Considering an AAR

[Viva Espana!]

I'm considering getting into a new campaign and writing an AAR now that I've installed SS6.3 (still trying to get the wonkiness out of 6.4. Should I wait to start a campaign until I do that? It won't start for me! /sob). I haven't played Stainless in a while, and I've been entertaining myself on MTWII Vanilla.

First of all, for a "noob" to SS, what submods (like Gracul's AI, Grim Reality, etc) should I enable?

And second, a far more important question, what Kingdom and Period would y'all find most interesting or most fun in an AAR? Difficulty of starting position doesn't bother me.

I'm also contemplating two styles - I understand a number of folks enjoy playing from the point of view of one person, like 'I am Skantarios,' however, I also like the idea of writing as a scholar observing his nation, taking excerpts from various sources, such as peasants, common soldiers, etc.

[Warmaster Tibs]

I admire your drive to write! I used to write like you, but I had to stop for personal issues.

For me, I think you need to think first of what YOU want to write about. Which faction interests you the most or what couple of factions? Choose some if you can. Narrow down the choices.

[Viva Espana!]

I have a few old AARs out there that are all half-finished, interrupted by real-world concerns. But here's hoping I can spin a long yarn for this one?

Let's see about narrowing down the choices though, shall we? I think I might enjoy anyone in Western/Northern Europe (save Scotland or Portugal, who I can never imagine doing much) as well as Byzantium (would be my choice immediately, if it didn't seem to be done so often), and the Crusader States (in which I would use the second style and write from the point of view of folks from different places in Europe).

I'm not a big fan of the huge territories of Russia or the Steppes, and I don't know enough history of Islam to write a proper AAR for 'em. If anyone has some tidbits about Hungary that might make them more interesting, I'd be happy to hear.

By and by, Warmaster, I love your modification of Our Most Holy Emperor.

[Radzeer]

I have a few old AARs out there that are all half-finished, interrupted by real-world concerns. But here's hoping I can spin a long yarn for this one?

Let's see about narrowing down the choices though, shall we? I think I might enjoy anyone in Western/Northern Europe (save Scotland or Portugal, who I can never imagine doing much) as well as Byzantium (would be my choice immediately, if it didn't seem to be done so often), and the Crusader States (in which I would use the second style and write from the point of view of folks from different places in Europe).

I'm not a big fan of the huge territories of Russia or the Steppes, and I don't know enough history of Islam to write a proper AAR for 'em. If anyone has some tidbits about Hungary that might make them more interesting, I'd be happy to hear.

By and by, Warmaster, I love your modification of Our Most Holy Emperor.

Hope to see your AAR soon. We need writers.
A couple of advices:

1. Write about a faction you like. Otherwise it will become a chore and likely have a premature end. You have to keep up your own interest too.
2. Write about a faction you know something about. You don't have to be an expert, but some background knowledge helps a lot.
3. Check out the MTW2 AAR section on what others write about. Most people pay no attention to the submod, (except for those with deep immersion like BGR or DLV or geographically unique like BC - that gets noted), so people say, "hey a French AAR", and won't make a difference if that is in DLV or SS. Most AARs are in SS as that is the most popular mod.
4. In terms of factions, Byzantium has been one of the more popular ones, although not many have been around lately (no one wants to compete with Skantarios ), there are some French and Lithuanian ones. The Crusaders and the Teutons are also popular, because of the perception of epicness. But I cannot say that there is a faction which has been done to death, so point #1 applies.
5. There are plenty of narration styles, pick one that suits you the best. The scholarly type sounds new, I'd be happy to read that for sure.

If you are new to SS, I suggest not to jump into BGR immediately, unless you are a veteran VH/VH player. As far as I know, Ichon's AAR is the only BGR one which has made it, the others were abandoned, probably partly because of the campaign difficulty. Finally, you said that you had AARs in the past, but in any case you may want to check the link in my sig with the collected wisdom of AAR writing. That may give you some more ideas from folks who have been written about it in the past years.

Good luck!

[Viva Espana!]

Alright. Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to end up doing the Crusader States, but make their position a bit more accurate, allowing me to reclaim Jerusalem, Acre, etc.

A question though - Should I start from 1229, at which point the King of Jerusalem is also Emperor of Constantinople? Or would it do better to include King John's invitation to become Emperor of the Latin Empire?

Another, and far more important question - I've forgotten how to remove the bottom bar when taking screenshots, or make it a cinematic for fraps. How do I do that?

[Ichon]

It would be interesting to see a scholars AAR of France in late era campaign. Don't remember seeing many French SS AARs and never one from multiple perspectives. France has a very rich history which could be mined for an AAR.

If you plan on roleplaying some real political concerns then definitely try BGR. Will slow the campaign down a bit as well though surrounded by all Catholics its not so bad. If only HRE was a more worthy opponent it could be quite fun. Maybe give HRE a large bonus at start and get the Pope to aggro on you instead so HRE has a chance to expand and you find yourself at odds with the Pope... maybe allow the Cathars to live free of Catholic inquisition?

[Viva Espana!]

I'm sorry I'm not up with the lingo. What's the BGR?

[Andytheplatypus]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=106060

[Viva Espana!]

Reading that link... I'm fairly confident I would have no idea what's going on. I'd much rather just make up some entertaining political intrigue as I go along, unless someone can school me in BGR? Also, any other views on an AAR?

(Furthermore, have you noticed that the Crusader States faction is historically inaccurate in the Late Period? Jerusalem and Kerak were captured by Saladin before 1220, while the Principality of Antioch was still independent of Muslim rule. Unless I'm just ignorant and they retook Jerusalem?)

