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Derahan

Ever doubtful
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Oct 30, 2009
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Greetings there reader! I welcome you to yet another astounding issue of the new AARlander which you will hopefully find very interesting. So as usual I want to give my gratitude to those people who made this new AARlander possible. First and foremost, my thanks goes to Canonized and the others, who along him, worked on the first AARlander and made this one possible with their work there, otherwise this AARlander would not be here (most likely). Secondly I want to thanks the moderators who made it possible for me to do this and came up with the idea to revive the AARlander for a second round. Thirdly I want to thank Gen. Marshall, the one who has made the graphics and also is spreading the word about the AARlander on the forums and last but not the least all of those who has contributed to this number of the AARlander, a many thanks to you all who in the end makes this possible with your articles.

And yet, a final thank you to you readers who when you read this, makes us others who work with the AARlander filled with the spirit to continune our work here! Thank you!

And as usual the feedback thread! Critique on! (not complete)

Code:
[SIZE=4][URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581065&viewfull=1#post15581065"]Ascension of the Heavenly Kingdom - by Rensslaer[/URL]

[URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581073&viewfull=1#post15581073"]I Do Like a Good fAARq - by DensleyBlair[/URL]

[URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581134&viewfull=1#post15581134"]Time for some Carnage - by misterbean[/URL]

[URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581166&viewfull=1#post15581166"]Three Big Misstakes of Historical AARs - by Merricks Chance'[/URL]

[URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581178&viewfull=1#post15581178"]Twelve Questions - with Tanzhang[/URL]

[URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581195&viewfull=1#post15581195"]A Brief Look into the Megacampaign - by Mr. Capitalist[/URL]

[URL="http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?693289-The-AARlander-Edition-9&p=15581242&viewfull=1#post15581242"]Editor's Note[/URL]
[/SIZE]
 
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One of the more interesting AARs in the Victoria 2 Forum these days is Lord Octavian’s Ascension of the Heavenly Kingdom AAR (AHD). It’s apparently the first Heavenly Kingdom AAR ever! I’ve been watching this since it started.

He begins in 1861 and takes command of the upstart Taiping Rebellion (which started a decade before – there is existing territory at the 1861 start), trying to lead it… somewhere. Survival? Chinese hegemony? Regional conquest? While he’s expressed an interest in uniting all of China, the AAR is still young enough that it’s not yet clear whether the young country has the heft to pull it off. It’s a tough neighborhood to “grow up in”, so it promises an interesting ride.

His first target, naturally, is the Manchu Qing Chinese who had long oppressed the Han of south China. This is necessary to gain independence, and the country starts the game at war. Adopting a defensive strategy, at first, he takes all comers. The Qing are no slouches as opponents – the whole of China against the Taiping. If continued defeats embarrass the Emperor’s army, the Qing Dynasty falls and the country is “united.”

But in “unity”, the holdings of the Manchu Qing fall away and become their own smaller countries, so to continue to grow, the Taiping have the option of taking them on. Lord Octavian turns this into a crisis of conscience for the movement, and a power struggle, which adds to the reading enjoyment of the AAR.

As anyone who has fought in China can anticipate, these are some bloody battles, with massive numbers of troops. At one point, he wipes out 17,000 of an enemy army of 18,000, without losing hardly anything of his own. However, there are times when fragments of armies fight each other, or become ground under by larger armies. Proper attention to attrition levels may also drive some of the smaller army strengths.

He’s made this alternative world pretty engrossing, paying attention to the motivations of the troops and their leaders, and taking time to address details, such as the naming of armies in appropriate manner. He flavors the story with much of the “Christian” nature of the movement, which morphed traditional Chinese culture with some borrowed Christian dogma and a few new fantastic twists (like the leader of the rebellion being a brother of Jesus). Less attention is paid to flowery textual descriptions, but the ensemble allows us to understand what’s going on, anyway.

I could wish for more structure to the updates. It reads, at some times, like a chronology of battles, big and small. But that’s a style preference, and perhaps an unfair criticism – the earliest Paradox AARs were little more than highlights from the “history log”, so it’s not like he’s doing anything wrong. It’s also possible to more or less ignore the battle screens and still get a decent picture of what’s going on, so it’s not a good reason to not read the AAR.

Some minor narrative fiction elements are mixed into the story, though it remains centered upon the screenshots and a gameplay explanation of the wars. Lord Octavian fills in other stuff that’s going on in his responses to questions. Some of this feedback includes good strategic advice for others who might like to try the Taiping.

His alternative history of China has reached 1867 at this point in the AAR, which is moving slowly, but not slowly enough to get boring. Will the Heavenly Kingdom continue into the 1880s and beyond? Or will it be eventually crushed, as the original Taiping Rebellion was?

That remains to be seen, but it’s clear Lord Octavian intends to make it interesting, no matter which.
 

anonymous4401 said:
Yeah, there's a lot that was before my time... A lot of times I wish that I could get in a time machine and join AARland in 2001 so that I could have been witness to these...

