an invasion force.  Keep them burrowed while the build up mana, pop them up to plague or swarm, then reburrow them immediately.
• Hydras don't dominate island maps like they do land.  However, they make great base defenders.  Deny the enemy a landing zone by putting groups of hydras at the edges of your islands where spore colonies can't reach.  They also work well in transports with zerglings -- they don't compete for attacking space with the lings, and they provide some anti-air power as well.  The hydralisk range upgrade is more useful on islands than the speed upgrade is.
• Guardians have the usual role of game-ender.  However, since island games are so air-focused, it is often difficult to adequately protect guardians from enemy scouts, wraiths, battlecruisers, etc.  It's very important to parasite the enemy's air force before attacking with guardians.  Use a diversionary attack (perhaps a few mutalisks or a couple of sacrificial guardians) to get the enemy air forces as far from your guardians as possible.  Try to ensnare the enemy if possible (send a queen in with the diversion).  Hit gas-mining buildings or coast defenses with the main guardian force, and run away when the enemy arrives, sending in your mutalisks and scourge to battle the enemy air force (but not in range of enemy ground forces).  Also, watch out for enemy templar -- broodling them before the attack.
• The upgrade picture is different on island maps.  The spire's air-power upgrades are very valuable, as are the queen and defiler spells (especially plague, broodling, ensnare, and extra mana).  Burrowing is essential for hiding defilers as well as the usual saving of drones under attack.  Hydralisk range, plus overlord transporting, speed and sight are all very useful.  Zergling and hydra speed, and ground-unit attack and carapace upgrades are not so valuable on islands.
• When playing against Terrans, watch out for an early flying command center.  Patrol vigorously with mutalisks to prevent this cheap early expansion.  Terrans can build turrets very quickly so it is important to pounce on new expansions immediately.   Science vessels (irradiate) and battlecruisers (general toughness) can be a problem; parasite these units immediately.  Use scourge on the vessels and devourers on the cruisers.
• Versus the Protoss, extra attention should be paid to templar.  Psi storm is the bane of all mutalisk clumps, so keep yours out of range.  Parasite and broodling all templar mercilessly.  Plague is not as effective on scouts because it does not affect shields, but since the protoss cannot heal or repair it is definitely worth doing.   Also remember that a single probe can get a well-defended expansion going in no time, so jump on new expansions as quickly as possible.
• Against the zerg, the biggest factor is usually the race for mutalisks.  But watch out for a nydus attack.  Broodling any defilers you see -- parasite some overlords to spot the burrowed ones.  Plague devastates the zerg, so use defilers to defend your bases against mutalisks.  If your units get parasited, move them to the side or out of the way.  If many of your units are parasited, separate the parasited from the non-parasited troops.  The parasited army is ideal for diversionary attacks.

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