Diplomacy Magazine From: loeb@greco-prog.fr (Daniel LOEB) Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 11:15:51 +0000 Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm rec.games.board Subject: Last EPC2? Issue #290 of Chapter Two of the Electronic Protocol By Daniel Loeb (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr) August 17, 1992 Distributed via: rec.games.pbm rec.games.board bit.listserv.dipl-l (max50k) ------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic Protocol Games played on the Diplomacy Adjudicator ------------------------------------------------------------- **** TABLE OF CONTENTS **** PART ONE - Opinions, Letters, and Editorials: Last Issue? Draw Washington Judge Other Judges Variant Series: Air Diplomacy DAAS: Diplomacy, an introduction PART TWO - Summary of all moderated games on the Judge: Editorial PART THREE - Report from the Battle Front Sparrow End of Game Report Rose End of Game Report Vega End of Game Report Quebec End of Game Report DPPA End of Game Report ***** PART ONE ***** *** LAST ISSUE? *** Due to numerous time constraints, I'm temporarily halting publication of Chapter Two of Electronic Protocol. I invite all interested parties to nominate themselves as replacement editor. I will continue to accept articles and will forward them to the next editor. Any urgent matters should be published yourselves via DIPL-L. *** DRAW *** From: Richard Desper <desper@MATH.RUTGERS.EDU> I have a question regarding Judge. As we know, Ken has left on an extended vacation. This is well-deserved, doubtless, but one of the games I am playing in has just ended in a draw. The problem is this: since Ken started the game with a moderated flag, we cannot stop the game! Does anybody have any ideas how to get Judge to let us terminate a game? <<I'm almost sure that it is impossible to stop the game in Ken's absence. I suggest that you all agree to HOLD your units in place (or something similar), and that you all submit such conditional orders for the next 2 years along with SET WAIT commands. That is about the best you can do. I'm hoping that Ken will soon install a real DRAW command. This will allow the SUMMARY of a drawn game to reflect its status. This in turn will allow better HALL OF FAME records to be kept.>> *** WASHINGTON JUDGE *** Last week Judge crashed due to reaching a limit of 750 players. The problem has been corrected by Ken, and Judge is back on its "feet". *** OTHER JUDGES *** Nick reports: "The following appeared on rec.games.board, ... there is presently a standard in F1901, and two standard games forming (one gunboat). The judge address is judge@gu.uwa.edu.au." I have gotten an error writting to this address. Does anyone else have news? On the other hand, from South Africa I receive: >From: Durban Diplomatic Adjudicator <judge@shrike.und.ac.za> >Name Phase Variant/Options >------- ------ --------------- >world S1902M Standard, Any-site. **** ANNOTATED MAPS **** I have a program that prints postscript diplomacy maps with units marked on them. Contact me for further details. I also have updated copies of my Spring 1901 openings library for anyone who wants. **** VARIANT SERIES: AIR DIPLOMACY **** From: Per Westling <c85perwe@und.ida.liu.se> {Air Diplomacy II}{by M. Janta-Polczynksi} [1. Wings:] [1.1.] This variant of Diplomacy follows the regular rules, but introduces a new type of (air) unit, the Wing. [1.2.] A Wing may only stay n a land space together with any one unit (A or F) of the same power (no two wings together; a Wing cannot exist by itself at the end of a season). [2. Orders:] [2.1.] Wings may be ordered to move by convoy, as if they were armies; the space of destination must be occupied by a unit (A or F) of the same Power at te end of the season; {\em or} [2.2.] support another unit: in the same space, in any adjacent space, or any space adjacent to an adjacent space. Support may be given over a body of water or over Switzerland. Support of Wings is {\em never} cut, and supports of different Wings never interfere with one another. [2.3.] The ``move'' order is not