Macedonia AAR [Pics]

[Wtdou]

[Wtdou]

Just noticed these are a bit out of order, but w/e. Can't edit my own posts.

[Alwyn]

Hi Wtdou, you will be able to edit your own posts when you reach a certain number (I think it is 25 posts. Shankbot's Unofficial Guide for New Members has more information.). A good way to reach that number quickly is to read other people's AARs and stories and to post encouraging, positive comments on them.

[Zeion]

Congrats to your campaign victory! I usually find that the victory conditions in Rome 2 are a bit... vast. Always takes ages if you do not rely on military allies to cover much territory for you.
What difficulty was it on?

About your AAR:
Things I wonder about:

- What were the kings during the 120 years of your campaign, which rulers were significant?
- What were important or great battles in the process of your campaign?
- Were there other characters, agents perhaps, that were important in the course of your campaign?
- What were economic centers of power in your kingdom?

Maybe that gives you some inspiration for your next AAR. There is nothing wrong with a short and picture-focused AAR - its really refreshing and less complex to follow. I was still left a bit unsatisfied by the lack of answers to my questions above.

Cheers

[Wtdou]

@ Zeion, I am not a writer. So my AARs will be pics only - sorry. If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer - just not in a story capacity.

@Alwyn, thanks.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Hi, Wtdou.

It sounds as if you think AARs have to be written like stories. Have I got that right?

If so, then you have nothing to worry about, because that's not true. AARs can be stories, with individual characters and so on. But AARs can be lots of other things, too. They can be a description of what you did ("In turn 2 [or you could say the in-game year, instead] I moved an army of [describe what kind of troops the army had] to [name of city] and attacked it. Their army had [describe their army]. I won, but lost most of my [type of troop you lost lots of].") Or they can be almost like that, but without mentioning you - so instead of saying "I moved an army," you'd say "the army moved."

None of this has to include very much writing, and if you use different kinds of pictures as well as Faction Destroyed screens (and the final Victory screen), that will help to reduce the amount of writing that's needed. If you can write enough to answer Zeion's questions, you can definitely write enough to make a really good AAR. It really, really doesn't have to be a story-type AAR to be good. Just a few words describing what you did, and which battles were difficult, would make this much more interesting for a reader.

Have a look at this. If you scroll down to post 18 and open the spoilers, you will see that LuckyLewis shows us what happens in each battle by using only pictures. This AAR, by SavageFeat, uses lots of pictures and very few words, but because of the different types of pictures he uses it works very well to tell us the details of what happened in his game - and he isn't writing a story, just telling us about his game.

For a couple of other examples, you might try this. Again, Hader isn't writing a story, he's just telling us what he did in the game and how it worked. (Sadly, the pictures are no longer visible in that one.) And this is another nice one for showing how you can use different types of pictures to give the reader information. It's also one where the author (Exekutor) just tells us what he's doing as the player and how the different factions are affected by his decisions.

So it's fine to use lots of pictures and very few words. It's even fine to use no words at all. And it's perfectly OK not to want to write a story. But at the moment, the only thing your AAR tells us is that you won. I like that , but I'd like to know more about how you won. What battles did you fight, and were they difficult? Did anybody attack you, and if so, who did it, and where did they attack? It would be great if you could tell us some of that information in your AAR. Obviously, you can tell us using pictures, but adding some of that information would really enhance your AARs.

I'm hoping for more (and some different kinds of picture ).

[Wtdou]

@Caill, no but story AARs (from my reading) tend to be the most popular, so I was just using that as an example.

My point, about not being a writer, is I tend to be VERY direct and literal when it comes to my words. Let's say someone asks me "what did you do on turn 2?" I know what they are trying to get me to do, but my brain and mouth will normally just spit out some sarcastic bs (because that's just the type of person I am), and I would probably say something like, "Uh, what do you mean? You know all you do is press buttons, right?" Which is why I prefer pics .

As for doing more, yes I have every intent on doing more, I am just trying to decide on a Barbarian faction now.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

My point, about not being a writer, is I tend to be VERY direct and literal when it comes to my words. Let's say someone asks me "what did you do on turn 2?" I know what they are trying to get me to do, but my brain and mouth will normally just spit out some sarcastic bs (because that's just the type of person I am), and I would probably say something like, "Uh, what do you mean? You know all you do is press buttons, right?" Which is why I prefer pics .

Ah, so you'll be going with my suggestion of telling us what you did on turn 2 by showing us by using various types of picture? 'Cos that - as illustrated by the examples I gave you - can be really cool.

As for doing more, yes I have every intent on doing more, I am just trying to decide on a Barbarian faction now.

I look forward to seeing the results.

[Zeion]

@ Zeion, I am not a writer. So my AARs will be pics only - sorry. If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer - just not in a story capacity.

My point was that you could elaborate on these topics by using pictures only. Just as Caillagh explained in his great post.

Anyway, looking forward to your barbarian campaign!

[waveman]

I think it's more the extremes that are popular. I write AAR's that are story-driven, both with and without pictures as a supplement. However, AAR's that focus on pictures seem to do well also. However, they often last less time. Story-driven pieces also take a while to build up momentum and thus followers, while picture AARs are often readily accessible, and each picture can relay a lot of information.

Also, you never know, but there might be an audience for the story of "I pushed a button and nations fell"

In any case good luck