This is a sentiment I share. In 2001, when AARland opened its doors, I was yet to celebrate my third birthday - which I do still vaguely remember, largely as being a blur of screaming toddlers running around our living room, set on a backdrop of a heady mix of garish, post-millennium coloured wallpaper and furniture. Meanwhile, people were writing prot-AARs about games of EU1 they had played. I wasn't to hear of EU1, or AARs, for that matter, for another ten years.

As the opening quote says, there are plenty of times when I would readily make a ten year leap back to AARland's inception. I would have loved to have witnessed fabled tales such as Lord Durham et al's The Free Company - first started back in 2001, fifty days after my third birthday - as well as Who Killed Charles Cromwell? by Ariel &c., which I have been meaning to read for a while. Both of these were written about EU1. Both were written before I had even started school (in the case of the latter, I was yet to turn three.) Yet here I am, twelve years later, reading them.

Why? Well, I guess I've always had a sense of history - especially in literary terms. I read Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights nearly three years ago, and got through Jane Eyre soon after. There are, of course, other reasons, but I'll get to those later.

Perhaps more importantly: how? These works haven't seen the light of day for around a decade. Surely one doesn't just stumble upon them whilst wending one's way through the forums? Well, yes and no. Those of you who have read the title of this article will know what I'm getting to already. It is, in fact, very easy to stumble across older pieces like these - just go to the fAARq.

"I beg your pardon, sir," you say, "I don't this this is quite the place for any fAARqing. Aren't you only fourteen? You shouldn't be saying things like that!"

Admittedly, it is a somewhat risqué name, something that has been brought up many a time before - though perfectly suited, I feel, to the nature of these forums. Not that I'm implying that the boards are akin to a brothel or 'adult store.' No - instead that there are plenty of witty and entertaining characters here, who produce witty and entertaining material for us to read. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it - Jesus in purgatory and all, but it would seem that this clever and entertaining title does sum our board up rather nicely.

In any case, I digress. Venturing into the fAARq, one can find a multitude of things. We have the actual FAQs - which themselves are invaluable resources for the new writer. And, to be fair, the older writer as well, presenting not just general questions and answers, but things specific to the craft of AAR writing. This isn't an FAQs page that will tell you in an all too patronising manner that you need to restart the machine to get it working - no, this isn't that (if at all) superficial. Instead, what we have is a sort of gallery that highlights the best of AARland, almost frozen in time for all to see.

By way of example, of we look at some of these 'FAQs' we see things like 'What is AARland?' Of course, that question could be considered philosophical, yet the answers provided by coz1 do go a long way to conveying the feel and spirit of our community - something for which I would like to commend him. Of course, there are questions and answers that serve to inform in a more directly helpful manner - whether it is appropriate to post certain things, for example, or where the rules are located, but this is a thread that goes above and beyond.

To properly summarise what I feel using the fAARq and its related threads, I'll offer an analogy. On the first of May, I went to the David Bowie Is... exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I have been a Bowie fan for about six years, so I'm pretty well versed (if you'll pardon the pun) in his material and surrounding folklore. When I went to this exhibition, therefore, and saw all of these objects and items that I had previously seen only in pictures or TV footage, I was overawed.

I think that is almost the same as revisiting vintage AARland - though perhaps not the point of being overawed. We have all heard of these seminal works and initiatives - as well as their authors and creators, people whom we often also regard as 'icons' within our community. To actually go and read all of this work, and see these initiatives - reading discussions in the SolAARium, for example (inserting AAR into words wherever possible has always been the fashion, it would seem) - is almost akin to going to the exhibition and seeing all of the items there in front of you. Indeed, having heard of these pieces - and having understood them to be so revered, if you like - one does get a certain feeling from reading things of a certain vintage.

Though, of course, one can get the same feeling from reading a more contemporary well-crafted AAR. As with all things, no more is age synonymous with superiority than youth with inferiority - that is to say, not at all. But these pieces, the names of which have survived in AARland folklore, have so survived for a reason. There are always going to be hidden gems - c'est la vie - yet things tend to survive in the memory because of either the quality, or because they are seminal works in a genre, with seminal often also hinting at quality. People don't tend to copy things that are distinctly sub-par. To use another Bowie analogy, people don't remember David Bowie, but they do remember The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Imagine if the first narrative AAR (Lord Durham's The Seven Years War, incidentally,) had been a complete failure: would I be writing my own narratives?

Perhaps. Perhaps I would be some upstart trailblazer who eschews tradition and actually writes a story, though likely not. I had seen during my tentative first few visits to AARland that one could indeed post narratives. I was working on In the Footsteps... anyway, though I doubt I would have had the courage to post it had I not seen it to be accepted.

This brings me nicely onto my next point. The fAARq and its linked threads are wonderful sources of knowledge. While reading any AAR can impart vital pieces of knowledge unto another writer - seeing techniques applied can often be better than reading about them - here we find a repository containing many a thread discussing the finer points of writing in an abstract context. We have topics ranging from whether screenshots and pictures are appropriate in a narrative, to debates as to the optimal amount of time to spend writing a single update. Each article or thread contains so many opinions and ideas that it is often impossible to come away feeling anything but inspired.