allowed for Wings. Thus Wings may never occupy supply center. [3. Retreats:] [3.1.] Wings {\em must} retreat when the units they are with are disloged, or have left the spaces they are in without replacement. \gt{Just's Right-Hand Rule} is used if no suitable retreat order was given. If no suitable retreat space exists, the Wing is disbanded. [3.2.] Wings may also retreat {\em voluntarily} to a suitable space. This compensates for the inability to ``move'' normally. [3.3.] In practice a player gives his retreat options in priority, underlining those which are {\em voluntary}. [3.4.] {\em Example:} ITALY: W(Ven) R-- \ul{Tri}, \ul{Tyr}, Rom, Apu. If a retreat to Tri or Tyr is possible, it would be done in {\em any} case; Tri first if possible); if neither were possible, it could retreat to Pie or Tus. If no adjacent space is available (none of them is occupied by an A or F of the same Power), the Wing would be disbanded. [4. Raising Wings:] Several alternatives could be envisaged here. [4.1.] The normal option for the regular game is the following: [\boll] Central Powers (Austria, Germany, Italy) raise 1 Wing in Winter 1900 and 1 Wing in Winter 1902. [\boll] The other Powers raise 1 Wing in Winter 1901 and 1 Wing in Winter 1903. [\boll] A Power acquiring a 7th, and then an 11th, center may build one more Wing the following Winter. [4.2.] Wings are raised in any owned home center. [Victory Criterion:] [5.1.] One can use the standard victory criterion (majority of centers), {\em or:} [5.2.] Supremacist Criterion: Ownership of 4 centers more than the next largest Power. [Bombardments (Optional):] Wings can be orders to bombard in the same spaces in which they could support. [6.1.] {\em Option 1:} Airfields bombarded. If 3 or more Wings bombard a space where another Wing is stationed, they destroy it; they do not however, prevent it from accomplishing its order for the same season. [6.2.] {\em Option 2:} Cities bombarded. if 3 Wings bombard a supply center, it is rendered unable to supply for 1 year; 4 Wings, 2 years; 5 Wings, 3 years; etc. [6.3.] Options 1 and 2 may be combined. [6.4.] {\em Example:} 2 French and 2 English Wings bombard Munich in 1904; no unit may be supplied by Munich in 1904 or 1905. Munich is listed among the centers of the owning Power as:\\ Mun (1906) 1906 being the year it can resume supplying (a new bombardment before 1906 would have no effect). If a Wing had been located in Munich at the start of 1904, it would also be destroyed. **** DIPLOMACY ARTICLE ARCHIVES SERVICE **** Here is another installment of the DAAS catalog. DIPLOMACY, AN INTRODUCTION A01 Take your pick, Don Brown, 1980, 2 A02 Cynics guide to Diplomacy, Martin Lewis, 2 A03 An Introduction to PD, Hartley Patterson, 1972, 2 A04 The war begins, Bruce Linsey, 1 A05 Some questions, answers, and definitions, Bruce Linsey, 3 A06 Face to face vs postal, Jack Brawner, 1 A07 Gloom and Doom, Randolph Smythe, 1 A08 An introduction to the Postal Gaming Hobby, Han Niechwiadowicz, 1 A09 The invention of Diplomacy, Alan Calhammer, 3 A10 Diplomacy for Beginners, Steve Doubleday, 1 A11 So you've never played diplomacy?, Steve Doubleday, 4 (order with A10) A12 The diplomacy primer, Richard Walkerdine, 1 A14 The great war, Francois Cuerrier, 1988, 4 A15 Playing diplomacy by post, Mark Nelson, 1987, 2 A16 Blood, gore, dribbling ye low intestines and more blood, Pete Doubleday, 1983, 3 A17 The REAL reason behind diplomacy, John MacFarlane, 2 A18 Some diplomatic quotes, John Cain, 1988, 1 A19 Diplomacy: A-Z (V-Z), Richard Egan, 1990, 2 (Updated version available in EP chapter 2) A20 They call it Postal, Kathy Caruso, 1989, 1 ***** PART TWO ***** Send LIST to the various JUDGE for information. ***** PART THREE ***** *** SPARROW END OF GAME SUMMARY *** From: casmacin@atlas.cs.upei.ca After tabulating the votes of the remaining players, I declare an English win. Congratulations John!! Well, I must say that it has been a long haul. I must also admit that I did very much enjoy watching you all form alliances/stab each other/play the game well. Although there were a