Heroscapers - Diplomacy

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- Other Games (https://www.heroscapers.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=19)

- - Diplomacy (https://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=53767)

Oops. Sending now.

edit: Sent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper (Post 2141003)

Oops. Sending now.

edit: Sent.

How are you sending it? PM? Because I still havent got anything. XD

I'll play, is there a game link I have missed?

This is the post you missed. PM incoming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper (Post 2140856)

Ok, I set up a game on the DP Judge. Shoot me a PM and I'll send you some info, including the name of the game, and we can sign start signing up. There will be a bit of a learning curve at the start, for all of us because this is a next-gen judge for me, but we'll get there pretty quickly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper (Post 2140741)

I set up this thread to help the conversation along. I do love Diplomacy, but I don't have the burning need to play right now. I'll make some inquiries about what systems the game veterans are using to play online now. I encourage others to do the same, and we'll try to get a platform nailed down.

The more people who are interested in playing the better, because I don't expect that, when push comes to shove, all the listed names will sign up.

edit: Apparently, the cool kids are using this platform, which is the heir to the "Ken Lowe judges" that dominated online Diplomacy a few years ago: http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/

I can GM, which would allow me to help people manage interacting with the judge. Please have a look at it and post your thoughts, or share a different platform you'd prefer. Don't worry about the technical aspects of interacting with the judge; it's quite simple once you're used to it, and you get used to it quickly.

As I wrote above, after we have 7 I'll share the game name here so people can observe, and I'll post updates as well as the game progresses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper (Post 2140998)

You should be able to set country preferences up until game start, if you'd like.

Aha, indeed I was able to.

Taking just a little while to get used the syntax needed for the emails but getting a lot better at it now.

The syntax is very intuitive, in my opinion.

As for this situation:

Quote:

Originally Posted by All Your Pie (Post 2140859)

Oh sure, the basics seem pretty simple to wrap my head around. But if it gets to the point where I'm, say, convoying a unit across a channel to support another unit that's holding a province, I might miss a point where my opponent could easily break that chain somehow, or I might miss a path that would allow me to do something more useful. Or I might not submit my order properly, heh. Basically the sorts of higher level maneuvers a newer player might be expected to miss but I have a bad habit of trying to be a perfectionist.

Convoys can be disrupted if one of the convoying fleets is dislodged. There just aren't a whole lot of units on the board at any one location, though, normally, so you should see if this is possible at a glance.

Your bigger problem is that you don't convoy an army's support. You could support with the fleet, but any unit's support is vulnerable to being "cut." Support is cut when the supporting unit is defending itself. For instance, imagine the order F NTH s BEL-HOL: the fleet in the North Sea is supporting an army's push from Belgium into Holland.

Now imagine a different power - a power can't cut its own support - ordering F ENG-NTH: the fleet in the English Channel is moving into the North Sea. Even if that move bounces - as it will, if it's not supported, because the defending strength of F NTH is equal to the attacking strength of the F ENG - the North Sea fleet's support for BEL-HOL is "cut," and therefore void.

Yup, I've been brushing up a bit on the orders. Things are falling in to place somewhat now that I clarified for myself that a unit must be able to support into the space that is being attacked (unless it's supporting a hold), and that only the move order actually moves units (and the convoy order only works if the unit being moved is, well, moving).

And yup, I've signed up as has been mentioned. I'll let my pick be random, since I don't know the map or any of the advantages therein (other than Russia having four units to start, but that seems like it could be a dangerous game).

All the powers are very playable, though the game's asymmetrical board does matter.

Yeah going random is fine. Russia has a little bit of an advantage with 4, but in a game of Diplomacy, having the most centers does often make you the target of attacks. Overall there are some win stats out there that will state certain nations have better odds, but overall the balance is pretty good with any nation having a reasonable shot at winning.

Really the game is quite brilliant in the fact that it really is all negotiation, and while some of the orders sound confusing at first, it really is pretty simple and intuitive at the end. You'll pick things up relatively quickly in your first game.

Looking forward to it for sure.

In my humble opinion, Diplomacy is the *only* pre-Catan game that is still the best game in its niche. There are other 2-player abstract games I'd rather play than chess; other letter-tile word-making games I'd rather play than Scrabble. Lord knows there are other push-your-luck area control games I'd prefer to Risk. But for long-form negotiation games, there is one that is clearly superior, and it's Diplomacy, Alan Calhammer's old dinosaur from the 1950's.

I agree with one exception. Go is still the best abstract game and has been going strong for about 4000 years.

It's a very personal thing. I can believe that I might feel that way about Go if I knew it better, but my understanding of that game never advanced beyond having a very basic understanding of the rules.

Sign up, Q!