View Full Version : New Ladder Rules Addition, and the AAR forum!
Gentleman, allow me to introduce our newest forum, the TOAW AARs forum!
I'm going to post a sticky in there briefly outlining what I'm going to go over here in detail.
In some previous conversations with Brian, we have both lamented the lack of detailed, quality AARs. No detraction for those we have; they're great! There's just nowhere near enough of them!
Well, now we have a special forum to highlight and preserve these fantastic game records! Aside from great reading, they are invaluable resources for newbies and veterans alike. Some scenarios simply require about a dozen games through to truly capture the flavor, to understand the strategic depth and wealth of options available to players. AARs can shorten this 'learning curve', and allow players to explore new paths, and see new ways of doing things!
What's that you say? "Mantis, simply putting a forum together with a pretty name won't change anything, now you just have a convenient place to put the same old AARs we already have, and the odd new one you get".
Hmmm, that sounds about right...
If it was the end of innovation!
We don't need just a sweet new home for our AARs, we need incentive! We need to convince people to put in the time and effort to provide us with a detailed After Action Report of their games! Now how can we pull this off?
How about if we start awarding a 25% bonus to ladder points awarded for an AAR submission to the forum?
Ahhh. now I've got your attention! :D
Well, gents, whaddya think?
:banana: :banana: :laola: :banana: :banana:
Isn't that the battle reports is all about?
Ironically, I usually end up summarizing my battle reports (which are summaries in their own right) after I wriite them, because they'd look really stupid on the battle reports page...
Bunch of 3-4 sentence AARs then here's a bloody novel about a game I played...
On your rewards... well... I don't particularly care for ladder points.. I'd rather be able to get a game with some of you guys who always seem to have 20 on the go. So how about it? Preferential acceptance of challenges by whoever has the most AARs up ;).
Originally posted by Mantis
How about if we start awarding a 25% bonus to ladder points awarded for an AAR submission to the forum?
Ahhh. now I've got your attention! :D
Well, gents, whaddya think?
I think I need to improve my English :)
La Palice.
EasilyConfused
13 May 03, 09:27
Will AARs for non-ladder games be posted there?
West Pointer and I are working on AAR's of our Virginia 1862 PBEM game we played. Actually, his is done with screenshots, I am still working on mine without screenshots.
We will post it in the forum.
General Staff
13 May 03, 11:44
Are these points retroactive? IOW, can you get points if you submit an AAR to this new forum on a game already played?
Siberian HEAT
13 May 03, 12:35
I would say that as long as it is not previously published it would qualify. We are looking for new material.
That being said, there are some Battle Reports that may qualify for "full AAR" status...and we are looking those over. Some folks have spent a lot of time on them. :)
Will the option to submit battle reports be removed?
Siberian HEAT
13 May 03, 13:18
No. It is still an important part of a game submission, especially for those that don't have the time/energy to do a "full" AAR. They are two separate types of reports.
Battle Report = quick summary of your game
AAR = detailed analysis of the game, often with illustrations and commentary
Originally posted by LaPalice
I think I need to improve my English :)
La Palice.
That sentence was good! lol! Seriously, we have alot of member that are not from english speaking contries, and as far as it goes, your english is better than most! Hell, it's better than some of these guys from the US who only speak English! ;)
Originally posted by EasilyConfused
Will AARs for non-ladder games be posted there?
Yes, but obviously there are no points to be earned that way.
Originally posted by Mad Cow
West Pointer and I are working on AAR's of our Virginia 1862 PBEM game we played. Actually, his is done with screenshots, I am still working on mine without screenshots.
We will post it in the forum.
Good stuff, thank you!
Great idea. I was thinking of making up a short AAR of my GiO game against Fishkoff.
Would we be able to make multiple submissions of the same scenario ?
With GiO, the game could go on for a year or more.
I was thinking of doing a report every 20 turns or so.
