The Manual of Style is the guideline by which Total War Wiki articles should be written. Please consult the Manual of Style before making significant edits.
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Article Titles
Article titles, or page titles, should use correct capitalization of proper nouns, and should not contain abbreviations.
An example of an article title using improper capitalization:
- organ gun
An example of an article title using proper capitalization:
Overlapping subjects
There are many Total War games, and many of them cover the same or similar eras of history. All versions of a topic are given their own page: for example, Line Infantry appears in both Empire: Total War and Napoleon: Total War, and so there are two separate pages for the two different versions (see here and here). In cases where there are two different versions of a topic, please leave clear directions for readers trying to find the other version of the topic. A good example can be found on the Hessen (Napoleon: Total War) page. If a topic is covered in more than two pages, such as France, a disambiguation page is necessary (see France as an example). On a similar note, before creating a new page, check to see if it has already been created under an appropriate section. There's a chance that the page you're about to create has already been created and simply needs renaming.
In-game Text and Spelling
The Total War series are made by Creative Assembly, a British game developer. Therefore, text directly pulled from the games (such as description texts) utilize British spelling. Original work written by editors may use American or other variants of English spelling, as long as they consistently do so per page. As a general rule of thumb, do not modify content that uses British spelling.
Occasionally the text pulled from games will have grammatical mistakes. In such circumstances, leave a [sic] after the mistake, to denote that it is Creative Assembly that is making a mistake, not the editor. British spelling does not count as mistakes. Do not correct the mistakes made by Creative Assembly: this wiki's goal is to document the Total War series to the highest degree of fidelity possible.
Images
Images must be official Creative Assembly artwork or in-game images from Creative Assembly created games. Fan art is not preferred. Images must pertain to the pages that they are added to.
Linking
There should be only one link to the same article per paragraph. For example, if one line mentions Graal Knights and the following sentence also mentions Graal Knights, only link the first time it is used, so the first sentence. If the term appears constantly in a lengthy article it may be feasible to have a link every few paragraphs.
Sourcing
Lore-related content must be sourced correctly using <ref></ref> tags. References are to be added after punctuation. To produce the reference list add the following to the bottom of the article:
==References== <references/>
Adding Trivia
The following guidelines should be observed when adding real life trivia to an article:
- Citation should be added to show legitimate factual backup to the theory.
- The information should be relevant to the content of the article.
- The article and the real life "thing" must share more than a common name; however, having a name in common is a major part of connecting the two things. Similar qualities, such as design, voice actor, or weapons/armor in common will also qualify as legitimate trivia points.
Perspective
Article content should be written from third-person perspective using words such as he, she, and they. First-person ("I") and second-person ("You") perspectives should be avoided.
An example of incorrect perspective:
- Your line infantry are generally superior.
This sentence would be better written as:
- British line infantry are generally superior.
Verb Tense
Historical accounts should be written in the past tense.
An example of incorrect verb tense:
- The game is released in 2009.
The event that this sentence refers to has already occurred, should be written as:
- The game was released in 2009.
Content that has yet to be released is to be written in future tense, and edited to past tense after their release.
Plural vs. Singular
An entity that is unique is referred to as a single object. Whenever more of one such entity exists, the page should be written with plurality in mind.
Common Mistakes
"Recommended", "Advised", and other authoritative statements
These words should only be used when the editor is prepared to cite who recommends or advises the reader to take certain actions. The cited source must be credible. If no such source exists, avoid using these words and rephrase the sentence.
Example:
- It is recommended that you do not attack Russia in the winter due to attrition effects.
This sentence would be better written as:
- Due to the effects of attrition, attacking Russia in the winter is difficult.
"Note that", "Note the", and other similar phrases
These phrases are used to draw the reader's attention to certain information, but as this wikia is strictly an information source that does not tell people what to do, such phrases are considered superfluous. On the other hand, conveying relevant information in as few words as possible is a desirable trait.
Example:
- Note that Ninjas are invisible on the campaign map to other factions.
This sentence offers the same information:
- Ninjas are invisible on the campaign map to other factions.
On mods
There are countless mods for Total War games. As they can vary highly in terms of quality and content, Total War Wiki presents only games created by Creative Assembly or is otherwise approved of by Creative Assembly in an official capacity. Editors and readers are welcome to discuss mods in the community forum.
Editing etiquette and community guidelines
Be Courteous
If disagreements on editing guidelines occur, please treat fellow editors with patience and courtesy. If disagreements cannot be resolved, then an administrator will step in to help arbitrate the issue. Acting rude or hostile will result in warnings and, in extreme circumstances, lead to banning.
On Sock-Puppeting
Sock-puppeting, or creating other accounts/operating under anonymity for the purpose of deception, is not allowed on this wiki.
Personal Attacks
Attacks on someone based on their person, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and so on are strictly prohibited. Violators will be banned.
Edit Warring
Do not engage in edit wars. If you have a disagreement with another editor on the content of a page, contact an administrator.
Vandalism
Acts of vandalism will be reverted, and their perpetrators will be warned. Serious acts of vandalism (obscenities, deletion of large amounts of text, obvious misinformation) will lead to outright banning. If you disagree with a section of text, particularly a large one, but you are unsure how to proceed, contact an administrator.
Put a sincere effort in your work
Sloppily done edits are unprofessional. They may mislead or confuse readers, and creates unnecessary work for other editors. When adding information to the wiki, please check for grammatical errors. Blank pages created, particularly ones where the creator doesn't add any information in a timely manner, will be deleted.
Ask for help
If you are unsure about anything that isn't covered here, please feel free to contact an administrator, such as Brainwasher5, to assist you with your problem.
Additional resources
For templates, categories and media file sets regarding Total War: Three Kingdoms refer to this editor page.
Article standardisation
Because of the vast array of units, factions and gameplay mechanics, the wiki has a standard practice of how to lay out information on these subjects so they appear uniform and are easy to read no matter what the unit, factions etc is from whatever game. To see that standardisation procedure, see THIS ARTICLE.