Above the very lowest leagues, most players are very polite. They are also very terse. Some common abbreviations are used in chat for a friendly (though fiercely competitive) match.
The following expressions are often used at the beginning of a match.
- gl: "Good Luck"
- hf: "Have Fun"
The following expressions are often used at the conclusion of a match.
- gg: "Good Game". This is the usual way to concede defeat.
This may sound weird, but I find Protoss the easiest to expand with.
Protoss have a couple of nice things that help expanding:
- Cheap static defense
- Warpgates to reinforce anywhere they have power
- Pylons provide power across building walls and cliffs
While I definitely feel like I must expand when I play Zerg, I feel most comfortable doing it as Protoss. Usually this means I place buildings at a near choke point (usually Warpgates, but I'll use the Forge if I don't have one and I'm walling my Natural). I then augment this with a Photon Cannon behind the wall to deal with light harassment. Finally I place power so it overlaps my wall to outside, that way I can easily reinforce. Now you may ask: what happens if you go Robo? and the answer is, I usually either break the wall in late game, or use Warp Prisms to move Immortals across (Colossus can walk without help), but more often than not, I just don't build Immortals; they aren't a part of my normal builds (I don't like the 1-2 Immortal timing pushes against anything but 1 base Roach).
That said, there are a number of ways in which expanding is very nice and easy for Terran.
- Fly in Command Centers (which can then be made in to Planetary Fortress)
- Cheap walls with Bunkers (can salvage)
- Supply Depots are removable walls
- Siege Tanks
The largest problem I have with these expansions is light air harassment. Either I have to over invest in Vikings to shut it down, or I have to over invest in Turrets. Ideally I'd like to have a nice Marine/Medivac force to deal with this, but in reality moving large groups of Marines through Supply Depot walls takes a lot of time, and Medivacs don't unload instantaneously. Not that I can't do it, I just feel less safe doing so
As Zerg I don't mind moving Spine Crawlers to my newest expo (which usually means 12 second build time) or even between me and my opponent, but I largely feel like I need to have map control before I can safely expand. Since most Terran/Protoss are willing to give it to me that's not a major problem, but my expansions feel inherently unsafe. So in the case of Zerg I would say: Only expand when you have map control.
This is very much the traditional BW philosophy and it has serve many players well over the years. I would guess (and the meta game evolves and Blizzard balances a few things) that this is going to become the only strategy. While Terran and Protoss players will probably still build structures defensively, the cost/benefit of having to wall is much higher than the cost/benefit of gaining map control. Then again, that's a prediction and is inherently flawed.
Best Answer
From the Starcraft II Offical FAQ:
In a nutshell, you'll always be able to play the game you have. The expansions will be standard Blizzard expansions, which you will have to buy if you want to play multiplayer with the "new units, abilities, and structures, along with new maps".
Edit: We've been speculating in the comments about whether the SCII:Expansion 2 will require SCII:Expansion 1. Our site isn't for speculation, so I thought I would provide the only data available, then drop it. (We could use similar hard data on how many players convert to the expansion and how many keep playing the vanilla game, but I will leave that to someone else. Maybe another question? Its possible Blizzard has released some relevant data about Starcraft I, Diablo II, or Warcraft III.)
Blizzard has only previously released one game with more than one expansion: World of Warcraft. Sadly, since WoW is an MMORPG where you need earlier content to reach later content, and Starcraft is an RTS which is broken into distinct game rounds, any comparison may be completely flawed, but its the only data we have:
Wrath of the Lich King, which requires Burning Crusade
There must be a more official link for this, but it was not in the FAQ where I expected it.
Cataclysm (unreleased), which partially requires Wrath of the Lich King
See question "Will I need the expansion to be able to experience the Cataclysm changes?"