hey since im just starting my own AAR, and have had to learn much by tedious and time-wasting trial and error, i figured it might be nice to have some sort of FAQ for using the formatting of vB codes and other different things nice to have in an AAR. So if all you more experienced AAR writers would join me in contributing things i think we could help new AAR writers to not be so discouraged and also to have better quality Introductions. I will add everything people talk about to this post so that it is easier to get to. Also i think this might be worth a sticky if the Mods do too.
Technical Help
1. Check out the Guild FAQ the 3rd page has the jump code then these two links - vB code and vB code tables
2.the jump code to scroll up and down a page via a link follows also this is only good for each page of your AAR. nameyouwanttoappear
nameyouwanttoappear
so for example
i want to link to "here"
the jump= and anchor= can be any random numbers words or letters as long as its not the same for different jumps on the same page and it is the same as the anchor for which you use it
[anchor=sdlfi1]here[/anchor with a ] at the end
[jump=sdlfi1]jump to here[/jump with a ] at the end
this will make it so when you click on "jump to here" it jumps to the here with the anchor.
3. also if you will be using large spoils is may be nice to put a link to the top of the spoils so people dont have to scroll all the way back up the spoil once they are done looking at it.
4. if you wanna write stuff for your campaign you can easily put Rome in window mode by attaching -ne to the end of the EB shortcut, just right click on the shortcut go to properties and add that -ne to the end of the Target location.(Sassem) WARNING: if you have a slow to medium comp you wont want to use this for playing Rome as Rome runs a good bit slower in window mode
Intro Help
1. Try to include which house rules and mods you will be using.
2. Decide from the beginning how in-depth you're going to be, and stick to it. Will you speak of every adoption, death, battle, etc. or will you give a more "general" overview of a longer period of time, with only the most important events being discussed? Everyone goes at their own pace.(Bootsiuv)
main AAR Help
1. make sure to browse some of the AAR's aready in existance to see the different writing styles that are being used
2. Don't be afraid to PM people that have written AARs to help with issues like learning how to do screenshots.
It also makes your screenshots more realistic when you do a minimal UI and turn off banners and the triangles under the feet of the men. Let me tell you that from experience the first time you do this it has an amazing effect on the visuals of the game.(Chirurgeon)
3.for the best pictures go to Activision\Rome - Total War\EB\preferences\preferences.txt and make the following changes (marked in red and green) - thanks to Sassem for this: theses are 3 thing that can be changed to fit your preferences for better screenies(as preferred by most people has been marked here, make sure to take out the little explanations we have written, just add true or false wherever you want it):
SHOW_BANNERS: FALSE - large unit banners
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:FALSE < Green triangle
MINIMAL_UI:TRUE <--- UI autohide
also for pics look here for Bootsiev's guide to screenshots
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