Writing your article

Hello, and welcome to The Void Armada Wiki Page!

We've done our best to make posting to this page as simple as possible. However, in order to maximize the potential of this resource, you'll want to have at least a basic understanding of the FANDOM wiki controls. Take some time to look at the Community Help Pages in order to familiarize yourself with some of the available options. Also, please note that at this time we are requiring anyone wishing to post on the page to log-in or create a Fandom account. This is to ensure that posts and edits are made in good faith.

At this point, we expect to host five types of pages: articles on ships, articles on members, articles on important places, strategies, and user-generated content such as short stories or images. From the main page, you will see links to category pages for all five of those article types, as well as a link back to the Void Forums. We will use these links as our central access points for readers to find our content. Readers can also search at the top of the page for titles and keywords.

When you're ready to start writing, click the NEW PAGE button to get started!

Article Types
We will break down our article formatting and provide some tips here. One thing that is constant across all article types are the headings and subheadings. Use of these items will help break down your article into relevant sections, allowing the reader to find exactly what they are looking for. It will also result in a table of contents appearing at the top of the article. When using the visual editor, which is set as the default, you will find the headings and subheadings dropdown menu to the upper left of the visual editor screen. Click the dropdown arrow to bring up the heading type you wish to use, click on it, type in your heading, then press enter to move to the next line. It should default to "Paragraph" on the next line, which is your general text. You can, if need be, create a new subheading immediately on the next line.

Ships
One of the big articles we expect to see are those talking about our ships. Think about this as a kind of Wikipedia article on your ship. Talk about its history and the things it's done if you've developed such a headcanon. We're not looking for a cold technical listing of your ships armaments and consoles, but you may certainly add that as well. For an example of this article type, look at the listing on the USS Mongo.

First, name your page after your ship. For any ship with registry number, please include it in the following format: USS Mongo (NCC-1785). No doubt we will eventually have ships with similar or matching names, and this will help with disambiguation. The first thing you should notice when looking at the example page is an information box on the right side of the screen. We've built a template to make this relatively easy for you. After you've titled your page, click on INSERT at the top of the visual editor. Select INFOBOX. Then scroll until you find one titled VOID STARSHIP INFORMATION. This listing includes the following fields:


 * Title (defaults to match the page title unless you choose to overwrite it)
 * Image (A place for a picture of your ship. Embedding image link instructions will follow)
 * Caption (if you wish to caption your image)
 * Affiliation (your faction: Federation, KDF, Dominion, etc.)
 * Vessel Class
 * Service Period (if you have developed one)
 * Commanding Officer
 * Weapon Types
 * Shields
 * Deflectors
 * Impulse Engines
 * Warp Engines

You can be as detailed as you wish with these listings. Any fields that you do not fill out will not appear on your finished page.

Embedding Images
Generally, embedding images within your article is fairly simple when using the visual editor. However, if you wish to place an image within an infobox, a small bit of coding is required.

Your first step is to upload the image you wish to use into the wiki. At the very top of the page, near the Void logo, you will see a button with three dots stacked vertically. Hover over this, and the option to add a new image will appear. Click on that, and follow the instructions to upload your picture. Make sure that you use a file name that you will easily remember. Once the picture is uploaded, take note of the URL as it will tell you the actual name of your file. For example, on the USS Mongo page, the image of the ship that is used in the infobox is listed as File:Mongo1785.png

Now that your file is uploaded into the wiki and you have a file name, you're ready to code. When completing the infobox field titled Image, type the following code:

When you save the infobox, this will create a thumbnail sized image within your infobox!

Completing your article and assigning categories
When you've finished your article, read over it before saving. Does it tell a complete story? If someone who was never part of the armada or played the game came across your page, would they read it and enjoy it as a Star Trek story?

As mentioned before, the idea of this page is to attempt to create a Void Armada lore. That being said, each one of us is the star of our own game. We stopped the Iconian War. We were at Omicron Kappa III. The general view is to write your stories from a perspective of being able to mesh with other players somewhat, but we don't need to be slaves to each other's continuities. So if another player's version of an event differs from the one you had written, that's ok. It's probably an alternate universe anyway. :)

When finished and satisfied, click SAVE. After your article is published, go to the bottom of the page and look for the CATEGORIES field. For articles on ships, assign it to the SHIPS category.

People
Everything previously written about ship articles applies to articles on your characters. This is primarily focused on the captains, but if you wish to write articles about your bridge officers, you may do so. We would recommend avoiding articles specifically focusing on Boffs that everyone would have a copy of, such as Evelyn Savea or Elisa Flores. That continuity will get real messy real fast. But if you want to change their name and write about them, go for it!

There is an infobox for personnel as well. As before, select INSERT, then INFOBOX. Scroll until you find the option titled VOID PERSONNEL. The infobox contains the following fields:


 * Title (Defaults to the title of your article unless you choose to overwrite it.)
 * Image (a place for an image of your character. See embed instructions in the previous section)
 * Caption (if you wish to caption your image)
 * Affiliation (Federation, Romulan Republic, etc.)
 * Species
 * Home Planet
 * Birth Date and Location
 * Death Date and Location
 * Current Rank

Again, any fields that you do not complete will not be displayed on your page. So if your character is not dead, do not complete the Death Date section.

Completing your article and assigning categories
When you've finished your article, read over it before saving. When finished and satisfied, click SAVE. After your article is published, go to the bottom of the page and look for the CATEGORIES field. For articles on characters, assign it to the PEOPLE category.

Places
Are there bases or planets that you wish to write about? This is where that information goes!

There is an infobox for this category as well, called VOID PLACES. This only has a few fields:


 * Title (Defaults to the title of your article unless you choose to overwrite it.)
 * Image (a place for an image of your subject. See embed instructions in the previous section)
 * Caption (if you wish to caption your image)
 * Quadrant
 * Sector

Completing your article and assigning categories
When you've finished your article, read over it before saving. When finished and satisfied, click SAVE. After your article is published, go to the bottom of the page and look for the CATEGORIES field. For articles on locations, assign it to the PLACES category.

Battle Strategies
This is an open form article type, and can include anything from build advice to walkthroughs. Your call. Just remember that whatever you put here has to be in an easy to follow, encyclopedic format. If you're stuck on how to write up your document, refer to other game wikis for assistance. There is not currently an infobox created for this article type.

Completing your article and assigning categories
When you've finished your article, read over it before saving. When finished and satisfied, click SAVE. After your article is published, go to the bottom of the page and look for the CATEGORIES field. For this type of article, assign it to the BATTLE STRATEGIES category.

Tales of The Void
This is a section set aside for Void centric artwork and stories. Do you want to write a story about the skirmish at Mt. Nisiri? Or in universe tales of the founding of the armada? Did you snap a really cool in-game pic or did you draw something you want to share? This is the place for it!

There is currently no infobox for this article type. It is intended to be completely free-form. Please note when creating your content that The Void has a membership encompassing many age groups, nationalities, ethnicities, political ideologies, and religions. So, we recommend keeping all of that in mind as you create your content. We are not going to actively monitor submissions, however, if a complaint is received it may be removed from view on the page while it is being reviewed.

Completing your article and assigning categories
When you've finished your article, read over it before saving. When finished and satisfied, click SAVE. After your article is published, go to the bottom of the page and look for the CATEGORIES field. For this type of article, assign it to the TALES OF THE VOID category.

Conclusion
We hope you have fun with this wiki! If you have any issues with the interface or are not sure how to proceed, click here, select MESSAGE WALL, and send a message to the Wiki Admin. We'll respond as soon as we are able.

Happy Trekking!