muon2's Diplomacy game

[OBD]

S'pose I could play as Russia. Anyone tell me what I should do because I have a reasonable idea of what moves I want to make.

[OBD]

S'pose I could play as Russia. Anyone tell me what I should do because I have a reasonable idea of what moves I want to make.

I'll PM you a few strategy guides from the dude who created the game back in '54, that got published by Avalon Hill in '59 as a board game, then Avalon Hill becomes essentially the "Gold Standard" of Military Board Games by the time the '70s/'80s rolled around.

THANK YOU for stepping up the plate!!!!

Honestly Russia, likely isn't that hard to play as a "Newbie", mainly because most of your major "supply centers" are located further from potential hostile powers.

Next thing that is going to happen since you volunteered to represent Russia, is you will likely be bombarded from the other six players in the Game trying to negotiate with you (Myself Included), suggest strategic alliances, attempting moral suasion, potentially planning to backstab you, provide military advice, etc....

I suspect that most of us will go easy with you on your first turn, but point is you will need to sift the thistle through the sieve and attempt to discern who is a real potential friend, ally, hostile... you will need to discern their short, medium, and long-term political interests, tactical aspects of the game.

Bottom line on your first turn, will likely be to talk to every single player in the game, protect your supply centers, eyeball expansion opportunities, but not look at it like a "short term move"....

Every player in the Game will see a major betrayal against an Ally as a character flaw...

First moves in the game would likely be considered "safe moves"....

You currently have a strategic advantage in the game in the sense, that nobody has any idea of your playing style nor strategy based upon prior moves.

You will definitely want to review the official rules that Muon2 posted prior to sending ANY of your moves before the deadline FRIDAY 12 PM CST (?).

Since Muon2 is the official GM, I would suggest sending any requests to him regarding interpretations of the rules to him directly via PM when it comes to how to post Military Movements etc....

No problem!

Though I've only played one game before so I kind of don't have a strategy lmao

[OBD]

Since it is already Wed evening, I'll offer a delay if all players want it to get a replacement for England. If all six vote in favor by the time moves are due, I'll institute a one week delay. If at least one player does not vote or vetoes the delay moves will continue as scheduled.

If a new England is found before a delay is called, moves will continue as scheduled.

In any case, everyone should submit moves on time since there is no guarantee of a delay. If there is a delay moves can be changed.

I'll vote in favor, but honestly I don't care too much.

[OBD]

I'm sorry to lose England again. In Spring 1901 Germany submitted an illegal move and Ber had to hold. Same thing with England this turn. It's not normal play, but I can notify the player of any illegal moves so that the moves can be amended. Is that what players want?

I support that.  It's the same thing the email Diplomacy judges do if a player submits an invalid order.

I did not know that. In other online and face to face games I've played, illegal moves are covered by the rules as orders to hold.

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Note that the rules cover illegal orders differently than poorly written moves that are unambiguous, which are interpreted in favor of the player. For example England wrote "F Nor supports F Swe holding", and Nor isn't technically the abbreviation of any province (it could be Norway, North Sea or North Atlantic Ocean). Since there was only one of those three (nwy) that could support swe, it was interpreted that way.

As with other suggestions, if all other players want a house rule change to notify players of an illegal order submitted, we can do that.

I'm actually sympathetic and in agreement with Muon2 on this:

1.) As an individual who started playing D&D 2nd Edition almost 30 Years ago in live sessions, the DM/GM sets down the rules, and players are expected to abide by the rules.

2.) It is not the responsibility of the DM/GM to micro-manage individual players, when it comes to their individual decisions....

Any questions? DM/GM should respond in a private manner regarding any interpretation of the rules.

3.) Muon2 has invested a significant amount of his free time to host the game, and honestly should he be responsible to check up on every player's moves that are illegal and get clarification, especially within fixed timelines for players to submit moves?

4.) The GM did clearly state the Rules at the very beginning of the thread, which I have conscientiously reviewed to ensure my actions are compliant with Game Rules, so in theory it should be on the player to review and ask questions to the GM prior to posting any Movements or Actions (As I have done).

5.) In Diplomacy Tournament Games, there are situations where players will deliberately write illegal orders to confuse their opponents.... honestly I suspected that Germany might have done that on the first turn of this game (Although that is obviously not the case based upon what I know now).

6.) Fundamentally, I guess the individual players should ask do they want a "slop diplomacy" like a "slop pool" game, and create a constant GM intervention to divine the intentions of individual players regarding any moves that might appear illogical, or do we want a game where players are more engaged, spend a bit more time looking at the rules of Diplomacy 5.0, and react accordingly, and accept the individual consequences of poor choices and lack of attention to fundamental details of the game.

7.) Germany took their hits from their mistakes of '01.... We had a stand in for England providing "strategic advice" who made mistakes regarding fundamentals of the game.

Meanwhile we have a Newbie to the Game Knute Buehler from Oregon, who is taking this all in stride as a reluctant player who thought the Game was too difficult, who took over Russia under difficult circumstances.

8.) I'll go along with whatever the rest of y'all want to do, since I would much rather actually have a chance to play Diplomacy again after a few Decades, but my fundamental question would be:

To what extent should Muon2 babysit us, when the rules are clearly posted, and we can all collectively consume  "Wine, Cheese, and Smoke", and just move forward....

As the least-experienced player I probably would support notifications of illegal moves, because I'm the one most likely to make screwups.

Also I join the petition to bring back TrueFederalists.

[OBD]

I'll keep monitoring the vote on illegal move notification going forward.

Also, as it stands there is no England for the move due tonight. As before if someone wants to step in to play the turn they are welcome as long as it is before 11:59 pm CDT.

What it's due tonight?

[OBD]

There is a new issue that has arisen. The copyright issue has resulted in the closure of the Atlas Gallery, which is where I posted game maps. There have been even more restrictions required by Dave as he resolves the effects of the lawsuit. I'd like to see where image posting lands so that the game would have a clear location for the players to view the board with each turn.

If I can resolve this, I'd be happy to Judge another game.

You could also just post Imgur links if that's in line with the copyright policy.