I enjoy reading and exploring these threads as I enjoy the process of being a writer. Though I feel I'm turning somewhat philosophical here, the state of being a writer is not something one can do passively. Of course, one cannot be a writer passively in that you don't write, but instead in that you aren't thinking as a writer away from actually working. I am always looking for ways in which to improve my work and to hone my craft, as, I feel, any self-respecting writer should. It is nigh-on impossible not to improve your writing ability having read even some of the threads linked. If you read older AARs that have survived in the memory for so long, you are similarly bound to stumble upon a new technique or word, or another way in which you can improve your own work.

We also have links to initiatives like the SolAARium - a wonderful place filled with writing-related discussion and debate that really is a joy to visit. Everyone will have an idea of some of the 'icons' of this forum - here is the place in which one can see them debating topics. If you were to read a good AAR, you would come away with plenty - as I have mentioned. Now imagine the authors of loads of really well crafted works discussing the finer points of our craft. Need I really say much to convince you further? If you come away from this article and do anything, go to the fAARq and find an article that interests you. If you're anything like me, you will spend the next twenty minutes reading more of the thread. Then try writing and see what happens.

Similarly styled is the newly-resurrected "Guess-the-Author" - a place full of unflinchingly honest critique. Reading the pieces, then read what people say. If anything, the initiative is an invaluable resource in that it can provide a unique insight into readers' reactions to elements of writing. If you see something in a piece and look to implement it in your own work, have a look at some of the critique. The chances are you'll be able to use the comments to greater utilise new things in your work.

And the story continues (no pun intended) across the thread. If you look at the other linked projects and initiates, inspiration is inevitable. The AARland Gazette; The AARland Advocate - precursors to this very publication; the Anthology of Treasures - featuring many a classic piece of work. Each offers a unique means of inspiration. Go out and read them.

Or, to put it in a more risqué manner - fAARq off!
 
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Time For Some Carnage!

In the HOI3 subforum, they are living legends. For the past 2 ½ years, they have regaled us with tales of strategic and tactical excellence.
The multi-player games of this Swedish group of longtime friends have been a mainstay of the AAR subforum, where people anxiously tune in every Saturday with the same intensity as one reserves to watch another episode of a favorite tv-show. Will the Axis manage to encircle the US invasion force, or will the Allies pull through? What about the Eastfront, where Germany is fighting a defensive war against a Soviet Union that is superior in manpower?
Questions like these are examined under an electron miscroscope, analysed by half a dozen senior forumites, while the answers, inevitably, keep surprising most of us every single time.
Throughout those games, Cpt.Easy has been the group’s primary spokesperson to give us stories involving strife, alliances and war. For those of us who have been following their exploits, the names Zid, Daphne, Maxyboy, Sir Henry and the others have become household names.
Join me now in this first of a series of interviews where we explore the glory and the power of Carnage.

Players – CptEasy, Zid.


The Carnage group has been publishing their adventures together – and against each other- since 2010 and HOI3 version 1.4. You have seen it all, under the most critical circumstances: against other players. Which added feature is the best improvement over the years of HOI3 in your view?

(This question was answered in co-op with Zid) Wow. That is actually a very hard question for me as I am rather ignorant to many of the finer details of the game mechanics. Nevertheless, when the "decisions" (like Blitzkrieg or For The Motherland, note by misterbean) was included it gave the game a better and more interesting dynamic, a new layer of strategy and also a more historic touch which I love (just see how Blitz Carnage has evolved). I think that is the best major change before TFH, which we so far are not experienced enough to adress . I am just grateful HoI exists and is continuously bug-fixed. Every “Krona” I send to paradox is money well spent.

Your first AAR wasn’t even called Carnage yet. It was called Wildfires, with you playing as Japan (Axis 1 – Allies 0) and it was a big hit, right from the start. Did that surprise you?

Wildfires wasn’t our first game and actually not my first HoI3 AAR. In our first game, really a trial if anything, I played Germany and dared a Seelöwe. Due to all of us being quite the rookies at the time, some mistakes, lack of experience or/and a rather random distribution of random knowledge tilted the game in various ways and ended it rather early (Stuff like UK losing their entire navy to the Kriegsmarine, Italy losing half their army in North Africa after forgetting to reasearch to minimize combat delay, Japan getting butchered by AI China due to not understaning supply challenges etc) . I actually wrote a little AAR and distributed it among the gang. Long after wildfires I planned to do a remake for the forum but came to the conclusion it held to poor quality in both player skills and screens. Wildfires was written as yet another "debrief" to the gang but it was here I actually found AARland and realized there was an audience far greater than our little gang - and I rewrote it a little to fit the new format.
I can't recall if the attention surprised me - but it made me very happy and inspired me to commit more effort to the next – which became the first proper Carnage AAR.


