The Great Library: a hierarchical structure

[SlowThinker]

Hierarchical structure:	Table	Development
Condensed (Info:...) threads:	Description	How to build them
Keywords:	How to use them	How to add them
How to help

This post describes two conceptions that should order the enormous amount of information stored at Apolyton:
"condensed threads" and "keywords".

	name of condensed thread (level 1 of hierarch. structure)	description	keywords of level 2
	keyword
(FACTS: how it works)
(city)
1	city window	economy basics: micromanagement, shields, food, trade, tax rate, specialists, rushbuild, sell improvement, disband unit, max. city size
	{city window}
2	corruption and pollution	negative factors of city economics: corruption and waste, pollution and global warming	{corruption}{waste}{pollution} {global warming}
	{corruption and pollution}
3	happiness	happiness, riot factor, disorder, WLTxD
	{happiness}
4	advances	advances: general information	{beakers count}
	{advances}
5	lists	lists: advances, WoWs, improvements (palace=capital), units (one large hyperlink structure; no Post1, just a downloadable document)
	?
(units)
6	units	units in general: non-units, obsolete units, orders to units: movement of units (terrain, roads, rivers, embarkation, ship chaining, go-to, ZOCs), special orders(pillage,...except for dips&spies, caravans, settlers), activation of units (order of activation, sentry..))
	{units}
7	special combat units	nukes, partisans...any combat unit (i. e. any unit except for a settler, caravan and diplomat) that needs any additional explaining (has one of the special abilities (ignore ZOC, treat all terrain as roads, etc) given in rules.txt)	{pikemen}{marines}{partisans}{explorer}{fanatics}{ paratroopers}...
	{special units}
8	Settlers/Engineers (Gastrifidis)	+ terrain types; terrain improvement...
	{settlers}
9	caravans and freights
	{caravan}
10	Diplomats and Spies (SlowThinker)		{bribing cities}{bribing units} {expel} {sabotage unit}{establish embassy}{investigate city}{steal technology}{industrial sabotage}{poison water supply}
	{spy}
(combat)
12	Combat (Marquis de Sodaq)	combat: combat formula, stacks, healing, vet status, city conquering (plunder, civilization split)	{combat formula} {attack strength}{defense strength}{hit points}{firepower} {stack}{primary defender}{healing} {vet status} {walls}{fortress}{coastal fortress}{SAM}{SDI}{fortify} {city capturing}{attack and reduced population} {plunder}{pillage}
	{combat system}
(nations)
13	diplomacy	diplomacy, nation characteristics	{attitude}{international incident} ...
	{diplomacy}
14	barbarians	Willam Keenan announced a thread
	{barb}
15	governments	governments, revolution	{anarchy}{monarchy}...
	{government}
(miscellaneous)
16	map	patterns, specials, poles, 0. meridian, location of units, distance formula,
	{map}
17	goody huts
	{goody huts}
18	spaceships	the space race, spaceships
	{spaceships}
19	miscellaneous	time warp, civ score
	{misc}
20	Statistic (SlowThinker)	statistic and informational windows:any window providing some kind of aditional information: demographics, powergraph, top 5 cities, check intelligence window, look of cities (depends on advances); powergraph
	{info}
21	human cheats
	{cheat}
22	computer's cheating
	(comp cheat)
(interface)
23	interface	game options, graphic options, city report options, autobuild (?throne room, high council...)	{autobuild}
	{interface}
(settings)
24	initial settings	barb. activity, difficulty levels... types of world 2x2x
	{settings}
(STRATEGIES: how to play)
25	specialized cities	science city,...	{SSC}
...	1 st city delayed	hut tipping...

[Bird]

Per request, Ming you can delete this. (But I still don't understand it.)

[Marquis de Sodaq]

deleted

[SlowThinker]

Development of the hierarchical structure

The hierarchical structure is a subject of a change: Please post suggestions to

fill missing topics, keywords,
choose better expressions, better keywords (The starter of a condensed thread has the right of a final decision about related 2nd level keywords),
rearrange topics (In fact, the look of level 1 of hierarch. structure depends on starter of the condensed thread. If you are interrested in beakers count for example and you don't want to manage the whole of advances topic, then 1st level will be adjusted for you),
and especially, post strategies (with keywords).

---

Description of condensed threads

"Condensed" threads (their title starts with "Info:") contain all the tested knowledge about a particular topic. The archives have been scoured, and all relevent info condensed into one complete thread. These are a work in progress. Any new insights or discoveries should be posted directly into the condensed thread. The editor of the thread will incorporate new material or changes into the main post.

How to build condensed threads

The prototype thread is Info: diplomats and spies thread.

I will try to summarize hints how to do it. Regard them as suggestions only, the final look depends on your decision. But the existence of a standard look has some advantages: It would be more comfortable for readers and a prospective moving of paragraphs between threads would be easier.

Name the thread Info: topic, where topic is taken from a table above. Use posts for additional informations and reserve one or two posts for a future use (posts 2-5 of "Info: diplomats and spies" thread). It is useful to keep links to threads that were not abandoned, i. e. to threads that contain a semifinished problem. (See yellow parts of Post 1 of "Info: diplomats and spies" thread: 3.9 (emerging partisans) and 12.1 (industrial sabotage)). Don't be afraid of the html code if you don't know it: Use the main text of "Info: diplomats and spies" thread as a template: Open it, save it as a file and open it using a html editor (I suggest a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor: for example a built-in editor in IE (Front Page Express) or Netscape (Netscape Composer)). Edit the file and insert your own text. If you use html-tables, then you should set font to Verdana and decrease the standard size of the font by 1. Save your work.

