RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (Full Version)

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Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 1:45:04 AM)

Jimwinsor is right. When I parcel out the generals I'll also provide the ratings we currently have for generals in terms of leadership, initiative, etc., which should help make the bios useful as well as interesting.



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 6:25:50 PM)

Nice. I agree too.
One more thing Gil. When you get first few bios it would be nice if you would post the best one on the forum so we all can see how we should modify ours.



ericbabe -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/16/2006 6:48:12 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.
Jimwinsor is right. When I parcel out the generals I'll also provide the ratings we currently have for generals in terms of leadership, initiative, etc., which should help make the bios useful as well as interesting.


I have a couple of articles to go through before I've finished tweaking the generals' stats ... however, I'm sure this is an area in which we'll receive much feedback.



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/19/2006 3:26:05 PM)

Gil,

Please tell us how much space do we have for bios. You said 2000 ?!? Is it 20 rows times 100 spaces? It is hard with these well know generals. 2000 spaces is not enough for these great men.

Godspeed,



marecone -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (8/19/2006 10:23:32 PM)

I just wanted to say that it is real fun doing those bios. Educational too. I have learned much about american heroes in ACW.
I don't know if game development team needs more volunteers but as for my self I find rewards great. Fun, educational and plus I will get my name in the game. [:D]
So, join in and help us out.

Godspeed,



DanielAnsell -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/2/2006 7:40:44 PM)

I'd like to help with this

danielcansell@comcast.net



ross_ntu -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/4/2006 10:02:04 PM)

I know I'm new but if you're prepared to accept a Brit's help I would love to do a few.



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/5/2006 1:19:39 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ross_ntu

I know I'm new but if you're prepared to accept a Brit's help I would love to do a few.



Sure, welcome aboard. We're not yet ready to begin dividing up the generals, but I hope that we will be soon.



Greyshaft -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/9/2006 11:58:19 PM)

Happy to give a hand.

I just finished writing up 50+ bios of 500 words each for all of the generals for World in Flames so doing a couple of Civil War Generals should be easy [:)]

I'm happy to volunteer the template I used if it's of any use. I expect that the submissions will be tweaked by one of the developers but it'll be be easier if all of the info is laid out the same by the volunteers.



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/10/2006 5:20:52 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

Happy to give a hand.

I just finished writing up 50+ bios of 500 words each for all of the generals for World in Flames so doing a couple of Civil War Generals should be easy [:)]

I'm happy to volunteer the template I used if it's of any use. I expect that the submissions will be tweaked by one of the developers but it'll be be easier if all of the info is laid out the same by the volunteers.


Really! It would be good to have an old pro helping out. We're still not at the point of getting this project going, but should be soon. (We're right at a crucial point in beta-testing and programming now, and that's taking up all of our time.)

Incidentally, if anyone tried to e-mail me through the forum instead of using a private message and never heard back there's a reason -- it turns out that I never updated the e-mail account on file with the in my user profile, so those messages went to a defunct account. So, I apologize if it seemed I was ignoring your message, and hope you'll try to contact me again.



Greyshaft -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/11/2006 12:48:57 PM)

Just to get the ball rolling and allow time to hammer out a common approach to the task I thought I'd drop in one of the MWiF biographies I wrote. It may serve as a starting point in working out a common approach to the task.

