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Revision as of 11:15, 5 March 2020

Faqs.png

This guide is intended to provide the basic information you need to understand the Total War Center forums, and answer questions that get repeatedly posted.

For the formal rules of the forum please see the Terms of Service

About Total War Center

Total War Center is one of the largest Total War fan sites on the internet. It comprises the following sections:

Front Page

The Front Page shows the most recent news announcements about major site events, Total War Series releases and updates, new modification releases and previews and more. Users can not post on the front page but may request an announcement. The front page also shows latest forum posts and provides links to other areas of the site.

Forums

The TWC cover a wide variety of topics, view the main index here.

Total War Sections

There are forum sections for each of the Total War Series games, with sub-sections for general discussion, hosted modifications, and mod workshops which include areas for questions and answers and also tutorials and resources.

The Common Community

The Common Community Section of TWC is almost as big as the Total War areas. Here people debate topics such as Politics, Current Affairs, Morals, Religion, Science, Sports, History, Technology, and Non-Total War Games.

The Curia and the Constitution

The Constitution and Curia are important parts of TWC History. The Curia is a Citizens only forum on TWC. The Constitution governs the running of the Curia, the election and appointment of Curial Officers, the awarding of Citizenship, the conduct of Citizens, and various Curial Awards.

Useful Links:

  • The Constitution may be viewed on TWC here
  • Although only Citizens may post, the Curia may be viewed by everyone here
  • Non-citizens may discuss the Curia in the Curial Commentary Thread, here
  • The Symposium is a Citizens only discussion forum within the Curia, here
  • TWC's Living History Forum is within the Symposium, here

The Administrative Forums

These forums are located at the bottom of the main page and provide a place for members to come and sort out any problems or issues. Members must be logged in to be able to view the Administrative section.

Infraction Appeals and Discussion

  • Appeal by PM to the moderator concerned or to an administrator: Members should feel free to discuss any moderator action or decision either with the moderator concerned or with one of the moderation overseers. This is usually the best way to start if you disagree with an infraction you have received, but you should also start here if have an issue with other actions such as thread warnings, thread closures, notes, and so on. You can find a list of moderators and administrators here.
  • Appeal to the Praetorium: Appeals in the Praetorium are heard by all moderation staff, and all cases are private, which means that other members will not be able to view your appeal thread. You can appeal infractions in the Praetorium and you can also ask for an official ruling on any instruction you have been given by a moderator via PM, note, or thread warning. You cannot appeal other moderator actions like post deletions, thread closures, probation, and so on. You can find the Praetorium guidelines here.
  • Appeal to the Tribunal: Appeals in the Tribunal are heard by an independent panel of Tribunes and Magistrates, and all cases are public, which means that other members will be able to view your appeal thread. You can only appeal infractions and other penalties in the Tribunal. You can find the Tribunal guidelines here.

Appeals against infractions follow much the same process in both the Praetorium and the Tribunal. To open an appeal against an infraction, simply create a thread requesting an appeal. Try to provide relevant information about the infraction such as the approximate time the infraction was given, the name of the moderator who issued the infraction, and the relevant thread or forum. After you have created the thread, a moderator will post the infraction and deliberations will begin. You may explain your position in the appeal thread. After you have given your side of the story, a thread will be created in a hidden forum and deliberations will be initiated. Once a decision has been reached you will be informed of the verdict.

Questions and Suggestions

If you have a question that has not been answered by this handy little guide, or you have any suggestion or comment you'd like to make that you think might make TWC that little bit better, then here is the place to post. All thoughts and comments welcome! All technical questions, e.g. "Why doesn't this feature work?" or "I found something wrong", should also be directed here. Questions and Suggestions forum.

Site News

If there is a known issue with the site, or planned downtime for maintenance, staff will normally post notifications in the Site News sub-forum of the Q & S.


TWC Wiki

The FAQ you are currently reading is hosted on the TWC Wiki. The Wiki covers both the Total War Series games and modifications and the Total War Center it's history and people.

Wiki Accounts

To make an account on the Wiki you must first register an account on TWC, then log in to the Wiki with the same username and password.

Rules for Editing on the TWC Wiki

When editing TWC wiki, members are expected to obey both the general Terms of Service and the TWC Wiki Policy & Guidelines and must not submit copyrighted work without permission. Failure to comply can result in a warning, suspension or ban from TWC Wiki for a certain period of time. Anyone interested in helping with the Wiki is invited to contact the Wiki Director for advice and/or Join the TWC Wiki Team!"

TWC Blogs

TWC's blogs are written by members of TWC. They can all be found here.

