Manual of Style

Manual of Style

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The Manual of Style is the style manual for all Tower Defense Simulator Wiki articles. It describes the guidelines that should be followed when there is doubt or disagreement about which style to follow in articles. The style manual also gives useful information, and advice on article formatting and templates. This manual also assumes that you are using the Source Editor.

The Manual of Style was last revised on the 31st of January 2025.

Basic Principles

This style aims to provide consistency and standardization across all articles across the Tower Defense Simulator Wiki. This style also aims to resolve editorial conflicts based on grammar, vocabulary and spelling. This is not the general style to be used on a casual basis (like commenting); this is only meant for the main content articles of the Tower Defense Simulator Wiki (pages such as the Ranger, Autumn Falling and SWAT Van).

Style

Orthography

For the most part, American English is the preferred variation in English orthography. This applies to the spelling of words (center not centre) and grammar of sentences (burned not burnt). Vocabulary difference (such as autumn and fall) can be excused. For more examples, refer to this guide on Wikipedia.

There are some exceptions to this:

• grey not gray.
• pyjamas not pajamas.
• Double constants are preferred when used in British, Canadian or Australian English (for example, labelled not labeled).
• Formal official names of objects or standards. These include:
  • metre not meter (Le Système international d'unités).
  • aluminium not aluminum (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry).

Wikitext

If you are confused to the wikitext that actually makes up an article on the wiki, see this page.

Punctuation

• Avoid comma splices. That is, independent clauses should be separated by a semicolon, a terminal ending or a colon, but not by a comma:

  Correct: Stevenson's romances are entertaining; they are full of exciting adventures.

  Incorrect: Stevenson's romances are entertaining, they are full of exciting adventures.

• The Oxford Comma should ONLY be used when its exclusion may cause discrepancy about the subject matter.

  Correct: France, England, Denmark and Spain.

  Incorrect: France, England, Denmark, and Spain.

  Correct: Blue torso and shorts, and red arms.

  Incorrect: Blue torso and shorts and red arms.

• Avoid using ampersand (&) within the main section of the article. Ampersand may be used within the infobox.
• Only use straight apostrophes (') not curled ones (’).

  Familiarise yourself with using apostrophes. A good example of knowing when to use apostrophes is its and it's.

• To simplify possessive apostrophes with names or words ending in s, s' is preferred over s's, unless it is quoted.

  Correct: James' Car.

  Incorrect: James's Car.

  Correct: Krampus' Revenge.

  Incorrect: Krampus's Revenge.

• Brackets/parenthesis must require the correct terminal ending if they are at the end of a sentence.

  Correct: (This is correct.)

  Correct: This is correct (maybe).

  Incorrect: (This is incorrect).

  Incorrect: This is incorrect (maybe.)

• Generally, ellipses (...) should not be used.
  • They can be used when quoting something.
• Whenever a dash is needed to represent "to" for dates, an en dash (–) must be used (24 December 2019 – 26 January 2020).
  • The hyphen (-) and em dash (—) should not be used in this instance.
• In normal writing, exclamation marks (!) and question marks (?) are typically not favored as terminal endings.
• Whenever a name with a terminal ending ends a sentence (like Barrett 50 Cal.), do not repeat the terminal ending.

  Correct: The weapon is a Barrett 50 Cal.

  Incorrect: The weapon is a Barrett 50 Cal..

• A space must always succeed every comma.

  Correct: France, England, Denmark and Spain.

  Incorrect: France,England,Denmark and Spain.

• There should only be one space after a period (or full stop) at the end of a sentence.
• All quotes within the main article of the page should use the quotation mark (") not apostrophe (').

  Quotes (such as the Commander's dialogue) should be a direct, word-for-word transcription of the original text. Under no circumstances should the original text be altered, even for grammatical errors. If there is a grammatical error, [sic] can be used to indicate this.

Numbers, Dates and Currencies

• All comparisons of numbers should be mathematically correct.

  Correct: The Commander decreases firerate from 1 to 0.9.

  Incorrect: The Commander increases firerate from 1 to 0.9.

• Within the main section of the article, all numbers up to ten must generally be written out in text format, not the number (for example: one, two, three, ..., nine, 10 not 1, 2, 3, ..., 9, 10).
  • This does not apply to tables, update histories or infoboxes.
• All notation of currency comes before the number. In most cases, they use a template (for example: 250 and 2,500).