The thing that stands out the most in Wildfires was the absence of any mention of houserules. Did you even have any?

Yes we had some. I can't recall in detail but the ban on building reserve units was there as that was one of the things that tilted our very first game. In any case, they were not by far as refined as they have become in later games. They evolve just as we do, I guess – in combination with the new patches.

Years Of Jolly Carnage, your second AAR, stands out for two reasons. It was the first “real” Carnage” game, by name and by feel. You can already start to see one of the hallmarks of the series emerging: heated debates about strategies, mistakes and houserules. How much do you guys learn from those discussions?

One thing I have been very careful about is publishing chapters until the actual in-game time is one year ahead. Thus, discussions on the forum about what we SHOULD do are always too late to make a difference at the time. But learning for the future.... Yes, of course. By now, there is a rather big group of long standing readers who seem to keep track of our house rules (which I think is impressive), have deep knowledge in game mechanics and strategy and combine the two in their commenting. In several cases, I got ideas from their comments on more clever moves or simply small tricks I didn't use. Fresh in mind from "Blitz Carnage" are some interesting discussions concerning Operation Mudskipper which was not my finest hour. In some cases, I am just impressed how some readers guesses accurately on the future faster than I did, even though they view it from the outside. I would like to mention Cybvep, Baltasar and a little later Thelamon as sharp-eyed readers who have been with me from the beginning - but other has followed and I simply love to read the comments and see a range from typical SP-comments to brilliant and impressive sumaries. And then there are the discussions on house rules, which even got Carnage al Dente closed down for a while. Although our dear mods don't approve of them, they have been useful for the team and have impacted HR designs.
Also - I would like to add - it was during Jolly Carnage that some reader the first time called us "the Carnage Group" which then made me stick to that when choosing names. It was by no means my plan when I chose that name in the first place.


As you indicated, another feature of the Carnage games is the continual refinement of house rules. In “Jolly Carnage”, Germany invaded Spain and took Gibraltar which led to the Japanese IJN and the RM joining forces in getting the better of a magnificently played RN. Axis spies can delay US entry in the war indefinitely, and so on (BTW: Axis 2 – Allies 0). Is it even possible today to have a balanced and enjoyable MP game without any HR?

Yeah, that was a bitter defeat for me as I felt I had no real chance against the cunning Axis masterplan. Yes, I believe HR/modding is necessary in a MP game, at least if played by experienced players. But how much and in what direction depends on the players. So, for any fresh MP-groups, a word of advice; it is good to use other groups HR-lists for inspiration but start out with small changes and find out what you like and don't like. Within the Carnage Group we have a range of approaches to HRs from people, who either want minimal chances, to those history nerds (where I count myself), who strive to make the game mirror reality as much as possible. But of course, every time you change something you dislike you are bound to indirectly also change something you did not think of. Our most debated HR/mod is about amphibious landings - both when within AARland and within the Carnage Group. I look forwards to see who we will handle the changes in TFH.

I have never played a single MP game of HOI in my life and I am more than a little intimidated by the enormous level of play throughout your series. What would you say to convince me to give MP a try?

It depends on who you are. I you like solving the rubrics cube, Sudoku and crosswords in your own good time this might not be your cup of tea. But if you are the sort who loves the challenge of facing a human opponent - be it in sports, simple games or whatever where judging and/or outsmarting the opponent is just as important as your actual skill - then this is it. I, for instance, am quite mediocre in the Carnage Group when it comes to knowledge of the game mechanics. For me, the rush I get from a good session of un-paused, highly stressful and action-packed MP HoI is matched only by very few things in my normal life. I need to go back in time to when I was a soldier in an actual war zone or during my boxing days.

Would Captain Easy be a reference to Sergeant Rock’s Easy company?

No. Not at all. The "Easy" part comes from my skating days when various kinds of Rap was the shit. Anybody with some old school rap knowledge should know from whom that name is taken from. It fitted me as I was (and, I hope, still am) a rather easy going, laid back kind of guy. The "Cpt" is a reference to my military days.

Carnage inkwell:
Cpt Easy's multiplayer AARs
Blitz Carnage (FtM 3.05) (Ongoing) .. Sudden Patriotic Carnage (FtM 3.05) (Finished) .. Carnage Al Dente (FtM 3.05) (Finished) .. Royal Carnage (HoI SF 2.04f) (Finished) .. Sudden Carnage (HoI SF 2.04b) (Finished) .. Years of Jolly Carnage (SF) (Finished) .. Wildfires (HoI III) (Finished)
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .
AARland Choice AwAARds Winner (Round 1, 2011) (Round 3, 2011) (Round 1, 2012) (Round 2, 2012)
WritAAR of the Week: Feb. 13, 2011Weekly AAR Showcase 25th Dec 2011 and 27th May 2012
Iron HeAARt 2011
 

The Big Mistakes of Alternate Historical Thinking

Thinking historically is hard. Placing yourself within a different context and examining the motivations, actions, and thought of people so different than ourselves is very difficult, even when we have a huge amount of real evidence to look at. Given this, thinking ahistorically--that is creating a world where each event is influenced by all the other events in the past while existing in its own context--is really hard, and yet someone who writes a narrative or historical AAR has to do that regularly, and we don’t even get paid!*.

