The Zerg is most known for their ability to adapt to whatever conditions they are in (which is strange to me, since I've played BW and they were known for swarming more than that back then). In this game's terms, you'll need to be able to scout your opponent and make the necessary tweaks to your build or strategy.
Generally, the very first things you should do when a game starts is to build a drone (unless you're doing a cheesy 12 pool haha), and then send your overlord towards your oppoenent's base. I tend to send it towards an expansion or ramp of where I think my opponent spawned. It doesn't always have to head straight over either; on some maps, you may want to send it to common areas where a proxy would be set up, or wait for your 2nd overlord to do that.
Now for the hard part: what intel are you getting from scouting, and what does it mean? Granted I'm at Platinum as I write this, but I can get an inkling on what my opponent's general strategy is. Also important is when you scout, because you can estimate certain timings based off of it.
Scouting Terran
In General: add-ons can tell a lot about the Terran's opening strategy. For quick access and swapping, usually the production buildings will be close together, allowing a scouting drone to get an idea of what units will likely be made.
No Rax at ramp: proxy. Immediately get defenses up: lings, queens, spines. Assuming you did go hatch first, you'll have to decide if your natural is worth saving. Certain maps make proxy rax rushing very powerul, so note those maps and be sure to scout areas where proxies are built (usually a drone scout at 17 can find it before an OL reaches your opponent's ramp). You'll also have to do whatever it takes to delay production; even using the scouting drone to attack the SCV building the rax. If marines and bunkers are in position you're in trouble.
Rax at ramp with no add-on producing: usually for the first reaper to scout and annoy you. Haven't met a Terran yet that used it to make a marine to kill your OL, but don't put your scout right over the barracks to temp them.
Factory with Reactor: may be for 4-8 hellions for harassing your drone line, or for hellbat timing. For the latter you need more information.
Factory with Reactor and Armory: hellbat push. Best way would be to try to hit them with a lot of zerglings while they are in mid-transit, or roaches with some kiting to handle hellbats. This comes in a variety of flavors:
- No starport = no medivacs, but the push will come quicker
- Barracks w/ tech lab: marauders instead of marines for support. Roach/ling and a couple of ravagers work.
- All 3 production buildings: medivacs most likely.
- Some odd combination of the above could happen too.
Factory with Tech lab and Starport: possible tankivac play. Ravagers are need to force tanks to get picked up. Be wary of positioning; you may need either roaches or lings to quickly reach that tank that is getting plopped in areas hard to reach.
Starport with Tech Lab: banshee harass. Queens and spores will need to be ready. Extra queens preferably; they can either heal, or place extra creep tumors if banshee harass is light. If you find a fusion core, they're getting banshee speed as well; you'll have more time, but the attack will hit harder.
Starport with Reactor or no add-on: liberators incoming. You will need 4 ravagers to shoot them down with bile shots. Queens usually cannot handle them alone. Waiting until you get mutalisks/corruptor may take too long unless you went spire tech on 2 bases (even then that's risky)
CC at Natural: should be safe to take a 3rd base.
CC at 3rd base: should be safe to take a 4th base.
Scouting Protoss
In General: your second OL should hover over your expansion site. Watch for any probe that tries to warp in pylons behind the mineral line. You'll need 4-5 drones to kill off a pylon in a somewhat timely manner - they can mine at the expansion if you went hatchery first.
No structures at ramp: proxy. Check your expansions.
1 Gate + Cybernetics Core: general 1 gate build; could be another gate behind it for adept pressure.
Twilight Council: adept or blink research
Starport: oracle or phoenix harass. You can see what unit is producing if you pay attention to the outline in the starport. Both can be countered with a spore in each base. If phoenix, reposition your OLs to either be in locations phoenix will likely not pass by, or over spores.
Robo Bay + Low # of Gates: probably for a warp prism for some drop play. Adept harass currently terrorizes Terrans, and are also very annoying for Zerg too.
Robo Bay + High # of Gates: if more than 4 gates are seen, then there will be some timing attack incoming. 4 gates can be supported from 1 base; 7 from 2 bases. Keep those numbers in mind. Immortal/sentry pushes are not dead, even if ravagers exist.
4 Gates on 1 Base: all-in attack. May want to see the gas count too; it could come with a +1 attack variation, meaning your zerglings are going to suck against zealots even more if it does.
Scouting Zerg
In General: drone scouting is not advised because of how fast ZvZ tends to be. That drone that is scouting is a drone not mining, which can be a deciding factor in the meta of 13/12 and 14/14.
Hatchery at Expansion: you'll need to see how much HP it has. If it has a lot, then most likely your opponent went hatch first. If low, a pool first.
Extractors: if you click on them you can see how much gas remains. This can tip you off on whether the enemy may try to add banelings, roaches, or mass lings (the latter would have pulled workers off of gas). If you scout a bit later, count how many extractors your opponent has.
Multiple Spines at Entrance: more often than not it's a delay tactic to get mutas. Spines cost no gas, and the limiting factor for mutalisk play is gas obviously. Related to the previous tip, if your opponent is on 2 bases and already has all 4 extractors, that means he/she is banking up gas for mutalisks.
Ling Pressure: this one is a little hard to explain and gauge properly. Mostly, the beginning of the game will have ling fights, and then bling/ling fights. You have to get a feel on who is winning these, and if the opponent is reinforcing a lot. No reinforcements = droning. There is no simple way to tell if you should counter or not because of how fast things can go in ZvZ fights and the mind games that go on (retreating = losing, or baiting you into a baneling trap?) Even if you are taking favorable engagements, a single baneling can change everything.
Buildings in General: most zerg buildings shiver or shake when they are researching something. Some animation is always going on for any building of any race, but it is usually easier to notice against T and P.
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