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The Anthology of EUII AARs

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  • Byzantine's Khan

    Votes: 15 24,6%

  • The Democratic BAR: Your vote counts

    Votes: 3 4,9%

  • Denmark: Fellowship of the Kings

    Votes: 6 9,8%

  • The Eagles of Avalon

    Votes: 16 26,2%

  • The Fallen Eagle: A Byzantine Empire AAR

    Votes: 8 13,1%

  • The Free Company and the Last Bastion of Empire: Book IV

    Votes: 14 23,0%

  • Golden Horde - Scourge From The East

    Votes: 21 34,4%

  • HistoryPark: Here There Be Dragons

    Votes: 14 23,0%

  • ITALY RPG/AAR

    Votes: 2 3,3%

  • A Mongol Empire Scenario-Desert Tides- Or how I learned to swim in quicksand

    Votes: 11 18,0%

  • The Noble Lives: A Chronicle of the Kingdom of Castile

    Votes: 8 13,1%

  • O Lord, our God, Arise: More Weekly Reports from England

    Votes: 6 9,8%

  • Resurrection: Rebirth of the United States

    Votes: 17 27,9%

  • VIVE L'EMPEREUR! Glory of the Eagles

    Votes: 14 23,0%

  • World Conquest for Dummies

    Votes: 25 41,0%
  • Total voters
    61
coz1

coz1

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The Anthology of Europa Universalis II AARs​

Earlier this year, we passed the 200,000 member mark on the forum and it offered me a chance to look back...

Many years ago an interesting and seemingly niche game came out called Europa Universalis. It spawned an AAR forum and soon, this forum filled up with several writing about the games they played. Soon after that, Paradox Entertainment (as they were then called) released their follow up with another game given the inspired title of Europa Universalis II, affectionately called EUII (or EU2) ever since.

The success of these games naturally spawned further games...Hearts of Iron, Victoria and then Crusader Kings...and then more. Many games are seeing their second or third iteration and so the old area of EUII...once the only game in town...is dwarfed by all the others. There are still a few works being done there today but by and large, when one thinks of starting a new AAR, very few consider that long lost area of AARland.

The passage of time is natural and the progression of the AAR no less so. But it is worth mentioning and perhaps remembering those AARs that inspired a great many individuals...quite a few of them still around today. We've looked at Hall of Fames and Best of the Best...all seemed somehow problematic as there was a subjective view involved in deciding who belonged. In the end, I could not come up with a system that might satisfy everyone until I opened up my mind (or stopped thinking) and simply looked at the most viewed and most commented upon AARs.

Not a perfect method, to be sure, as these numbers are themselves a testament to different times and tastes. But given that they have been built for some 8 years, there seems a fairness to it in an objective way that did not exist in prior thinking. As I looked, I was able to come up with 13 different AARs that landed in the top 10 in either views or comments (many on both lists.) If one member had more than one AAR listed in said top 10, the first would be picked and the second skipped over to be fair. This only assisted once in the top ten but when opening the list up to the top 20, it began to help narrow things down. I did so to try and see if we could get to 15 and neatly, there were only 2 other AARs that landed on both lists. Once included, we now have 15 AARs to be considered:



So now what to do with them?

The idea is a poll in which anyone may vote and may vote for as many or few as they like. It will be an open ended poll and let me be clear...this is not a vote for favorite or best (no winner will be crowned)...this is simply a vote for the ones you enjoyed then and/or the ones you enjoy now. You only get to vote once, however, so make it count. Take a look at the offered works and give support to those that inspired you...made you laugh, think or learn better to play the game...or those that tickle you now many years after the fact...give your vote to those AARs that you feel best represent the AARs of EUII.

That's why this is called an anthology rather than best or anything other. I hope it to be a good place for future members to see and head off to read said AARs if they are curious about the past or previous works. And please feel free after you voted to offer your own top 15, or at least some AARs that deserve to be considered in such an argument. After some time has passed, this thread will be moved to the EUII forums and permanently stickied there as recommended reading. If there is any great interest with this I will certainly be inspired to attempt such in the other older AAR areas. Your vote and your thoughts will count.

