Desperate for more readersRensslaer said:
!I'll try to work myself through the English version now..
It will take some time but perhaps it's worth it...
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!I'll try to work myself through the English version now..
It will take some time but perhaps it's worth it...
I'm very flattered, LordBan! Thank you! I'm equally touched by those who read a little at a time -- as I would -- to savor, and those who read all at once because they can't stop. Not that it's necessarily impossible to do both. But I do think it would be more enjoyable a little at a time, allowing time for reflection.Lordban said:Since there was a little discussion about fast readers, this AAR is definitely one I meant to take my time reading. And it did take some time, if only because rifling through another few updates made a nice end to the day. Waldemar's troubled rise to power will be in my mind for some time for that reason - I had stopped at the 5th update in the corresponding series, and reading the rest was quite a pleasure after a day at work where everything which could go bad had
And now there is the approach of a continuation of this AAR, with Rensslaer behind the event scripting and - as far as my experience with the HoI engine is concerned - a considerably larger control over the flow of events than last time. Whither Prussia will confirm its status as the greatest power in the world or, on the contrary, fail to prevail, remains to be seen. I certainly hope, though, that it will face an apparently unwinnable challenge. To make up for the AI's lacks? Not only, but also for us to see an extended timeframe and opportunities for many more dramatic updates the like of which, my good Rensslaer, very few people are capable of writing with the same, high quality across the span of an epic-size work
I did say 'when'. You won't dare and let us fall, now will you?
My vision for the Fire Warms sequel is to create a realistic set of possible circumstances, with appropriate events for various potentialities, and then to play the game. Since this is an "alpha-test", I anticipate having to re-do or re-orchestrate certain parts of the game as I play. In short, I will seek to control the game so it fits the story, and at the same time allow the game to direct or influence the story. I want the gameplay to be a challenge.
And on that note... It will definitely be a challenge for Germany to make it out of this war alive! I've set things up just so. I hope I'm up to the challenge!
But I've had precious little time to focus on that stuff lately, so I can't give any estimates as to when this might occur.
DerKaiser, thank you! I'm still going to hop into your story, too. Just going 20 directions at once, here.DerKaiser said:
My hope for the German version is that no one person will have to carry the burden for helping me get the right words. TheArchduke is assisting already, and I'm hoping others will step in to help. I'll make corrections, and then go on to the next scenes.
Well, I'd certainly LIKE more readers!Ahura Mazda said:Desperate for more readers
I'll try to work myself through the English version now..
It will take some time but perhaps it's worth it...
But I really would also like to learn German. This seems like the way that's more natural to me, rather than taking classes that don't really engage me, or trying to find time to spend with CD classes that are largely the same way. This way I'm doing applied German, which catches my interest far better!Thanks for taking the time to read it! Or even just to start. Hopefully I shall draw you in!
Thanks, guys!
Rensslaer
Renss,
I wish you'd quit responding to people in this AAR. I'm trying to catch up with you in views, and you keep bumping this AAR up to the top.
Just joking of course (as evidenced by the fact that I too am bumping it for you)
Actually your idea about doing it in German is an excelent idea on two levels.
1. To help you learn German, as you already stated
2. To refresh the a lot of the details in your mind, as part of the preperation for the sequel.
Looking at it, I think the German translation is an excellent way to teach yourself a new language. I can only applaud any efforts at self-improvement, but this is an unique and creative technique that I might have to try as well (but not with my WW1 AAR).
I wish you'd quit responding to people in this AAR. I'm trying to catch up with you in views, and you keep bumping this AAR up to the top.
Just joking of course (as evidenced by the fact that I too am bumping it for you)
Actually your idea about doing it in German is an excelent idea on two levels.
1. To help you learn German, as you already stated
2. To refresh the a lot of the details in your mind, as part of the preperation for the sequel.
Looking at it, I think the German translation is an excellent way to teach yourself a new language. I can only applaud any efforts at self-improvement, but this is an unique and creative technique that I might have to try as well (but not with my WW1 AAR).
lol Well, I'll admit putting this back on the front page does help increase my viewcount, but I think you're doing fine!Quirinus308 said:Renss,
I wish you'd quit responding to people in this AAR. I'm trying to catch up with you in views, and you keep bumping this AAR up to the top.