  Such templates can be found in the Text Templates category.

  Robux must not be shortened to R$. Additionally, it should use the Robux template (for example: 300).

• In general, you should use the longhand date format in common writing (for example: the 1st of April 2020).

  When shortened in update histories or infoboxes, it should be DAY/MONTH/YEAR (for example: 29 October 2020).

  With very limited exceptions, numerical representation should not be used (for example: 29/09/2020).

• Numbers should be formatted with a comma as the thousands separator, for digit grouping, and a period (or full stop) as the decimal separator.

  Correct: 1,001.02

  Incorrect: 1000.02

  Incorrect: 1000,02

• 24-hour format is preferred over 12-hour format (16:00 not 4pm).
• All units of length are in studs. All units of speed are in studs/second. All units of time are either in seconds or minutes.
• All dates are in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time zone.

Writing and Formatting

• Profanity (including light profanity) may not be allowed in articles. Exception to light profanity includes quotes and offsite links (such as to YouTube).

  Profanity that break the Rules will be punished accordingly.

  The use of light profanity (shit, hell, damn etc.) in articles, within reason, is not punishable.

• Contractions are generally avoided (for example, cannot instead of can't).
• Roblox is preferred over ROBLOX.
• The correct way to describe the time between a tower's attack is Firerate not Fire Rate.
  • As firerate is time between shots, fast firing towers have low firerate while slow firing towers have slow firerate.

    Correct: The Minigunner has a low firerate.

    Incorrect: The Minigunner has a high firerate.

  • When referring to melee towers, it is Swingrate not Swing Rate.
  • When referring to the time between a tower's unit spawn is Spawnrate not Spawn Rate.
• Use italics for brand names/games outside of Tower Defense Simulator, excluding Roblox. For example: Call of Duty, Flood Escape 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

  Avoid shortening the names of brands or games. For example, Bloons Tower Defense 6 is preferred over BTD6.

  Former or previous names for an item can can be written in italics, except when referring to the former name directly (where it must be Bolded).

• All pronouns in the main body of text should be written in a gender neutral manner. There are exceptions, when it comes to towers, enemies, narrators and lore-related entries that have gender implied or confirmed:
  • Within galleries and enemy appearance sections, the gender of the tower and associated pronouns may be used.
  • If it is an exceptional trivial point, then a gendered point may be used.
    • When referencing a real person or other game, gendered pronouns may be used.
    • Do not assume the gender of a tower, enemy or otherwise. Final decision lay with the wiki staff if there are edit conflicts surrounding gender.
• Every time the name of the article is repeated, the name must be Bolded.
  • For a possessive apostrophe, the 's must be be Bolded (for example, the Commander's Call to Arms ability).
• All quotes in quotation marks should be written in italics.
• If a hyperlink to a page on this wiki or another site is available, then it can generally be repeated for every instance.
  • If you are hyperlinking to a specific section of a page (like the Halloween Season Pass of the Halloween 2020 Event page) then you should use the hash sign. In this example:

    [[Halloween 2020 Event#Halloween Season Pass|Halloween Season Pass]]

• When linking to the English Wikipedia, this hyperlink can be used:

  [[wp:page name|content]]

• When linking to another wiki on FANDOM, this hyperlink can be used:

  [[w:c:fandom name:page name|content]]

• Most pages require a __TOC__ between infoboxes, or quotes, and the description.
• If the developer of an item is mentioned, it should be their most current name.
• All ability names should be written in italics (the Fallen King's Stomp and the Commander's Call to Arms).
• Color elements should only be used when there is a precedent for it (like skins and gamemodes in infoboxes).
  • The Colour template has various preset values that should be used. If an item does not have a preset value, a hexadecimal value should be used. A full list of these values and information on how to use the template can be found in the template's documentation.
• Bullet point indentation should be used if there is a further point that can be stated about a previous bullet point.
  • This should not be excessively used to the point where the text is far from the left side of the page.
• The term "removed" should only be reserved to features, items or enemies that no longer appear in the game for the majority of people.
  • This term should not be confused with the term "unobtainable" or "event", as items labelled under such terms (like the Commando) can still be used by people who attained an achievement at a specific point of time.
  • Items only obtainable by a small amount of players (such as the War Machine or Static Nametag) are considered "exclusive" content. However, not all exclusive content can have pages be made on it, like the Void Miner.
  • If an item has been made unattainable without commands (such as event enemies, the Ninja and Mark V), such items are counted as "removed".
• When referring to the Hidden Wave that was in the game from 2019 until 2021, the first instance of its mention in the main body of text or bullet point should call it "legacy Hidden Wave", unless it is very historically clear, such as update pages. Any subsequent mentions can refer to it as "Hidden Wave".
  • When referring to the modern iteration of the Hidden Wave it is sufficient not to modify the wording of it.
• In infoboxes, if the actual speed of an enemy is known, that value should be listed in parentheses. In cases of there being already text in parentheses (such as when the speed is used), the value should be listed first with a comma separating the rest.