few novice players (with regard to the adjudicator), the game went off without a hitch. Summary of game sparrow through F1918B. Master: Sean MacIntosh casmacin@atlas.cs.upei.ca Austria: Kurt Hockenbury CNS_KHOCKENB@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU England: John McCarthy mccarthy@jezebel.wustl.edu France: Alejandro Rivero rivero@cc.unizar.es Germany: Ingolf Markhof markhof@ls12x.informatik.uni-dortmund.de Italy: Chad B McKee cbm@phy.duke.edu Russia: Michael Schurkin cadpoole@atlas.cs.upei.ca Turkey: Dave Cebula cebulad@physics.orst.edu Historical Supply Center Summary -------------------------------- Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri 1900 I I I . E E E F F F . . . . G G G . . . R R R R T T T . . . . A A A 1901 I I I I E E E E F F F F G G G G G G R E R R R T T T T T A A . A A A 1902 I I I I E E E F F F F E G G G G G R E E R A R T T T T T A T A A A A 1903 A I I I E E E F F G E E G G G G G R E E R A R T T T T T T T T A A A 1904 I I I I E E E F F E F E E G G G G R E E R R R T T T T T A T T A A T 1905 I I I I E E E E F E F E E E G G R R G E R R R T T T T T T T T T A T 1906 I I I I E E E E F I E E E E A E R E E E G R T T T T T T T T T T A I 1907 A I I I E E E E E I E E E E E E E E E E G T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1908 T I I I E E E E E I E E E E E E A E E E T T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1909 T I I I E E E E E E E E E E E E A E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1912 T I I I E E E E E I E E E E E E A E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1913 I I I E E E E E E I E I E E E E A E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1914 I I I E E E E E E I E E E E E E A E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1915 I I I E E E E E E I E E E E E E T E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1917 I I I E E E E E E I E E E E E E T E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T A T 1918 I I I E E E E E E I E E E E E E T E E E E T T T T T T T T T T T E T History of Supply Center Counts ------------------------------- Power 1900 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 Player Austria 3 5 6 5 3 1 2 2 2 2 Kurt Hockenbury England 3 5 6 7 8 9 12* 15& 14 16 John McCarthy France 3 4 4 2 3 2 1 Alejandro Rivero Germany 3 6 5 6 4 3 1 1 Ingolf Markhof Italy 3 4 4 3 4 4 6 4 4 3 Chad B McKee Russia 4 4 3 3 4 5 2 Michael Schurkin Turkey 3 5 6 8 8 10 10 12 14 13 Dave Cebula Index: 10 22 24 28 27 33 41 55 58 62 Power 1912 '13 '14 '15 '17 '18 Player Austria 2 2 2 1 1 Kurt Hockenbury England 15 15 16 16 16 17 John McCarthy Italy 4 5 4 4 4 4 Chad B McKee Turkey 13 12 12 13 13 13 Dave Cebula Index: 59 56 60 63 63 67 * = 1 unused build. & = 2 unused builds. **** ROSE END OF GAME REPORT From: nick@sunburn.uwaterloo.ca (Nick Fitzpatrick) Oh well, better late than never. The unmoderated game rose was completed a few days ago, this game started about September 1991. The game started out with a strong England-France alliance, however England grew much stronger than France. England ripped through Germany and Russia, while France took part of Germany, and was struggling with Italy, who put up a strong fight. In the Fall of 1908, England had 14 centres while France had 8. Both countries simultaneously stabbed each other. But France had waited too long, and the only chance of stopping an English victory lay in France, Austria and Russia creating a stalemate line. But alas Russia and Austria could not work together well, and England finally reached 18 centres in the Fall of 1913! Congratulations to Robert Jentz, who was unable to finish the game due to his loss of network access, but who succesfully engineered the victory. Summary of game rose through F1913M. Austria: Rance A. Schwichtenberg RANCE@macc.wisc.edu from S1905M: Bryant Durrell durrell@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu from F1910B: Andre Verweij andre@duteinh.et.tudelft.nl England: Robert Jentz jentz@erim.org from F1910R: Bill Dunlevy dunlevy@erim.org France: Nicholas Fitzpatrick nick@sunburn.waterloo.edu Germany: Alejandro Rivero rivero@cc.unizar.es Italy: Matt McLeod mjmcleod@maria.wustl.edu from S1905M: Brian Chojnowski chojnows@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu Russia: Robert McNeur ROB@CCC.GOVT.NZ Turkey: Kimon Berlin BERLIN@FRECP12.BITNET from F1903R: David Pierce dpierce@noc.hfh.edu Historical Supply Center Summary -------------------------------- Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri 1900 I I I . E E E F F F . . . . G G G . . . R R R R T T T . . . . A A A 1901 I I I I E E E F F F F F . G G G G G R E R R R R T T T A R T A A A A 1902 I I I I E E E F F F F F E G G G G G R E R R R R T T T T R T A A A A 1903 I I I I E E E F F F F F E G G G G E R R R R R R T T T R R A A A A I 1904 I I A F E E E F F F F F E E F E R E R E R R R R T T R R R I A A I A 1905 I I I F E E E F F F F F E E F E E E R E E R R R R R R R A I A A A F 1906 I I I F E E E F F F F F E E F E E E E E E R E R R R R R A R A A A A 1907 I F I F E E E F F F F F E E F E E E E E E E E R R R R A R R A A A A 1908 I F F F E E E F F F F F E E E E E E E E E E E R R R R R R R A A A A 1909 F F F F E E E F E F F F E E E E E E E E E E E R R R R R R R A A A A 1910 F F F A E E E E E F F F E E E E E E E E E E E R R R R R R R A A A A 1911 A F F A E E E E E E F F E E E E E E E E E E E R R R R R R R A A A A 1912 A F F A E E E E E E F F E E E E E E E E E E E R R R R R R R A A A A 1913 A F F A E E E E E E F F E E E E E E E E E E E E R R R R R R A A A A History of Supply Center Counts ------------------------------- Power 1900 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 Player Austria 3 5 4 4 4 \ R. A. Schwichtenberg 4 5 5 4 4 5\ Bryant Durrell 6* 6 6 Andre Verweij England 3 4 5 5 8 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 Robert Jentz France 3 5 5 5 7 8 7 8 8 8* 6 4 4 4 Nicholas Fitzpatrick Germany 3 5 5 4 Alejandro Rivero Italy 3 4 4 5 4 \ Matt McLeod 4 3 2 1 Brian Chojnowski Russia 4 6 6 8 9 8 7 6 7& 7& 7& 7& 7+ 6 Robert McNeur Turkey 3 4 5*\ Kimon Berlin 3 2 David Pierce Index: 10 22 24 25 32 37 39 42 46 50 52 55 55 58 * = 1 unused build. & = 2 unused builds. + = 3 unused builds. Index is the sum of squares of the number of supply centers divided by the number of players. It is a measure of how far the game has progressed. *** VEGA END OF GAME REPORT *** From: Dave Cebula cebulad@physics.orst.edu (Send SUMMARY VEGA to JUDGE for detailed statistics...) >From the GM: Thanks for a well played game people. I'm always glad when we can actually finish one of these. The Pope started off making things interesting with his masterful takeout of Florence. Its too bad that the political price was so high. Good Luck to all. Broadcast message from highlndr@cs.bu.edu as Naples in vega: Congrats to Venice. I'm just glad I survived. I enjoyed playing with everyone. My biggest wish was that I had understood how the famine rules worked (this had been the first game I had tried), so I hadn't gone and wiped out my entire army back on that first turn I took over. Broadcast message from andre@duteind.et.tudelft.nl as Turkey in vega: This was my second machiavelli game. I started with a quite unique alliance with Naples. However I was also friendly towards Venice, this made it hard to find an enemy. I choose France, what I think was not a very good choice for Turkey to fight against. When Naples was taken over and three armies got eliminated I had to take the chance to eliminate Naples himself. However this seemed to be much harder than I had expected. Naples complements on your defenses! The possibilities to borrow from the bank are so large that you can extent your loss of SC to at least two years. Venice ofcourse took profit of the war between Naples and me. But what else could I do? I did not expect that Naples should make peace with me again. And also France did not seem always very friendly after my attack. He took Corsica and Sardinia back, and tried the last turn even to slip into Tunis. But I have to admit, that my builds/disbands of last turn were a bit easy for Venice to win. In any case congratulations to Venice. Broadcast message from