I hope you have fun reading these old works and perhaps remembering them if you've been around long enough. If you are a newer member joined since many of these were ended, I hope you enjoy the look back. If anything, I hope those that take the time to look at these AARs enjoy a look back at the history of this forum as each were instrumental in creating the place that we inhabit today.

Happy reading and perhaps these AARs inspire you to...Write On! :D
 
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All of these have quite a reputation and I am already at least passingly familiar with all of them. I ended up voting for the ones I read and enjoyed when they were active, won't list them unless asked unless someone is interested. I will think about any suggestions I would make and come back.
 
An excellent idea, coz. I personally came to these forums too late to read all of these AARs, but I have tried my best recently to look through the ones I missed.

The EU2 forum is sadly very quiet now, but it was to be expected with it's sequel being almost four years old now.
 
I recognize some of these, but not all. Time for a trip down memory lane, it seems.

Of course, there are so many more people on the forum now than there were then, which probably explains why Ariel's works aren't listed, or more of the 'original crew'.

This is a great idea. I hope we have lots of participation because I'd love to see you do this for other Paradox titles.
 
It would seem the list is by popularity more than anything else.

Looking at the "old crew" then, hhile the FC IV stands out as great work it is also quite unique, and as such not an AAR in the same sense. If we were to go by other measures of quality of writing, LD has a number of other stories and it would be hard to leave out Eminence Gris by MrT :)

Story also have older stories than "quicksand" that easily could rival it, but it seems like views on a given AAR is cyclic and when "the old crew" was in their hey days the number of readers and offered AARs made the average view counts lower, while stories like Quicksand came in a period where a popluar AAR took momentum and views snowballed, whether it was a lemming effect or lack of competition is unclear ;)

Still, memory lane is good, for me EU2 AAR will always be the truly "real" AARs :)

V
 
Good to see some activity in the thread. I agree that is is definitely based on popularity, and no doubt V...the times have changed. Lot's more people mean lot's more eyes. Later AARs definitely benefit from that.

Good to see Chief's Born to the Purple suggested, as well as Ariel's work. Certainly MrT's l'eminence grise and LD's other great AARs (see his Inkwell - way too many to list.) I enjoyed them all (T's is my favorite of all time, in case anyone was interested. ;) ) I was rather sad, frankly, not to see heagerty's Gluttonic Knights or Prufrock's WAAR of the Worlds not get into the top 10 of either category. Or Farquharson...nalivayko...Judge...the list goes on of those I've enjoyed over the years.

[I should note that the Free Company: Book IV (indeed, all of the FC books) was a fully collaborative AAR as was Denmark: Fellowship of the Kings. I listed the thread starter/project leader for any works that had more than one writer.]

JP - I'd love to hear either/both of which you voted for and why or those you might consider tops. I really must stress...this was an attempt to give voters a chance to vote, folks a chance to remember past works, and a place to put further suggestions and perhaps a "reading list" if possible. One person could never come up with such a thing as it is too subjective. But many might offer a very usable guide as subjective as each person might be. :D


I am considering looking at HoI (the original) next. Let me know if you think it is worth it.
 
coz1 said:
I was rather sad, frankly, not to see heagerty's Gluttonic Knights or Prufrock's WAAR of the Worlds get into the top 10 of either category.
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I am tempted to say that a selection criterion that does not include these two is ipso facto faulty. Admittedly, there are so many great EU2 AARs that no mere top 10 or top 20 would do the justice to this subject. And you left out Storey's "Three Countries" -- how will newer readers learn to appreciate Crimea without it? ;)
 
jwolf said:
And you left out Storey's "Three Countries" -- how will newer readers learn to appreciate Crimea without it? ;)
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Absolutely, that's in fact the only EU2 AAR I've ever read (coming from his EU3 AAR of the same name), since I joined the forum in 2007 with the third iteration of the game in full bloom.

Don't think it's fair I cast any votes without reading them (and unfortunately I don't have the time) :(
 
You will have all the time in the world to read and vote, aldriq. That's why I left the poll open with no end date. ;) If you get the chance to read and vote, great. If you happen to check out one or more, terrific. If you read Storey's and kept going with some inspiration, outstanding! :D That's the idea, at least.