  Correct: Very Fast (9)

  Correct: Slow (1.8, Rage Mode)

  Incorrect: 8 (Very Fast)

  Incorrect: Fast - 7.5

  Incorrect: Above Average (3.5) (Rage Mode)

  • There are multiple names for speeds which are used for specific speed value ranges. These are:
    • Immobile - Cannot move
    • Extremely Slow - 0.01 to 0.99
    • Very Slow - 1 to 1.49
    • Slow - 1.5 to 1.99
    • Slightly Slow - 2 to 2.49
    • Below Average - 2.5 to 2.99
    • Average - 3 to 3.49
    • Above Average - 3.5 to 4.49
    • Slightly Fast - 4.5 to 5.99
    • Fast - 6 to 7.99
    • Very Fast - 8 to 9.99
    • Swift - 10 to 11.99
    • Extremely Swift - 12+

Files

• For some images, it is preferred that a lot of them are a square image, where width and height are the same, like 500px by 500px.
  • Examples of such images include icons for towers, enemies, units, skincrates, maps (not view or top down images), modifiers, charms, emotes, toys or interactables, tower skin levels for galleries and tower weapons for galleries.
  • Decals taken from the game, such as various renders, narrator images or update log, or various images uploaded by the developers, such as promotional images should, in most cases, use their original resolution and not be altered in any way.
  • Images like the top down and view images of maps do not need to be a square image.
• Avoid giving files joke names.
  • Joke names for files are fine if they are uploaded for personal use, such as profile pages or blogs.
• For pages which refer to a former state of the game, such as event and season pages, images used should represent how the item looked like at the time. For example, on the Halloween 2019 Event page, the Slasher image should be its appearance during the event.
• On event and season pages, the skins section should use the tower renders used in the season pass instead of their icons, if the season had ones. Otherwise, icons of the skin at the time when it was active should be used.
• It is preferred to replace existing files instead of something uploading new ones. If an icon for the Default Minigunner already exists, do not upload a new one, instead replace it.
  • This can be done by going onto the file's page and either pressing "Upload a new version of this file" or using the three dots in the top right corner and pressing "Replace".
  • This should not be done if you are uploading a file which is a new version of something. If the Abnormal received a new appearance, instead of replacing the image with its old appearance, upload a new image.

Grammar

• On is generally favored over off of.

  Correct: This tower is based on a real-life counterpart.

  Incorrect: This tower is based off of a real-life counterpart.

• Proper Nouns should always be capitalised. This may refer to anything in Tower Defense Simulator, such as the Ranger, SWAT Van, Autumn Falling, etc.
• When using et cetera, it is mostly fine to shorten it to etc. Do not repeat the terminal ending if etc. ends a sentence. For lists, etc. counts as its own item, so must be preceded with a comma.

  Correct: United States, Canada, Mexico, etc.

  Incorrect: United States, Canada, Mexico etc.

  Incorrect: United States, Canada, Mexico and etc.

• Most items and entities should have the article "the" before their name. There are some exceptions, like all Maps and some enemies, like Ducky D00M or Lord Sinister.

  Correct: The Fallen King can stomp.

  Incorrect: Fallen King can stomp.

