Diplomacy - Franco-German Tie

Aroused Bull

France and Germany have defeated all other countries and declared a tie.

The persons sharing in the tie are Thanatos (Germany) and MrMister (France), with 17 and 16 supply centres respectively. Game over! Europe has fallen under the tied control of the Franco-German league.

Map for the end of Fall 1912:

(Last turn's board)

Last turn:

France

F West Med -> Mid Atlantic Ocean
F Tyrhenian Sea -> West Med
A Piedmonte s Venice
A Venice s Trieste
A Trieste s Serbia
A Albania s Serbia
F Adriatic s Trieste
A Marseille s A Gascony -> Burgundy
A Paris -> Picardy
A Ankara s F Constantinople
F Constantinople s A Ankara

Turkey takes no action.

Germany

Army-Bulgaria-Support-Serbia
Army-Rumania-Support-Army-Galicia-Move-Budapest
Army-Munich-Support-Tyrolia
Army-Bohemia-Support-Tyrolia
Army-Vienna-Support-Galicia-Move-Budapest
Army-Galicia-Move-Budapest
Fleet-Sweden-Move-Denmark
Fleet-Baltic Sea-Support-Fleet-Sweden-Move-Denmark
Fleet-Kiel-Move-Holland

zenpotato

This is one of my favorite games of all time. I'm in the middle of one with a rather fast turn deadline though, so I'll sit this one out. I'll be happy to commentate though. Having a group of pundits watch is almost as much fun as playing.

(Not really, but it is really entertaining.)

SageinaRage

I would LOVE to get in on a game of diplomacy. I've heard so much about it, and never been able to get people to play. What this means is, I've never actually played, so I can't guarantee I'd be any good.

Circular

I am merely here to point out that Cornell University's Government 181 classes, "Introduction to International Relations," used to play Diplomacy in recitation sections until a particularly bitter in-game betrayal broke up a couple.

How many games can claim that, eh?

Kane Red Robe

Reporting for duty!

Neaden

I've never played before but I'd be interested in giving it a try. Well I did participate in one diplomacy game on the forums, but it kind of fell apart before it began.

Aroused Bull

Alright, we're probably full, depending on whether or not the person I hope will be ref is going to be. I'll update you when it's decided.

zenpotato

By the way, using 7 Gmail accounts with all correspondence fowarded to the judge (for posterity and to reward him with intrigue for his hardwork) is a great way to do this. It has built in IM if people like that, threading of emails, and all kinds of cool stuff.

Kane Red Robe

zenpotato wrote:

By the way, using 7 Gmail accounts with all correspondence fowarded to the judge (for posterity and to reward him with intrigue for his hardwork) is a great way to do this. It has built in IM if people like that, threading of emails, and all kinds of cool stuff.

This would kind of fall apart due to the fact that I don't have a Gmail account.

zenpotato

Kayne Red Robe wrote:

zenpotato wrote:

By the way, using 7 Gmail accounts with all correspondence fowarded to the judge (for posterity and to reward him with intrigue for his hardwork) is a great way to do this. It has built in IM if people like that, threading of emails, and all kinds of cool stuff.

This would kind of fall apart due to the fact that I don't have a Gmail account.

Not really. The judge sets up the seven accounts. England.PAdip@gmail.com, France.PAdip@gmail.com, etc... Allows for anonymity as well if you guys want that.

SageinaRage

zenpotato wrote:

Kayne Red Robe wrote:

zenpotato wrote:

By the way, using 7 Gmail accounts with all correspondence fowarded to the judge (for posterity and to reward him with intrigue for his hardwork) is a great way to do this. It has built in IM if people like that, threading of emails, and all kinds of cool stuff.

This would kind of fall apart due to the fact that I don't have a Gmail account.

Not really. The judge sets up the seven accounts. England.PAdip@gmail.com, France.PAdip@gmail.com, etc... Allows for anonymity as well if you guys want that.

Yeah, they're practically handing them out these days. I've got...50 invites?

nindustrial

My dear lord. I will be watching this closely and if all proceeds well would be interested in a later game. I have wanted to play this for such a very long time.

Aroused Bull

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and be ref. Nindustrial, that means you're in if you want it.
Everyone who's a player, read the rulebook - at least briefly - to get a good idea of how to play. First choice of country will be determined by random number generator.
zenpotato, I'm not sure of the specifics of your GMail idea, but it seems to be something like this: I create eight GMail accounts, one for each country and one for me, and then give the players the password for their country's account. Then, they use the email for correspondance, forwarding everything to the judge account so I can see what's going on. Is that right?

Thanatos

My vote goes to just assigning everyone's country randomly, RBB. It'll go faster, and be fairer that way.

Aroused Bull

Thanatos wrote:

My vote goes to just assigning everyone's country randomly, RBB. It'll go faster, and be fairer that way.

Yeah, you're probably right.

area

Circular wrote:

I am merely here to point out that Cornell University's Government 181 classes, "Introduction to International Relations," used to play Diplomacy in recitation sections until a particularly bitter in-game betrayal broke up a couple.

