Diplomacy, anyone interested?

[Serapth]

We had a nice game going on PiRi for a while. Anyone interested in starting another game?

I am just stating in this thread I am interested, I know fuckall about administrating or if there exists a better system than DPJudge. Just wanted to know if anyone else wanted to play another round?

[quidmonkey]

I'm a game.

[Nameless]

I'm in! I love me some Diplomacy!

[Jackel]

I'm game. I was a bit burnt out for a while, but now I'm recharged and ready to go again.

[Urizen]

Depends on the map.

[Nameless]

Wait. There are different maps? I've only ever played the board game version.

[Jackel]

I agree...I really don't want to play that world-wide one again.

[Serapth]

Anyone that expressed interest sofar capable of setting up/running a game?

[Matthias]

Would someone be willing to teach me, and probably pretty forgiving as I make really stupid decisions? If so, I'm game. I tried reading a manual pdf someone posted a while back, but I think I need someone to hold my hand a bit.

[Urizen]

I've never moderated a game before, but I'm actually willing to take myself out of the players pool and the run the show from behind the curtain.

[Ox]

I'm your huckleberry.

[Jeffool]

I'd be happy to.

[Serapth]

Looks like we have enough for game 1 to start. You going to run things Urizen?

How about we start up on Monday.

[Urizen]

Sounds good.

EDIT:

Are we still doing the 24 hours between moves and everyone wants weekends off?

[Ink Asylum]

I will observe from afar. The last time I played I spent far too much time writing e-mails and checking the map, and had to bow out when the game went on longer than expected.

[Serapth]

I prefer weekends off, yes.

[Ox]

Weekends off, but I think 48 hours for moves would be wise. I can handle 24 hours, but when we tried that there was a serious problem of people not submitting their moves on time.

Admittedly, that was with the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned world map, but still.

[Urizen]

Got it.

I've been trying to set up the game since yesterday, but www.floc.net/dpjudge appears to be down. If it doesn't fix itself by tonight, I'm going to with another site.

[Urizen]

Rise and shine everyone:

I have created a game, after overcoming Google Chrome's quirks. Everyone interested needs to sign up at www.floc.net/dpjudge first and then send an email to the address dpjudge@floc.net in the following format:

JOIN colonial1 *player's personal password for their DPJudge account* cogmeharder

*without the asterisks (sorry about the headache I caused there)

You will then receive an email letting you know which of the seven European powers you are.

Please take a look at the rules I have put forth for the time being. If you want me to change anything before we get underway, please speak up now.

An explanation of all the rules in place can be found here (http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?page=Rules).

[Urizen]

First timers could benefit from watching these quick videos.

e2ub5lqItoI

HfNSkfIm9EQ

fG4AwgRHqx0

[Nameless]

It looks like we need a privacyWord in addition to the password. It won't let me join otherwise.

[Ox]

Nameless, cogmeharder is the privacy word. "Password" refers to your personal password, which you will use to sign in via the email interface when you submit orders. I believe the password is game-specific and need not be the same as your user password you chose when you signed up for dpjudge.

In other words, you should send an email with this text to dpjudge:

JOIN colonial1 Nameless'spasswordforthisgamewhichisnowprobablyway toolong cogmeharder

EDIT: I am Power #1 (http://deoxy.org/iching/1). This is the primal power, light-giving, strong, active, and without weakness. In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awakens and develops their higher nature.

[Serapth]

Nameless, cogmeharder is the privacy word. "Password" refers to your personal password, which you will use to sign in via the email interface when you submit orders. I believe the password is game-specific and need not be the same as your user password you chose when you signed up for dpjudge.

In other words, you should send an email with this text to dpjudge:

JOIN colonial1 Nameless'spasswordforthisgamewhichisnowprobablyway toolong cogmeharder

EDIT: I am Power #1 (http://deoxy.org/iching/1). This is the primal power, light-giving, strong, active, and without weakness. In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awakens and develops their higher nature.

Game 'colonial1' is a private game for invited players only.You may JOIN only by specifying (after your password)the privacy keyword that was given to you by the GameMaster.A privacy password usually indicates that a game isexclusively for a group of players in a specific clubor organization or who know each other personally andcan communicate outside the confines of the judge (forexample, face-to-face or by telephone)..

Unprocessed portion of message follows: JOIN colonial1 [password] cogmeharder

Appear to be doing something wrong.

[Serapth]

EDIT: I am Power #1 (http://deoxy.org/iching/1). This is the primal power, light-giving, strong, active, and without weakness. In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awakens and develops their higher nature.

That was pretty pompous, you must be France.

[Ox]

You sent it to dpjudge@floc.net, right? You must have, you wouldn't be getting that error message otherwise.

I had a problem where I accidentally included a space in the middle of my password, so it rejected it. You might try sending it again. Don't have anything in the subject line or anywhere else except the JOIN line. Double-check to make sure you spelled everything right.

This is copy-and-pasted from my gmail "Sent" folder, and it worked:
from: oxonian2001@gmail.com
to: dpjudge@floc.net

date: Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 11:42 AM
mailed-bygmail.com

hide details 11:42 AM (18 minutes ago) Reply



JOIN colonial1 [password] cogmeharder

[Nameless]

Nameless, cogmeharder is the privacy word. "Password" refers to your personal password, which you will use to sign in via the email interface when you submit orders. I believe the password is game-specific and need not be the same as your user password you chose when you signed up for dpjudge.

In other words, you should send an email with this text to dpjudge:

JOIN colonial1 Nameless'spasswordforthisgamewhichisnowprobablyway toolong cogmeharder

EDIT: I am Power #1 (http://deoxy.org/iching/1). This is the primal power, light-giving, strong, active, and without weakness. In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awakens and develops their higher nature.

Thanks for the help, I am now Power #2 (ie: the best power).

It's going to be an interesting game, considering we can place new units at captured supply depots. I've never played with that rule before.

How does COASTAL_CONVOY work? Does this mean I could convoy into an inland territory?

[Ox]

I don't think so, but it means that you could order:
A SMY-BUL
F CON A SMY-BUL

for example. Awfully useful. I've never played with either that rule or BUILD_ANY. My natural conservatism rebels at this new-fangledness, and I shall take it out on the rest of you.

[Serapth]

God i hate DPJudge.

Finally got accepted. It wouldnt take emails from Thunderbird ( gmail ), my hotmail account ( web interface ), eventually I got it to work be sending if from my iPhone.

Useless interface... there really has to be a better system than DPJudge, no?

Oh, and I am Power # 4

[Jackel]

Rise and shine everyone:

I have created a game, after overcoming Google Chrome's quirks. Everyone interested needs to sign up at www.floc.net/dpjudge first and then send an email to the address dpjudge@floc.net in the following format:

JOIN colonial1 cogmeharder

You will then receive an email letting you know which of the seven European powers you are.

Please take a look at the rules I have put forth for the time being. If you want me to change anything before we get underway, please speak up now.

An explanation of all the rules in place can be found here (http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?page=Rules).

Its rejecting my join:

Game 'colonial1' is a private game for invited players only.
You may JOIN only by specifying (after your password)
the privacy keyword that was given to you by the GameMaster.
A privacy password usually indicates that a game is
exclusively for a group of players in a specific club
or organization or who know each other personally and
can communicate outside the confines of the judge (for
example, face-to-face or by telephone)..

Unprocessed portion of message follows:

JOIN colonial1 cogmeharder

[Nameless]

Its rejecting my join:

You have to have a password of your own creation between 'JOIN' and 'cogmeharder'

[Jackel]

You have to have a password of your own creation between 'JOIN' and 'cogmeharder'

Doh.
(Too short)

And now I'm in.

[Serapth]

You have to have a password of your own creation between 'JOIN' and 'cogmeharder'

It's more than that. I did it the exact same way, from 2 different email addresses from 3 different mail clients and it only accepted one.

If you are using a mail program, try logging in to your web email instead, or vice versa.

EDIT: But, yeah, put your password in.

[Ox]

You have to send it from the same e-mail address that your dpjudge account is set to, BTW.

If you wish to change the address for this game only, send the following message to dpjudge:

SIGNON [powernumber]colonial1 [yourpassword]

SET ADDRESS [new email address]

In addition:
I use a wireless device to send my e-mail, and it does not support my sending a newline character. Is there anything I can do to be able to send multi-line messages to the DPjudge?
Yes. If you begin a line with two backslash characters (\\), then the next non-whitespace character on that line (providing it is not a letter or a number) will serve as a newline character. Here are some examples:
\\: signon Emygame mypasswd:list:signoff
\\\ summary mygame\history mygame
\\; signon Egame passwd;f lon - eng;press to f;This means war!!

[Nameless]

It's more than that. I did it the exact same way, from 2 different email addresses from 3 different mail clients and it only accepted one.

