Why so few AARs?

Looking at the first page of the Guides/AARs forum, there's about eight or nine threads of AARs that are still being maintained. Some of them are holdovers from 1.0 or even internal versions of 0.8x.

Why are there so few? Are most people just not interested in telling other people about their game? Are they put off by having to regularly update it, or the technicalities of capturing pictures?

If you've been thinking about writing one, but haven't, could you say why? If you've not considered it, or decided against, again would you be willing to explain why you've come to that conclusion?

I just think it's a shame that there's all these people out there playing EB, yet we don't really know about it.

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Originally Posted by QuintusSertorius

Looking at the first page of the Guides/AARs forum, there's about eight or nine threads of AARs that are still being maintained. Some of them are holdovers from 1.0 or even internal versions of 0.8x.

Why are there so few? Are most people just not interested in telling other people about their game? Are they put off by having to regularly update it, or the technicalities of capturing pictures?

If you've been thinking about writing one, but haven't, could you say why? If you've not considered it, or decided against, again would you be willing to explain why you've come to that conclusion?

I just think it's a shame that there's all these people out there playing EB, yet we don't really know about it.

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Funny you bring this up. I was actually just browsing through the AAR section looking for a good Seleukid one to inspire me to start up an AS campaign myself. There was one, but it hasn't been updated in a week. I was actually surprised to not see a Pahlava one.

I'd venture to guess the reason there are so few is that it takes a lot of time to maintain one. I did one for my MT2W mod awhile back and it is rather time-consuming. What with playing a little slower than usual, taking screenshots, taking the time to upload the screenshots, taking the time to organize the story, taking the time to format your post, etc. Can be daunting.

That said, looking at the lack of a good Pahlava AAR in the sub-forum, I am tempted to start up a Pahlava one (been playing Hellenic factions for awhile now) as I always enjoy my Pahlava campaigns...

I'm tempted to start a Makedone AAR, but I'm fairly sure it would be overshadowed by MAA's. I might write an Epeiros one in the school holidays though. One of the reasons stopping newer members from writing AARs could be an ignorance of things such as how to post pictures too. I know I was.

If you click the link in my signature and scroll down to the AAR section, you'll note that half or more of the AAR's on this forum are EB based. Unfortunately, I haven't updated it recently.

I considered doing an AAR, but, I haven't had much time lately. Also, I'd rather be playing than writing :book: .

Well its a couple of AAR Vets, some thread necromancy and then you have the 1.0 AARs being pushed down -- basically. Of course, it being summer and all that doesn't help much either. I suspect my mad poetry hero is away for holidays or something too... <_<

However if you have time you should (apart from the usual KH gems) look up the Pontos & Lusotannan AARs by Orb (0.8x). :book:

I'm actually working on one a bit myself now. It's going to be a Makedonian one.

Yes, another one of those. But it will be something out of the ordinary :D

Well I believe that there are several problems...

1) It's obvious that writing an aar can be a great time sink - the more thought you put into it the greater the time loss - and some people just don't have the time - or decide to put their time to better use fast enough - you'd be amazed for one how much time I wasted simply agonizing over the exact nature of my last update in my aar - someone with a head on his shoulders would think me rather insane to begin with.

2) The community here is not really into aars. Compared to let's say the community over at the paradox forums (the EU games etc).

3) As a direct followup to 2) there is little "support'' given to those who actually try to write an aar. I've observed this many times, and it's sometimes the case that an aar writer feeds off the interest of his readers [granted there are a few who don't care if they have readers at all - but they are the exception not the rule]. So then when the aar writer thinks there's not enough interest, he'll also lose interest in writing. Nothing like posting an update you spent a lot of time working on to be met with complete virtual silence. :yes: You can then shift to 1) and question the reasons for spending this much time on your aar - after all you can fantasize on your own, no need to format your fantasies on a website.

Anyway, those thoughts will suffice for now... dinner beckons... yuum...yuuum.

I'm going to do an AAR, that's certain. Question is, when and what.

I'm now in another Roman campaign, around 220 BC, and if it gets interesting, I may start reporting. But I'm really not that hot on reporting another siege of Taras, unless it's really special or something.

At the same time, I'm already thinking about my next serious campaign, which will be hellenistic. I've been testing the waters with Baktria yesterday, and it's surely a great faction to play (I could really recommend that, Quintus. Makes for an entirely different play than in the Mediterranean), but I might just as well go with the Seleukids. Anyway, I was certainly going to take screenshots to do something with that campaign, just for the heck of it.

Furthermore, I agree with Quintus. Doing an AAR is the least you could do in return for the EB team. Talk about time-consuming? Try making a mod. Now that's time-consuming. (And at times not very rewarding, either!)

