Wow, uh, I really didn't expect to win this nomination yet again. Ironically, it comes at a time when I've hit a speed bump in my writing, both AAR updates and other thread comments, due to both writer's block and real life stuff. Guess I can thank the me of last summer for finishing most of those AAR updates ahead of schedule. Thank you all so much for sticking with me in the four or so years I've been doing this. Like many of you, I was a teenager when I started, and my writing was less than stellar (cough Return of the Celestial Empire cough nuking Japan 20 times), but I've grown over the years. I've had a fun time sharing ideas with others in the Crown Atomic thread, where we armchair generals/politicians/economists talked about what would happen to Eddie's empire. The AAR which I created my account for, The Empire Strikes Back, is sadly on hiatus right now as Idhrendur works on converting the save, but I've had a fun time stealing content from The Peshawar Lancers worldbuilding there. From England to America was a recent addition to my read list, but it was a welcome one. Phoenix Zen was intended to be a one-off, as the HOI4 part was supposedly the finale, but I've since had fun developing his family's history into Stellaris.
Anyways, I'll come up with a nomination by next Tuesday. But first I'd like to share with you some of the AARs I've been reading and enjoying recently. Because I'm more busy now than when I was in college, I've included stuff I've read in the last two years, including AARs which concluded or stopped. But then again, I get to spend more time on each AAR.
CK2
The Legacy of the Vogelius Dynasty (EU4 here) - Our very own devGrookey Groogy did a Norse AAR a while ago and actually programmed in a few mechanics for the Norse religion (papacy among them I remember) to add to worldbuilding. What resulted was a very unique world and fleshed out lore, with a healthy degree of interactivity. The EU4 conversion mod he released was also pretty fun to play. A shame there haven't been new updates in a while.
EU4
The Eastern Vikings - @RedTemplar does a fantastic job as always balancing worldbuilding and gameplay, this time with Estonian pagans establishing themselves as a dominant European power. It's very early on in the game, as the New World hasn't been discovered yet (if I remember correctly), and it's still ongoing!
Meh, I Can Take 'em by @Crushric - Pretty hilarious take on your standard Hohenzollern CK2 game, with a lot of comedy thrown in on top of everything going absolutely wrong.
Senatus Populesque Romanus - @Osterreich Will Rule approached me a while ago for help on doing an extended megacampaign of his own, only instead of doing Victoria 2: New World Order like I did, he wanted to go back to Imperium Universalis, through WTWSMS, to base CK2. Now he has actually begun such a megacampaign, which is currently in the Imperium Universalis stage. The story and gameplay are both great so far. He'd appreciate some more viewers.
Victoria 2
The Empire Strikes Back - Not really one I've been reading lately, on account of the lack of new content, but I always have a soft spot for this interactive AAR, because it was the first interactive one I came across, four years ago, and it was the one which led me to create my account. Sadly, to my knowledge most of the contributors back then are gone now, and it's usually just me and a couple others just RPing the wait until the next stage comes out. We could really use some new faces when the next stage begins! There's also a Discord to suggest lore ideas, but I'll have to check with @Idhrendur about that.
Song of a Century - @Dragon9105 just keeps pumping out those megacampaigns. After the Annionaverse and The House of Ravens, he's started a third, about the Khitans becoming Zunists and steamrolling Europe (and then China, as is tradition for a Dragon9105 megacampaign
). He's in the Victoria 2 part now, and from some cryptic hints he released, we're in for some really interesting times in the upcoming chapters.
The Hohenzollern Kings of America - This one, which is primarily based on Reddit, shines due to the quality of worldbuilding @Baltimorehero33 has done. He did a great job of explaining how a Hohenzollern came to be King of the United States (let alone why there is a king) and then American culture, economy, society, and foreign policy in the next few decades. He even has his own subreddit for lore, r/RuleColumbia I think it was, as well as a Discord. Give it a try if you're looking for something familiar yet different.
Darkest Hour
The Crown Atomic - self-explanatory.
Hail to Thee in Victor's Crown and Ironheart II - Like many of the above writers, @LoneStar Prussian made his AAR unique through worldbuilding. What could've been just a simple Germany vs France story became a character-driven political and military epic
Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Tale of America in the 20th Century Kaiserreich USAAR - Another @LoneStar Prussian AAR
Freedom's Darkest Hour - A pretty ridiculous situation (Russia and China invade the US mainland, among other places) on the surface, obviously set up to make the game very hard, which I sympathize with, but @Kaiser_Mobius really shines due to the compelling writing and interesting characterizations of politicians and generals, as well as somewhat realistic in-universe military strategy. There are a few in-jokes and memes, mostly the people in charge of certain countries, which gave us some laughs.
Stellaris
From England to America (see TBC's post) - @TheButterflyComposer probably explains it better than me.
The Immortal Roman Empress - Normally I don't like supernatural elements in AARs (unless I'm the one doing them) and prefer grounded and realistic ones, but this is my favorite exception to that. @ClawofBeta's AAR, also based on Reddit, is more character focused than most AARs, especially given it's a Stellaris one, and it talks about the consequences of immortality, both for the immortal and for society as a whole. It's especially concerned with what happens if said immortal dies. There are also a lot of jokes and references to other Stellaris AARs thrown in for comedic moments, another reason why I recommend this AAR.