How to get a blog

Anyone can request permission to have a blog. Requests should be made by going to your profile and clicking on Join Groups in the Permission Groups section, and then clicking to join the 'Bloggers' group. The site administrators will decide whether or not people should have permission to post a blog on a case by case basis.

Only people with permission to post blogs will be able to post comments on blogs. If you do not want to post a blog of your own, but you do want to be able to post comments on blogs, then you should follow the steps above and request permission to have a blog.

Rules for Blogs and Blog Comments

Some content is not appropriate for blogs and blog comments. If you have a blog, or if you post comments on any blogs, you must follow these rules, which will be applied strictly:

  • no religion
  • no politics
  • no content which breaks TWC's Terms of Service (please note that this means all content must be family friendly).

Anyone who breaks the rules above will lose the ability to post blogs and also the ability to post comments on blogs, and their blog will be deleted. Appeals to the Tribunal will have no effect on this decision - this is a purely administrative matter and the decision will be made by the site administrators.

Major TWC Publications and Content

Category Description
The Eagle Standard The Eagle Standard is a TWC publication that focuses primarily on the Total War aspect of the forum. You can read the current Eagle Standard and see the current team here.
The Critics Quill The Critic's Quill publishes articles, reviews and interviews relating to creative writing and After Action Reports (AARs). You can read their older articles here and their newer articles are found here.
The Gamer's Gazette The Gamer's Gazette is a TWC publication dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest non-Total War game reviews, news, and videos! You can read their older articles here and their newer articles are found here.
The Helios The Helios is a publication of the Total War Center forums reporting on the various non-TW related activities of the forums. You can read their older articles here and their newer articles are found here.
TWC News The News Team publish announcements regarding TW games, modification releases and previews, and site events on the TWC Front Page. Read previous announcements here.
The Scriptorium The Scriptorium is the repository of TWC's most popular and well written articles. Its Acting Chief Librarian is Settra and you can view the Library here.

Meet the Staff

TWC Staff are in charge of running various parts of the site. They currently fall into five categories: Hex, Moderation, Content, Gaming and Technical.

The top level of staff is the Hexagon Council, current membership can be viewed here.

You can view the full list of The Staff of Total War Center with descriptions of their roles here

Additionally, a list of all those people with admin, moderator or director status can be found on the Forum Leaders page.

Posting on the Forums

TWC Terms of Service and Forum Rules

Every member when they sign up is expected to keep to these rules. They're enforced by the moderators, and failure to comply will result in warnings, suspensions & ultimately a permanent ban. We recommend you read and familiarise yourself with them! Terms of Service

TWC's BB Code

The TWC forum uses vBulletin software, with BB code for posting, this is the complete list of all the BB tags used on TWC, which will explain how to make bold or italic text and many other more advanced formatting options for posts.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some miscellaneous questions we've been regularly asked not covered elsewhere in this guide.

Polls

How do I make polls?
To vote in polls you have to have 25 posts and been registered for at least one week. You can only make a poll if you are starting a new topic. What you need to click to add a poll to your post is the 'Yes, post a poll...' box near the bottom of the screen. If you need to add a poll later then you need to PM an Administrator.
Can I vote in polls?
To vote in polls you have to have 25 posts and been registered for at least one week. This was introduced to prevent people creating duplicate accounts and spamming our site awards with them.
Can I edit a poll that I created in my thread?
No you can't unfortunately, however you can report your opening post in your thread and ask a site moderator to edit the poll for you to whatever you want. Alternatively you can also create a new thread and report the old thread for deletion, whichever you prefer.

Editing Posts

Why can't I edit my posts?
Sorry for the inconvenience, members have to have 25 posts and been registered for at least one week in order to edit their posts. This was introduced to prevent spam advertising accounts from editing their posts.
Can I delete\close my own thread?
No you can't unfortunately, you can report it though and request a site moderator in it to close\delete it for you, he\she may or may not close it at his\her discretion.