Even though sometimes it can be easy (at some points when I’m writing the AAR feels like it’s writing itself), it’s impossible to do this perfectly and all of us mess up in some respects. In this article I’m going to discuss some of the common mistakes I’ve seen and made in historical and historical-narrative AARs, and I hope this’ll be helpful.

#1--Too broad!, or, know your focus

We’ve all had that moment. We’re playing the savegame we’re writing about, and we look to some corner of the world and we see that something really weird has happened. Maybe Cyprus has taken over all of Greece. Maybe Uruguay is a monarchy now. Maybe New Zealand is leading landings all over the south Pacific. It is natural to want to write about these things. But as soon as you start writing about them, you start getting bogged down. Because, it turns out, it’s very difficult to explain really weird situations.

Explaining these really weird situations (like Venice becoming Orthodox Christian) can be a really interesting endeavor, and indeed some AARs (hands off AARs) are based entirely around explaining weird things that occur within a typical Paradox Interactive game. But in many cases these things may become a very confusing waste of time for you, and writing even one section on the weird goings on in some other country can really get you out of your groove (because you don’t have the depth of ‘knowledge’ about the events of your country to deal with). I have seen many historical AARs die under the weight of the amount of responsibilities they took on with regards to how much of the world they explain, and I lost interest in my first AAR because I felt like I was jumping from country to country having to explain each situation in turn rather than being connected to the history of one country.

In such a situation the answer is to use your own discretion, but also to ask yourself, ‘what is my focus’? Am I writing about a specific country, or am I more comfortable with moving around? This is an important question, and you should ask yourself that question before you start writing any AAR.

Another thing: Don’t feel like your focus has to be a country! Feel free to write a history of the Catholic Church (as many have done), or an ideological/intellectual history of a certain idea, or an ‘institutional history’ (‘A History of the Russian Army’, ‘A History of New York City, 1830-1920‘, ‘A History of the Dutch East India Company’). Variety is always cool, and making a niche for yourself is a great way to get readers!

#2--Thought is not linear

Weirdly enough, we’re taught history in a pretty ahistorical way. If you’re living in the West, there’s a good chance that you’re taught the history of ideas as a linear path to the present. Beyond this, modern ideals are presented as the epitome of ‘goodness’. This leads to the temptation to make every competent head of state a benevolent despot who brings your country one step closer to 21st century style democratic capitalism.

I’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it. Someone writing an EU3 AAR gets a 7/7/7 king (or above) in 1400 and writes that King as a secularizer. Next thing you know, the person’s country is experience the Enlightenment during the Renaissance and soon after they end the AAR because they don’t know where to go from there. I’ve been prey to this too.

So what’s the solution to this?

The fact than an event happens, that an idea appears, is not as important as the way it appears and the form it takes. If we take for granted that, say, refrigerators needed to exist, whether those refrigerators were powered by petrol or electricity is an important fact. Similarly, that socialism, democracy, the Enlightenment etc comes into being is less important than how they come into being and what forms they take. These forms are wholly dependent on the context of the situation--an idea can’t latch on to the popular mind and become a successful idea without reflecting the context of the time. This is really, really, really difficult to do and I’m not sure if anyone will ever figure out how to do it perfectly. But asking yourself “what’s different about my world?” and “how does that change things?” is a good step.

That’s the way to deal with the ‘every step is a step towards the present’ mode of history. But how do we deal with the problem of linearity? (that is, your 16th century Denmark seems like it’s about to become a modern democracy). The answer to this is that while technology in EU3/Vicky/HOI develops linearly, the way we respond to ideas and events isn’t linear at all because our perspective on the past is constantly changing.

What was the great lesson of the Great Depression? In the 1950s, everyone ‘knew’ the answer was ‘government intervention’. Now the answer isn’t as obvious. We’re still arguing about the French Revolution. Even now, at the ‘End of History’, a Marxist revival is occurring within the younger generations and within academia. As such, a progression of ideas doesn’t happen because each generation sees the ideas of the past through their own lens. A constant move of thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis happens each generation in a million different corners of culture and politics. Don’t be afraid to have a ‘conservative’ generation, a King who tries to bring back the past, a dictator who tries to end modernity. It’ll give you more room to write--after all if history is anything it’s a series of upsets and unexpected reversals.

#3--”Oh, another war?”

This is another product of the way we’re taught history, and it’s something that (yet again) I’ve done. It’s also a natural product of seeing events from hundreds of years ago. The War of Spanish Succession? 7 Years War? 30 Years War? Or, in the context of our games--Russia’s decclared war on us again? Yet another civil war over Royal power or the rules of succession? To the player, these events can seem boring--haven’t I dealt with this problem already?