Originally posted by Mantis
That sentence was good! lol! Seriously, we have alot of member that are not from english speaking contries, and as far as it goes, your english is better than most! Hell, it's better than some of these guys from the US who only speak English! ;)
Well, I need for each sentence a lot of time, that’s why generally I’m slow when I answer or desire to post a message. It’s largely another matter concerning real time English. That why I fear chat :)
And the accent is a persistent problem…
The funny thing is that I have made a lot of progress in English since I’m on Warfare HQ, with the forum or with the emails with my opponents (but nevertheless friends). It’s the same thing with TOAW. In fact build a sentence in English is like a game.
La Palice.
Originally posted by Mantis
That sentence was good! lol! Seriously, we have alot of member that are not from english speaking contries, and as far as it goes, your english is better than most! Hell, it's better than some of these guys from the US who only speak English! ;)
You are completely true!!!
I would really like to post some AAR in the future, but translating them in a comprehensible english would surely take as much as twice the time I spend in writing them!!! :argh:
I should marry a very rich girl in order to do this :love:
I have no problems understanding any of you so I don't see what the problem is..
If you happen to post something thats barely legible there are enough forum junkies here who could do quick rewrites.
Originally posted by tigersqn
Great idea. I was thinking of making up a short AAR of my GiO game against Fishkoff.
Not too short! :)
Would we be able to make multiple submissions of the same scenario ?
As long as they are complete, and from different games.
With GiO, the game could go on for a year or more.
I was thinking of doing a report every 20 turns or so.
Nope, only one AAR per game, but you can submit several AARs from the same scenario. For example, you can't submit several AARs from your same game of GiO you're playing, but you can submit one for this game against opponent A, and another for that game against opponent B, and yet another for a second game you started with opponent A, etc.
Think of it this way - you may be right that your game could go a year and you'll only get 1 AAR out of it; but that 25% bonus will be based on a much larger points total!
Originally posted by Adaster
You are completely true!!!
I would really like to post some AAR in the future, but translating them in a comprehensible english would surely take as much as twice the time I spend in writing them!!! :argh:
I should marry a very rich girl in order to do this :love:
lol!
Your English might take longer, but I have no trouble whatsoever understanding you; an AAR would be easily understood if you ever decided to write one!
Originally posted by Mantis
Nope, only one AAR per game, but you can submit several AARs from the same scenario. For example, you can't submit several AARs from your same game of GiO you're playing, but you can submit one for this game against opponent A, and another for that game against opponent B, and yet another for a second game you started with opponent A, etc.
Think of it this way - you may be right that your game could go a year and you'll only get 1 AAR out of it; but that 25% bonus will be based on a much larger points total!
I don't think he's worried about the points, rather he's probably worried that 2 years down the road he'll completely have forgotten all the details of what happened on turn 1 :).
Originally posted by MikeJ
I don't think he's worried about the points, rather he's probably worried that 2 years down the road he'll completely have forgotten all the details of what happened on turn 1 :).
I was just about to write the same thing when I saw your post. :hurray:
If I can write an AAR every 20 turns or so, it would be more detailed and a lot fresher in my memory. Say if I write it in sequels and get awarded the points for 1 AAR written once it's completed.
Ok, I get where you're coming from. But maybe you could simply add to your 'old' aar, and submit it all as one? It's alot less work for the staff here (read Brian and me!), and we're already short on time for all the things we'd like to accomplish. I'm trying to get a wargame review section going, but getting the time together to contact all the publishers is conflicting with about 100 other things I've got on my plate! It's so bad now that I need to keep a 'to do' text file on my desktop!
I'm keeping AARs in my Docs folder, and I add to them every few turns, and put in a couple screenshots. When it's all done, I'll polish it up, choose the pics I intend to use, and post it!
I'm not sure if the forum will allow it, but perhaps just new threads being required to pass submission by you or Siberian Heat? If posters can edit their own posts, or even post replies to their own post (without needing authorization from you guys), it will have the added advantage of letting people follow games in progress as they play out. Some of the really long ones would be interesting. This would also have the advantage of allowing us more than 1 screenshot per AAR which can be kind of limiting (either that or we'd have to host the image elsewhere on the web or merge a bunch of screenshots into a single file).