The First Century - @cookfl outdoes himself by applying the Crown Atomic formula to humanity's future in space, with a realistic look at first contact, alien relations, human nature, and planetary geopolitics. Sadly, he stopped this AAR because of the scale of Stellaris' recent updates, but I urge you all to give this a try. It's like The Expanse in AAR form.
Hautevilles (last reboot here) - It's a pretty simple formula for this megacampaign. The Hauteville family takes over the world and then space. What really makes this stand out is the number of times @hjarg rebooted the AAR to keep up with Stellaris' updates, each time increasingly funnier and faster-paced (in my view) without losing the original's quality.
Anyways, I'll come up with a nomination by next Tuesday. But first I'd like to share with you some of the AARs I've been reading and enjoying recently. Because I'm more busy now than when I was in college, I've included stuff I've read in the last two years, including AARs which concluded or stopped. But then again, I get to spend more time on each AAR.
CK2
The Legacy of the Vogelius Dynasty (EU4 here) - Our very own dev
EU4
The Eastern Vikings - @RedTemplar does a fantastic job as always balancing worldbuilding and gameplay, this time with Estonian pagans establishing themselves as a dominant European power. It's very early on in the game, as the New World hasn't been discovered yet (if I remember correctly), and it's still ongoing!
Meh, I Can Take 'em by @Crushric - Pretty hilarious take on your standard Hohenzollern CK2 game, with a lot of comedy thrown in on top of everything going absolutely wrong.
Senatus Populesque Romanus - @Osterreich Will Rule approached me a while ago for help on doing an extended megacampaign of his own, only instead of doing Victoria 2: New World Order like I did, he wanted to go back to Imperium Universalis, through WTWSMS, to base CK2. Now he has actually begun such a megacampaign, which is currently in the Imperium Universalis stage. The story and gameplay are both great so far. He'd appreciate some more viewers.
Victoria 2
The Empire Strikes Back - Not really one I've been reading lately, on account of the lack of new content, but I always have a soft spot for this interactive AAR, because it was the first interactive one I came across, four years ago, and it was the one which led me to create my account. Sadly, to my knowledge most of the contributors back then are gone now, and it's usually just me and a couple others just RPing the wait until the next stage comes out. We could really use some new faces when the next stage begins! There's also a Discord to suggest lore ideas, but I'll have to check with @Idhrendur about that.
Song of a Century - @Dragon9105 just keeps pumping out those megacampaigns. After the Annionaverse and The House of Ravens, he's started a third, about the Khitans becoming Zunists and steamrolling Europe (and then China, as is tradition for a Dragon9105 megacampaign
). He's in the Victoria 2 part now, and from some cryptic hints he released, we're in for some really interesting times in the upcoming chapters.The Hohenzollern Kings of America - This one, which is primarily based on Reddit, shines due to the quality of worldbuilding @Baltimorehero33 has done. He did a great job of explaining how a Hohenzollern came to be King of the United States (let alone why there is a king) and then American culture, economy, society, and foreign policy in the next few decades. He even has his own subreddit for lore, r/RuleColumbia I think it was, as well as a Discord. Give it a try if you're looking for something familiar yet different.
Darkest Hour
The Crown Atomic - self-explanatory.
Hail to Thee in Victor's Crown and Ironheart II - Like many of the above writers, @LoneStar Prussian made his AAR unique through worldbuilding. What could've been just a simple Germany vs France story became a character-driven political and military epic
Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Tale of America in the 20th Century Kaiserreich USAAR - Another @LoneStar Prussian AAR
Freedom's Darkest Hour - A pretty ridiculous situation (Russia and China invade the US mainland, among other places) on the surface, obviously set up to make the game very hard, which I sympathize with, but @Kaiser_Mobius really shines due to the compelling writing and interesting characterizations of politicians and generals, as well as somewhat realistic in-universe military strategy. There are a few in-jokes and memes, mostly the people in charge of certain countries, which gave us some laughs.
Stellaris
From England to America (see TBC's post) - @TheButterflyComposer probably explains it better than me.
The Immortal Roman Empress - Normally I don't like supernatural elements in AARs (unless I'm the one doing them
) and prefer grounded and realistic ones, but this is my favorite exception to that. @ClawofBeta's AAR, also based on Reddit, is more character focused than most AARs, especially given it's a Stellaris one, and it talks about the consequences of immortality, both for the immortal and for society as a whole. It's especially concerned with what happens if said immortal dies. There are also a lot of jokes and references to other Stellaris AARs thrown in for comedic moments, another reason why I recommend this AAR.The First Century - @cookfl outdoes himself by applying the Crown Atomic formula to humanity's future in space, with a realistic look at first contact, alien relations, human nature, and planetary geopolitics. Sadly, he stopped this AAR because of the scale of Stellaris' recent updates, but I urge you all to give this a try. It's like The Expanse in AAR form.
Hautevilles (last reboot here) - It's a pretty simple formula for this megacampaign. The Hauteville family takes over the world and then space. What really makes this stand out is the number of times @hjarg rebooted the AAR to keep up with Stellaris' updates, each time increasingly funnier and faster-paced (in my view) without losing the original's quality.
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