Talking Starcraft: The Queen unit is immensely important

If your only exposure to the game was from StarCraft the original game, you probably don't really pay much attention to the queen unit because it was difficult to micromanage, had no direct attack, and was merely a support unit that was a one-trick pony (Spawn Broodling action.) However, in StarCraft 2 I have come to realize that it is one of the most important units in the Zerg army.

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When we had our LAN party, i was wondering why it was that my team mates or opponents were able to make units so much faster than I was. I just figured they had built a half-dozen hatcheries or something but it turns out that this is not the case at all (although it does help to have a bunch of hatcheries as well.)

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_{pretty awesome conceptual art, I think this is originally from Blizzard}

The queen has some direct fighting capabilities and is able to expand the creep using the "Spawn Creep Tumor" command and this allows units to move faster and also increases your view of the map. These are all fine and dandy but the main aspect of the queen that makes them so essential is the other and I would argue primary purpose of the queen.

Spawn Larva

This command will increase the amount of units that any Hatchery can produce immensely. Each time you use the "Spawn Larva" command you will add an additional 3-4 (depending on game type) larva which can in turn be made into any type of unit that the hatchery is capable of producing. This can enable you (with some amount of waiting) to have up to 19 units at once!

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This can be a particularly devastating strategy especially when used early in the game.

At the start of each game getting a hold of minerals quickly is not normally a problem because you start with so many of them. The Zerg do not have any distinct economic advantage as all teams are balanced as far as that is concerned. However, if you opponent doesn't not prepare an adequate defense at the start of the game (which i've found is quite common against Terran opponents) you can normally surprise them with a Zerg rush using zerglings very early on.

If you use your queens efficiently at the start of a game you can create an overwhelming amount of zerglings to do a surprise attack right at the start that at the minimum is going to severely slow down your enemy's production if you simply run past all the defenses and wipe out their resource collectors. In some situations I have been able to completely destroy my enemies in the first 10 minutes of the game because most players tend to focus exclusively on economy at the start of a game. We already have a pretty good idea where on the map the enemies tend to be but you have to gamble on this rush because individual scouts will only encourage them to be prepared for your first strike.

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_{a smart opponent will load their SCV's into the command center and liftoff, but now I have severely stunted their economy during the crucial early phases}

Later on in the game, and this is one of the main things I like about playing as Zerg, it is extremely easy to replenish your numbers because a fully stocked couple of hatcheries can produce nearly 40 flying units all at once! While your Terran or Protoss enemies are subjected to 1 or 2 units per building at a time, you can completely replenish your numbers (or completely change your strategy from ground to air) in just a few minutes.

So the moral of the story is: You gotta use those queens! If you are not doing this you are missing a major part of the overall multiplayer strategy and will not be able to compete since zerg units tend to be weaker on a per-unit basis than all of your opponents.