Salutations lords, ladies, and those in-between! While attempting to help people with posts recently, I realized this forum lacks a proper syntax guide. Therefore most posts look similar to a noob’s first game of AoE, but I am sure we all want to look our best when discussing our favorite factions, or why male villagers NEED to be shirtless once again. Therefore I will be giving a brief and basic forum syntax guide. So grab your gambesons and arming swords, because there is quite a bit to get through.
What even is a “Syntax?”
Syntax is “the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.” In the case of our forums, it has a built in system which allows the use of BBCode, Markdown, and HTML. What can you do with these formats? Well lots of things! From simple bullet points to built-in tables. The possibilities are almost endless! Even though the forums does have some of these formats built into it, such as bullets and polls; there are quite a few other basic things which you will have to manually punch in yourself to get the desired effect. I will be attempting to explain, and give examples in the next part of this thread.
Side Note: The forum runs off of a complex trust level system, which allows various features to be unlocked or blocked depending on your account standing. Doing things like posting direct links might be stopped if your trust level is too low. Although I am uncertain of the degree to which trust levels affect each account, what is certain is that simply spending time on the forums, and not getting yourself in hot water with the mods, will result in your trust level increasing.
Already built into the forums
At the top of your wip thread and below your title, will be a handy group of prebuilt syntax enhancers.
This includes the following:
Quotes, Bold, Italics, Hyperlinks, Blockquotes, Preformatted Text, Media Uploading, Bullets, Numbered Lists, Emojis, Time/Date Inserts, Hide Details, and the Inserting of Polls.
Now onto the other basic stuff not covered
Underlined Text
To get underline text, simply put a u with [brackets] at the start then a /u with [brackets] at the end.
Strikethrough Text
To get a strikethrough text, put two squiggly ~~ at the start and end of what you wish to strikethrough.
You could also type the word strike and surround it with <> at the start, then do the same at the end but with /strike
Header 1
To get header 1, you simply need to put a single # hashtag or pound symbol at the start of what you are typing along with a space right after the #.
You could also type in h1 at the start and /h1 at the end surrounded with <>
Header 2
To get header 2, repeat the steps of header 1, but punch in an extra # at the start. It will be ##. You could also repeat the h1 and /h1 but this time change a 1 to a 2: h2 and /h2 with the <> surrounding it.
Side Note: There are six headers total, by adding more “#” to the start or adding numbers 1 through 6, you can make smaller and smaller headers or text.
Tables
| Units | Vs Spearmen | Vs Archer | Vs Cavalry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spearmen | Stalemate | Countered | Counter |
| Archer | Counter | Stalemate | Countered |
| Cavalry | Countered | Counter | Stalemate |
Side Note: Tables are very customizable, you don’t have to make a unit counter chart, you can make pretty much any type of table you wish.
Horizontal Line
To get a horizontal line, simply put 3 underscores or ___ next to each other to split your posts up to make them easier to read.
You can also type in hr/ and surround it with <> to get the same effect.
Big and Small
To get big text simply type in big at the start and /big at the end, and surround them with <>
The same goes for small, type in small at the start and /small at the end, don’t forget to surround them with <>
Keyboard
Now this is a fun one! To turn your text into a keyboard format, you need to type in kbd at the start and /kbd at the end, don’t forget to surround it with <>
Conclusion!
With proper syntax, the possibilities of your posts are endless! Now go forth and purge this land of the living! Oh wait wrong game… Anyhow, have fun making more complicated posts or just making ridiculous responses with too much keyboarding.