• When referring to "the game" in general, this means the match that players normally play in.
  • Sometimes, this might refer to Tower Defense Simulator, as a whole game.
• When referring to Tower Defense Simulator as a whole game, it should not be shortened to TDS.
  • There are exceptions to this, that being when the game itself refers to something using the shortened name, such as the fictional organization the towers work for, "T.D.S".
• Enemies should be called as such, not zombies or mobs.
• The health that is taken away as an enemy reaches the end of the map should be referred to as "base health" to avoid confusion with the health of enemies.
• The gamemode that is chosen before a match starts (like Molten or Fallen modes) should be called the gamemode or mode, not difficulty.
• If an event has multiple difficulties that do not differ much from each other, other than making it harder, they are called difficulties, not modes. Only the map itself is a mode.

  Correct: It can spawn with Bloated in Failed Gateway on the Hard difficulty.

  Incorrect: It can spawn with Bloated in Failed Gateway on the Hard mode.

• When a unit collides with an enemy, this is "collision damage". If the unit explodes upon its death or destruction, it is not collision damage. Instead this is "destruction damage".
• Damage that is applied to enemies within an area of effect is called "splash damage". The radius or area that enemies are damaged within is called "explosion/explosive range".
  • "Explosion/explosive range" is the radius of the explosion.
• Articles should be written in third person (with second person used in the Strategy section of pages).
  • Articles should be written in the present tense, except those with pages that refer to removed or discontinued things.

    In any case, the Strategy section of pages should be written in present tense and must refer to the state of the game at the time. For example, the Carrier page should not refer to the Ranger but rather the Outlaw.

• "Pierce" is the amount of enemies a projectile, like the Archer's arrow can go through, while "Max Hits" is the maximum amount of enemies a tower can hit in one attack.

Interactive Maps

• Interactive maps should be named after the map it showcases. In cases of it being a different version, it is preferred that the interactive map is named with the version number added at the end.

  Correct: Map:Wrecked Battlefield

  Incorrect: Map:Battlefield that has been destroyed in a war

  Incorrect: Map:Wrecked

  Correct: Map:HarborV4

  Incorrect: Map:Harbor's fourth version

  Incorrect: Map:Harbor4

• Progress tracking should not be enabled on any map, as they do not serve much purpose on them.
• If multiple trackers are placed close to each other, it is preferred that marker grouping is disabled.
• There are multiple basic marker categories which should be the same across every interactive map they are used on.
  • Entrances markers mark the entrances of the map. This marker type should always be called "Entrances", regardless of the number of entrances a map has.
    • Background color: #2BFF00 (Color)
    • Icon: "🏃"
  • Exits markers mark the exits of the map. This marker type should always be called "Exits", regardless of the number of exits a map has.
    • Background color: #FF0000 (Color)
    • Icon: "🏃"
  • Trivia markers mark various spots of interest on the map, with the pointed out spots generally also being in the page's trivia section.
    • Background color: #0002FA (Color)
    • Icon: "📷"
  • Plot Spaces markers mark plots that can be removed on Defend the Center maps, granting additional ground space.
    • Background color: #068701 (Color)
    • Icon: " " (Space)
  • Cliff Spaces markers mark plots that can be removed on Defend the Center maps, granting additional cliff space.
    • Background color: #808080 (Color)
    • Icon: "⛰"
  • Multiple maps, mostly event ones, have their own markers used to indicate things that appear only in them. None of them are listed here. An example of such map is The Great Finale.

Article structure and titles

This section describes how articles should be structured and section titles formatted. This is highly specific depending on the page. If a header is not listed under general headers, it should be removed.

General Headers

Titles

Titles (and infobox titles) are normally written in title case (Trick or Threat Town), not sentence case (Trick or threat town) or proper case (Trick Or Threat Town). Only the first letter of a major word should be capitalised, unless specifically spelt otherwise in-game (such as the UFO).

Tabs

Tabs are a template added at the top of a page as a way to easily link sub pages of a page. There are three tab templates, Tabs which is used for towers, ModeTabs used for modes and CTabs which is used for other pages. For instructions on how to use them, check the documentation on the template pages. There should be nothing above the tabs. For example:

{{Tabs}}
{{for|[[Minigunner]]}}

Not:

{{for|[[Minigunner]]}}
{{Tabs}}

Infoboxes

The type of infobox depends on the page you are editing. All values should correspond to a value in the infobox. Additionally, an infobox can use <tabber> if there are multiple images that can be applied for an infobox. For example, for a maps page:

{{MapInfobox
|image1 = <tabber>
|-|Icon = [[File:Filename.png]]
|-|View = [[File:Filename.png]]
</tabber>
}}

The title in the infobox must be generally the same as the title of the page, except pages with brackets. A title can also be colored if it is a skincrate, golden version of a unit/tower or major bosses.