Just joking of course (as evidenced by the fact that I too am bumping it for you)
Actually your idea about doing it in German is an excelent idea on two levels.
1. To help you learn German, as you already stated
2. To refresh the a lot of the details in your mind, as part of the preperation for the sequel.
Looking at it, I think the German translation is an excellent way to teach yourself a new language. I can only applaud any efforts at self-improvement, but this is an unique and creative technique that I might have to try as well (but not with my WW1 AAR).
You're only about 6-7,000 away at this point, and you're on the front page every day, with active content! Can't compete with that. Like mine, I'm sure yours is going to add hundreds of views each day even once it's entirely finished!Thanks about the German version. It's hard communicating over there, because I can't just snap my fingers and know what to say, but I expect I'll pick it up pretty quickly. I've been studying German, off and on, for about 10 years now. I just couldn't pass all those special, advanced classes in college. "I'm sorry, I don't know what the past-tense present plutoperfect sense of the verb 'to forget' is!"
Rensslaer
Sorry Quirinus, for 'bumping' this thread
So far, I'm at the 100th page and I wonder why, oh why I didn't read it all before
Rensslaer, is you an author(as in live on it)?
If not I seriously think you could!
this is the most awesome AAR ever!
(again, soorry Quirinus! )
So far, I'm at the 100th page and I wonder why, oh why I didn't read it all before
Rensslaer, is you an author(as in live on it)?
If not I seriously think you could!
this is the most awesome AAR ever!
(again, soorry Quirinus!
)
Most excellent! Very fine praise, Ahura! Thank you!Ahura Mazda said:So far, I'm at the 100th page and I wonder why, oh why I didn't read it all before
Rensslaer, is you an author(as in live on it)?
If not I seriously think you could!
this is the most awesome AAR ever!
I'm glad you finally "gave in" and tried it!
As for being a published author... Yes, in some senses, though not a fiction author yet. I've been published in newspapers and websites (political stuff). But I'm now trying to get some of my fiction published. We'll see!
Thanks again!
Rensslaer
Very cool! Be sure to let us now if you do manage to get something published.Rensslaer said:Most excellent! Very fine praise, Ahura! Thank you!
I'm glad you finally "gave in" and tried it!
As for being a published author... Yes, in some senses, though not a fiction author yet. I've been published in newspapers and websites (political stuff). But I'm now trying to get some of my fiction published. We'll see!
Thanks again!
Rensslaer
Umm... I guess I should have let you know that I got the EU III Strategy Guide published!!!VILenin said:Very cool! Be sure to let us now if you do manage to get something published.
I kinda left that one out. But that's still not fiction. I'll let you know when it happens! I've got about 5 different storylines bouncing around my head, most of which can be turned into series.
Rensslaer
Well then I guess I should let you know that I already own the EU III Strategy Guide so hurry up and bring out something else.Rensslaer said:Umm... I guess I should have let you know that I got the EU III Strategy Guide published!!!
I kinda left that one out. But that's still not fiction. I'll let you know when it happens! I've got about 5 different storylines bouncing around my head, most of which can be turned into series.
Rensslaer
But it sounds like you have a lot of ideas, which is a good thing. Best of luck turning those ideas into stories.
Ahura Mazda: ...this is the most awesome AAR ever!
now you see why i read it a second time ! !
Ahura Mazda: ...I made it! ..*proud!*
and that makes me quite happy that i recommended this to you ! !
now you see why i read it a second time ! !
Ahura Mazda: ...I made it!
..*proud!*and that makes me quite happy that i recommended this to you ! !
Well finally, after staring at the links in your sig as I eagerly view the Eu III AAR Sforza, I finally checked out your opus.
Normally, viewing blocks of text detailing historical narrative turns me away but I gave in and read a few posts, then a few more.
That was 3 days ago. Reading a few hours a night I have finally, and sadly reached the end.
Brilliant, there are phrases I can use now on these forums that only your readers will understand. - a 'seven point crash' lol
The moment that really got to me was quite early on, in Southern Africa.
