Diplomacy

What does Veeky Forums think of diplomacy? I'd like to share some strategy and maybe talk about games you've had. Can Italy ever actually ein?

Italy can definitely win, you just have to play a strong game. It's definitely the hardest long-term. Austria is probably hardest short-term, but if you can weather the storm and get at least one solid ally you stand a fighting chance. I actually almost won my first game I ever played as Austria.

Never won as Italy, alas.

I was told it was *the* friendship-ending game.

How true is that?

I'd say as much as any other game like it, from Cataan to Risk to Monopoly. It's a game where you and your friends all lie to each other (or not.) Only one person can win (though several can draw, but draws are for sissies), and there are seven players. If you can't agree to leave what happens in the game at the table, you shouldn't be playing Diplomacy.

There are some cool variants, too: Woodrow Wilson rules is a cool one, where everybody can only talk in the same room, so scheming is harder.

I've always heard it called gunboat rules. It's makes it a bit more friend saving at least. Just started a new game as Italy (ive started playing on the droid app) and got tied up in a war wi th Austria because they were being Para old and trying to take me. Meanwhile I have france on my ass and turkey with 3 fleets in the medditeraian because they fucked up russia. I hate idiots.

We've had 'tg plays diplomacy' threads before using a couple of online services and posting screenshots of the turns, they tend to be okay, if a bit slow.

'finish turn when everyone has done' is much better than fixed time turns - means no long-ass waiting when all the players are on and no-one getting caught out because the turn ended at a time that is really bad for them (though it can get slow)

Yeah, Austria picking an unjustified fight with Italy is pretty dumb early on. Austria has much, much bigger fish to fry.

I was literally moving toward a Lepanto to too.

I'm honestly fine with a daily format . I find the game more enjoyable that way as you have time to discuss strategy.

He probably thought you were in cahoots with Turkey.

I was in talks but they were fake. I think either france or germany was feeding him false information and he was just gobbling it up.

Yeah, it happens. Italy needs to be really good at talking to France and Austria in particular. If you're worried about future Italy games, I'd suggest you read not only Italy metagame articles, but also France and Austria metagame. That will help you get a much better handle on what you need to say to them.

I'd really like to get good at Italy honestly. It seems like it would be decent enough to play as if I could get a handle on a few things. I've enjoyed it more than most other countries

>Can Italy ever actually ein?

Yes, in fact Italy is my favorite and I regard it as a secret powerhouse.

Gunboat is where there is no verbal or written communication, all is expressed via your armies and navies.

It's a trip, that's for sure. Understanding Turkey is also essential, of course. I believe that Italy's strongest prospects lie in a classic Central Alliance with Austria and Germany. Italy can also do well out of cooperation with Russia and Turkey against Austria if they can get the French player to leave them be, and potentially then cooperate with Russia against Turkey.

Of course, the same thing can apply to Britain/France. But then you have to worry about the Turks and the Austrians behind you, rather than usually just the French- assuming most French players don't want English ships in the Western Med.

That's fair, I'd like to get one going again some day, but I'm on mobile today

I came up with a variant version of Diplomacy, that I might just be able to post here before falling victim to the site's rampant equinophobia. The map here is half the normal size I have it saved as, in order to make it fit the file size limit.

This variant has an Airforce unit. All nations can build air forces, although only the Griffins, Elks, and Ponies start with them (similarly, all nations can build navies, but the Buffalo don't start with them). Airforces can seize adjacent territories by moving into them as normal, and reinforce other units as normal. Airforces can also reinforce, but not seize, territories up to two spaces away, but always lose to attacking armies and navies unless the Airforce is reinforced (by any other unit type). Airforce units can move into any legal space, land or sea (but not impassible ones like the Crystal Empire).

By default the game has six nations: Elkheim (green), Griffin Empire (red), Equestria (blue), Naqah (brown), Buffalo Tribes (yellow), and Tapira (purple). A popular variant adds a seventh nation, Cavallia-Zaldia; many game boards will slightly darken Cavallia-Zaldia so as to denote it.

The Crescent Sea does connect to the Sea of Naqah.

Starting units and positions:
A = Army
F = Airforce
N = Navy (instead of Fleet)

ELKHEIM
N Elkheim
F Hirvi
A Elgland

GRIFFINS
F Haupstadt
N Poronajsk
F Markovo

PONIES
N Broncordia
F Canterlot
A Hysanguia

CAMELS
A Naqah
A Saaibah
N Ard

BUFFALO
A Pte
A Tatanka
A Ptehinchala

TAPIRS
N Killa
A Yana
N Allqu

CAVALLIA-ZALDIA (Variant)
F Cavallia
N Zaldia
A Semental

Overall, Equestrian Diplomacy is a much more mobile game than standard Diplomacy, thanks to the inclusion of the Air Force and the fact that the map is wide open and surrounded by sea.