kdk@SU59D.ess.harris.com as Papacy in vega: Yes, I sort of abandoned the position at the end, but the game was OVER. Good try by France to attempt assassination, I don't know if it would have been enough. My second game also. Thus far I prefer France.... Still, I didn't know the Florence takeover bit had been done, and had to try it. And here is an interesting lesson. If one of your (multiple) countries is being overrun, encourage others to help dismember it. When I was down to just Arezzo and one army, I beleive I received ~12 ducats in income because I still got the variable from the Papacy as well as Florence. Until one country holds all of your former country, and you are still in the game, you receive the variable. Still, I never recovered from being invaded by no fewer than four other players. Message from mburgdor@isovw1.DNET.NASA.GOV as France This was the first game I played that was adjudicated by a computer. The program for Machiavelli is very good, especially if you take into account how complicated the rules are. Only the fact that there were no rebellions after the assassinations of the Pope and the Emperor of Austria annoyed my a bit. It was also strange that someone who had resigned as N could later appear in the game again as V. This person has then a certain advantage over the other players, because he knows their treaties with a power that is not his own. I have played only one full game of Machiavelli several years ago, and acted once as GM (it was a lot of work!). To treat the Machiavelli moves as Dippy moves is a good idea to avoid a big amount of uncertainties that exist in the original Machiavelli moves. The attack of P on L at the very beginning of this game was tactically a masterpiece, but strategically it was foolish. I really want to see once a game where there is no war between P and L already in the first year; I think this should be possible. After the elimination of L of course everybody attacked P, and it was very clever how he managed to survive until the end. V took advantage of this situation to establish itself as the leading power and brought this advantage it had gained early in the game into the finish. The Doge kept very cleverly I and A at war with each other so that he had the back free for a joint attack with N on central Italy. I could not make much use of the opportunities in the East, since I was attacked already in Spring 1455 by T and N. This alliance is in my opinion very strong and dangerous, and I needed all my tactical and diplomatic skills to keep all my home towns. Fortunately F is rather strong in defensive due to its position in the corner of the board. So the progress of N in P and L was much quicker than the one of T in F, and I could persuade the Sultan to stab N in Spring '56. V, which had in the meantime conquered large parts of A, but had been attacked by I, participated in the attack on N in central Italy. It was clear to me in this moment that V would win the game if it had defeated I, so I made an alliance with I and advanced with an A to Bolog and cut off Flore which was then already taken by V. V, however, used then P, who was fighting for survival, to throw me out of Bolog again in '57 and did a marvellous attack on I for which it invested a lot of money: It bought two Milanesian As and made also famine relief; this killed I in one move. I had expected a bribe of V against I and wanted to warn I, but then I was too lazy to write the mail. Besides, I did not expect V to conquer all I at once and hoped to get something out of the Milanese cake as well, when I would throw everything against the Doge. With this Milanesian campaign V put the fundamental stone for its victory. After that, V had to consolidate its position, and since T was distracted by its ever slowing attack on N, I could finally get what I wanted: Genoa, some other neutral cities in my East, and all islands except for Sicily. A defended itself until Spring '59 quite cleverly against the Venitian superiority, and I tried to help it as good as I could. Unfortunately, A did not spend the money P had