I realised that he had been away from his homeland for so long and never got to make the journey home.
..
In terms of your writing style, there is a change around the time of the Waly's succession. For instance, the character Tess appeared around this time - a great forshadowing. Just wondering. Was this the time that you had actually completed the game playing and actually knew what was coming when writing?
Would you recommend playing a complete GC before beginning an AAR in order to gain the ability to forshadow characters and events correctly (in a perfect world of course)?
Sadly, I fear my work is only beginning. There are other AARs and writAARs that you name with reverence in your posts that I will have to check out.... and of course I shall have to try to create my own effort.
Thank you for the entertaining read.
Matt.
Normally, viewing blocks of text detailing historical narrative turns me away but I gave in and read a few posts, then a few more.
That was 3 days ago. Reading a few hours a night I have finally, and sadly reached the end.
Brilliant, there are phrases I can use now on these forums that only your readers will understand. - a 'seven point crash' lol
The moment that really got to me was quite early on, in Southern Africa.
I realised that he had been away from his homeland for so long and never got to make the journey home.
..
In terms of your writing style, there is a change around the time of the Waly's succession. For instance, the character Tess appeared around this time - a great forshadowing. Just wondering. Was this the time that you had actually completed the game playing and actually knew what was coming when writing?
Would you recommend playing a complete GC before beginning an AAR in order to gain the ability to forshadow characters and events correctly (in a perfect world of course)?
Sadly, I fear my work is only beginning. There are other AARs and writAARs that you name with reverence in your posts that I will have to check out.... and of course I shall have to try to create my own effort.
Thank you for the entertaining read.
Matt.
Wow! Quite a tribute, Matt -- thank you!ScouseJedi said:
Thank you for taking so much time to read this. This is really FAR more my favorite, compared to Sforza. I enjoy Sforza, and I enjoy that people like Sforza, but I really put tons more work into this, and it's more my favored style of writing.
Yes -- the SEVEN POINT CRASH -- was certainly memorable! :rofl:
Hmm... As to whether I'd ended the game at the point of the succession crisis. I'm not 100% certain where I ended it. I think I must have made mention of it, at some point in feedback. But I don't recall for sure.
I know I didn't play out the last 5 years or so -- the British and American wars -- until after that point, actually. I did not know that Wilson would become an ACTUAL enemy, rather than simply a personal one. I tend to have a relatively dim view of Wilson, anyway, and so I set them up as antagonists.
I had been playing ahead by about 5 years through most of that later part of the game, so that I did have some context on what would happen in the near future. And I'd been planning the story ahead with interesting subplots and threads to weave in, but without knowing exactly where things would head.
I seem to recall that when I came up to the 1900 stage, I was wanting to end the headlong dive into disaster which Kaiser Wilhelm II was creating for himself. The death of his eldest son in Panama -- I figured the son would naturally be in the thick of combat, and I got thoroughly spanked in one portion of that battle, and decided I could use that -- was an inspiration for a scenario by which I could end Wilhelm's reign. I recalled a book by McCullough (sp?) about Harry Truman's accession to the presidency -- a man who was barely expecting to ever have to face major responsibility just 2 years before, but who was thrust suddenly into the most important office in the world at that time! What if, I thought, I could recreate some of the feeling of that surprise and irony in the AAR?
So at that point, I stopped playing, more or less, and created the whole of the succession scenario, planned out on paper, and then changed as the story went on (because the readers actually got involved in the writing, and I was able to respond to suggestions, which turned out very well!). It was only after, as I recall, this writing was finished, that I turned my attention to the new administration of Waldemar I, and how he might conduct an entirely different foreign policy.
I also remember that, at the time of the British War, actually, I was QUITE surprised by that war! I had planned an invasion of Peru, and this darned surprise declaration interfered with it all, JUST as my invasion ships were passing Scotland. So.... that's where that storyline came in.
And to tell you the truth, I never expected the Tess and Archie story to go very far at all! I introduced the couple as a means of describing the spectacle of the Victorian Jubilee without having to have the German Royal Family as the only point of view. I did figure I might have use for a spy in the future, so I used that line. I was amazed and gratified, when the British war came up, that I could restore those two minor characters into the narrative again.