...Right, let's start the clock to see how long it takes for me to get banned. I got nothin' better to do.

Oh, I forgot, there are a total of 32 Supply centers, so victory occurs when one nation controls a total of 17 (as opposed to 18 in standard Diplomacy).

I knew a couple who got divorced over it.

Well, not really. They'd been on the rocks for a while, and like all fights over stupid things, they were really fighting over something much more fundamental (her trust issues, his untrustworthiness). But it definitely was the catalyst for the fight that ended their relationship.

Mike is my best friend. I trust him with my car, with my dog, with my wife, Hell, even with my life.

BUT I DO NOT TRUST THAT MOTHERFUCKER WITH BELGIUM.

Actually funnily enough, Diplomacy is properly a game of TRUST, not betrayal. The betrayals tend to stand out a lot, but if you do nothing but betray everyone all the time, then of course everyone is going to turn on you and you'll never win.

Consider that one of the strongest possible alliances in the game is Germany and Austria. Basically if Germany and Austria sit down at the start of the game and agree to never, ever attack each other, and indeed to help each other out whenever convenient, they're practically unbeatable.

I was Italy in a game where an alliance between myself, Russia, and Turkey had a really good shot. We gobbled up Austria and ended up slowly pushing back a French and British alliance through the decimated remains of Germany. Then Turkey decided to backstab us during a fall turn for his own amusement, and France and Britain took advantage of the resulting loss of troops to beat all three of us.

I mean, we knew it was coming eventually, but we figured it'd happen when those two stopped being a threat, or that he'd at least have made a secret alliance with them. Nope, he just got bored of winning.

>France is my best friend. I trust her with my trade, with my industry, with my army, Hell, even with my colonies.
>BUT I DO NOT TRUST THAT BITCH WITH BELGIUM.

Yeah, Diplomacy is pretty good at simulating real-world politics.

Side note: I really thought I would have been banned for the Equestrian Diplomacy thing I posted above. I guess Veeky Forums isn't as equinophobic as the rest of Veeky Forums.

>I guess Veeky Forums isn't as equinophobic as the rest of Veeky Forums.
It's the board that deciphered the mysteries of the horse pussy, after all.

The only issue I have with your board is it doesn't seem balanced. Diplomacy is almost literally perfectly balanced, though I'm not sure if it's through luck or hardcore effort.

>perfectly balanced
>what is the steamroller

You can smash the steamroller with coordinated Austro-Italian (The Lepanto) moves in the Balkans/Mediterranean. The Steamroller needs to win The Balkans fast, or they won't have enough steam to protect Russia's flanks.

are we playing a variant of mornington crescent rules for Diplomacy in this thread?

How grand! I usually open turkish and connect around to capture ireland. Which is actually true, I play turkey whenever I can, try to play nice with russia, and then just move around with my fleet and fuck england in it's ass

>Can Italy ever actually ein?

Yea, sure, I think Italy could maybe EIN, ZWEI, DREI, UND DEUTSCHLAND VINS ZEE GAME!!!

>Eins zwei, eins zwei, build an empire
>Very Prussian!
>And to celebrate they top it of with a world war... and lose the entire fucking empire by themselves

sure italy can win.
Everybody can win.
trick is to not look like you're winning,
not leave an opening for betrayal,
and have a plan to kill everyone on the board.

Years after first playing it, I'm still quite certain Diplomacy is the best boardgame ever designed.

It really is. The only downside is it isn't nearly as fun if you don't have at least 7 players. Teams work fine, but if you have less than 7 it's silly.

That's true. I use Droidippy to play online games.

Thats what I'm using. I think I'm still stuck with the retards though. I just started and I'm on maybe my 3rd game. First one were someone didn't NMR the 2nd year.

No, if we were playing Mornington Crescent rules then the British player would prevent this by playing Sherlock Holmes into Bohemia, before marshalling his Dinosaur irregulars for a suprise assault on mainland Europe through spain, using Portugal as a staging area.
Unless of course the French player pushes one of his coins towards the English player before stating "But my dear Baron, had not esteemable Sherlock Holmes, for whom only our own Arsene Lupin has ever outmatched already met his alleged end are the Rickenbacker Waterfalls?"
At which point the British player must choose to either rebuff this with one of his own coins or attempt to weave an alternate narrative wherein he claims to have confused Sherlock with the french Chevalier: Auguste Dupin (banking on his gallic opponent not daring to diminish the achievements of his fellow countryman), who was visiting London to assuage his ennui and after embarking at Waterloo, alights at Charing Cross for southern Picadilly Line gambit, which puts him at Mornington Crescent.