If you are using a mail program, try logging in to your web email instead, or vice versa.

EDIT: But, yeah, put your password in.

Good point. I can verify that Gmail works perfectly fine for this. It did for me, anyway!

[Matthias]

I don't think so, but it means that you could order:
A SMY-BUL
F CON A SMY-BUL

for example. Awfully useful. I've never played with either that rule or BUILD_ANY. My natural conservatism rebels at this new-fangledness, and I shall take it out on the rest of you.

Since I haven't had a chance to watch those youtube vids yet, mind explaining what each of those commands says, and a loose idea of what that accomplishes?

Oh and I'm power 3. I would ask to be Spain but she's not a power at this point in history, and I generally play Russia in A&A, but I'll take whatever I get!

[Serapth]

You have to send it from the same e-mail address that your dpjudge account is set to, BTW.

If you wish to change the address for this game only, send the following message to dpjudge:

SIGNON [powernumber]colonial1 [yourpassword]

SET ADDRESS [new email address]

In addition:

This isn't true. You can log in ( via the website ), assign a secondary email address and then accept it from that. For reasons not known to me, DPJudge wasn't acccepting my hotmail, regardless to how I sent it ( and the fact I used it last game ), so I added a gmail account and it worked fine.


By the way, there is a serious security hole in this site. Go to dpjudge and try to add a second email to your account ( http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?variant=dppd ), add a second email ( as a new user ) with the same name you used and it will display that a user with this name as (x) email address already exists

This, is a big no no.

Also, keep in mind at end game, your email address will be public to other players, if you care about such things.

[Nameless]

Since I haven't had a chance to watch those youtube vids yet, mind explaining what each of those commands says, and a loose idea of what that accomplishes?

Oh and I'm power 3. I would ask to be Spain but she's not a power at this point in history, and I generally play Russia in A&A, but I'll take whatever I get!

Translating that order into English vs. Diplomacy Speak gives you:

The (A)rmy in (SMY)rna moves into (BUL)garia.
The (F)leet in (CON)stantinople convoys the (A)rmy in (SMY)rna to (BUL)garia.

I suggest you look up the rules to familiarize yourself with the game; although they're not that complicated when you get used to them (there are only four orders you can make, after all), a big part of the game is writing your orders correctly, and I bet that playing it online will give you even less leeway with that.

I think you can find the rules at the Avalon Hill site.

[Serapth]

Translating that order into English vs. Diplomacy Speak gives you:

The (A)rmy in (SMY)rna moves into (BUL)garia.
The (F)leet in (CON)stantinople convoys the (A)rmy in (SMY)rna to (BUL)garia.

I suggest you look up the rules to familiarize yourself with the game; although they're not that complicated when you get used to them (there are only four orders you can make, after all), a big part of the game is writing your orders correctly, and I bet that playing it online will give you even less leeway with that.

I think you can find the rules at the Avalon Hill site.

Just pray you don't start as ENG for your first game.

That was annoying.

[Matthias]

Translating that order into English vs. Diplomacy Speak gives you:

The (A)rmy in (SMY)rna moves into (BUL)garia.
The (F)leet in (CON)stantinople convoys the (A)rmy in (SMY)rna to (BUL)garia.

I suggest you look up the rules to familiarize yourself with the game; although they're not that complicated when you get used to them (there are only four orders you can make, after all), a big part of the game is writing your orders correctly, and I bet that playing it online will give you even less leeway with that.

I think you can find the rules at the Avalon Hill site.

Yeah I've grabbed them already, as well as the three youtube videos, so I can throw them on my iPhone and have something to watch later. Just thought I'd ask for translations now to ease myself in.

[Ink Asylum]

Just pray you don't start as ENG for your first game.

That was annoying.

My first game of Diplomacy ever was played as England over e-mail. I actually won the game against a mix of new players and seasoned ones. I read extensive strategies and formed an early alliance with France. We tricked Germany and rolled over our respective enemies until I pulled off a late game backstab just in time to solidify my dominance on the board. He was not pleased at all.

Sadly, the next time I played it was with some of the same people. I ended up as England again and France was also played by the same person. I tried to smooth things over but he clearly held a grudge and I was kept from getting a build in the first year. France's player was a complete dick about it, but I had the last laugh, though, as England is hard to capture because of her island status. I spent the rest of the game disrupting France's plans and ignoring his missives, keeping him from winning.

[Nameless]

Yeah, England is incredibly hard to take (though I've seen it happen once), but also has the downside of having to convoy armies everywhere if they want to take any non-coastal territory. Though, this will be less of a downside in this game, since if they capture a supply depot, they can then build there in the future.

[Serapth]

My first game of Diplomacy ever was played as England over e-mail. I actually won the game against a mix of new players and seasoned ones. I read extensive strategies and formed an early alliance with France. We tricked Germany and rolled over our respective enemies until I pulled off a late game backstab just in time to solidify my dominance on the board. He was not pleased at all.

Sadly, the next time I played it was with some of the same people. I ended up as England again and France was also played by the same person. I tried to smooth things over but he clearly held a grudge and I was kept from getting a build in the first year. France's player was a complete dick about it, but I had the last laugh, though, as England is hard to capture because of her island status. I spent the rest of the game disrupting France's plans and ignoring his missives, keeping him from winning.

I came in second behind OX, because one, I didnt understand convoy rules to start, which was a bit of a hindrance to start, to say the least. Then I ran in to some massive confusion about victory conditions that caused me to behave rather dumb for the end game. Plus, I didn't let a grudge go, perhaps the biggest lesson I learned playing that game... ongoing grudges are just stupid.

[Serapth]

Yeah, England is incredibly hard to take (though I've seen it happen once), but also has the downside of having to convoy armies everywhere if they want to take any non-coastal territory. Though, this will be less of a downside in this game, since if they capture a supply depot, they can then build there in the future.

Oh... we are playing a variant then? Please explain?

[Nameless]

Oh... we are playing a variant then? Please explain?

There seem to be two variant rules being used. The first is BUILD_ANY, which allows you to build new units at any supply depot you control, not just your home supply depot. So, for example, if England were to take Portugal, they could then build armies or fleets from there, if they wished.

The second variant is COASTAL_CONVOY, which allows a fleet to convoy an army even if the fleet is on the coast. Ox has an example of what this could mean earlier in this thread.

The last variant doesn't affect the game much; PROPOSE_DIAS allows anyone to propose an ending to the game, and if everyone agrees, the game ends with those results.

I foresee BUILD_ANY making a HUGE difference in this game.

[Ox]

Sure, although getting to understand the commands is the number one most important thing for a newbie to grasp.

An order format is pretty simple: you identify the unit you're using, then you indicate what it is doing.

Here, the first order is A SMY-BUL. A indicates an army. SMY indicates it's located in SMY, Smyrna, which is a province on the Turkish coast. So I've identified the unit: the army in SMY.

-BUL indicates "moving to Bulgaria," another province on the map.

However, SMY and BUL don't border each other. Units typically can only move one province per turn, so normally this would be an illegal move. However, my next order (which I actually mistyped originally, but I'll include the proper version now) is:

F CON C A SMY-BUL

F CON means "the fleet in province CON," which is short for Constantiople. Constantiople, if you look at the map, lies between Smyrna and Bulgaria and borders each of them. The next character is "C", which means I'm ordering the aforementioned fleet to convoy an army. Convoys are the only way in which units (only armies) can move more than one province in a single turn. Having told dpjudge which fleet I'm ordering and what it's doing, I now specify who it is convoying: the army moving from Smyrna to Bulgaria.

However, I realize now I screwed up again. While in pen-and-paper Dip the above orders would be fine, there's a rare type of paradox that can occur which I won't get into. To resolve the issue, DPjudge demands a little more specificity: the convoyed army must announce which fleet(s) are convoying it. So for dpjudge, I'd have to write:

A SMY-CON-BUL
F CON C A SMY-BUL

Don't worry about this issue too much, because DPjudge will yell at you if you break its rules. But it's good to have a sense of what units can and cannot do, especially if you're submitting orders five minutes before deadline. So I advise you to check out this page (http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?page=Format) and the rules (http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/diplomacy.pdf). You can certainly ask your "allies" for help writing your rules, and it's generally considered unethical to deliberately give a newbie bad information about what the rules are, but if you're going to follow conversations about tactics and strategy, it's a good idea to be able to read conversations like this one:

If we are to pull off the Key Lepanto, and if I am not to be crippled
in the attempt, it is imperative that Russia attempt to take the Black
Sea in the Spring. I will attempt to foster some more Russian paranoia
towards Turkey, and let him know that I will be willing to help him
make a Fall grab for RUM with support from SER should he be bounced
from BLA. Hopefully, this will allow my BUD army to take RUM unopposed.

Keep Russia's eye on the Black Sea. It is our Key.