And jwolf - no doubt, it seems odd not to see some of those in there, and to be certain Storey's Three Countries. Hopefully the suggestion alone gets one to read it. ;) One must know of perfidious Crimea. :D
 
coz1 said:
You will have all the time in the world to read and vote, aldriq. That's why I left the poll open with no end date. ;)
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Yeah, he's sneaky like that, aldriq. You gotta be careful. Just be sure to count all your fingers and you toes before you leave. ;)

Uh oh, I'm writing in the AAR General Discussion Area again? Please don't let me get trapped in the HoI 2 Library again. :cool:
 
Brandenburg III said:
Yeah, he's sneaky like that, aldriq. You gotta be careful. Just be sure to count all your fingers and you toes before you leave. ;)
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I noticed, a blink is enough to get you trapped in a timeless poll for eternity :D


coz1 said:
You will have all the time in the world to read and vote, aldriq. That's why I left the poll open with no end date. ;) If you get the chance to read and vote, great.
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Fair enough, there is at least two I'd like to read; if I get some dead time next month on a trip to the US, I know what to do - airports and planes are great for that...
 
I have to lay down a vote for Duke of Wellington's Golden Horde AAR. It was that AAR and that one alone that brought me to the forums, and I raise a glass to that :)
 
If it wasn't for TreizeV, I probably would never have started writing my own AARs (no matter how little I've done :p). His narrative is amazing and his writing skills polished and simply brilliant.

However, I also must say that CatKnight was in a very, very close second.
 
demokratickid said:
I have to lay down a vote for Duke of Wellington's Golden Horde AAR. It was that AAR and that one alone that brought me to the forums, and I raise a glass to that :)
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I voted for that, too. Believe it or not, because of that AAR I bought several books on the Great Khans and the Golden Horde after reading that.
 
Well had I read the start of the thread I would have voted for more than one aar, and no it wasn't mine. I'm not really convinced mine belongs in such august company. How nalivayko's Give Unto Caeser isn't on here I have no idea.

Be that as it may it is a nice idea Coz. Hopefully the discussion and such will bring other to enjoy the great storytelling that was in the EUII forums.

And before anyone asks, the writing well is still bone dry. I have had nary a single writing idea. Seemingly I don't seem to miss it to be honest. I just stopped by for old times sake to see what was going on here.
 
I'm not going to vote, because I haven't read all of them. There's no doubt in my mind which was the most influential AAR - Ariels England - but that was EU1. Personally I think Paradox owe him a pile of money for the level of enthusiasm he generated in the forum, early on.

I will say that some of the AAR's you mention were really responsible for the gradual change in patches and versions from fun to unplayably hard. When a few experts are supposedly explaining how easy it is to make mincemeat of the game, the game designers, reacting excessively to what they can see, change the various parameters - anything to try and stop world conquest. In fact - heresy- I am definitely not convinced that all the strategies and tactics in some of the AAR's you list were ever replicable by a real player, even in the patches that applied when they were written - regrettably people will do a lot to become famous. And certainly those approaches could not conceivably work for the later patches (1.08 and 1.09).

I'm afraid this carried into EU3. I was a big EU2 player, so I bought the game when it came out, but in my first game as England I was ahead on naval tech, with a leader, and my English fleet of 41 ships was defeated by 14 French ones in 1469 (time after time, reloading and starting again from the beginning), I knew that the disease had spread. That was the only game I ever played of EU3 - what a waste of £30.
 
Chas said:
I will say that some of the AAR's you mention were really responsible for the gradual change in patches and versions from fun to unplayably hard. When a few experts are supposedly explaining how easy it is to make mincemeat of the game, the game designers, reacting excessively to what they can see, change the various parameters - anything to try and stop world conquest. In fact - heresy- I am definitely not convinced that all the strategies and tactics in some of the AAR's you list were ever replicable by a real player, even in the patches that applied when they were written - regrettably people will do a lot to become famous. And certainly those approaches could not conceivably work for the later patches (1.08 and 1.09).
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Im guessing World Conquest for Dummies is one of those your talking about, what are the others, got me interested.
 
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