But to the people living these events (such as the War of Spanish Succession or the 7 Years War), these were the formative events in their lives. They led to huge new intellectual currents and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

The answer to this problem, to all of the problems really, is to put yourself in the shoes of someone living through those events and asking ourselves--if we lived like them, thought like them, how would we act?

And that’s the 3 Big Mistakes that I’ve seen kill historical AARs. I want to strongly express that I don’t want to criticize any specific AARs here (besides my own). I also intend to stir up a bit of discussion--what does historical mean to you? What mistakes do you make? Was I off? Was I on?


*Hint hint nudge nudge paradox interactive
 

Today we interview Saithis: AARland demi-moderator and a veteran AAR author with nine AARs to her name to date and more awards than the almighty himself could fathom. One of the most versatile and eclectic authors writing in AARland today, Saithis' works cover a wide range of games (at least one for every major Paradox game series, save “Victoria”.) and a wide range of styles: from the epic narratives of the North Star duology (Piety; Winner of one “Weekly Showcase”; three “AARland Choice Awards”; three “Character Writer of the Week” Awards and one “Artist of the Month” award and Valour; winner of two “Character Writer of the Week” Awards and one AARland Choice Awards.) to her highly successful history-book masterpiece, Last Man and Shilling (winner of three “AARland Choice Awards” in a row) and numerous multiplayer, collaborative and video AARs; including her latest, Sai Burns Down Westeros – a video AAR for “Crusader Kings II”'s Game of Thrones mod. In addition, Saithis has also won two “Writer of the Week” awards and one “Fan of the Week” award and occasionally writes articles for the AARlander. Her Inkwell may be found here.

1. You've been a member of these forums for quite a while now, but can you still remember the first AAR you ever read?

I can easily remember it, and to be honest it feels a bit like yesterday. The AAR that first introduced me to both these forums and to Paradox Interactive's games as something beyond a mythical nebulous developer I'd heard of in the past was Knud Knytling, Prince of Denmark. Though it has a certain disparity in style when compared to my own AARs, it's one of my all-time favourites and I cannot recommend it enough!

2. Have there been any writers (AAR writers or otherwise) which have particularly influenced your own AARs?

I suppose as far as the AAR format goes, I can thank General_BT for helping me make the decision that a Narrative AAR was what I wished to write most, thus inspiring me to start the North Star AARs through CK/CK2. As far as actual writing style goes, I've drawn bits of inspiration from large numbers of real-world authors including notables such as J.R.R Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Piers Anthony, Terry Pratchett, Frank Herbert and Joel Rosenberg, amongst many others I'm sure I've forgotten here.

3. As one of the relatively few authors to have "written" a video AAR, perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on this style? How do you go about preparing for one as opposed to a traditional written AAR and would you say they're easier or harder to "write"?

I'd say that's a difficult question to answer. Essentially, this style feels easier and quicker to put together and publish an update for, but requires more confidence and more money to do to a decent level of quality. As an introvert it can be quite a daunting prospect to put your voice onto a recording, even for the sake of entertainment, and as a player you're under a lot of time pressure to keep the pace up and everyone can see every little mistake you make. Still, I quite like this style of presentation and it's something I've found myself wanting to invest increasing amounts of time in.

4. Do you think that we'll see more video AARs in the future? In your own opinion, do you think they could one day replace traditional gameplay-styles AARs?

I've definitely seen a growth in these types of AARs and they've been endemic across other sites for years - they're finally starting to catch on a bit here as more people get access to the kind of Broadband and Computers you need to record (as well as Paradox's games becoming more visually pleasing to look at). Still, I don't think anything can replace the text-based AAR and I know there are a lot of people who prefer it over video AARs for our traditional grand strategy-based gaming. There's a lot of merit in that, as a lot of Paradox Games consist of waiting for the next major war or event to happen, and waiting isn't very fun to watch! (though editing/decent commentary can help). Moreover, it's difficult to get anything other than a gameplay AAR out of a video format, and that neglects all of the narrative writers and authors like Derahan and Svip who bring their comic-style presentation in.

5. You've also participated in Multiplayer and collaborative AARs in the past. How does writing for these differ from a regular AAR and would you say that they're more enjoyable to write for?

They're difficult to pull off, especially once you get more people going, as you suffer the issues of potential desynchronization and become more reliant on other people to keep it going as everyone has to do their share of the work. When it's working well, though, I'd say it's probably my favourite type of AAR and I'd gladly work in future ones if time/adequate partnership permitted.

6. So which of the three styles would you say you prefer? The traditional single-player AAR, Multiplayer/collaboration AAR or video AAR?

I definitely lean towards Multiplayer/Collaboration -the effort level feels much higher to me, but the rewards are worth it! I'm more or less tied on video/traditional AARs, I really enjoy doing both.

7. You've written AARs for a number of Paradox games: Europa Universalis III, Hearts of Iron III, EU: Rome and both incarnations of Crusader Kings. I notice a little gap in your repertoire here. Do you have any plans to fill this gap by writing a Victoria AAR in the near future, perhaps after you complete Last Man and Shilling?