This is especially true if you're allied with me; in the evilavatar2 game, by the summer of 1901 I was sending messages to allies plotting out moves and countermoves for four countries for six turns, complete with branching decision trees. I think I spent at least six hours making notes and diagrams for that one message.

[Ox]

Also, if you haven't played before (and even if you have), I very, very strongly recommend checking out the strategy articles (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy.htm). Don't bother to read them all; instead, when you get your country assignment, check out the "How to Play [X]" article in that country's section. It provides a very brief rundown of what the possible strategies are. You can ally with almost any country or countries and win the game, but only if you understand that every set of alliances encourages the creation of a specific counter.

We can still change the rules if we want; they're not locked in until we start playing. Do people want the variant rules? I personally would vote against them (at least BUILD_ANY, which seems like it would take away just about the only tactical advantage the middle countries have over England and Turkey), but I'm not going to make a fuss over it.

[Ink Asylum]

Were you Italy in that game, Ox? Why am I not surprised? You bastard. :)

[Ox]

I was. I seem to recall you were either Austria or Germany, although I can't remember which one. That was really a lot of fun.

[Ink Asylum]

I was Austria. I would much rather have been England again. Being Austria sucks balls.

[Nameless]

I support removing the variant rules. I'd rather play standard Diplomacy, especially since we have a few newbies as well.

[Serapth]

You droped out late game though didnt you? I seem to recall the player playing one country changed people, and completely changed strategy 3/4 the way through that game.


BUILD_ANY sounds like it would give an overwhelming advantage to England.

[Serapth]

Hey Ox, do you do 100% play by email, or do you log into the site?

[Ink Asylum]

Yes, I dropped after Ox's epic backstab. The game was eating up way too much time in my day when my work was starting to pick up. The plan was to declare an easy three way victory in another turn or two, but I just didn't have to time anymore to properly play out Austria's last days after the stab.

[Ox]

I usually play by email so I have a nice record of all the press, but I'll log on if there's some bugginess (which does happen). When I do that, I usually send myself a copy of the press so I can at least maintain my record.

I've been glancing through the press from evilavatar2. Wow, I forgot how much press I sent out. In about seven weeks, I had 290 messages, of which I wrote 90. That doesn't sound so bad until you realize their distribution was a bell curve: on one day, I sent 13 messages, each of them basically a long letter.

[Nameless]

Ox, those strategy articles you linked to are fascinating. Especially the War Theory ones.

[quidmonkey]

http://www.anaitgames.com/wp-content/darth_vader_nooo1.jpeg

Only 5 players?!??

sighs

That's what I get for not checking this thread over the weekend.

[Serapth]

Game says there are still 2 spots open. Don't know if they have been allocated in this thread, but...

[Urizen]

So, of the actual players, who is tickled by or disgusted by, the BUILD_ANY and COASTAL_CONVOY? Yeas and Nays will suffice.

[Serapth]

In those linked strategies ( as I don't know what power I am ), I mean to browse a few upfront. Is one of the authors better than the others?

[quidmonkey]

Game says there are still 2 spots open. Don't know if they have been allocated in this thread, but...

I emailed DPJ twice, and got no response.

[Serapth]

BUILD_ANY - nay, unless I get England. :)
COASTAL_CONVOY - meh.

(Consider meh the equivalent from abstaining from voting.)

[Serapth]

I emailed DPJ twice, and got no response.

Yeah, me too.

Hope you aren't using a hotmail account. Try emailing from a different client ( web if you use a program, Thunderbird or Live Mail, Outlook, whatever ) if you use webmail.

It was being extremely stupid with me and would only finally accept email from my iPhone.

Luck for me, I am working on an email based product, so I had about 15 different options available to test with. Also, try Ox's syntax as well ( prefix with \\ ). DPJudge seems to be having trouble.

Also, I never did get hotmail to work, so I associated my GMail account with DPJudge ( as a secondary ) and that finally worked, when sent from my iPhone.

Pretty stupid really.

[Nameless]

BUILD_ANY: Nay!
COASTAL_CONVOY: I'm not entirely sure about this one, but I'll vote NAY, I'd rather play standard Diplomacy.

[Jackel]

I'd prefer a vanilla game, so Nay on both.

[quidmonkey]

Power #6

BUILD_ANY - Yea
COASTAL_CONVOY Y - Yea

[Ox]

I emailed DPJ twice, and got no response.
You should at least be getting an error-message response. Try going here (http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?variant=dppd) to log on and check to make sure your account is set up.

In those linked strategies ( as I don't know what power I am ), I mean to browse a few upfront. Is one of the authors better than the others?
Maybe, although most are pretty worthwhile. I think it's best to start with an overall guide for the country, which lists possible strategies with their pros and cons. It's always helpful to have a sense of what the other guy might be thinking. Once you know your country and have an idea of which strategy you'd like to employ, then you might check out some of the articles on that specific strategy, which provide more detail.

Before the game starts, I do recommend reading at least one general article for each country: you need to understand what those S01 moves by other countries say about their intentions. If you're Turkey and don't realize that Italy's A Ven-Nap spells trouble for you, you're in for a short game. I recommend the following articles, found in each country's section:

Austria: If you're planning to make peace with Italy, read "How to Play Austria" (http://devel.diplom.org/Online/strategy/Austria-Kauzlarich.html) by Stephen Kauzlarich. If you haven't decided on that yet, read "Of Don Juan" (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/don_juan.htm) by Richard Egan.

England: I like "English Opening Strategy" (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/england.htm) by Stephen Agar, which analyzes what English moves mean. But if I were playing England, I would make more of a point of reading "English Strategy" (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/Turnbull-england.htm) by Don Turnbull first.

France: I'm not in love with any of these articles as a "read this one first!" thing. Each has its deficiencies, so I'd make more of an effort to read two or three. But "Strategy for Playing France" (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/france_oliveri.htm) by Henry Olivieri is a pretty decent article for people trying to figure out what France is doing. If you're playing France, you might glance at the articles by Turnbull, Agar, and Hucknall after that.

Germany: I like "How to Win with Germany" (http://devel.diplom.org/Online/strategy/Germany-Allen.html) by Chris Allen as a "How to Defeat Germany" guide. Don Turnbull's "German Strategy" (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/turnbull-germany.htm) is the place to start if you're playing Germany, then read Allen to see how that advice translates into practice.

Italy: I had a lot of luck with Italy, and I'm trying to resist the temptation to tell you to do the same thing I did. But "How to Play Italy" (http://devel.diplom.org/Online/strategy/Italy-Sandy.html) by Chris Allen is a good intro for both Italy and her foes. Jake Orion's "Playing Italy" series (Part I (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/playing_italy1.htm) and Part II (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/playing_italy2.htm)) are also good and detailed.

Russia: Again, I don't love Russia's articles. I'd almost encourage you to read all of them just to get an overall picture. But if you're going to read one (and unless you're Russia and have a lot of time to kill, I wouldn't recommend reading a whole bunch of them), check out "Russian Opening Strategy" (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/basics_russia.htm) by Stephen Agar.

Turkey: Either How to Play Turkey (http://devel.diplom.org/Online/strategy/Turkey-Newman.html), by Chris Allen, or Strategy for Playing Turkey (http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/turkey_fischbach.htm), by Dirk Fischbach.

Bear in mind that all of these articles are tinted by the authors' preferences and play styles, and that all of them would say the personality of the other players matters more than strategy. I've deliberately tried to pick out articles that show the pros and cons of each strategy, but I don't endorse any statement (which most have) of "this alliance is the best." Just about the only point of consensus in Dip is that Austria and Germany must be allied in the early game; everything else is debatable.

The only other thing I'll suggest: if you are debating a particular opening move, or if you see an opening move by another country that you don't immediately understand (and even if you do), plug it into the Library of Diplomacy Openings (http://devel.diplom.org/Online/Openings/). If a potential ally mentions you should try the "Key Lepanto" opening, you can ask and reveal yourself to be inexperienced... or you can go to the "Italy" openings and see that there are several variations of the Lepanto listed, including the 'Key Variation.' Check it out and it will tell you not only what moves constitute the Key Lepanto, but also what it leads to and the dangers involved.

[Ox]

Well, there already seems to be a majority -- Jackel, Nameless, Serapth, and me -- against BUILD_ANY. So, assuming we're going by simple majority voting, BUILD_ANY is out.

For COASTAL_CONVOY, there are three votes -- Jackel, Nameless, and me -- to one vote in favor (quidmonkey). Serapth is abstaining. If the remaining two players vote in favor, then we might as well keep it. However, it's worth pointing out that Turkey, in particular, stands to gain from COASTAL_CONVOY, since the inability to convoy through CON is why Turkey has a tough time dominating the Balkans early.

[Matthias]

I guess I'll abstain from BUILD_ANY since there's a majority and I don't really know the implications past what y'all have stated.