Conduct Advice

I've just taken a glance at the Political Mudpit and the Ethos, Mores, et Monastica sections of the Common Community, and I want to post there! But I do not want to get completely butchered by the experienced members who already post in those sections. How can I, a complete newb, post in those sections without getting hacked into little pieces?
I can offer four pieces of advice for this: read, edit, give sources, and stay calm.
  1. Read - What you first need to do is read the entire thread. This is important as it can give you sources for information (which are very important for a debate) and tells you what has already been argued about. Unless you are bringing new information regarding a past issue or point, it is redundant to dredge up an old settled argument, especially if it has been some time since it was last talked about in the thread.
  2. Edit - After you have written your response, always send it through a spellchecker after reading it over again yourself. It is imperative to ensure that there are as few as possible spelling and grammatical errors in your post.
  3. Give Sources - A credible source can go a long way in helping you win a debate. Facts without sources will be often disregarded as mere opinion.
  4. Stay Calm - Far too often, members become frustrated and angry on various threads. This happens to all at times, and the best cure is to step away from the debate. What you do after that is up to you, but do not go back to the debate until you have calmed down. If a debate looks like it is getting too heated, a moderator will often close down a thread temporarily to clean up heated posts, as well as giving both parties a chance to calm down.
How would I defend myself against flamers and trolls?
Hopefully you won't have to! But if someone does flame you or troll you, report their post using the Report button. DON'T respond in kind. If you flame someone who flames you, that just starts a flame war and you'll find yourself in as much trouble as the original flamer (provoker).
What if I want to express my opinion privately to certain members and I want to contact them individually?
Try emailing them if they enabled their email address, or use the "private messaging" - PM. Be careful though, members do (and should) report harassing or annoying PMs to moderators. Just because it is a private message, it does not give you leeway to flame or troll others.

Visitor Messages

Why can't I post any visitor messages?
To post visitor messages, you have to have 25 posts and been registered for at least one week. This was introduced to prevent people creating duplicate accounts and spamming our site with them.

Social Groups

How do I make a Social Group?

To join or create a group you have to have 25 posts and been registered for at least one week.

  1. Firstly, click on the 'My Account' button on the top left hand side of your screen (if you can't see it then scroll to the top of the forums).
  2. Under the left header 'Networking' you should see a link called 'Social Groups'. Click on it.
  3. On the bottom of the page you should see a link saying 'Create A New Group'. Click on it.
If you are having trouble finding the links, use your browsers search function (most likely by pressing Ctrl + F). Also remember to search the already made Social Groups to see if there is already one for your topic.
How do I rename or delete my Social Group?
Just contact any Site Moderator, shown in dark blue here, and they shall rename\delete or edit your group description if need be. Alternatively you can post your request in this thread as well.

Reporting Problems with Other Members/Posts

I'm being harassed by a forum member, what should I do?
Report function is available in threads, visitor messages & even private messages so just use that and a site moderator will intervene and tell him\her not to do so as harassment is not allowed on TWC as per its rules.
What's the "Report" button? report-40b.png
This button at the bottom right of each post will generate an automatic email to all the moderators of that forum telling that that post has been reported. You can use it to tell the moderators every time you see a post that breaks the Terms of Service. While it is not our aim to create a generation of informants, experience has proven time and again that reporting a post that you consider offensive or disruptive is far better then attempting to deal with it "on your own", by either attacking the poster or threatening with some form of action in the thread. Furthermore, a report is the fastest way to alert the moderators about serious breaches of ToS as posting of porn and also to get yourself rid of ad-bots. Reporting posts is encouraged!

Moderator Actions and Infractions

Where do I complain about moderators and their actions if I spot one or I feel I am being mistreated?
If you feel so then you should PM one of the administrators who oversees moderation on a daily basis. Current Moderation Overseers are:
You can also post about any problems you're having or your thoughts in the Moderation Commentary Thread where administrators will try to resolve your problem or answer any of your relevant questions regarding site moderation, it is best to be calm and coherent when talking about the matter in public as it breeds positive conversations which further breeds solutions and satisfaction.
How do I appeal an infraction I think I've been given unfairly?
There are a variety of possible methods please see the Infraction and Appeals section above.

Your Account and Profile

Signatures, Avatars, and Profile Pictures

To discourage joining/posting simply to spam signature links all signatures are currently disabled for new users. Once you have 25 posts and have been a member for a week you will be able to create a signature.

Signatures are bound to a 550×175 pixel box automatically, with anything outside of that being cut off. The maximum file size of all signature images may not exceed 250 KB according to the current TOS.

Custom avatars, and user pictures can be uploaded to TWC from your User Control Panel. You will be told the maximum size of each when you try to upload them. At the time of this writing, the maximum sizes are 100×100 pixels or 80 KB (whichever is smaller) for avatars, and 640×480 pixels or 250 KB (whichever is smaller) for profile pictures. Uploading images to independent hosting sites is preferred and is the only option for adding images to signatures.

See Shankbot's Unofficial Guide for New Members for an illustrated 'how to guide'.

Post Count Ranks

On the left hand side of each of your posts you'll note a number of things. First, your avatar, which you can set and change from your account control panel. Second, your Reputation, explained below. Third, your online status and add rep buttons. Fourth, your post count, and finally another rank.

Unlike your Peregrinus rank, this one is entirely meaningless and conveys nothing. It's merely associated with your Post Count. The more posts you have, the higher this rank. It's actually your custom user title, and only Citizens, Local Moderators or TWC Staff have the ability to override their title with one of their own design.

