Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki:Style

All players of the game are welcome to contribute to the wiki. This style guide provides guidance on how to make the best contributions. 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 wiki has contributions than having everything "done right", and once content is in the wiki, other contributors can participate by putting it into a better style.

Writing style

1. Write objectively, not in the first person.
   • Correct: The United Kingdom can focus on its navy to become a major power.
   • Incorrect: I always build a lot of destroyers.
2. Use a third person narrative when possible. Country strategy guides are exempt from this rule, but it is still preferred.
   • Correct: The player can build anti ballistic missiles in order to protect their cities from nukes.
   • Incorrect: You can build anti ballistic missiles in order to protect your cities from nukes.
3. Use a semi-formal register.
   • Correct: It's recommended for ... to attack his neighbor in order to obtain more resources and manpower.
   • Incorrect: ... should obviously attack his neighbor to get resources and manpower.
4. Paradox games allow for limitless possibilities.
   • Correct: The Soviets have multiple options for engaging in Eastern Europe. One strategy is to...
   • Incorrect: The best way for the Soviets to engage in Eastern Europe is to start with Yugoslavia...'
5. Write in general, abstract terms.
   • Correct: Tanks are excellent at destroying enemy armies...
   • Incorrect: Build exactly 4 Tank units, use them to attack this province, etc...
6. Do not emphasize text with CAPITALS, use italics instead.
7. Write so that everyone can participate: do not personalize articles by signing them or naming game concepts after yourself.
8. Capitalization 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. The names of individual decisions, [[events], and similar count as proper nouns.

Article organization

1. Naming articles:
   1. Do not capitalize any words in the article name, except for words that are capitalized grammatically. Capitalize the first letter of the first word (wiki should do this automatically)
   2. Use full names for any articles you create. Create a redirect page for any abbreviations and alternate spellings
   3. 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
2. Header names: 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. Templates: Templates are created to help better organize content on the Wiki. See the Category:Templates full list of available templates.
5. Categories: Always group articles into categories. If you are unsure which category fits best, start a discussion on the talk page of the article.