What are your views on an AAR as the AS where I try to roleplay the collapse of the empire? (Please note I have little - no historical knowledge about the Seleukids)

I thought about doing one many times, and had a lot of notes and images once for one of them, but I update my build too frequently. Even keeping a set of folders with an old build isn't very appealing to me.

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I thought about doing one many times, and had a lot of notes and images once for one of them, but I update my build too frequently. Even keeping a set of folders with an old build isn't very appealing to me.

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I know exactly what you mean. I couldn't continue my Arche Seleukeia AAR because I wanted to keep playing the new beta version.

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Originally Posted by strategos alexandros

What are your views on an AAR as the AS where I try to roleplay the collapse of the empire? (Please note I have little - no historical knowledge about the Seleukids)

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Well, I'd love to see one like that. I've said it many times, the Seleucids are my favorite faction, and there is currently only one Seleucid aar going... (I hope Lysimachos will keep it going) I'm too commited to my Sauromatae aar, otherwise I might try my hand at one too... I've got so many ideas concerning the AS it's unreal. :idea2: They are truly an inspiring faction. :yes:

No time :thumbsdown: Exams :thumbsdown: Maybe afterwars, if I have inspiration :stupido: Thinking of doing one as Athens. Maybe something else... Anyway, I'm eager to try at least. If it doesn't work out, it means I'm just not cut out for it.

There are a few really good AARs but to be honest after reading CA's 3rd legion and by Chirgeoun I decided it was better to read theirs. I liked the stories but due to the fact i have never "won a campaign game" or had a campaign stop due to CTD or wanting to start over again in order to have the "perfect game" where i suffer loses and have great battles but my computer is old to be honest i get impatient and cheat for stuff and for other faction like give_faction money and process cq for otherfactions cities (particularly KH and Pontus).

There have been a few times that there are decent numbers of AARs. Back in the v0.80 days there were a bunch of Romani AARs all at the same time. A couple were pretty good.

I think one of the biggest problems isn't that there is a lack of people that want to make AARs on this forum, but rather a lack of people who enjoy reading AARs.

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Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

I think one of the biggest problems isn't that there is a lack of people that want to make AARs on this forum, but rather a lack of people who enjoy reading AARs.

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I am inclined to agree, as I said in my points 2) and 3). :yes: To put things in perspective... there's an aar on the EU3 forums with 4000+ replies and another with 300,000 (that's three hundred thousand) views... obviously those are highly succesfull aars over there... but you can't compare to the highly succesfull aars here in no way whatsoever... it's only your aar I think that comes remotely close.

i'll make a AAR soon! \o/

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Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

There have been a few times that there are decent numbers of AARs. Back in the v0.80 days there were a bunch of Romani AARs all at the same time. A couple were pretty good.

I think one of the biggest problems isn't that there is a lack of people that want to make AARs on this forum, but rather a lack of people who enjoy reading AARs.

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True of course, but I for one, wouldn't mind if I had one reply for every post I make. Gotta do things in life for your own pleasure, or you're bound to get disappointed.

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Originally Posted by strategos alexandros

What are your views on an AAR as the AS where I try to roleplay the collapse of the empire? (Please note I have little - no historical knowledge about the Seleukids)

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Historical knowledge isn't important for AARs. It's your game, how you play it, and how you decide to report on it. Everyone's got their own style.

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Originally Posted by Swordmaster

True of course, but I for one, wouldn't mind if I had one reply for every post I make. Gotta do things in life for your own pleasure, or you're bound to get disappointed.

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Indeed, and for me the personal motivation is that I have a (relatively) permanent record of what I did in my game. Means a long time from now I could come back and remind myself of the good times. Because otherwise I'd remember little of what happened once time has gone by.

I have one campaign that I really wish I had made an AAR of. Truly epic Roman one, conquered all of Rome VC&#180;s, using pretty much just 2 two men to conquer maybe 3/4 of it.
One died old, alone and far behind enemy lines outside the walls of Babylon, one earned himself 3 triumphs, became Princeps in Rome and was elected Consul 6 times. His son continued his conquests and fought a lenghty war with the Seleukids, when the father died the governor of Africa sailed to Roma, gained the soldiers and some powerful mens trust, and declared himself Princeps. The son of the ex-Princes was stuck behind enemy lines, as were all other great men of the Republic, and when he got back to Roman land the new Princepes had already adopted him and made him his heir.
There was a lot more complications of course, but it was truly epic. One day I might compile everything I rememeber into a really short story. So many great things happened in that campaign. The conquests of Quintus Gallicus, the fortifications and adventures of Quintus Aurelius Cotta, the travels of Appius Julius Ceasar, the bravery of Fabius Asiaticus, the audacity of Gaius Julius Mento, the battles of the mercenary general Herrenius. Such tales.