How many games can claim that, eh?

Going to university, my dad gave me one bit of advice.

Never play diplomacy. Ever.

zenpotato

Red Berry Blue wrote:

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and be ref. Nindustrial, that means you're in if you want it.
Everyone who's a player, read the rulebook - at least briefly - to get a good idea of how to play. First choice of country will be determined by random number generator.
zenpotato, I'm not sure of the specifics of your GMail idea, but it seems to be something like this: I create eight GMail accounts, one for each country and one for me, and then give the players the password for their country's account. Then, they use the email for correspondance, forwarding everything to the judge account so I can see what's going on. Is that right?

Yup. Set up all the forwarding options ahead of time, and then hand out the country's email and password to the player. Makes the game much more enjoyable for the judge. Being omnipresent when it comes to all the lying and stabbing makes the boring parts of being a judge worth it.

Also, two man teams can be quite good for email Diplomacy, since it means there's a built in backup if someone flakes out. Having to NMR a country can ruin the balance of a game very quickly.

Napoleon

Damnit this filled up too quick. If anyone quits before you start Ill play.

Neaden

So can we start plotting via pms yet or should we wait untill the email accounts are established?

Aroused Bull

I'll hand out the email addresses and passwords once I wake up in about eight hours. Any public plotting can be done in this thread. I'll give you a few days before the turns begin to sort out any preliminary alliances, etc, as is normally done in the board game.
Also, I haven't heard from Kusugattai or Senjutsu since they first signed up, so I'll need to confirm they're available.

Kusuguttai

huzzah, FRANCE

SageinaRage

woo, Italy!

...I think I'll go re-read some of those rules now.

thorgot

I played a game of this in high school, and ended up winning. Let me tell you, the only program you'll ever need is jdip. Not only does it allow you to try out your moves (and those your opponents and allies will do, but you can export as jpg.

Makes it easier for the adjudicator (referee) to post updated maps and stuff, too.

Tell me this isn't beatiful diplomacy:

nindustrial

Awesome, I'm in then! Beware the Turks..

So, I'll get to reading up on the rules (though I do have a general understanding) and await the start of the email info.

TinMan1997

At the end of each turn, can we get a brief update (link to a map, maybe) posted here?

I've never tried diplomacy, and this sounds fascinating.

Senjutsu

Sorry I'm late.

Kane Red Robe

Argh, England. The only nation I didn't scheme up a few starting plans with when I was reading the rules. Oh well, no time like the present.

Hacksaw

I just dropped in to say I love you, RBB.

Thanatos

Is our first turn a spring turn or a fall turn?

nindustrial

Thanatos wrote:

Is our first turn a spring turn or a fall turn?

Spring 1901 I believe; the year that saw the rising of the Turkish war machine..

Aroused Bull

The first turn is Spring 1901. Every turn I'll update the map and who holds what supply centres in the OP. I'll hand out the email addresses and passwords now, and then you'll have a couple of days to plot before the game begins in full.

Aroused Bull

How would the players prefer I handled the retreat & disbandment phase? Should a turn be devoted for you to write me your retreats, or should I handle them myself, or should the players include conditional retreats in their emails - e.g. "Brest fleet moves Gascony; retreat Brest", meaning that the fleet will retreat to Brest if forced to do so?

Kane Red Robe

Oh the dilemma. DO I message a potential ally with my plan and invite him to take part, or do I distrust him and send him a fake plan so that he'll be out of position? Or I could send a message telling him not to do something in the hopes that he'll be a jerk and do it anyways, thus doing exactly what I want... Hmm.

Echo

I did a game in G&T once. I found some software that took orders and generated maps, as well as some PHP stuff for online play that I never really tried.

Thanatos

Out of curiousity, of the people playing, who has played before?

I know I haven't.

Senjutsu

I have never played before.

Echo

I've played a couple of games.

Hot tip: never ride in the car of another player. You will hear the "move that army like I want or you walk home" argument.

Aroused Bull

The rules aren't very hard to figure out. I've only actually finished a few games myself.
The deadline for turns will be at 9 a.m. UTC. I understand that's about five in the morning for Americans, but it's really the only time I'm reliably able to devote to working out turn results.
The first deadline is in 35 hours. After that there will be 24 hours for each turn. I'll need a consensus on how to handle retreating and disbanding by then - check it out in the rulebook if you're not sure what it is.
It's also worth looking at the section of the rules pertaining to special areas. It covers places like Denmark and Sweden, which count as sharing a common border for both armies and fleets. Make sure you don't get hit by anything unexpected.

Thanatos

The hell is UTC?

Aroused Bull

Coordinated Universal Time. The forum runs on it. Subtract four hours to get EST.

Senjutsu

So 2:00 AM MST, right?

Edit: wait, 3:00 AM? This table is wrong.

Edit 2: Oh yeah, DST. So 3:00 AM MDT, 2:00 AM if we're still going after it ends.