Quotes

This must succeed the infobox. Quotes should be in the QuoteContainer template so that they can be styled properly on mobile. They must be a direct quote with no grammatical or stylistic corrections. As a result quotes do not need to follow stylistic rules laid out here. If there is a grammatical error in a quote it may be denoted with "^[sic]". Additionally, make sure there is no gap between the infobox and the quotebox. For example:

{{Infobox
|image1=
}}
{{QuoteContainer|
{{QuoteBox|Text|Name}}
}}

Not:

{{Infobox
|image1=
}}

{{QuoteContainer|
{{QuoteBox|Text|Name}}
}}

Description

This is where the summation of the main article takes place. It does not need to be excessively long. Almost all articles need to have a sufficient description.

For tower pages, the tower appearance does not need to be described.

Appearance

This only applies to units, nametags, interactables and enemies pages. This is where the description of the aesthetic appearance of the object is described.

Design & Path

This only applies to maps. This is where the description of the aesthetic appearance of the map and the path taken by enemies and units is described.

Upgrades, Stats Table & Skins

This only applies to towers. This is where the relevant information for the respective headers go. Follow the precedent already laid out.

Strategy

This is where any tips for the relevant article should go. It should not be a detailed account of how to successfully use a tower to your knowledge on every single edge case in the game.

Gallery

This is where any images or videos relevant article should go. For towers, a separate gallery page should be made, with the contents of this section being moved to a the Other section. Galleries should use the Gallery template, with headers being made through the GalleryHeader template. The sections for galleries should be made in this order:

• Previous Variants (Enemies)
• Previous Icons (Nametags)
• Map Icons (Maps)
• View (Maps)
• Top Down (Maps)
• Thumbnails
• Icons
• Promotional Images
• Promotional Videos
• Trailers
• Development Images
• Concept Art
• Renders
• Gamepasses
• Badges
• Miscellaneous

Trivia

This is where any information not relevant to the other pages should go. Any information here must be noteworthy. This includes any superlatives and should not include mundane comparisons or information.

Note that trivia relating to a specific skin of a tower must not go in the main article trivia, but rather the gallery trivia for that tower. Some information relating to the Default skin of the tower can go in the main article trivia (such as references).

In general, for superlative records (such as enemy with the highest amount of health), only the first and second records need to be mentioned. Any records below second should not be noted. On a limited basis, some historical records can be mentioned.

Update History

This is where any updated revisions to the article in question should go. It must follow the standard date formatting (see Numbers, Dates and Currencies).

Notes

If there are references on the page, then a notes section should be placed below the Update History section using <references/>.

Succession Tables

Succession tables should be placed under the last section of the page but above the navbox. There should be two spaces between the last section and the succession tables.

Navbox

The relevant navbox should be placed at the bottom of the page. There must be three spaces between the main content of the article and the navbox.

Other Headers

These include:

• Wave Structure and Rewards (for certain maps and all gamemodes).
• Lyrics (for certain emotes and towers).
• Effects (for modifiers)
• Official Description and Prices & Stores (for toys)
• Different headers corresponding to what is included for events, seasons, update and tower gallery pages.

Other

• It is best to ask a wiki staff for permission to create a page, with some exceptions, such as a new enemy, map, tower or nametag getting added.
  • Pages should not be made on unreleased, cut or exclusive content without permission from the wiki staff.
• Categorization pages and certain other pages (such as Towers and Splash Damage) follow different rules in terms of article structure. You must follow the structure already set out by the page in question.
• Use redirects as sparingly as possible. An example of a necessary redirect is Outlaw.

  Redirects should only be created if there are a sufficient amount of people searching for an article that is the same as another article.

• All pages must have at least one relevant category. Avoid creating categories with a few items in them or irrelevant categories.
• If you plan to insert an image on a page but have yet to acquire an image appropriate to the context, it is imperative that you fill in the location for a future image with a placeholder image. The name of the file which contain placeholder image is File:Place.png.
  • Make sure to spell the name of the file exactly how displayed here, capitalization and spacing matters.