As for COASTAL_CONVOY, the mechanic itself makes sense in real life, so I don't quite see why they put that limitation there to begin with.

count me as a yea for COASTAL_CONVOY

[Urizen]

As for COASTAL_CONVOY, the mechanic itself makes sense in real life, so I don't quite see why they put that limitation there to begin with.

count me as a yea for COASTAL_CONVOY

Agreed. I think the absence of COASTAL_CONVOY in the standard is what gives players difficulty with the Convoy command. Intuitively, it should work.

EDIT:

BUILD_ANY has been removed. Still waiting for a 7th Power.

[Serapth]

Agreed. I think the absence of COASTAL_CONVOY in the standard is what gives players difficulty with the Convoy command. Intuitively, it should work.

I will agree that triped me up the first time I played.

[Matthias]

Sure, although getting to understand the commands is the number one most important thing for a newbie to grasp.

An order format is pretty simple: you identify the unit you're using, then you indicate what it is doing.

Here, the first order is A SMY-BUL. A indicates an army. SMY indicates it's located in SMY, Smyrna, which is a province on the Turkish coast. So I've identified the unit: the army in SMY.

-BUL indicates "moving to Bulgaria," another province on the map.

However, SMY and BUL don't border each other. Units typically can only move one province per turn, so normally this would be an illegal move. However, my next order (which I actually mistyped originally, but I'll include the proper version now) is:

F CON C A SMY-BUL

F CON means "the fleet in province CON," which is short for Constantiople. Constantiople, if you look at the map, lies between Smyrna and Bulgaria and borders each of them. The next character is "C", which means I'm ordering the aforementioned fleet to convoy an army. Convoys are the only way in which units (only armies) can move more than one province in a single turn. Having told dpjudge which fleet I'm ordering and what it's doing, I now specify who it is convoying: the army moving from Smyrna to Bulgaria.

However, I realize now I screwed up again. While in pen-and-paper Dip the above orders would be fine, there's a rare type of paradox that can occur which I won't get into. To resolve the issue, DPjudge demands a little more specificity: the convoyed army must announce which fleet(s) are convoying it. So for dpjudge, I'd have to write:

A SMY-CON-BUL
F CON C A SMY-BUL

Don't worry about this issue too much, because DPjudge will yell at you if you break its rules. But it's good to have a sense of what units can and cannot do, especially if you're submitting orders five minutes before deadline. So I advise you to check out this page (http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?page=Format) and the rules (http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/diplomacy.pdf). You can certainly ask your "allies" for help writing your rules, and it's generally considered unethical to deliberately give a newbie bad information about what the rules are, but if you're going to follow conversations about tactics and strategy, it's a good idea to be able to read conversations like this one:



This is especially true if you're allied with me; in the evilavatar2 game, by the summer of 1901 I was sending messages to allies plotting out moves and countermoves for four countries for six turns, complete with branching decision trees. I think I spent at least six hours making notes and diagrams for that one message.

I think the only term I didn't understand in that example letter was "key lepanto". Other than that, I think I understood what your strategy was, at least as well as I could without knowing who you were talking to and where any unnamed units were.

EDIT: Just saw your mention of it in your later post. Time to do some reading.

[Ox]

Good. If you understand what "support" and "bounce" mean, you probably have a good grasp of the basic rules.

[Serapth]

It appears we are waiting on one last member.

Is it possible at this point to delay things until after the holidays? Starting heading in to Canada Day/Independance day is probably dooming us to a slow start.

By the way, who is going to be our final player?

[Ox]

Jeffool expressed interest on Friday, and he hasn't been back online since. So I think we should be good whenever he gets back, although if someone else wishes to jump in, screw jeffool right in the ear.

EDIT: I don't mind if powers are assigned and people start writing emails this week, but I'm sure we'll wait for any moves until Monday at the earliest.

[TheKeck]

Oh, look, my little boys are growing up. ;) :p

Yes, I dropped after Ox's epic backstab. The game was eating up way too much time in my day when my work was starting to pick up. The plan was to declare an easy three way victory in another turn or two, but I just didn't have to time anymore to properly play out Austria's last days after the stab.
Oh the pain. The horrible pain. You should have stuck it out with me Ink. You really should have.

I usually play by email so I have a nice record of all the press, but I'll log on if there's some bugginess (which does happen). When I do that, I usually send myself a copy of the press so I can at least maintain my record.
I send all my press through the interface and it sends copies of all ingoing and outgoing to my e-mail. Do you have a setting different or something?

Yeah, me too.

Hope you aren't using a hotmail account. Try emailing from a different client ( web if you use a program, Thunderbird or Live Mail, Outlook, whatever ) if you use webmail.

It was being extremely stupid with me and would only finally accept email from my iPhone.

Luck for me, I am working on an email based product, so I had about 15 different options available to test with. Also, try Ox's syntax as well ( prefix with \\ ). DPJudge seems to be having trouble.

Also, I never did get hotmail to work, so I associated my GMail account with DPJudge ( as a secondary ) and that finally worked, when sent from my iPhone.

Pretty stupid really.
I have used hotmail with no trouble. One thing to look out for is sending in html text rather than plain text. That can screw things up. If at all possible, people should try to send in plain text.

Jeffool expressed interest on Friday, and he hasn't been back online since. So I think we should be good whenever he gets back, although if someone else wishes to jump in, screw jeffool right in the ear.

EDIT: I don't mind if powers are assigned and people start writing emails this week, but I'm sure we'll wait for any moves until Monday at the earliest.
So, is there still an open spot? Dare I take it?

[Ink Asylum]

Avenge me!

[TheKeck]

I dared.

So, as a participating member, I approve of the removal of Build_Any and vote against Costal_Convoy.

[Ink Asylum]

Incidentally, does anyone recall who Russia and Turkey were in evilavatar2?

[Nameless]

I dared.

So, as a participating member, I approve of the removal of Build_Any and vote against Costal_Convoy.

Can they still be edited once the game starts?

EDIT: Also, welcome!

[TheKeck]

Can they still be edited once the game starts?

EDIT: Also, welcome!
They can. Nearly all rules can be changed at any time during the game.

And thanks! :)

[TheKeck]

Incidentally, does anyone recall who Russia and Turkey were in evilavatar2?
I don't remember. I just looked it up, though, so I have some idea. Turkey appears to be ShivaX. Russia... hmmmm.... who would hunnybunnyluv be?

[Urizen]

I am hunnybunnyluv, you futhamuckers. I was Russia.

Austria was an incredible asshole towards me in evilavatar2. I'm going to kill you. Let's be friends. I'm going to destroy you. You're my greatest ally. Some serious borderline personality situation.

On to less pressing matters, do we really want to remove COASTAL_CONVOY? Did Keck just sway the vote against it?

[Ink Asylum]

All in the spirit of the game, Urizen, nothing personal. Being surrounded by four nations means never resting easy.

I was quite amused by the flavor of your messages.

[Nameless]

COASTAL_CONVOY seems to have two Yea's, three Nay's and one Meh. Matthias has not voted, so it's up to him and Serapth, I guess (assuming if there's a tie that Serapth decides to vote after all).

[Urizen]

All in the spirit of the game, Urizen, nothing personal. Being surrounded by four nations means never resting easy.

I was quite amused by the flavor of your messages.

I know. I know.

It was fun. We totally could have had a DIAS if we got on the same page just one season earlier. As for the flavor of my messages, Ox knows more about them than anyone else in that game.

It's a shame I cleaned my inbox from messages of that game when the next one started.

[Serapth]

COASTAL_CONVOY seems to have two Yea's, three Nay's and one Meh. Matthias has not voted, so it's up to him and Serapth, I guess (assuming if there's a tie that Serapth decides to vote after all).

I'll vote nay then, if it is contested, why not go with vanilla rules.

[Matthias]

I actually did vote, yea for COASTAL_CONVOY

as I said, it makes sense in real life, so I don't see the problem with it. If you guys want to play vanilla though, hat's not an issue to me either.

[Urizen]

COASTAL_CONVOY has been removed. You are all now playing the most boring variant of the game possible. Let's hope no one is bored to death.

Good luck.

EDIT:

Is everyone OK with a Noon Eastern deadline for making moves? Ideally, everyone will allow their moves to be processed ASAP and not wait for the deadline, but barring that, I know I've been in situations where I was getting half a dozen messages in the last 90 minutes before a deadline and couldn't juggle the situation as best I wanted to.

[Nameless]

I actually did vote, yea for COASTAL_CONVOY

as I said, it makes sense in real life, so I don't see the problem with it. If you guys want to play vanilla though, hat's not an issue to me either.

Sorry Matthias, I didn't see your vote when I was quickly looking through the thread. :(

[Matthias]

Ha it's okay, no worries.

So is it uncouth to ask who's playing which countries? I wouldn't imagine so since it's normally a board game. I have a guess or two anyway.

