Historically, men have fought duels with swords and pistols, but if another man insulted my honor, my weapon of choice would be the Zerg. The Zerg are an alien race and one of three factions a player may choose to command in Starcraft, a challenging multiplayer real-time strategy game from 1998. Starcraft still enjoys worldwide popularity today thanks to the complexity of strategy, the precision mouse and keyboard control required, and the near-perfect game balance. In this class, I will start from the basics of the game assuming no previous experience. After introducing the game mechanics, I will discuss standard opening build orders, how to effectively deal with the game's challenging UI, how to multitask effectively, what makes a good strategy good, and what standard plays to prepare for. We will watch videos from the Korean Starleagues, which showcase the highest level of Starcraft play in the world. You can also bring replays of games you've played and ask for analysis. If I get bored, I might discuss reverse-engineering and the internals of the game. This class is designed for players new to Starcraft. However, I aim to spend relatively little time on the basics of the game, so the class will be useful to anyone stuck in the D ranks of iCCup as well as anyone who doesn't know what I mean by this. You should expect to spend time playing the game at home if you want to get much out of the class.

I like physics. This class will involve some neat demonstrations, some math to emphasize just how cool those demonstrations were, ...