Diplomacy: Standard - Spring 1903

Gabu
Atlas Star

Posts: 28,386

Political Matrix
E: -4.32, S: -6.52

Show only this user's posts in this thread

	Diplomacy: Standard - Spring 1903 « on: June 09, 2007, 04:13:49 PM »
	« edited: July 10, 2007, 12:29:46 AM by SoFA Gabu »

I've volunteered to run this thing, so here we go. I've randomly assigned countries to the first seven who signed up, so without further ado, here are our players:

England: bullmoose88
Germany: TN2024
France: Jas
Italy: Emsworth
Austria-Hungary: ilikeverin
Russia: Colin Wixted
Turkey: Supersoulty

And here is our initial map:

SPRING 1901

A map with region names can additionally be found here. Be sure to make note of this; the names of regions is invaluable when playing the game.

A full explanation of the game rules can be found here. A not-quite-so-in-depth overview of the rules, for the benefit of the players, is as follows:

All players begin with three units, except for Russia, which begins with four. There are two types of units: armies, represented by cannons, and fleets, represented by battleships. Each player may make one move with each unit per turn. The moves that can be made are as follows:

- Move/Attack (identical actions)
- Hold
- Support
- Support attack
- Convoy (fleets only)

Moving or attacking is straightforward: you merely specify what army or fleet you want to move (by what region it currently occupies) and then specify where you want it to go. If there is no unit occupying the space or who is moving into that space, then the unit will simply move there. If there is indeed a unit moving there or who was already there, then the move counts as an attack, whose mechanics will be specified later.

Also, it should be noted that one can see on the map the abbreviations "NC", "WC", "SC", and "EC". These stand for "north coast", "west coast", "south coast", and "east coast", respectively. If a fleet lands on one coast, it cannot leave from another coast. It may only travel to regions adjacent to the coast on which it landed.

Holding is even more straightforward: the unit does nothing. To execute a hold, simply specify what army or fleet you want to hold.

Supporting another unit is essentially defending that unit from attack. More on this later when attacking is described in detail.

Supporting an attack is the opposite of supporting another unit. Here, you are helping a unit move into another region, rather than holding the region it currently occupies. Again, more on this later.

Convoying a unit is something that only fleets can do. Essentially, a convoy counts for the move of two units at the same time, and involves both an army and a fleet. When a fleet is parked into an water region, it and an army bordering the water region can both act in tandem to allow the army to cross the water region and land on a region bordering on the water region on the other side of it. For example, a fleet in the Baltic Sea can convey an army from Sweden down to Prussia.

Attacking is one of the more complicated points of the game, and a brief overview of its mechanics follows. Every unit in the game is deemed as having the same power as every other unit (which we will conveniently designate as a power of "one"). Whenever a unit is supported by another unit, its power is increased by one. If a unit attacks another position, the unit with the most power wins. If both units have the same amount of power, the unit who is holding wins. If neither units are holding (e.g., when two units move to the same location), neither wins, and both are forced to retreat.

If a unit is dislodged by an attacking unit with superior power, that unit is forced to retreat to a neighboring region with no units in it that is not the one from which the attacker came. If no such regions exist, the unit is disbanded and removed from play.

If a unit is supporting another unit, that unit's support can be cut by having another unit attack it on the same turn in which it attempts to support another unit. In this case, play continues as if that unit never attempted to support the other unit.

Any region with a dot in it appearing on the map is considered a "supply center". These are invaluable regions that all players should strive to capture (more on capturing in a bit). First, any player who comes into control of at least eighteen of the thirty-four supply centers is declared the winner of the game. Second, a player may have as many units on the board as he has supply centers under his control. After fall of each year (more on seasons in a bit), each player may either add units to the board if he owns more supply centers than units, or must remove units from the board if he owns less supply centers than units.

Each turn is considered either one or two seasons (seasons being spring, summer, fall, and winter). Actual moves are taken in spring and fall. If any units are dislodged by an attack, the retreat takes place in the intervening season. A player comes into control of a supply center if the player occupies that supply center after the fall turn. If a supply center is unoccupied after a fall turn, it does not become uncontrolled; it simply does not change hands.

Players are free to openly or secretly discuss strategies among any other players. It should be cautioned, however, that no agreements in the game are binding in any way; a person fulfilling their end of a bargain is entirely up to the trustworthiness of the player in question.

For the benefit of myself, here is the format that I would like players to give their orders in (for everything but convoy commands; those will come afterwards):

(A/F) (occupied region) (move type) [destination region]

Where:

- "A" or "F" designates whether the unit is an army or a fleet (this is sort of just a sanity check to make sure the player is moving the right unit)
- "occupied region" is the name of the region occupied by the unit the player would like to move
- "move type" can be either "moves to", "holds", or "supports" (this should be self-evident)
- "destination region" is the region (if applicable) that the unit is acting on

For example, Germany could do the following:

A Berlin moves to Prussia

For convoy commands, the format should be as follows:

F (occupied water region) convoys A (occupied land region) to (destination region)

For example, the Baltic Sea example would look like this:

F Baltic Sea convoys A Sweden to Prussia

With all of this said, the game is now officially open. Please PM me your orders when you are ready to move. Once all moves are in, I will post in this thread the new map. DO NOT POST YOUR MOVES IN THE OPEN! Your moves must be secretly transmitted to me. You are free to announce your intentions in private to your allies, however. Also, PLEASE specify that it is the standard variant of diplomacy, as well as what season and year it's for. This will greatly help me organize my PMs, especially if we get another variant going.

This thread can also be used for ongoing discussion of the game.

And... go.

Logged

minionofmidas
Lewis Trondheim
Atlas Institution

Posts: 58,206

	Welcome, Guest. Please login or register. Did you miss your activation email? April 24, 2024, 04:52:29 AM

News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more