Glory for Ulm: A Flagland AAR

Table of contents

Introduction for the common man

This is my AAR (or 'After Action Report') playing as the country 'Ulm' in the game Europa Universalis III: Divine Wind.

For those not familiar with an AAR, allow me to explain briefly. On Paradox Plaza – the main board for Paradox Interactive games – a common tradition by now is to write so called 'After Action Reports', which – as the name implies – is a 'report' on how you did in a recent session of one of their games.

I assume originally, these AARs were pretty bland with basic screenshots and some information about what connected each, then quickly they became more storytelling focused. Either dramatic or comedies. In addition, some even went beyond the original AAR scope and changed parts of their playout for their own storytelling by using modifications or adjusting the save game. Even coming up with nations not originally playable in the games.

So the AAR tradition is a long and endearing one, and you can argue it is pretty much impossible to come up with an original style by now. So many ways have been done; videos, comics, lyrics, hell even songs (though I doubt actually studio recorded). But your medium is one thing, your way of telling it is a complete other.

I do not mean to brag, but I think the interaction with Ulm and the 'narrator' in my AAR is a unique one. Especially the personification of the country I am playing and in addition making him quite silly is not very usual in the AAR business.

That doesn't mean I am saying I am the best. There are way better EU3-players out there than me. There are way better AAR-writers out there as well. The amount of passion some of these guys put in their AARs sometimes boggles the mind.

In addition – I think should be noted out of pure interest – due to the success of these AARs across their games, Paradox Interactive actively promote them, even having the developers write AARs themselves. AARs are also used as a teaser of a new game, instead of just some trailer or a feature list, they tell someone to play the game and write down how they did and take a bunch of screenshots. These AARs are often far more interesting than a preview.

Oh and, the thread for this AAR is available on the forums, where you can comment on the AAR if you have an account.