Here's the list of those ranks based on the game Total War: Attila.

Member Ranks

All users on TWC are regarded as having a 'rank'. New members start out as a Full Member or Perigrinus. Further ranks may be awarded by the Curia, e.g.: Citizen & Patrician or come with election as a Curial Officer. Members may also be appointed by the Administrators as a Local Moderator to a specific forum. Staff positions carry a variety of different ranks and are also appointed by the Administrators. For details of all current ranks see here

Members may hold several different ranks at the same time and therefore choose which badge to display. Staff members are expected to display their staff rank primarily for ease of recognition by other users.

Reputation

The reputation feature is a fun little thing that enables you to see your community standing with the other members. In theory, the more reputation you have, the more highly thought of you are by the other members of the community. It has no other real meaning, and many members choose to disable it.

Reputation here will be described as if you were using the default Empire skin. The symbols are different on the Rome skin, or the Barbie skin.

If you are using the Rome skin, the add rep button is an eagle standard, a Ring is a helmet, and a crown is a legionary standard. The principle is the same however

If, (for whatever unknown reason!) you are using the Barbie skin, the add rep button is the eagle standard again, a ring becomes a type of spangly star, or maybe a flower and a crown is a diamond ring.

Moving swiftly back to the default Empire Skin then...

How do I give rep?
You can add reputation to a post by clicking this button, on the left
reputation-40b.png
You can only add 1 point of rep to each post and you can only give 7 points total a day.
Additionally, you have to rep 5 different users before you can give rep to the same user again, in order to prevent rep abuse.
Who can give rep?
Because of issues with account cloning in the past, where people created accounts just to give themselves rep, only users registered for at least one week with over 25 posts may give rep. Furthermore, it may take an hour or so after your 25th post for your rep to start working, even if you've been registered for over one week by that point.
How to know which member gave me rep?
Generally people also mention their username along with the rep comment, if they have not mentioned then it's an anonymous rep and thus can't be known. However if you have been insulted via rep feature then contact any moderator or an administrator as they have the access to view it & will remove the insult & take care of the offender as per TWC's terms of service.
Where does reputation show?
Your reputation shows up in two places. One, on the left hand side where you post, a collection of symbols shows a rough guide to how much rep you have. Two, in your control panel. There's a more comprehensive display of the last 20 rep points you received, showing which post you got it for, who gave it, and any comment they left.
Can I disable reputation?
Yes, you can disable your reputation in your control panel. If you do so, your own rep won't show up but you'll still be able to give other people rep as well as receive it yourself.
What does it look like?
Each symbol represents a certain number of rep points. It starts at five, so if you have less than 3 rep points, you'll show the scales symbol for neutral rep.
Balance.png - Neutral Rep
Some very few members who have received neg rep from the staff will have this replaced by a red square. Those users who have disabled the reputation feature will simply show a grey square.
Once you hit 3 rep points, you'll get 1 gold ring
reputation_pos.png
Each ring = 3 points, so if someone has 5 rings, they have 15 Rep points. You can only get a maximum of 5 rings, after that the rings are transferred into a fleur-de-lis.
reputation_pos2.png
Each gold fleur-de-lis is worth 15 rep points.
reputation_highpos.png
Each red fleur-de-lis is worth 150 rep points.
  • Scales: 0-2 Rep
  • 1 Ring: 2-3 Rep
  • 1 gold fleur-de-lis: 15 Rep
  • 1 red fleur-de-lis: 150 Rep
  • and so on

Reputation Descriptions

Every set of reputation points have its unique description which are actually famous movie quotes & they change gradually to something else with increase of rep points on your user account, one can see the current number of rep points on his profile by clicking My Account. Below is the list of all descriptions sorted out as per number of rep points:

Changing your username

To request a name change post in the Name change requests thread in the Questions & Suggestions forum and an administrator will rename your Username. Sometimes members use a typical username or special symbols in it and forget them hence they can't re-login again in that case use the contact us option and explain your problem in it.

Deleting your account/suspending yourself

As a rule, TWC never deletes an account so it is impossible to delete your account. However it is possible to suspend yourself if you no longer have the time for TWC, or just need to take a break. To suspend your account just Private Message an admin with your request. To reinstate your account, use the 'contact us' button at the bottom of the forum index requesting to be un-suspended.

How to become a TWC Citizen

Citizens gain various additional rights on the forum and are identified by optional badges such as:

Citizen radadir.png

Citizenship is an award given by the Curia for contributions to the site and community of TWC, learn more about how to become a Citizen here.

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