[Serapth]

Ha it's okay, no worries.

So is it uncouth to ask who's playing which countries? I wouldn't imagine so since it's normally a board game. I have a guess or two anyway.

You may ask.

Nobody will answer though. :)

It is pretty easy to tell on occasion who is who. Myself, I really, really, really have to try not to, you know, overly abuse commas. Also, spelling in the queens English is generally a dead give away as most of you are Yanks that spell things incorrectly.

I generally can pick out Ox in a game, although there is one other player who has a writing style very similar to his, regardless to attempts at obfuscation. Finally, at least during EvAv2, there was the "wassup bitches" fellow...

[Serapth]

Leader quick reference card, please verify if I am wrong. Also, what is the standard for addressing players where the leader changes during the timeline of the game ( aka England? ).

World leaders in 1901

Austria - Franz Joseph
England - Edward VII
Germany - Wilhelm II
France - ? Emile Loubet?
Italy - Vitoria Emanule III
Turkey - ?Abdulhamit or Halil Rifat Pasha?

[Urizen]

Finally, at least during EvAv2, there was the "wassup bitches" fellow...

My name was hunnybunnyluv.

[Serapth]

My name was hunnybunnyluv.

that was you? Its funny, because I know at least one nation went aggressive againsts yous specifically from that posting. I learned a valuable lession at your expense. :)

[Urizen]

that was you? Its funny, because I know at least one nation went aggressive againsts yous specifically from that posting. I learned a valuable lession at your expense. :)

That's a shame because I'd already developed an alter ego for this game before I decided to try learn more about it from observing dealings from behind the curtain. I would have been real charmer, I promise you.

[Ox]

It was fun. We totally could have had a DIAS if we got on the same page just one season earlier. As for the flavor of my messages, Ox knows more about them than anyone else in that game.
By far my favorite message I sent was when I passed along one of your messages to my then-allies Austria and Germany immediately after my stab against you and Turkey was revealed:
Oh, I almost forgot: I asked Russia what he would offer me to turn against
Austria. His offer was... well, I shall not steal the man's thunder by
truncating his eloquence:


Message from Russia to Italy in evilavatar2:


Fair enough.

I offer to you, on a silver platter....my dick.

Eat it.
-------------------------------
Needless to say, this is far too puny an offer for me to consider.
I am so, so glad I retained all the press I got in that game.

[Urizen]

By far my favorite message I sent was when I passed along one of your messages to my then-allies Austria and Germany immediately after my stab against you and Turkey was revealed.

Thanks. Brevity is soul of wit.

I think even you'll agree that - at that precise moment - you deserved to be called some names.

[TheKeck]

I know. I know.

It was fun. We totally could have had a DIAS if we got on the same page just one season earlier. As for the flavor of my messages, Ox knows more about them than anyone else in that game.

It's a shame I cleaned my inbox from messages of that game when the next one started.
Ox passed along a thing or two. ;)

Edit: Oh, I should read the end of a thread before posting. :o

Anyway, yeah, in online diplomacy, it's considered proper to keep identities hidden as much as possible. Of course, as mentioned, some people are easier to figure out than others, but that's part of the fun. In evilavatar2, my main goal was not letting people know who I was. I think I succeeded, but it was a stupid goal. My goal this time is to win. ;)

Edit Edit: And so, yeah, the real name is DaXIthr, right? Dirty name changers. :p

[Urizen]

Edit Edit: And so, yeah, the real name is DaXIthr, right? Dirty name changers. :p

Yes, I'm still DaXIthR on XBL and PSN.

I will also admit that I felt Ox was being disingenuous in asking me what I had to offer him. He and I both knew my situation was desperate, and there was nothing immediately material for me to do to mollify his thirst for Russian blood.

Let's face it - no matter what his intentions, it's hard for Ox to not at least appear arrogant and condescending.

[Serapth]

Ox passed along a thing or two. ;)

Edit: Oh, I should read the end of a thread before posting. :o

Anyway, yeah, in online diplomacy, it's considered proper to keep identities hidden as much as possible. Of course, as mentioned, some people are easier to figure out than others, but that's part of the fun. In evilavatar2, my main goal was not letting people know who I was. I think I succeeded, but it was a stupid goal. My goal this time is to win. ;)

Edit Edit: And so, yeah, the real name is DaXIthr, right? Dirty name changers. :p

Were you Germany?

[Ox]

You're right, I was disingenuous -- although that had a lot less to do with your position and much more to do with the fact that I figured you would hold a grudge. If you had come back and said you understood the situation, it was a good stab, but that you wouldn't trust I would switch sides until I had something to gain, I still wouldn't have allied with you. But a few years later, when you were down to one or two SCs that were crucially located to either block me or help me break through Austria, I would have offered to split a two-way draw with you if that's what it took. The only reason I didn't is that you did a great job of convincing me you held a grudge.

[Ink Asylum]

My understanding of the players in evilavatar2 is:
Urizen = Russia
Ox = Italy
Ink Asylum = Austria
TheKeck = Germany

The rest I'm not certain.

[Ox]

Serapth = England
ShivaX = Turkey
jeffool = France

[Urizen]

You're right, I was disingenuous -- although that had a lot less to do with your position and much more to do with the fact that I figured you would hold a grudge. If you had come back and said you understood the situation, it was a good stab, but that you wouldn't trust I would switch sides until I had something to gain, I still wouldn't have allied with you. But a few years later, when you were down to one or two SCs that were crucially located to either block me or help me break through Austria, I would have offered to split a two-way draw with you if that's what it took. The only reason I didn't is that you did a great job of convincing me you held a grudge.

My real allies would say it was precisely my ability to hold a grudge that made them gravitate towards me.

[TheKeck]

I will also admit that I felt Ox was being disingenuous in asking me what I had to offer him. He and I both knew my situation was desperate, and there was nothing immediately material for me to do to mollify his thirst for Russian blood.
What? Ox, disingenous? In a game of diplomacy?! I won't believe such tripe. ;) :p
Were you Germany?
I believe I was, Sir. You dirty stinking British scum. :mad:

[Serapth]

What? Ox, disingenous? In a game of diplomacy?! I won't believe such tripe. ;) :p

I believe I was, Sir. You dirty stinking British scum. :mad:

Yeah... you were my stalwart ally until of course you went to backstab me that is... then you got p0wned, no? :)

That said, my inability to let it go pretty much lead to Italy winning...

[TheKeck]

Yeah... you were my stalwart ally until of course you went to backstab me that is... then you got p0wned, no? :)

That said, my inability to let it go pretty much lead to Italy winning...
You realize, of course, that everything you just described was simply Ox playing us both like a fiddle, right? He convinced me that you were going to backstab me, and vice versa. Indeed, he convinced me TO backstab you and then leaked information to you about exactly when and how I was going to do it.

OK, that tears it, who's in for figuring out who Ox is and just destroying him on principle? :p

[Serapth]

You realize, of course, that everything you just described was simply Ox playing us both like a fiddle, right? He convinced me that you were going to backstab me, and vice versa. Indeed, he convinced me TO backstab you and then leaked information to you about exactly when and how I was going to do it.

OK, that tears it, who's in for figuring out who Ox is and just destroying him on principle? :p

Oh, I know. Ox was scary in his timing in that game.

I also agree, Ox needs to die early. I have a hunch I already have him identified.

[TheKeck]

I have a hunch as well. Maybe two hunches.

[Ox]

OK, that tears it, who's in for figuring out who Ox is and just destroying him on principle? :p
I'm Italy again. TRY AND STOP ME, BITCHES!

[TheKeck]

Shut up! I'M Italy! :mad:

[Ink Asylum]

No, I'm Italy!

Wait, I'm not even playing.

[TheKeck]

I am Spartacus.

Oh frig, I think we already did this joke. :o

:p

[Urizen]

I'm giddy for for the moves of this season to reveal themselves.

Funny how civil everyone is in this thread, and full of bile in their press.

[Libuke]

I hope you guys post the going ons of the game in this thread, I am not sure how you can manage it but I hope you can. I have found much of the info present here fun to read, and you are not even playing yet.

Might be to much to ask, hard to conduct intrigue and backstabbing in the open.

[Ox]

We can certainly post the moves if you want. I don't think anyone will be willing to announce what those moves mean, though.

[Ink Asylum]

Can non-players view the game?

[TheKeck]

Can non-players view the game?
Of course.

http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?game=colonial1

[Serapth]

I hate to be a dick , as I proposed this game in the the first place, but now, even before we truley start I need to focus on personal issues. Is it possible to give another my spot, or failing that, strike my country from the game?

Sorry, just got overwhelmed by RL to the point I can't be properly focused toward this game.