This is correct, I haven't yet picked up the Victoria mantle. Part of this is because I only recently got A House Divided and I found the economy in vanilla V2 to be broken (and just generally disliked the original Victoria), but I also have to admit that the 19th century isn't my favourite period. Still, I'll definitely be picking up a Victoria AAR at some point, but I can't promise it'll come yet as I don't know what I want to do in the period while I have at least two more HOI AAR ideas and a lot of work on North Star left to do. I can tell you that I intend to someday megacampaign North Star (once I get the mod to an acceptable level of playability, which is a strenuous ongoing project), and when that happens I will eventually be moving that world into the Victoria Universe, but that's a long time off still.

8. Impressive graphics are something of a Saithis trademark, and you've written articles in AARlander issues past about the positive effect good presentation can have on an AAR's lifespan. Just how important do you think good graphics and presentation are to the success of the AAR?

I wouldn't say that the graphics are necessarily at the heart of an AAR's success (you can write a great narrative piece without graphics, it's harder to produce a great AAR piece with just graphics), but they're definitely important. Images serve to break up the text and where gameplay screenshots are included, they remind the player that this isn't just some story, but your story of the game you played and what you went through. The more 'shine' and quality you can put into those graphics, the more it will immediately catch the eye and stand out from those AARs which may be less invested and interested in making that effort.

9. Now we can't all be graphical wizards like yourself, but perhaps you could share some easy to perform basic presentation tips with us for the benefit of any new authors who may be reading?

I disagree with being a graphical wizard (I'll let robw963 keep that title for his hard work), but I will offer what advice I can. I think the most important thing is patience and preparation. If you take some time before you even start writing your first update to sit down and think about what you want to do, you'll be much better prepared. Come up with a common style you want to use, whether you want mainly gameplay screenshots and how much you want to include things like painting, historic photos, etc. Once you figure this out, the biggest simple things you can do are to just take the time to avoid your images stretching. Avoid images which look stretched out, and never post an image wider than 800 pixels to avoid the forum auto-stretching it. Simple 1 pixel black borders around the edge of the picture are easy to make and already give your picture a lot of pop, and can be done with Paint.NET or GIMP for free. If you do manage to get your hands on a copy of Photoshop (which I highly recommend along with Illustrator if you want to be serious about your graphics!), look into the Layer Styles, Masks, Filters, etc. and how you can edit images to create something that really pops and looks unique. Style is a very personal thing and I only reached the level of image editing capability I have by experimenting again and again and again until I found something that I liked!

10. Leaving AARs aside for a brief moment, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself? What are your likes, interests and hobbies out there in the real world?

Honestly you're already looking at one of my chief hobbies, writing and reading have been up there for as long as I can remember, and crossbreeding them with a copious amount of video games played led me here to begin with! Still, that's not all I get up to in the real world, I also have an unhealthy obsession with modeling and wargaming (particularly Warhammer 40,000), a love of music (I've taken to sometimes composing my own, though it's not particularly good) and I've recently taken an interest in art (mainly pixel-based or editing) once I realised I was capable of doing it.

11. How does "the real you" so to speak, influence the sort of AARs you write?

Well, it's hard to say with full accuracy, I tend to try to distance myself from my writing and to instead put myself into the minds of the characters I'm looking to write. Still, certain things do slip through and drive me to make decisions, I have a habit of trying to include women in important roles where I can justify it (not always easy in a historical piece) and I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, which isn't always easy without access to good research material and can lead to me easily getting frustrated with/not posting my updates. Beyond that, I tend to have a personal preference for writing underdogs and seeing countries that didn't historically do well rise up and take a prominent place in the world, even if it can be difficult to justify.

12. Okay, everyone's favourite final question. If you had to choose, which is your favourite of your own works and why?

Though I'd wager Last Man and Shilling is more popular, I have a definite preference for the North Star AARs (both Piety and Valour) due to the amount of work I put into the characters and how the story unfolded in the game. I've been very upset at the slow pace of my mod's development and I'm really looking forward to getting to work on it again in the near future, as it's my true favourite piece to write.

Thank you Saithis for your time.
 

Through the Ages
A Brief Look into the Megacampaign


Megacampaigns are not something new to the AARland scene. As early as 2004 MrDoom's Dieu et mon Droit showed us the possibility of playing across multiple games. It was a small little affair, confined to a single thread and only a few posts into the sixteenth page, but in a lot of ways would set a tone for future writers with a grand plan: How far can you take a single nation?

The megacampaign, to me, represents one of the greatest desires of the average ahistorical writer: that is to truly create a history. Not just an isolated frame in time, but rather a grand tapestry that winds its way across the ages. It is a marvelous thing, and something that I find incredibly rewarding. But this is not something I am alone in, with the release of Crusader Kings II, the idea of a megacampaign has resurfaced and several new faces have come forth to carry this mantle. I have had the privilege to ask a few of them for their thoughts on these illustrious attempts to truly be a nation. Those that responded are: Avindian, Belgiumruler, Futomato, and Oestado. Links for their works (which you should definitely check out) will be provided at the end of this article.

