Game Guide: Buildings

Placing Main Structures (command center / nexus / hatchery)
Place your main structures as close as possible to mineral patches, and between vespene geysers.

*Structure Queuing (terran / protoss)

* The zerg do not benefit from this, as their drones mutate into the structure themselves, rather than building it. Terran and protoss players can select more than one worker and assign them to different queues (this is more beneficial for terran than it is for protoss). You can still select multiple workers and shift-click buildings for zerg, such as if you’re building two evolution chambers at once.

1. Select a worker.
2. Select the structure you want to build.
3. If you want to build multiple structures of the selected type, hold down the Shift key.
4. Left click on the location(s) where you want the worker to build.
5. Release the Shift key.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for as many structure types as you want.

Rally Points
All unit production structures have the ability to set Rally Points, which will dictate the location that the unit will travel to immediately after it is created. To set a Rally Point, click the Rally Point button (or left click on a structure and then right click the location you'd like your unit to go to). Generally, it is a good idea to place all your Rally Points in the same spot on a clear area so you can group your troops with ease. Aside from empty map locations, Rally Points can be set on different points of interest.

Rally Points set on transports or terran bunkers will load the newly created units into them.

Setting the Rally Point of your command center / nexus / hatchery on mineral patches or vespene geysers will automatically command new workers to begin gathering those resources. Be careful not to commit more than three workers to vespene gas.

Rally Points can also be set on units to ensure that any new troops emerging from a building will group up around the designated unit. If a unit is rallied to another unit, but said unit dies, the rallied unit will continue to move towards the last spot the rally target occupied (this only occurs when a unit is created while the rally target is still alive). If the rally target dies before the unit exits the production structure, however, the new unit will not go anywhere. It will stay near the building awaiting further orders, as if there'd never been a rally point.

Creating New Structures
Structures under construction have no damage mitigation. Be careful, especially when using offensive building strategies (constructing bunkers, photon cannons, or other defensive structures) near an enemy.

Build In a Good Spot
If you build your structures too close to other structures or objects, newly created units may become stuck when they exit said structures. To prevent this, plan before you build or set rally points on the structures' unobstructed sides.  

Group-Selecting Structures
You can 'group-select' structures of the same type and issue commands such as setting Rally Points and training units. It is possible, for example, to select a group of barracks and command them all to simultaneously produce a marine.

Offensive Building
The closer your production structures are to the enemy, the faster your troops will reach his base. If your barracks is located far away from your opponent's base, he'll be able to create quite a few units before you get the chance to engage in combat. For example, you can send a worker near their base, build a production structure, and attack with a group of newly created units soon after. You might even go so far as to build in the middle of the enemy base, but that's always a risky proposition.

If you see an opponent building production structures near your base, or in it, destroy them.

A terran player lifts off two barracks and lands them inside a protoss base.

Structures and Vision
If you are playing as either the terran or the protoss, you can easily build your structures all over your base area to expand your field of vision. Zerg players can accomplish the same thing by spreading creep outside the confines of their base area. A larger field of vision can give you a few more seconds to spot an incoming “drop” on your mineral line, a scout peeking into your base, or an incoming sneak attack.

Additional Upgrade Structures
If you want to research upgrades more quickly, build multiple structures that offer the same upgrade. Typically, each upgrade structure offers up to three levels of upgrades. If you have two, or even three, of these structures, you'll be able to research multiple upgrades simultaneously.  

A zerg player builds two evolutionary chambers to research multiple upgrades.

A protoss player builds two forges and uses the ‘chrono boost’ ability from the nexus on both to speed the research process.

How much should I build?
There is no hard and fast rule for how many production facilities you should have, but a good rule of thumb is that if you find yourself unable to keep your resources low despite constantly producing workers, units, and upgrades (without queuing) you should probably build more. One key to any victory in StarCraft II is to keep spending your resources. Having more units, buildings, and upgrades than your opponent can help keep the game in your favor, so make sure you keep up your production! If you see your resources getting too high you can always throw down a new production building. At worst it will sit there until you can afford to use it.