Aged 58 in 1939. Field-Marshal Albrecht von Kesselring joined the German Army in 1904 as an officer cadet and during WWI served as a staff officer in the artillery. He also spent time in training as a balloon observer where he met and befriended Hermann Goering. After the war he remained in the army and by 1932 had risen to the rank of Major General. The following year he transferred to the newly established Luftwaffe where Goering appointed him as the Chief of Staff - a promotion that did not go down very well with other Luftwaffe officers such as Erhard Miltch. When WWII started Kesselring was appointed as commander of the First Air Fleet where he supported General von Bock's Army Group North in the invasion of Poland. In 1940 he was transferred to command the Second Air Fleet to support the invasions of Belgium, Holland and France and in this role he failed to carry out Goering's promise to prevent the British evacuation of Dunkirk. Despite this disappointment he was made a Field Marshal in July 1940. When Germany invaded Russia in June 1941 Kesselring's Second Air Fleet was once again deployed to support General von Bock who now commanded Army Group Centre. Problems in the Mediterranean Theater led Hitler to transfer Kesselring in December 1941 to be commander of all German land and air forces in the Mediterranean. In this role Kesselring targeted Malta, and launched an aerial offensive against that island in May 1942. The worsening situation in Russia and the need to support General Rommel's operations in Egypt diverted forces from the assault on Malta and the island survived. In November 1942 Kesselring was appointed by Mussolini as deputy commander of Italian forces and this additional authority enabled Kesselring to create a unified command structure for the Axis forces in the Mediterranean. The defeat of Rommel at El Alamein and the allied landings in French North Africa were the turning points for the war in the Mediterranean, and by early 1943 Kesselring had been forced permanently onto the strategic defensive. He had overall command of the Axis forces during their defeats in Tunisia and Sicily and their slow withdrawal up the Italian peninsula. Kesselring's reputation did not suffer in these defeats. By 1943 the Allied steamroller had accumulated sufficient men and material to make the outcome of the Mediterranean campaign merely a matter of time and Kesselring's tacitly understood role was to delay that outcome for as long as possible. Despite some local failures Kesselring dealt successfully with the Allied landings at Salerno and Anzio and the Italian defection from the Axis alliance. By mid 1944 Kesselring's forces were entrenched along the Gustav Line across the north of Italy and keeping the Allies from a successful conclusion of their Mediterranean campaign. In October Kesselring was injured in a car accident and hospitalized for three months. After his convalescence Kesselring was appointed Commander in Chief West in March 1945 where he presided over the final disintegration of the German western armies. He ended the war as Commander in Chief South with responsibility for the southern half of Germany. He was taken prisoner in May 1945 and sentenced to death for war crimes. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he was released for health reasons in 1952. Kesselring published his autobiography 'A Soldier to the Last Day’ (1953) and died in 1960.


  • The bio starts with the general's age at the start of the war. I figure that gives a better picture of the person than their year of birth.
  • The full name plus highest rank achieved and any titles comes next.
  • A brief history of their experiences and education prior to the war.
  • The bulk of the article must be their history in the war.
  • Finish with their post-war history including listing any books they wrote (for people who want to read further).
  • Always include at least one "bet you didn't know this" type of anecdote so the reader comes away having learned something.
  • With famous Generals you won't fit in everything about the person so don't try.
  • Aim for 400-600 words (The Kesselring article above is 567 words).
  • If you're dealing with a general who runs to two sentences in Wikipedia and a footnote in E.B. Long's "Civil War: Day by Day" then pad it out with additional detail about any battles they were in.


Anyway, that's how I did it in MWiF.
I'm open to suggestions.

EDIT: I understand the text space for Forge of Freedom won't run to 400-600 words. I'm just explaining the guidelines I used for MWiF. I'm sure FofF will have its own guidelines.



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (9/12/2006 8:21:32 AM)

Greyshaft,
That's a great example, though you're right that for FOF we won't have as much space. I definitely agree with your approach of mixing basic career information with interesting anecdotes or factoids. (I wonder who the fattest general was? We should probably say, it occurs to me...)

We're about a week away from locking the code -- meaning that no more changes are made to game design, and we focus exclusively on game balance, play-testing the manual, and catching any bugs still hiding in the code -- but after that I'm hoping that we can begin to turn our attention to generals bios some more.



Battleline -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/5/2006 9:54:35 PM)

Are you still looking for bio writers?
I would be interested in helping with a few here and there.
Any chance I could get Cullen A. Battle?
Battleline



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/5/2006 11:33:37 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Battleline

Are you still looking for bio writers?
I would be interested in helping with a few here and there.
Any chance I could get Cullen A. Battle?
Battleline


Battleline,
Yes, we still are. I've had to put bio-writing -- or the oversight thereof -- on hold, since I'm much too busy with editing the manual and doing various other things, but very soon I intend to roll up my sleeves and organize this project. The generals' bios won't make it into the initial release -- there isn't enough time -- but we'd add them to the first patch.