OK. This is what I'll do then.
I can write up the AAR every 20 turns or so, save them to my HD, and when the game is complete, submit it in whole as an attachment. Would that work ?
Unless of course MikeJ's proposal is approved. :devious:
Here's the best way to go about it, as near as I can figure...
I would really prefer that they were submitted whole, at the end of the game. Points are not awarded until your game is complete, and the bonus cannot be calculated until the victory levels and points are tabulated. I'd also very much like to avoid half-done AARs, as I see alot of potential for things to go awry, and to have a dozen half completed AARs that will never be finished.
You don't have to submit it as an attachment; although easier (for you and me, lol), it would defeat the purpose of the forum section. Simply copy and paste your text in to the thread you begin.
As to only 1 screenshot per AAR, that's not quite correct. One screenshot per post. So, start a thread, yap a bit, and add the relevant pic. Hit the submit reply button. Then, make a reply to this post, yap some more, and add the 2nd pic, and so on. You can use as many attachments as required to get the job done (always keeping in mind to try to keep them small!)
As to being able to reply to one's own thread, edit, etc; I need HEAT to field this one, as I'm still new here! :whist: :halo:
Also, you can copy and paste the pics into a paint program, and arrange them so that there are several pics on the same 'page'. This way you can make notes on your pics if you wish, and also submit multiple pics per post. Your choice.
I think we should have running AARs of in progress PBEM games, ie, don't wait till the game ends to post AARs, but post results turn by turn to capture the progress of the game.
These can be very interesting and promote interest in the game. It's also great to have comments by others besides the two players. I don't think these comments, posted as replys, detract from the main AAR at all.
I have seen this work very well on the Matrix games forum.
Originally posted by CommC
I think we should have running AARs of in progress PBEM games, ie, don't wait till the game ends to post AARs, but post results turn by turn to capture the progress of the game.
These can be very interesting and promote interest in the game. It's also great to have comments by others besides the two players. I don't think these comments, posted as replys, detract from the main AAR at all.
I have seen this work very well on the Matrix games forum.
I agree with this.
I requested something similar to this for my ongoing game of GiO.
Although I've got no problem writing up the AAR and saving it to disk, my concern lies in the fact that it could be up to a year or more before I can post it due to the requirement that the game be completed before posting.
I understand the need for scenario completion before posting an AAR; after all an administrative nightmare could easily result if that were not the case, and we all know, especially now, that Heat and Mantis are busy enough with their work here.
Personally, I'd be perfectly willing to forgo any extra points granted for AARs. Anybody who has played me knows that is simply not my motivation for playing. If it were, I wouldn't make a lot of the moves I make. :crosseye: :hurt:
One of the things I like about sequel series of AAR posts is that I could possibly get some pointers on future moves. The way I play, I need pointers. :D
why don't we have informal AARs on the forum? The _real_ AAR (for points) can wait for completion and be posted in a special section.
That's exactly it.
Tig has mentioned all the relevent issues, and Tiberius has offered the solution. Feel free to 'construct' your aar as a work in progress, and post all you'd like here! I've been posting screenshots from my games with Tiberius and Kraut, along with a little bit of story, and I'm building an aar for each game as well that I'll submit when the game is completed.
Woooo Hooooo !!!
:banana: :bounce: :banana:
Great! I think its handy to have a separate forum for AARs. Should we post our running AARs in the same forum as the ones of finished battles?
When I start to post my AAR of GiO, I'll start it in a whole new thread. Hopefully Fishkoff will agree to contribute. Fishkoff ?
When the game is over I would assume I put a new post in the AAR thread and provide the attachment from the original ?
Post your 'mini-aar' or works in progress in this forum.
Tig -> Pretty much! Just make one up for the AAR forum in any fashion you choose, and let me know!
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