"You can lead your nation trough hard times and golden ages!" - Belgiumruler pointed out. And it is true, oftentimes there is an urge to 'win' (if such a thing was even possible). To conquer all your foes and build an empire that would give Alexander the Great reason to pause. But a megacampaign is often about more than conquest because if you conquer too fast the game is over. So megacampaigns tend to have a different focus, a lot of times it is about a bigger picture or a deeper connection and a slower build and even a few pitfalls. As Avindian put it, "It feels more epic..." One can easily conquer the world in a single game. So you must pace yourself, conquer too much and leave too little for your next story. This was one of the major flaws in my own Byzantine megacampaign: the Victoria section especially lacks action because I sat around waiting for the game to finish so I could make it to Hearts of Iron. When you look at a story like Avindian's you can see this shift in focus: when he finished Crusader Kings II he has barely united Bavaria. But on the other hand, Oestado can afford to conquer all of England in his first section, because it sets up a scenario similar to the start of Crusader Kings sans the pesky Normans (or maybe with the Normans, I have no idea). The reader of a megacampaign must understand that there are a different set of expectations they should have in mind.

Most rewardingly, a megacampaign can really get into the heart and soul of the writer. I can tell from personal experience that some days I am saddened by the fact that there are no Slavo-Norman horse-lords on the steppe, so the nation you pick can mean a lot to you or tell a lot about you. Everyone seems to have their own reasons. Oestado spoke of playing his homeland, Belgiumruler of strategic location, Futomato liked the idea of reversing the fortunes of a divided people, and Avindian spoke interesting alternate histories. And unlike me, all four knew that this is what they wanted to accomplish: take their chosen nation through nearly 1000 years (1800 for Oestado) of history, something I figured out only after really getting into my AAR. Most spoke of a strong plan with mile stones, or at least some guidelines: something I learned the hard-way slogging through Victoria with a greatly enlarged Byzantium.

Oestado summed it up nicely, "One thing I will say is that be prepared for it to take a long time, a lot of work and certain frustration at times." No one expects a megacampaign to be easy. Oestado and Belgiumruler both noted that they had stuck to history book styles for ease of writing while not playing too far ahead, while Futomato stayed a similar distance ahead for a game-play styled story. The big different here was Avindian who admitted to playing farther ahead to include "[foreshadowing] in the narrative and have better luck with the contests," something that I agree with as well. Also coming from a narrative background I can admit that unless you stay on top of yourself, facts will change out from under you. This is easier to deal with in game-play but it can trip up an unprepared player when writing a history-book or a narrative.

When it is all said and done, however, writing an article about megacampaigns is only possible as a brief snippet like this. The motivations, writers, characters, nations, and styles are just as varied as any other AAR. And that is what it boils down to. A megacampaign is no different from any AAR except that it might span a few more sub-forums. To sit and try to generalize the how and why is a futile task and is what originally put me off from finishing this quicker. From new authors like Futomato and Oestado to more veteran members like Avindian and myself, there is a great variety in what can arise from a single vision: a vision of history. All I can do is strongly encourage people to try it themselves, even if you don't want to write about it get your hands on a converter and try to lead a small country from the Dark Ages to the Nuclear Age and beyond.

And don't forget to reflect. As a game or story it might seem like quite the accomplishment, but no real nation existed in a vacuum. Especially when you write a megacampaign you can see how little events have much larger impacts.


Avindian is the author of For God and the family (Bavaria DW 5.2)

Futomato is the author of We are Cypriots!

Oestado is the author of The Rise of House Nedalskip

Belgiumruler is the author of See an Empire Rise!

Mr. Capiatlist is the author of Bastions
 
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Editor's Note
Once more the fantastic and hard working team behind the AARlander has produced another edition for our magazine. To say I am very glad to be a part of this and it is very fun to see it develop from what it began as to what it is today. I am eager to see what the future has in hold for the magazine, me and the fellow contributors. To any whom have been waiting for this edition of the AARlander, I am sorry for the delay again but some technical problems sprung up around the 1st of June and were only solved today and thus we are able to give you the 9th edition.

So I want to take this opportunity to give some information on what has been going on in the AARlander group the recent time. As you might know, the last edition featured some very visable changes and the beginning of some changes that might not be so visable. Of course, thanks to Gen. Marshalls brilliant idea and work we got the new graphics for the AARlander, both the cover and the banners for each of the articles, with each authors personal banner.

But not only has the graphics been update to give a more colorful and flavored magazine that is more appealing to you readers, we have also underwent, though a short, transformation from a sporadic based contribution to the AARlander mostly from being approached by me but also from personal initiative from the contributors, to a more permanent base of contributors to the AARlander and on a monthly basis, with the goal of producing an edition every month.

And thus, with those words I shall bid you good bye for this time and hope you enjoyed this edition of the AARlander.

Regards to you all.
D.
 
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