The main text may be published several ways:

A. As first post (or first two or more posts) of the thread
	The problem is that length of posts is limited now: after the upgrade of Apolyton (May 2001) posts longer than 20000 characters are not allowed. You must be careful if you are using html within your text: the standard html ignores EOLs (end-of-line-markers), but Apolyton mixes html and EOLs. You have to replace all EOLs by spaces: I use MSWord for that purpose: I will suppose the text that should be published is contained in the file something.htm now: I copy something.htm into something.txt file and I open it in Word. I use the search/replace function (Ctrl-H) and I replace all ^p (EOLs) by ^s (spaces) (I have made a simple macro for that procedure but you can use a "replace all" button too). The text is ready now: you have just bring it (through a clipboard) to an Apolyton input field.
B. As an attachment
	The problem is that you cannot use html directly: the .html extension of an attachment is not allowed (you have to "zip" your work). The size limit of an attachment is 150,000 bytes. post (Post 1 in the "Info: diplomats and spies" thread) needn't be kept on the same place as the debate (if you want to keep it on your own web pages for example). But I suggest it: It is simpler to load everything at once and any reader can see the newest knowledge or theories (not included into Post1 yet) easily.
C. As an external web page or file
	Place the text to your own web pages (get some web space on any free web server if you don't have it).

How to find threads related to the topic you have chosen?

Go to SEARCH button (When I made "Info: diplomats and spies" thread, I searched for words spy, spies, diplomat, brib, sabotag etc.) Great Library Index should contain most useful threads. But you may search also for "keywords" (see here). (You can add new keywords if there are none, or missing ones from threads you work with.)

Help others to maintain build and their condensed threads. Or create a pair or a group that will build one thread. The cooperation improves the morale.

---

How to use keywords

Keywords will help to find threads related to a specific topic: For example if you will want to find all threads related to partisans, then you will search the table in this post for a corresponding keyword ( {partisans} ). You will then click on the SEARCH button and enter an exact form of the keyword (with braces) in the search field.

Update: the idea of keywords stagnates. I thought that people would add keywords to almost every new thread and to important old thread. In fact, few threads have keywords attached.

How to put keywords into a thread

Just write a new post and include keywords. The problem is that the thread will jump to the top of a forum page. Therefore you should add a warning message (I use a bold text: This thread has got to the top of the forum because of this post. It may be a very old thread.)
If there is your old post in the thread then you can edit it and put keywords there (an advantage of this procedure: the thread won't jump to the top of a forum; a disadvantage: the Apolyton system builds the search index occasionally, and so added keywords won't be found by the SEARCH page until the next reindexing of Apolyton (it is done once per several weeks)).

Keywords are stored in the table in this post.
If you want to use a new keyword then "register" it: post it into this thread (readers must know it so that they can search for it). If you are patient then wait for comments of the others: keywords should be chosen carefully, they should not be doubled (for example {caravan} and {trade}) etc.
I don't suppose there will be a "3rd level" in the future: any Civ2 term may be added to the 2nd level.

You may put just keywords of 1st level or you can put keywords of both levels.
Don't put only 2nd level keywords into threads. Write also the appropriate 1st level keyword. An example: if you write {rushbuild} then add {city window} too.

Don't do typos! You have to use the precise form of the keyword stored in the table here.

Add an empty keyword: {}
It will help to search for all threads that were "indexed" already.

If you think that you have read all thread carefully and you covered all the discussion then add a special keyword:
{end1} if you added all keywords of 1st level
{end2} if you added all keywords of both levels

Sign using your login: it may be useful to be able to search keywords of one's own (if you will want to edit them etc.). For example I will use {SlowThinker}.
If you want to use a signature that is different from your login (for example a shorter one: I would use {ST}) then post it into this thread. I will keep a list of abbreviations here.

An example of a post:

{spy}{special units} {bribing cities}{bribing units}{partisan} {} {end2} {SlowThinker} This thread has got to the top of the forum because of this post. It may be a very old thread.

or another example (just keywords of level 1)

{spy} {special units} {} {end1} {SlowThinker}

or another one (if I am not sure that I included everything)

{spy} {bribing units} {} {SlowThinker}

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How to help

You can

• help to improve existing condensed threads (corrections, testing...)
• start a new condensed thread
• help to adjust the hierarchical structure
• add keywords into existing threads

Any suggestions are welcomed! Please post them to the Great Library Discussion thread.

[SlowThinker]

bump.

[SlowThinker]

removed

[MattHiggs]

How do you post a table without a HUGE GAP at the top?

[SlowThinker]

!,
I am not sure if I understand you, but maybe the problem is that
Apolyton = html + EOLs
See "Apolyton's Great Library" thread, page 4, How to build a condensed thread.

[SlowThinker]

deleted
[This message has been edited by SlowThinker (edited April 16, 2001).]

[SlowThinker]

The reason of the problem with searching edited text:
the Apolyton system builds the search index occasionally, and so added keywords won't be found by the SEARCH page until the next reindexing.

[Marquis de Sodaq]

deleted
[This message has been edited by Marquis de Sodaq (edited April 24, 2001).]

[SlowThinker]

deleted
[This message has been edited by SlowThinker (edited April 25, 2001).]

[SlowThinker]

deleted
[This message has been edited by SlowThinker (edited April 25, 2001).]

[Marquis de Sodaq]

deleted
[This message has been edited by Marquis de Sodaq (edited April 24, 2001).]

[SlowThinker]

I added a "How to help" section into 1st post. English OK?