illWiki Style Guide

For help on how to format text and use illwiki's supported Dominions-specific syntax, see Syntax.

This style guide provides guidance on how to make quality contributions to illwiki. If these guidelines seem too difficult to follow (non-native speakers, etc.), don't let them stop you from contributing! It is more important that the wikis have contributions than having everything "done right", and once content is in the wiki, other contributors can participate by putting it into a better style.

Much of this style guide has been copied or adapted from the Paradox Wikis style guide.

1. Capitalisation of Dominions terms:
   • In their manual and other official publications, Illwinter capitalises a variety of Dominions terms such as Pretender God, Thrones of Ascension, and abilities like Spy, but not other terms such as 'pretender' and 'throne', and sometimes the same term (e.g. 'population') is alternately capitalised or uncapitalised depending on the context. For the sake of a consistent wiki style that is easy to use, avoid capitalising Dominions terms unless they are usually grammatically capitalised (i.e. proper nouns outside of the Dominions context).
2. Creatures, commanders, and units: 'Commanders' are creatures that are capable of taking orders on the strategic map, while 'units' are those that cannot act independently. 'Creatures' is the umbrella term for both types of entities.
3. 'Light', 'medium', and 'heavy' units: Dominions uses these terms inconsistently to describe the amount of protection units receive from their armor. Here are some general guidelines for the wording to use on the wiki (though author discretion is advised):
   • No armor protection at all: naked
   • <11 total prot: light
   • 11-15 prot: medium
   • 16-19 prot: heavy
   • >20 prot: very heavy, super-heavy, etc.
4. Unit stats: Attack and defence skill can be lumped together as 'melee skills'. Attack skill, defence skill, magic resistance, and morale can be described by comparing them to the human average of 10. Again, writer discretion is recommended to accurately describe units. Note: defence skill is often increased from the base score by a shield; these descriptors most accurately apply to the base score.
   • <9: poor
   • 9-11: average/mediocre
   • 12-13: good
   • >14: great

1. Article names:
   • Capitalise all words in article names except for minor words such as the, a, an.
   • Use full names for any articles you create. Create a redirect page for any abbreviations and alternate spellings.
   • Unless a significant part of the article's or the section's content is a list, the name of the article/section should be singular. This way the article can be linked while appearing either singular ([[article]]) or plural ([[article]]s), without needing to set up redirects.
2. Header names: Do not capitalise any words in header names, except for words that are capitalised grammatically (i.e. proper nouns and the first letter of a sentence). Otherwise, the same rules that apply to naming articles apply to headers.
3. Article size: Generally, articles should be big enough that they comprehensively cover a single subject.
4. Categories: Always group articles into categories using the {{tag>}} command. If you are unsure which category fits best, start a discussion on the talk page of the article.

1. For most wiki articles, write in third person, avoid using first/second person where possible. Guides with explicit authorship are exempt from this rule.
   • Correct: Jotunheim has the option of focusing on either scales or a bless.
   • Incorrect: You should take a heavy bless and mass-produce Thrymshirdings for an early power spike.
2. Use a semi-formal register.
   • Correct: Many players use MA Ulm's early strength to rush a neighbour, allowing them to gain an advantage in gold and gems over the rest of the lobby.
   • Incorrect: Ulm should obviously attack a neighbour early. How else would you play a nation of burly men in massive armour?
3. Write in general, abstract terms.
   • Correct: Knights of Avalon are excellent against most types of independent province defense and perform well against other nations.
   • Incorrect: With a traditional Enchanted Blood/Undying combo, produce 2 Knights of Avalon on turn 1 (that's all you'll be able to afford, even with production 2) and on turn 2 expand into an easy province type such as heavy infantry.
4. Capitalisation should only be used for the first letter in a sentence, and proper nouns. The name of game mechanics do not count as proper nouns.
5. The wiki views both US and UK English as acceptable languages and there is no need to correct between the two; however, consistency through a page is appreciated.

1. The first thing on a page should be its actual title, made into a heading via this formatting code: ======Title======. This should be followed by a general description of the page's topic. More in-depth discussion should be separated by lower level headings like =====this=====.
2. Wikis work due to the use of internal links to other pages, the first instance of any other page should be linked with square brackets [[like this]].
3. Do not emphasize text with underline or CAPITALS, use italics instead, in addition avoid excessive use of bold.
4. Write so that everyone can participate: do not personalize articles by signing them or naming game concepts after yourself, unless you are writing a personal guide.

Duplication of information on the wiki is frowned upon and should be avoided where possible as it leads to increased maintenance overhead and display of outdated information even though it has been updated on other locations.

If a piece of info seems relevant to another article, consider simply linking to the article with that information. Create a sub-header with a link to the relevant page immediately underneath it. Follow with a concise summary of the target link's relevant information.