[MalReynolds]

damn i wanna play this :O next time i need to be invited for sure

[Ox]

Is it possible to give another my spot, or failing that, strike my country from the game?

damn i wanna play this :O next time i need to be invited for sure
It looks like we've got a solution to both problems.

[Ink Asylum]

I was about to say the same thing. What perfect timing.

[Ox]

Mal, if you're not already a member of dpjudge, go here (http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?variant=dppd) and sign up. You do have to use your real name and you're only allowed one account on dpjudge (you'll see a LOT of lurid warnings about cheating, some people take this very seriously). Let us know here when that's done.

Meanwhile, Serapth, you send an email to dpjudge:

RESIGN initialLetterOfPowerNamegameName yourPassword -or-
RESIGN completePowerName@gameName yourPassword
Note that, unlike the Ken Lowe judge, you do not give the RESIGN command after a SIGNON. Rather, you give it instead of a SIGNON. You may send PRESS in this, your final message (get off a parting shot or offer an apology). Here is an example:
RESIGN austria@theGame myPassword
PRESS TO MASTER
I am resigning now, and since I am conscientious like all
good players should be, I have found a replacement to take
my place. His e-mail address is JoeBlow@somewhere.com.
and I've already told him to send in a TAKEOVER command.
ENDPRESS
BROADCAST
Goodbye, cruel world.

Note that if there is any problem with your e-mail message, anywhere in it, you will not be RESIGNed. For instance, if you misspell PRESS in the above example, you will still be playing Austria until you RESIGN in a perfect e-mail message. If you do successfully RESIGN, this will be reported to you in the response to your e-mail.

After that, Mal can send a TAKEOVER message
TAKEOVER initialLetterOfPowerNamegameName yourPassword -or-
TAKEOVER completePowerName@gameName yourPassword
Remember that, like the RESIGN command, the TAKEOVER command does not follow a SIGNON command but rather is used instead of a SIGNON command. It does serve the same purpose as SIGNON, in that it does sign you on to the game -- that is, you may send press in your TAKEOVER message. You are only allowed to TAKEOVER vacant map-powers. Here are the two possible ways to TAKEOVER an abandoned position as Austria:
TAKEOVER Agamename password
TAKEOVER austria@gamename password

Note that in a private game, the game's privacy password (as supplied to you by the GameMaster) will need to be given after your personal password. For example, like this:
TAKEOVER austria@gamename password privacyPassword

[TheManEatingCow]

I'll be following this game from the sidelines. I'll also put a damper on all of the Ox reverence and point out he got steamrolled as Austria in our Piri game. ;)

[Ox]

That was entirely Italy's fault. He was hell-bent and determined to attack Austria in 1901, despite my repeated sincere offers of an alliance. I predicted -- accurately -- that he would wind up being eliminated even before Austria was, but he didn't care.

Not that I am still bitter.

[Ink Asylum]

That's Diplomacy for you. Sometimes there's simply nothing you can do to sway people to your side. Someone's gotta get wiped out in the first couple turns. Typically two countries are, one on either side of the board.

[Serapth]

Resignation sent, sorry guys.

[Urizen]

I just received the resignation orders and was considering jumping in when I came to check this thread. Lo and behold.

Anyone want to move the deadline for Mal? We could do another 48 hours. I'll be Eddie Murphy and I guess that would make Ox Nick Nolte.

http://vizu.typepad.com/vizuble/images/2007/12/01/nick_nolte_mug_shot_dui.jpg

[Jackel]

I'd be actually happy with the deadline extension.

[Ox]

I don't mind giving Mal extra time, although he may not need it. Let's give him the time and he can submit orders for immediate processing if he likes.

Mal, you want to send a TAKEOVER message for Russia asap. People will usually be pretty good at accomodating a new player into alliances, but I imagine most relationships are formed and you'll want to get involved soon.

[Ox]

That's Diplomacy for you. Sometimes there's simply nothing you can do to sway people to your side. Someone's gotta get wiped out in the first couple turns. Typically two countries are, one on either side of the board.
Sure, I understand that. I just wish people who attacked me did so wisely. Italy literally was eliminated before I was because he attacked me first without making any effort to secure his own borders or get good allies. If he had stabbed me and then gone on to win (or at least survived me), it would be easier to take.

[TheKeck]

I think it's only fair to extend the deadline. As Ox pointed out, we can still process early if we're ready.

Edit: Oh wow, and we're apparently using some kind of variant that will allow us to happily continue playing with a resigned country? Weird. I definitely don't want that.

[quidmonkey]

I'll be following this game from the sidelines. I'll also put a damper on all of the Ox reverence and point out he got steamrolled as Austria in our Piri game. ;)

Oh Franzie! *claps hands*

I still can't believe you betrayed me.

So since we all know who Mal is, in the spirit of fairness, should we reveal our identities?

[Ox]

Given that people have already said they are going to try to figure out who I am and gang up to destroy me, I'm gonna say 'no.'

[TheKeck]

Hmmmm, I was going to say no too, but now I'm thinking yes. ;)

[MalReynolds]

sorry i was working all day and i just got home

[Nameless]

I'll vote no on the reveals; considering Ox's position, I don't think it'd be fair.

[MalReynolds]

umm whats the password ...

[Nameless]

umm whats the password ...

The password is whatever you used when you registered to the site, and the privacy keyword is 'cogmeharder'. See earlier in the thread if you're still having problems.

[MalReynolds]

i cant get this to work -.- nvm i give up

[TheKeck]

The password is whatever you used when you registered to the site, and the privacy keyword is 'cogmeharder'. See earlier in the thread if you're still having problems.
Actually, you probably DON'T want to use the password you used to register for the site. Whatever password you use for the game is revealed to the game master. I hope everyone is aware of this.

[TheKeck]

i cant get this to work -.- nvm i give up
Oh come on. You can do it!!!! Have you registerd with the site? You have to do that first. Once you're registered, just send this e-mail:

To: dpjudge@floc.net
Subject: Doesn't Matter
TAKEOVER russia@colonial1 mal'spassword cogmeharder

[MalReynolds]

well it wont let me take over anyway soo...

[TheKeck]

You will be rewarded for your efforts, I promise! ;)

[MalReynolds]

finally it works ... ugh ... Now i have to make orders for monday i suppose




Btw

[MalReynolds]

You will be rewarded for your efforts, I promise! ;)

dont know if i should be creeped out or just happy ... Umm

[TheKeck]

Orders for money? :confused:

Well, good job on sticking with it anyway!

Edit: Definitely creeped out. ;)

[MalReynolds]

now that ive taken over i need to find out how to play

[TheKeck]

Ha ha ha ha ha. You know nothing then?

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showpost.php?p=300505&postcount=45
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showpost.php?p=300351&postcount=20

And here's my super brief summary.

The game is all about supply centers. Those are the nations/spots with little dots on them. For each of those that you own, you get a unit; so you need to capture more to grow your army. The way to capture a supply center is by occupying it in the FALL turn. This is basically every OTHER turn. So, first we have a Spring move. Then a Fall. Spring, Fall, Spring, Fall etc. You must remember that the Fall is when points are captured.

Combat is very simple. You must have a greater force than the enemy to win, otherwise you both just "bounce" back to whereever you came from. You increase your force by supporting a move. So, if you have two units next to someplace you want to attack, you tell one of the units to attack, and you tell the other unit to support the attack. If you have, say, six units involved, you still just tell the one unit to attack, and the other five to support.

Because combat is so simplified, you will never get anywhere in the game just by trying to attack on your own. Hence the name Diplomacy. It's all about making and breaking alliances and working together to make progress.

Ok, I'll let you digest that much. I'd be happy to answer any and all questions.

[MalReynolds]

Nope :( sadly

[TheKeck]

Bump to make sure you see my edits. :p

[MalReynolds]

i think im gonna get f'd up ... i have no clue even after reading that stuff what to do

[TheKeck]

i think im gonna get f'd up ... i have no clue even after reading that stuff what to do
Ok, here's a different approach. You need to start talking to people. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your not neighbors. (This can all be done through the game's interface.) http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?game=colonial1

Those around you will have plenty to say about what they want to do and what they'd like YOU to do. You can carry out these negotiations and then figure out how to write up some orders.

[Serapth]

If in doubt, invade Germany, they probably deserve it.

Some extremely small minded advice from the guy that didn't play... you either need to make an ally of Turkey/Austria or England. You have too much landmass to fight a two front war.

[quidmonkey]

Ok, here's a different approach. You need to start talking to people. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your not neighbors. (This can all be done through the game's interface.) http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/?game=colonial1

Those around you will have plenty to say about what they want to do and what they'd like YOU to do. You can carry out these negotiations and then figure out how to write up some orders.

I second this. You'll learn most from talking to your fellow players, and talking to them often. You'll want to talk to Germany, Austria and Turkey first, as they're your immediate neighbors, and once you get a feel for what's going on, talk to the other three.