given it to cause a rebellion in Tyrol in Summer '59, so it vanished, taking all that nice money with it and gave V its second other home country (after I). Now only an assassination with many rebellions in Fall could have kept V from winning, and since I had still an assassination chit, I tried my luck. Unfortunately it failed. All in all it was an interesting game, and I hope to see all of the players another time again. I was almost never told a lie in the negotiations, and having reached 2nd place with a country that is one of the poorest in the beginning makes me content. Thanks to Dave for running this game and helping me with rules questions; congratulations to the two players of V. **** QUEBEC END OF GAME REPORT **** From: nick@sunburn.uwaterloo.ca (Nick Fitzpatrick) Here is the end of game report, for publication in the next EP. ------- This is the end of game summary for the standard game quebec, EP 154, run on the Washington judge. Summary of game quebec through F1908R. Master: Nicholas Fitzpatrick nick@sunburn.waterloo.edu Austria: Mark Bower mark-bower@orl.mmc.com England: Dan H|rning d91-dho@nada.kth.se France: Dylan Harris dylan@cix.compulink.co.uk from F1905M: Greg Ludington lud@leland.stanford.edu from S1908M: Harold Reynolds harold@rainbow.physics.utoronto.ca Germany: David Simkins DSIMKINS@EARLHAM.BITNET from F1907M: James A. Dare jdare@math.rutgers.edu Italy: Brad Felber alumn83@whscdp.whs.edu Russia: Steve J Fatula 76106.1640@CompuServe.COM Turkey: Russell Vincent VINCENT@cc.und.ac.za Historical Supply Center Summary -------------------------------- Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri 1900 I I I . E E E F F F . . . . G G G . . . R R R R T T T . . . . A A A 1901 I I I I E E E F F F F F E G G G G G . E R R R R T T T T R A A A A A 1902 A I I I E E E F F F F F F G G G G G R E R R R R T R T A R T A A A A 1903 A I I F E E E F F F F F F G G G G G R R R R R R T R R A R A A A A A 1904 I I I F E E E F F F F F F G G G G G R R R R R R R R R R A T A A A A 1905 I I I F E E E F F F F F F F G G G E R R R R R R R R R R R T R A A I 1906 I F F F E E E F F F F F F F F E G E R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R A 1907 F F F F E E E F F F F F F E F E G E R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R 1908 F F F F E E E F F F F F E E R F R E R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R History of Supply Center Counts ------------------------------- Power 1900 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 Player Austria 3 5 6 7 5 2 1 Mark Bower (Elim 1907) England 3 5 4 3 3 4 5 6 6 Dan H|rning (Srv 1908) France 3 5 6 7 7 \ Resigned Dylan Harris (Rsg 1904) Abandoned 8 11* 11 \ Greg Ludington (Abnd 1907) 10 Harold Reynolds (Srv 1908) Germany 3 5 5 5 5 3 1 \ David Simkins (Abnd 1906) 1 \ James A. Dare (Elim 1908) Italy 3 4 3 2 3 4 1 Brad Felber (Elim 1907) Russia 4 5 7 9 10 12 15 16 18 Steve J Fatula (Won 1908) Turkey 3 4 3 1 1 1 Russell Vincent (Elim 1906) Index: 10 22 25 31 31 36 53 59 65 * = 1 unused build. Index is the sum of squares of the number of supply centers divided by the number of players. It is a measure of how far the game has progressed. A very solid victory, I am not completely aware of the alliance failures that lead to the Russian victory, but it seems like the rest of the world could not work together to stop Russia. I would like to point out that Englands comment (see below) of finishing third is irrelevent. There are no second and third place finishers in Diplomacy. There are either winners, or there is a draw. There are no points for finishing "second". I would like to thank everyone for playing, especially Harold, who stepped in just at the end to help us finally finish the game. Here are comments from Russia (the victor) ----------- Here are my comments about this game. At the start, I was torn as to who to ally with: Turkey or Austria. Both made good offers. I was more impressed with the Austrian and thusly allied with him. Meanwhile, the Turk totally trusted me so I was able to get him to leave all his centers open. Taking over Turkey was