[Ichon]

Reading that link... I'm fairly confident I would have no idea what's going on. I'd much rather just make up some entertaining political intrigue as I go along, unless someone can school me in BGR? Also, any other views on an AAR?

(Furthermore, have you noticed that the Crusader States faction is historically inaccurate in the Late Period? Jerusalem and Kerak were captured by Saladin before 1220, while the Principality of Antioch was still independent of Muslim rule. Unless I'm just ignorant and they retook Jerusalem?)

P.S. Has anyone ever written an AAR for a Catholic nation that -wanted- to be Excommunicated? Say.. a certain Holy Roman Empire with an Emperor named Sigmar who proclaimed himself God-Emperor? >.>

Well you mentioned Grim Reality in your OP and that's BGR. It's actually not that difficult to get the hang of aside from the financial end but it would make for quite an entertaining AAR to figure out the finances on the first go around. Just like in history many lords had financial changes which affected their ability to campaign. Basically each lord drains some money that would ordinarily go into the treasury but you can also tax them and use them for governors raising greater money than they cost. Supplies also cost various amount of money depending on location and skills of the general. Mercenaries cost much more and any unit raised by a general without authorization he must pay for out of his own pocket and the treasury is also hit as he basically takes the taxes he would have owed the treasury to equip his recruits.

Actually 2 other people fairly recently talked about doing an AAR as HRE with Antipope and excommunication. I don't know if either of them started yet but you might want to check the newest AARs. I know of some other AARs where the faction played excommunicated but none with God Emperors in SS. Seems alternate fantasy stuff at least with HRE.

Yes... unfortunately the later you go in the SS campaigns the less historical the start positions become. In 6.2 when there was still a 1450 campaign only the most popular factions were aligned anywhere near correctly. Apparently its due the fact that 70% of people never play anything other than early campaign.

[Viva Espana!]

Hmm, I suppose I could probably -make- the Crusader States historically accurate by the second turn, at the cost of my best units. Take Antioch. Sue for peace and give Egypt Jerusalem and Kerak, though then I can't recruit any Knights of Jerusalem, anywhere.

And, how does the supply train work? I know a number of years ago my armies had to forage and find refuge otherwise they suffered attrition and my generals became ill, but that was a much earlier version.

[Ichon]

Hmm, I suppose I could probably -make- the Crusader States historically accurate by the second turn, at the cost of my best units. Take Antioch. Sue for peace and give Egypt Jerusalem and Kerak, though then I can't recruit any Knights of Jerusalem, anywhere.

And, how does the supply train work? I know a number of years ago my armies had to forage and find refuge otherwise they suffered attrition and my generals became ill, but that was a much earlier version.

Well having played CS a few campaigns I don't think I ever used Knights of Jerusalem much. Order knights much easier to get and cheaper to maintain.

It would be quite an interesting AAR as well... though unless something changed I though CS started with Antioch? Have to open new campaign I guess. Maybe I captured it so early I assumed it was owned at start. It would be a tough campaign though dropping Jerusalem and Kerak.

Supply train is spawned on FL at start of game or if it is lost at some point. There is only one and it nearly doubles amount of supplies for a full stack army though it slows movement a tiny bit when carried by full stack. It slows movement much more when carried by a single general.

So usually a full stack army moving into fresh territory with a good general and 100% supplies has about 8 turns before supplies might be exhausted. With supply train that increases. Smaller armies consume less supplies and can forage longer.

[Ferdiad]

No idea about the God emperor tbh, and Ichon is fairly expert at BGR, so ask him maybe.

[Ichon]

~ to bring up console and then toggle_fow

[Viva Espana!]

I was getting more and more interested in the Crusader States, but now I am wary. I've done some research, as I always do before an AAR, and I don't think I could actually live up to King Jean of Jerusalem.

This guy marries his daughter to the most powerful man in Europe (Frederick II) and convinces the Pope and Frederick himself to launch two crusades, one of which successfully procured Jerusalem for ten years, and the other which took cities in Egypt proper (Damietta). In fact, the crusade in Egypt may have succeeded had the Kings listened to Jean, but they charged down to Cairo and were slaughtered. Finally, he was invited by the Latin Empire of Constantinople to be Emperor of Constantinople/King of Jerusalem at the same time. Then he fought off the Emperor of Nicaea and the King of Bulgaria for ownership of Constantinople as an 80 year-old paladin!

[Radzeer]

As far as I know, you have to manually crop the pics to remove the bottom bar. Make sure to deselect your unit (press enter) before the shot. If you pause the game to take a screenshot and use PrintScreen, the TGA shot will not show the "game paused" box though.

[Ferdiad]

As far as I know, you have to manually crop the pics to remove the bottom bar. Make sure to deselect your unit (press enter) before the shot. If you pause the game to take a screenshot and use PrintScreen, the TGA shot will not show the "game paused" box though.

Use mimimal AI, and use these buttons to completley remove the UI:F5, F6, F7 and maybe F8.

[Viva Espana!]

Alright-y.

Any opinion on Factions, anyone? Right now, I'm leaning towards the Crusaders, though the hassle of making them historically accurate is daunting.

[Andytheplatypus]

I just started a new campaign as Crusader States with these sub mods. Best campaign I have ever had and I am only on turn 20 or so.


Soulsons Campaign AI Improvements:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=423641

BG Unit Upgrades:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=418057

Germanicu5 Battlemap AI Enhancement
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=253132

[Viva Espana!]

A new problem. I've the first post of my AAR done, but for some reason I can't figure out how to transfer pictures from my files to the forum post. Insert Image only allows web addresses and my Photobucket addresses aren't working so well.