[Jeffool]

Humble apologies first, and a huge thanks to The Ox second. I honestly forgot I'd posted in this thread, and I have no fucking clue as to why I didn't have "receive email when you receive a private message" checked. If/when a new game is formed, I'd love to be involved, and this time, I'll attempt to stay involved in things.

Again, sorry gents.

[MalReynolds]

i still havnt a clue how to play this ...

[TheKeck]

i still havnt a clue how to play this ...
OK, let's take a step back. I assume you are able to log into the game as Russia. I hope you have opened up the .pdf of the map and can figure out which units are yours. (The white ones.)

At a high level, this is basically a game of world domination, sort of like Risk. Whoever expands the most (either alone or as a team) wins. As I mentioned before, you will only accomplish this by working with other nations and/or tricking them into doing what you want them to. Simply trying to battle it out without compromise will get you absolutely nowhere.

The game is broken up into a series of turns or moves. For each move, EVERYONE in the game "writes down" (submits online) what they want their moves to be. For each unit you own, you may either move it one space, or tell it to hold defensively, or support another unit's action. This is all done in secret. Once everyone has written down their moves they are all processed simultaneously. So, if you told your army to move somewhere and somebody else told their army to move there too, then they "bounce" and go back to where they came from. If you have two armies attacking, though, then you will win the battle and successfully move into the spot. (Stuff like that.)

So a lot of the game is about guessing what other people will do with their units and ordering yours accordingly. Does that much make sense?

[MalReynolds]

i understand that but i dont have a clue about the orders ... Im not use to this

[Nameless]

Try downloading the rulebook (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/prod/diplomacy) at the Avalon Hill site and take a look at that, it'll help you understand game structure and order structure. I would also suggest taking a close look at the sample opening moves on pages 19-22. These will give you an idea of what orders look like, as well as some of the tricky parts of the rules.

Good luck!

[MalReynolds]

I made my first move ... only took like 10 hours to figure out -.-


its very unfair that everyone knows who i am and i have no clue who what country

[Serapth]

I made my first move ... only took like 10 hours to figure out -.-


its very unfair that everyone knows who i am and i have no clue who what country

Not really, as they have no prior history to judge you by. I mean, some know you are new and probably naive, but that can work as much in your favor as against it.

[TheKeck]

i understand that but i dont have a clue about the orders ... Im not use to this
Ah, if I had known that was the specific question, I could have helped with it! :)

Do you feel that you're pretty much an expert now, or could you use any more explanation?

[Nameless]

If it helps at all, Mal, I'm hardly an expert myself. I've only played two games of Diplomacy before this one. I played a third one this past weekend with some folks that had never played before, and mishandled some rules explanations which caused some real problems during the game (ie: I failed to mention that units can't directly "switch places" on the map, ignored the Norway-St. Petersburg connection).

It takes a bit of time to get used to, but if you have any quesitons, as TheKeck said, post them here in this thread and we'll try to help as much as we can.

[MalReynolds]

the server down for anyone else?

[TheKeck]

Indeed it is. :(

That's been happening a lot lately. It's happened before that the server has been down, causing people to miss the deadline and everything gets royally screwed over. To prevent that, we could use the "civil_preview" option, which makes it so the game won't process until the master says so if there are any unordered nations when the deadline hits.

The drawback of that, of course, would be that things would be put on hold if somebody is just a slacker and doesn't submit. In that case, the game master could still just process things, but if he's not on the ball..... Anyway, just something to consider.

[MalReynolds]

dis is gah

[Ox]

Server is back up.

For future reference, if the server is down, you can still submit your orders through the email interface. You won't get the confirmation email until the server is back up, of course, but it helps prevent an NMR.

[quidmonkey]

Server is back up.

For future reference, if the server is down, you can still submit your orders through the email interface. You won't get the confirmation email until the server is back up, of course, but it helps prevent an NMR.

The only problem with that is that our reference guide happens to be on the same said server. But I suppose we could simply do this:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3349/3447492533_3d93097951.jpg

Or however you're suppose to get a message to Krypton.

[TheKeck]

Server is back up.

For future reference, if the server is down, you can still submit your orders through the email interface. You won't get the confirmation email until the server is back up, of course, but it helps prevent an NMR.
It is also some incentive to get some tentative orders in early, just in case.

[TheKeck]

I like how Russia managed to get his orders in by the original deadline. Why did we change it again? :p

[MalReynolds]

i know and Austria hasnt


plus i havnt gotta a message back from Austria -.-

[MalReynolds]

I dont like Russia its to big

[TheKeck]

But you get four units while everyone else only three! :D

[MalReynolds]

but its huge

[quidmonkey]

Sigh...I resigned. Consider the reasoning to be "life shit."

I hope to be able to participate in our next outing. Good luck to my replacement.

Goodbye, cruel world.

[Urizen]

...and then there were six.

Anyone else in the thread interested in jumping into the game?

[TheKeck]

Now is Jeffool's time to shine?

[Serapth]

Ironically, My life drama is, um, less dramatic now

[Nameless]

Ironically, My life drama is, um, less dramatic now

You just wanted to be France, didn't you? :p

[Serapth]

Oh and I have to agree, playing as Russia blows. Too much landmass, too many options or factors outside your control.

[Superman's Dead]

The talk of this game makes me think of Shadow of the Hegemon, and I like that. I will be watching closely.

[Serapth]

You just wanted to be France, didn't you? :p

what can I say, I gave thus brilliant idea to form the 'line' of defense along the German border, it would be indestructable!

Edit: ugh! The iPhone makes you type like a fucking idiot!

[Nameless]

what can I say, I gave thus brilliant idea to form the 'line' of defense along the German border, it would be indestructable!

Edit: ugh! The iPhone makes you type like a fucking idiot!

Make sure the wall surrounds the entire border this time, and can't just be avoided! :)

The talk of this game makes me think of Shadow of the Hegemon, and I like that. I will be watching closely.

Man, now I really want to read that book. Thanks for making my to-read pile larger!

[Jeffool]

Depending upon Serapth's entry, I'd like to play. But since he got here first, I understand if he gets it.

[Serapth]

Depending upon Serapth's entry, I'd like to play. But since he got here first, I understand if he gets it.

No, no, the spot is yours!

[Nameless]

Huzzah! I just want to get my elimination over with post-haste! :D

[MalReynolds]

Oh and I have to agree, playing as Russia blows. Too much landmass, too many options or factors outside your control.

id have to agree

[Superman's Dead]

Man, now I really want to read that book. Thanks for making my to-read pile larger!

Yeah. It's too bad, because it gets better in Shadow Puppets...and even BETTER in Shadow of a Giant...so...yeah.

Orson Scott Card used to basically play this game by himself in his room at night.

[Jeffool]

No, no, the spot is yours!... I won't argue! I'll take it! ... How do I sign up?

[Ox]

Send an email to dpjudge@floc.net from the email account to which your dpjudge account is registered.

The body of the email should be so:

takeover fcolonial1 yourpassword cogmeharder

Remember that Urizen will be able to see the password you submit, and it doesn't have to be the same as your dpjudge account password. Make up a new password specifically for this game.

[Jeffool]

Send an email to dpjudge@floc.net from the email account to which your dpjudge account is registered.

The body of the email should be so:



Remember that Urizen will be able to see the password you submit, and it doesn't have to be the same as your dpjudge account password. Make up a new password specifically for this game.I almost said "you're a prince," but, that would be underselling you, good sir.

[Urizen]

So, does the wise fool need an extension on the deadline?

Do any players want extra time before the next deadline to feel out the new France?

[MalReynolds]

im ok but my orders are in.... but if anyone need more time im ok with it

[Jeffool]

So, does the wise fool need an extension on the deadline?

Do any players want extra time before the next deadline to feel out the new France?Personally I think that I'll have enough time to work things out, so there's no need to extend it on my account. That said, if anyone else does want an extension, I won't object.

[TheKeck]

Yeah, an extension turned out to be unneeded last time.

[Urizen]

3 out of 7 is a majority in my book.

No extension.

[MalReynolds]

I know im just that amazing :)

[Jackel]

Damn. well for some reason I thought I had more time on monday. But I guess w/ my time zone I missed the chance to make my orders.

(was busy all weekend).

[TheKeck]

5 am on Monday morning does seem to negate the reasoning behind no moves on weekends.

[Matthias]

5 am on Monday morning does seem to negate the reasoning behind no moves on weekends.

I agree. I was expecting a noon deadline, then saw 5 and just assumed 5pm (which is silly, because I keep my computer and phone, etc. in military time anyway).

[MalReynolds]

id have to agree but i already had my moves done

[Urizen]

So I'm as confounded as everyone else as to why this happened. I did not do anything to mess with the settings since the extension for new Russia.

Wish I could help. DPJudge is officially unreliable in my book.

For the next game, we should switch to a different service.