I don&#180;t know why I didn&#180;t write an AAR, the throught just never occured to me. Besides, I didn&#180;t realise how much I loved the campaign until it began to come to an end.

I thought about it, but I don't really find them terribly interesting. There's always too much fluff for my taste, and it seems a little tedious to load up all those photos and type up my campaign. I hardly have enough time to play myself anyways.

I've considered posting AARs from a few of my campaigns, but when I looked at some of what is out there, I know my efforts would look EXTREMELY lame by comparison. The guys who do those right put a hell of a lot of effort into it, and there's just no way I'm going to do that. Of course, I've also started reading some of the ones that aren't as well done and they just don't keep my interest. Meaning, of course, that mine wouldn't be worth even the feeble effort I'm willing to put into it.

Even this little paragraph is taxing my motivation. . . and posting skills

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Originally Posted by Kromulan

I've considered posting AARs from a few of my campaigns, but when I looked at some of what is out there, I know my efforts would look EXTREMELY lame by comparison. The guys who do those right put a hell of a lot of effort into it, and there's just no way I'm going to do that. Of course, I've also started reading some of the ones that aren't as well done and they just don't keep my interest. Meaning, of course, that mine wouldn't be worth even the feeble effort I'm willing to put into it.

Even this little paragraph is taxing my motivation. . . and posting skills

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That too. If I ever did do an AAR it would be so basic that it would look bad next to the others.

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Originally Posted by Aaldaemon

Well, I'd love to see one like that. I've said it many times, the Seleucids are my favorite faction, and there is currently only one Seleucid aar going... (I hope Lysimachos will keep it going)

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I certainly will, but i have to be in the right mood to write, which i'm currently not... Although the near future of the game should become really interesting...

1. I don't really have time... I have children, wife, etc...

2. More importantly, I cant get @@&$&* pictures to work! I take pictures but they are unavailable except in some MSN program that I don't use... Otherwise I would at least post on the faction progression thread...

I for one have started two AARs (see my sig) but both of them ended rather too soon. The reason is of coure obvious - it takes a huge lot of time to do one. I reckon, that for instance my Pontic AAR which was done as a sigle post covering about 40 years in game terms took me about twenty hours in real time (selecting and editing screenshots, pasting them in place into PowerPoint, adding text, etc.). I love to write AARs, but I have a job and a family and I simply do not have the time to do so. And it would certainly by the reason for other people too. And nothing could be done about that. :cry:

But even if I know now that I will not be able to write another AAR, I still think while playing like I will. I imagine what the characters would do or say in an imaginary AAR, I still do take screenshots and thinking about the story that could be construed behind the gameplay. The result is that I enjoy actual playing much more. AAR simply gives more flavour to your game even if you will never write one...:beam:

I would not dare to say that the community on this forum is not supportive to AARs. The opposite is true, IMHO, just look at the views number for most threads - it reaches into the order of thousands! And replies score is also rather high.

@Social Infidel - if you want some Pahlavan AAR for inspiration see my sig (Promising start), or - and vastly better still - remind yourself of this legendary one:https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=62656:2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by V.T. Marvin

But even if I know now that I will not be able to write another AAR, I still think while playing like I will. I imagine what the characters would do or say in an imaginary AAR, I still do take screenshots and thinking about the story that could be construed behind the gameplay. The result is that I enjoy actual playing much more. AAR simply gives more flavour to your game even if you will never write one...:beam:

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I do much the same Marvin. In every campaign I´ve played I´ve imagined my characters talking, and often some narrator commenting on the events. Makes it much more enjoyable in my mind.

One thing that I believe is always needed if you are to write an AAR, is motivation, an urge to actually write sometthing.
For example, when I first started writing on my AAR I only intended it to be a short briefing of what had happened in my campaign, which I were to post on another forum that has an thread named "How is your current campagin going?".
Instead I found myself writing the begining of an AAR, and once I had written that first chapter I just felt like continuing. It was natural, and the writing came naturally. After a while you hit that first brick wall where you don´t feel like continuing the story, but once you get past that it feels like the easiest thing in the world again.

Gah, I had an AAR going, and I think it was actually ok. :) Unfortunately, I ran into a tough time at school (getting near to finishing classes, taking exams, and starting the old dissertation), so I had to put it on hold. I'm still playing the same campaign, and I have hundreds of screenshots, so I may actually take up the thread again once things calm down. It was rather fun to write it.

I think the most important reasons why I never really considered writing an AAR have already been brought up: It takes a huge amount of work and time and I don't really feel an urge to be a writer or storyteller.
It also takes a lot longer to write in English than it would take me to write in German, but that does not count as an excuse since some of my alltime favorite AARs are written by non-native speakers.

While I don't comment very often (I'm not that talkative), I really enjoy AARs and some of them inspired me to play factions I never thought of before. When I came to EB I wanted to play barbarians only and now I'm totally into hellenistic factions...