quick and easy. Meanwhile, the Austrian kept telling me how solid his alliance was with Germany and how they were gonna splits things up. He always made me feel like I was the odd man out. Still, he assured me I could trust him and we kept planning our moves together. I should have known better. Then, the Austrian stabbed me. he bravely pointed out I had no chance at all vs he and the German. Well, he was right EXCEPT the name of the game is diplomacy and thats what I resorted to. I got the Turk, whom I had stabbed, to help out and he took a center from Austria even though he had only one reamining unit! The Italian also helped me in the western flank. I moved vs the German and got the Frenchman to threaten him from the west. This kept the German out of it. I also got the Englander to threaten him as well. Thus, it ended up the world vs the German and Austrian. So, from no chance, it became a decisive victory in that one move. The Austrian was in retreat with no way out. The game was almost over. I had helped save England from impending doom. France and Germany were gonna wipe him out. All along, they also though I was in on it. Because of my help to England, he became a solid ally with me. He knew there was no way he was gonna win and merely wanted to finish strong. So, I left him alone the rest of the game and helped him out on a few moves. This made the victory quick and easy. This game went very well for the Russian. I never had a single enemy. I constantly kept in contac with all the other players. Other than the quick stab of Turkey, I never once stabbed anyone. I feel the diplomatic offensive I had was the key to victory in this game. Also, the Austrian killed himself by portraying he and the German as inseperable allies. This worried the rest of the players and caused their demise. ----------- And here are comments by England (the accomplice) ----------- I started out allied with France and Germany. My plan was to con Germany into letting his guard down and then devour him quickly together with France. After that, France and I would go for a two-way draw. However, after getting two builds the first year, I became megalomaniac and stabbed Germany too early. This, and the fact that I had not told France about the stab, (and the fact that I was making too great demands on Russia) made everybody unite against me. For the following three years I fought on against everybody, losing Norway but still managing to cling on to my home centers. Then France and Russia stabbed Germany and I was relieved to find out that the attack on me had stopped. I then made a holy promise not to attack Russia but even help him win a solo victory if he stabbed Germany, as he had. Thus I did not oppose Russia for the rest of the game - instead I just tried to grab as many centers as possible until the end. I finished third at 6 SC. Not bad for a complete beginner at the time of the start of the game. Today, I would play differently... **** DPPA END OF GAME REPORT By Daniel Loeb Gunboat game, test of the DPP diplomat program (France). Summary of game dppa Master: Danny Loeb loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr Austria: Jeff Sullivan jas@ISI.EDU England: Nicholas Fitzpatrick nick@sunburn.waterloo.edu France: DIPLOMAT from F1903B: Kirk Randall cheng@u.washington.edu from S1904M: DIPLOMAT Germany: Jonathan Amsterdam pdja@engin.umich.edu Italy: Jerry Ballard ballard@mc1.wes.army.mil from F1906B: Richard Bourgeois ringo@buengf.bu.edu from S1908M: Dave Marshall dmarshal@Stars.Reston.Unisys.COM Russia: Nawwar Kasrawi skiman@leland.stanford.edu from F1906M: Eiji Hirai hirai@cc.swarthmore.edu Turkey: Chuck Shotton cshotton@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu from S1908M: Greg Dilworth rgd3729@tamsun.tamu.edu Historical Supply Center Summary -------------------------------- Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri 1900 I I I . E E E F F F . . . . G G G . . . R R R R T T T . . . . A A A 1901 I I I I E F E F F F . F G . G G G . R E R R R R T T T T R T A A A A 1902 I I I I E F E F F F F I G G G G G G R R R R