Everyone should submit tentative orders as early possible from here on out - just in case - something like this happens again.

EDIT:

Just got a message that two powers had to yet to process their builds fort he 5am deadline so I changed it to 5pm EDT. Hope that's OK with everyone.

[Jackel]

So I'm as confounded as everyone else as to why this happened. I did not do anything to mess with the settings since the extension for new Russia.

Wish I could help. DPJudge is officially unreliable in my book.

For the next game, we should switch to a different service.

Everyone should submit tentative orders as early possible from here on out - just in case - something like this happens again.

EDIT:

Just got a message that two powers had to yet to process their builds fort he 5am deadline so I changed it to 5pm EDT. Hope that's OK with everyone.

Honestly, that feels a bit unfair (at least for me) considering I got bit during the last deadline. And if we're going to do something, might as well carry it through, not change it part way.

[TheManEatingCow]

I believe that DPJudge calculates the new time from when the orders are processed. So, if the game started off on a 24 hour cycle at Monday 12pm, if the last person submitted their orders at 1am Tuesday, DPJudge will process those orders and the new cycle begins at 1am Tuesday and would end at 1am Wednesday.

I would agree with Jackel....don't extend deadlines unless the players all agree to it. If players can't get their orders (or provisional orders) in on time, then they should suffer the consequences.

[Ox]

Remember also that, if you know you're not going to be able to make the deadline because of personal matters, there are a couple of options:

1. You can command the server to extend the deadline for a day. Don't abuse this.

2. You can email Urizen and tell him you'll be out of town. He can easily extend the deadline as long as he wants. I did this in the evilavatar2 game when I went on vacation, although I forgot to let anyone else know and everyone got a little annoyed at the unexpected weeklong delay.

Actually, while I'm at it, I might as well mention that I'm going to be out of town August 28 - September 7. I'll send Urizen an email to remind him to set the wait flag for that time.

[TheKeck]

I believe that DPJudge calculates the new time from when the orders are processed. So, if the game started off on a 24 hour cycle at Monday 12pm, if the last person submitted their orders at 1am Tuesday, DPJudge will process those orders and the new cycle begins at 1am Tuesday and would end at 1am Wednesday.
This is true, although, I BELIEVE there is a way to set it up so the deadline doesn't ever change, if that's desired.

[Urizen]

My bad, guys.

Like I said, I only intervened because I saw two powers were outstanding and it looked like they were going to get caught off-guard by the deadline. Sincere apologies.

But yes..I am following the game a lot more closely over email (in part because its unavoidable) than I am in this thread. You can always reach me there.

[MalReynolds]

sites down again :(

[Vigil80]

I'll bite. What's Diplomacy and how do I get started?

[Jeffool]

I'll bite. What's Diplomacy and how do I get started?heh, check the first few pages for info and instructions, but it's a board game that's been ported to the 'net, and it's pretty awesome.

[TheKeck]

Yeah, what Jeffool said. :)

[MalReynolds]

who ever is Austria need to get there moves in soon

[Jeffool]

Negotiations take _time_ sir. Don't rush people!

[MalReynolds]

im just making sure that he/she knows its almost time before the deadline so they get their orders in

[MalReynolds]

im done ...

[Urizen]

Alright, Prizefighter...

You're Russia. Third Czar in two years.

[Jackel]

im done ...

Do you have a reason or?

[Ox]

Jesus, I'm beginning to have fond feelings for Lenin. Say what you will about him, at least he knew how to retain control of his country for three consecutive years.

[TheKeck]

Do you have a reason or?
Yeah, that was a little... abrupt.

[MalReynolds]

i dont know ... just a split decision, Other things to do and stuff in my life i guess

But i will play again if theres another game of course

[Urizen]

i dont know ... just a split decision, Other things to do and stuff in my life i guess

But i will play again if theres another game of course

OK. Now that's just poor form.

I don't think you'll be welcome to the next game with that attitude. Diplomacy requires an investment. I think you realized that going in. Decency would have prompted most people to put up with it even if it wasn't turning out ideally for the sake of the six other players invested and depending on you.

Anyway, that's all I'll say on that.

Should I suspend the game until we find a Russia? The clock's ticking.

[MalReynolds]

Well my mom hasnt been feeling well lately so im a bit stressed im sorry

[Nameless]

So. We're in need of a new Russia. Anyone?

[Ox]

Definitely stop the clock until a new Russia.

[Urizen]

Damn it.

I love times like these when Ox drops his charade and throws me on to his log like a lumberjack.

Put a week's extension on the current phase. Game status is "waiting".

[Nameless]

So, this game appears to be pretty much dead, but I'll give it another shot in case someone's interested. Anyone up for taking over Russia?

[Jackel]

Ugh. I hate to be the next cog in a wheel of unfortunate events, but I'm leaving today on a 2 - 3 week long trip / move where I'll most likely be w/ out internet 90% of the time.

So I'm going to have to resign my position with Italy.

I apologize but with the huge delay in waiting for Russia, time just kept getting closer to my hard deadline.

[Urizen]

New deadline is set for the Thursday after Labor Day. That should allow everyone to get situated after their holiday and resume messages until then.

I confess I didn't see a "Suspend" option on my Gamemaster screen. The other options besides "Active" were "Completed", "Waiting" and "Terminated". I set it to "Waiting". Not sure what that does.

Hopefully, there is a gentleman's agreement in place to hold off on playing until the day after Labor Day.

EDIT: I know who Italy is.

[Urizen]

Alright, gents.

A heads up that the game resumes this week!

[TheKeck]

Oh really? I was sure this game was done for good. Interesting.

[Nameless]

Wow. I thought this was done, too. I will sadly return to my bent-over position in front of Austria and Russia.

[MalReynolds]

server down :(

[Nameless]

So, did this just die? Not that I'm complaining, really. Ending this game before I get destroyed is probably the best outcome I could see. :D

[Whunpo]

I'd be down for joining if you guys still want someone. I love strategy games like this.

[Nameless]

Alright, I'll be honest, I'm jonesin' for some Diplomacy... Would anyone be interested in a game? One that we might finish this time? ;)

[Ink Asylum]

I'll pass. Online games just eat up too much time for me these days. I still wish I could get into an in person game but it's really hard to find enough people interested.

[Jeffool]

Alright, I'll be honest, I'm jonesin' for some Diplomacy... Would anyone be interested in a game? One that we might finish this time? ;)I'm up for at least one game. Someone has to lose and then take over the first power to quit. Why ruin my perfect record of being that guy?

[Nameless]

Exactly!

So we've got two. Anyone else?

[TheKeck]

Alas, I must decline. I just don't have the time I did at my old job. :(

[Loki]

I have no idea what it is nor how to play it. But I am interested.

[Ink Asylum]

Oh boy. Well, every Diplomacy game needs one newbie.

[Loki]

Oh boy. Well, every Diplomacy game needs one newbie.

Am I wrong in assuming that this is a web-based version of the same titled board game?

[Nameless]

Am I wrong in assuming that this is a web-based version of the same titled board game?

You are correct! There's a lot of information online, as well as the official manual available off of the official site (I think), and here are some wonderful posts including advice from earlier in this thread:

Post #1 (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showpost.php?p=300505&postcount=45)
Post #2 (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showpost.php?p=300351&postcount=20)

Also, welcome! Five more.

[TheKeck]

You are correct! There's a lot of information online, as well as the official manual available off of the official site (I think), and here are some wonderful posts including advice from earlier in this thread:

Post #1 (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showpost.php?p=300505&postcount=45)
Post #2 (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showpost.php?p=300351&postcount=20)

Also, welcome! Five more.
Shouldn't that be four more?

Nameless, Jeffool, Loki + 4 = 7

[Loki]

Do I need the board to be able to play in the group?

[Nameless]

Shouldn't that be four more?

Nameless, Jeffool, Loki + 4 = 7

Don't you usually need a GM for online games? If there's a way to avoid having a GM, that's definitely the option we'd go though.

Do I need the board to be able to play in the group?

Nope! Odds are we'll be using a site that'll generate a GIF image of the board every season. It can be a little bit difficult to get used to the way the site works, but it shouldn't get in the way of the negotiations.

Here's the link to the site we used last time: DPJudge (http://www.floc2.net/dpjudge/)

[TheKeck]

Don't you usually need a GM for online games? If there's a way to avoid having a GM, that's definitely the option we'd go though.
I am, in fact, retarded. ;) That said, I'd be happy to GM for you guys, since that's hardly a time commitment at all.

[Urizen]

I was GM for the last failing game and am eager to redeem myself. If you want to play, TheKeck, I'll GM.

[Ox]

Has this fell thread stirred from its unholy slumber? Once more the wretched masses of Europe must suffer and bleed for the fickle amusement of their betters. I stand ready, awash in cruelty and deception, as in days of old.