Also I never knew that AARs are such a popular thing for other games. It was EB that made me a game geek, so I always had the impression that there are quite many AARs here. Before EB I never even heard the term AAR.

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Before EB I never even heard the term AAR

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Same here! But when I head about them I thought that there is no better game for them than EB! Hmm, al this talking makes me want to start a new campaign...

People stopped reading my AAR about Massalia. :no:

I've started my Seleukid campaign, after much pondering whether it would be medium or hard difficulty. I tried on hard yesterday, but it'd become a fast-paced campaign which isn't what I'm into really. At least not with the Seleukids. So medium it is, I'll try to get something resembling an AAR going soon.

I have to reiterate the position of many here in this forum: Writing a really good AAR that will draw people in -- like MAA's epic contribution -- takes ALOT of time. As an older member of the community, with a wife, two kids and a job with frequent travel (in fact, I'm sitting in an airport right now on my way from Minneapolis to London), I barely have the time to play a coherent long-term campaign -- much less write an AAR about it. I'd love to, but it just ain't gonna happen...:no:

I tried writing one, but time constraints stopped me from finishing the campaign, let alone the story. I've started a new campaign now and there's been a few moments where I've wished I could have shared the story that was developing but because I hadn't covered it from the beginning it was already too late.

There was one bit in particular where during a fairly straight forward battle, my unit of Celtic naked spearmen were down to half their men and fled. We were winning the battle and the enemy were moments from fleeing themselves so I decided my general was going to punish the surviving men who fled and make them regain their honour. My next battle was a siege and I split my forces with half attacking one gate and half another, but with my 14 spearmen pushing a ram to take a 3rd gate almost entirely by themselves. To show he did not expect anything of his men he would not do himself my general joined them at the gate ready to face what may. Each half of the main force attacked their respective gate but the spearmen charged through their gate alone and faced off against 50 enemy spearmen. My general raced his chariots straight through the enemy unit to disrupt them and then harassed their rear with charges and javelins. My dis-honoured men were dying fast but they fought on in the hope that the two pronged attack would cause the enemy to flee, especially as at the other two gates the rest of the enemy were already falling back. When the enemy unit finally turned tail, there was only one of my spearmen left standing and exhausted, but redeemed.

If I didn't put an element of story into the game I woud never have attacked that 3rd gate with only 14 men, but it is these moments which really make the game for me and writing an AAR is a great way of rounding off that experience, whether anyone reads it or not. Like so many others though, I'm happy just to have enough time to play.

I personally think the hardest part of writing an AAR is the first few weeks. That’s the moment when you’re most tempted to throw in the towel, and to complicate your problem, it’s also the time when people are still waiting in the wings, waiting to see if you will continue before they jump in with both feet and support you. Fortunately, I had the support of several from the beginning, including my good friend Chirurgeon, who made it his personal affair to comment after every one of the initial chapters, no matter what. Thanks, man.
I’ve actually been pleased with the level of response I’ve gotten on my AAR, but I would have to admit it’s frustrating at times to wonder who’s out there reading in silence. I mean, I post an update, within two days the view-count has gone up by two hundred, but I only have four comments. Did each of those people check my thread fifty times? I don’t think so. So you’re just left to wonder.
Still, everyone has been very supportive. I think the EB forum is a great one for AARs. I periodically read AARs on other forums, concerning other games and they strike me as being completely without soul, often mixing in jarringly-modern dialogue in what is supposed to be a millennia-old conversation. That problem, although it exists here on the Guild, is not as prevalent as elsewhere. And, I must confess, most games don’t possess the depth of EB to build upon.
When you start an AAR, you are making a commitment. I think that’s why lasting AARs are few and far between. In my AAR, I’ve only posted thirty-three updates and yet spent over ninety hours writing the story alone, not to mention the hours spent editing photos and—oh, yes, playing EB so I’ll have something to write about. It’s a daunting task, but I’m at the point where I can’t bring myself to let down my readers. You have to keep the faith.
Oh, well, I’ve rambled on for long enough, but that’s my two cents on AAR-writing. Stop by and check mine out.

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Originally Posted by Tarkus

I have to reiterate the position of many here in this forum: Writing a really good AAR that will draw people in -- like MAA's epic contribution -- takes ALOT of time. As an older member of the community, with a wife, two kids and a job with frequent travel (in fact, I'm sitting in an airport right now on my way from Minneapolis to London), I barely have the time to play a coherent long-term campaign -- much less write an AAR about it. I'd love to, but it just ain't gonna happen...:no:

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I don't have any children yet, and my wife is extremely tolerant, so for now I'm alright. My job lets me work from home a lot, and right now I don't have a great deal of travel or overly onerous work schedule. So yes, that makes a big difference.