When the time comes, remind me of your interest in Cullen Battle. (Since I haven't heard of him, I'm curious about why he in particular is someone you want to write about.)



RERomine -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/6/2006 1:30:09 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Battleline

Are you still looking for bio writers?
I would be interested in helping with a few here and there.
Any chance I could get Cullen A. Battle?
Battleline


Battleline,
Yes, we still are. I've had to put bio-writing -- or the oversight thereof -- on hold, since I'm much too busy with editing the manual and doing various other things, but very soon I intend to roll up my sleeves and organize this project. The generals' bios won't make it into the initial release -- there isn't enough time -- but we'd add them to the first patch.

When the time comes, remind me of your interest in Cullen Battle. (Since I haven't heard of him, I'm curious about why he in particular is someone you want to write about.)


Looking at Battleline's real name, there must be some sort of family connection. Seems like General Battle was active in most of the major actions in the East. May or may not have been promoted to major general, depending on which source you believe. Battleline probably could clear that up [:)]



Battleline -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/6/2006 6:15:37 AM)

Cullen A. Battle is my third cousin!
His great-grandfather was our common ancestor.
Finding there was a general with my family's name was an inspiration to study about the War Between the States before I ever knew for certain we were related.
Battle's memoir, Third Alabama! (edited by Brandon Beck) is a very interesting, if not fast read. It's interesting to note that Battle's memoir was mainly about his regiment, the Third Alabama Infantry, and mentioned very little about his personal wounds, injuries or illnesses.



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/6/2006 6:49:20 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Battleline

Cullen A. Battle is my third cousin!
His great-grandfather was our common ancestor.
Finding there was a general with my family's name was an inspiration to study about the War Between the States before I ever knew for certain we were related.
Battle's memoir, Third Alabama! (edited by Brandon Beck) is a very interesting, if not fast read. It's interesting to note that Battle's memoir was mainly about his regiment, the Third Alabama Infantry, and mentioned very little about his personal wounds, injuries or illnesses.


Cool! When the game comes out I can tell you how to modify it so that he is one of the "100-percenters." It's pretty simple to do. Just change one cell in one datafile...



RERomine -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/7/2006 11:33:04 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ericbabe


We have wondered whether there'd be any interest to do brief general biographies as a fan-project, to be included in a later patch. I didn't write any of the biographical text, and I rather enjoy popping up the text and reading about a governor or one of the legendary units. So I personally think the game would be improved by having interesting short biographies of each of our 1,000 or so generals. We'd have to set up a wiki or similar thing. Another possibility would be to find a book with a short biography of every general already written and simply license some of the text.

We have about 1,000 generals altogether. If we had 20 people each volunteer to do 50 biographies each we might get it done. Our other biographies are typically only a few sentences long, one or two sentences to give the basic facts and one or two sentences to give an interesting anecdote or unusual bit of information. If anybody's interested, just reply on this thread. If we get 20 interested people then I'll try to organize something.




Hey Eric, if you still need volunteers, you can put me on the list. I've got a lot of personally owned resources, so I should be able to dig up information easily enough.



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/7/2006 11:40:32 PM)

RERomine,
Excellent -- thanks. I'm hoping to get this going within the next two weeks. As soon as I'm done working on stuff that goes into the initial release of the game I'll be turning to the bios.



migoodman -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/16/2006 6:02:29 AM)

Regarding the bio info, I'd love to volunteer too, preferably for minor figures as obscure historical figures has always been my forte.

michael@wakerobin.net

Sounds like a great project!



Gil R. -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/16/2006 6:28:58 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: migoodman

Regarding the bio info, I'd love to volunteer too, preferably for minor figures as obscure historical figures has always been my forte.

michael@wakerobin.net

Sounds like a great project!




Good to know -- it's much easier to get someone to write up Pickett than Pennypacker!



Twotribes -> RE: VOLUNTEERS WANTED... for Generals' Biographies (10/16/2006 1:36:17 PM)

If General Zealous B. Tower ( Union Brigadier General) is included, I may be inclined to help ).



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