I was quite fascinated, at many points, at how I would find uses for older "threads" which could be woven back into the fabric of the story! I discovered that that's the beauty of a complex storyline -- that there's so much useful stuff to weave back in.
And I might have to credit Babylon 5, actually, for that concept -- B5 was constantly tying up loose ends that you'd forgotten about, and completing them into an intricate tapestry which made sense at the end, even though I'm relatively sure many of those subplots were obscure or invisible to Straczynski (the writer) in the early stages of the show.
Anyway... Just some thoughts, in response to your questions. You're right about Bittenfeld (and many others like him, I think!). It is tragic, as these things often are. I sometimes wonder how differently the story might have turned out if I'd been more into the character development process in that early stage. As it was, Bittenfeld was more a concept than a character. I hesitate to think what might have been if so many of those early characters had had the life and depth of my later characters!
In response to your final question... wow. I don't know that I could recommend playing the whole thing. I actually think it added much to my AAR to be playing as I wrote, because it became more of a Guess the Author sort of scene-writing challenge to have to adapt to the totally unexpected turns the game would throw at me. I also think that's much of how I grew as a writer during this process.
Thank you very much for reading... and for your comments! It warms my heart to return to this story, even as it lay dormant.
Rensslaer
Just read this through, however late i am to the show, it's incredible. NOw when do we see HOI2, and the return of wally, Mussolini and the big war.
Lord Strange, Welcome! And thank you! I'm excited to see people still reading this old work. I'm very glad you enjoyed it!Lord Strange said:
As for HOI 2... Things remain about as they were - I actually did a few moments of work on the storyline the other day, but the Mod isn't quite finished, and I don't know when I'll have time to work on it. I certainly can't promise anything soon, but I do still hope to do this.
Rensslaer
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Just curious -- I can tell someone (or several?) has been reading this recently, because the viewcounts keep going up. How did you find it? Through the Inkwell, or some other means?
For those of you who are wondering about my plans for this story, I have a variety of plans.
I am still working on the World War II sequel, and even wrote a first (?) scene for it just a week or two ago. Much of what I've done is hashing out what characters must be included, finding who the major politicians of the day were, etc. So that's by no means dead or dormant.
However, I've actually been working quite a bit recently on a pre-quel! This prequel story would trace the origins of Erwin von Kauperke and how his relationship developed with the young man who would later become Kaiser Wilhelm I.
This prequel would not be tied to any game. In fact, it's possible I might try to publish it separately. Lots of options. We'll see.
Thanks, again, for the apparently continued interest in this story! I'd love to hear from any of you, even if you haven't completed reading the whole thing.
Thanks!
Rensslaer
For those of you who are wondering about my plans for this story, I have a variety of plans.
I am still working on the World War II sequel, and even wrote a first (?) scene for it just a week or two ago. Much of what I've done is hashing out what characters must be included, finding who the major politicians of the day were, etc. So that's by no means dead or dormant.
However, I've actually been working quite a bit recently on a pre-quel! This prequel story would trace the origins of Erwin von Kauperke and how his relationship developed with the young man who would later become Kaiser Wilhelm I.
This prequel would not be tied to any game. In fact, it's possible I might try to publish it separately. Lots of options. We'll see.
Thanks, again, for the apparently continued interest in this story! I'd love to hear from any of you, even if you haven't completed reading the whole thing.
Thanks!
Rensslaer
Read it (over a long period of time) and loved it. Great story. Bit of a cliff hanger there at the end but it lets the reader decide how it ends.
Oh and that would be me Rensslaer. I happened to come across one of your posts. I keep an eye out for everyone's signature in case they have a link to a story that would interest me. I myself like Prussian/Germany stories. I saw the link and the VictAARian Cross award and figured it'd probably be worth reading.
Kampf_Machen, thank you very much for coming by, and for reading this lengthy work!Kampf_Machen said:
I really appreciate hearing from anybody who's still reading through it. It's nice to watch it have a life of its own, and to still be popular at some level, even if it's been hanging out on page 4!
Thanks again!
Rensslaer