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StarCraft19 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

Starcraft History

Yet another feature we at GosuGamers will be offering our readers. We will review parts of Starcraft history from old school gamers, ancient sites, old forum posts and old battle reports. Anything worth blowing the dust from and bringing back to life for the enjoyment of the those prone to nostalgia or the new generation of gamers that simply missed part of our past.



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For our first feature in this series we have found a true Starcraft history gem. It is an ancient site of the Clan Burning Blade that has an article called Dance, baby, dance!. It just so happens to be probably the first ever mention of how to micro, a term that did not exist in the starcraft player vocabulary back then. This article was probably written in June or July of 1998. In fact, back then the author of he article coined the term "Dance" that meant exactly what Micro does today. Even today some of us still use the word Dance when we are talking about goon micro.

Here is how the article starts to define the concept Dance:
One half of the early game of any race has to do with your build order. So if you know efficient, appropriate build orders and have learned to execute them well consistently, then you're well into being competitive in the early game against good players.

The other half of the early game has to do with how well you can dance. That's right, Daniel-son, you must remember the Wax-on, Wax-off. (Can I be more obscure?... Ummm maybe...)

Ok, ok, you're thinking to yourself, "Wtf is War talking about? He must've finally gone nuts after watching too many Karate Kid sequels." Well, I'm talking about your troop control in the early game. This includes your zealots, marines, zerglings, firebats, and hydralisks. Knowing how to control them is essential in playing the early game well.

Sounds familiar, no? If you read on you will find a guide that still stands true today, after almost 7 years, and is still good advice. It just so happens to be also a very good explanation of many aspects of micro. No mention of Macro yet back then.

Let me give you perhaps the best quote of the article just so you get a true idea about how original and historic this article was and still is.
Then a lone marine can lure enemy zealots there and have them slaughtered by the marines in the safety of the bunkers. Later you can add some siege tanks and some spider mines in the front for an even better offensive zone. A protoss player might position a few reavers in the back and zealots to cover the front. This setup will easily take out groups of zealots, hydras, zerglings, marines, firebats, and dragoons. You lure your enemies there and they finish the job.

I've seen the "lure" performed quite a few times. The first time I saw it in starcraft, I think, is when some fellow BBers and I played against Bob Fitch (lead programmer for Starcraft) and some other blizzard guys in some use map settings game.

I'm not saying they developed this move first (who could possibly know?). I'm just saying that that's where I saw it first. I remember it well because I remember getting pissed off at my zealots getting lured and dying.

How about that for a quote? Gamers playing starcraft with one of the main creators of Starcraft and Broodwar and getting cremated due to superior Blizzard micro! Who wrote this legendary article? A guy called United States War from Clan Burning Blade (or BBers as they were known.) Most of these guys were Warcraft I and Warcraft II players and War was known for being ''crazy AZN" good at all the games. You can read the whole article here » Dance, baby, dance!

Check out some archaic terms, some of which are still used today » BB Glossary

You can find them all at » Robcop’s Starcraft Page the web page of the leader of the Burning Blade Clan. The site is full of Starcraft history and has a few other interesting references that our readers can explore at their leisure.

Links
Starcraft.burningblade.org - Starcraft History

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