R R T T T T R T A R A A 1903 I I A F E E E F F I F I G G G G G G G R R R R R T T T T R T T A A A 1904 I I I F E E E F F F F I G G G G G G G G R R G R T T T T R T T R R T 1905 I I I F E E E F F F I I G G G G G G G G G G G R T T T T R T T R R T 1906 I I I T G E E F F F I I G G G G G G G G G G G G T T T T G T T R R T 1907 I I I T G E G F F F I F G G G G G G G G G G G G T T T T T T T R G T 1908 I I I I G G G F G F F F G G G G G G G G G G G T T G T T G T T G G T History of Supply Center Counts ------------------------------- Power 1900 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 Player Austria 3 4 3 4 Jeff Sullivan England 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 1 Nicholas Fitzpatrick France 3 5 5 4 5 4 3 4 4 Constantin Staykov Germany 3 4 6 7 9 11 14 15 19 Jonathan Amsterdam Italy 3 4 5 4 4 5 5 \ Jerry Ballard 4 \ Richard Bourgeois 4 Dave Marshall Russia 4 6 8 6 6 4 \ Nawwar Kasrawi 2 1 Eiji Hirai Turkey 3 5 5 6 7 7 8 9 \ Chuck Shotton 7 Greg Dilworth Index: 10 20 26 25 30 33 43 48 63 Comments: PreSpring 1901 - The first DPP test game (DPPA) fills up February 20. Only 37 hours after being formed! We are playing FRANCE. ENGLAND guesses that FRANCE is diplomat since it is the first country to have signed on. Ken Lowe gives a similar warning. Spring 1901 - An extremely early version of the strategy finder is run. All provinces are deemed to have equal value. Moves for each country are made without considering the appropriate responses of the enemy. No alliances are considered. 500 iterations. The opening we use (Mar-Pie, Par-Gas, Bre-Eng) is not a popular opening. However, this fact does not give the computer away since Austria, Germany, Italy, and Russia did not pick very standard openings either. Ken Lowe says "Aggressive little bugger, ain't he?". This is a good characterization of the strategy finder. This program is intended to be used as the evil alter ego of a diplomatic program. Without a diplomatic program to tell it who NOT to attack, it will generally attack everyone. A mishandling of moves results in moves being generated simultaneously in DPPA and DPPB. Only Nick, us, and Ken notice this coincidence, but we all were already aware of the identity of the computer. I asked again for player's comments about Diplomat's identity Fall 1901 - I asked for player's suspicions of who is the diplomat TURKEY: suspects England (didn't cover London) and perhaps Austria GERMANY: Turkey, Russia or both (because only they played well) ENGLAND: He knows DIPLOMAT in both games because of coincidence. He didn't cover LONDON because of this fact Donald Kerr (observer 18/3) - Not F or I since they play badly (stupid attack on I by F), probably R, G, or (E/T) The program now counts supply centers more strongly than other provinces. As you can see, it attempted to move to a SC with all of its units. It captured London in part because ENGLAND judged that a logical computer would never make such a silly attack. Winter 1901 - Winter orders given (see w01). Winter subprogram is not available yet. So results were computed "by hand" using the new valposition which takes into account distance to uncontrolled supply centers. This allows the computer to actually enter supply centers rather than simply be happy by "dominating" them. Spring 1902 - Moves were calculated with all existing procedures: (constant value province + SC chasing) => Pie-Ven, Spa H, Par H, Lon-Nth, Bre-MAO (scaled province values + SC chasing) => Pie-Mar, Spa-Mar, Par-Bur, Lon-Nth, Bre-MAO (SC bonus + scaled values + SC chasing) => Pie H, Spa-Por, Par-Bre, Lon-Nth, Bre-MAO Fall 1902 - ENGLAND notices DIPLOMAT in DPPA and DPPB doesn't support In this early version, the program never considers a support. We gain Portugal, but lose Spain, for failure to predict Italy's moves. Spring 1903 - GERMANY thinks TURKEY is diplomat Fall 1903 - England succeeds in retaking London with his two remaining units. Our program did a very poor job of following up its English offensive. Winter 1903 - Our program becomes abandonned and is taken over by cheng@u.washington.edu who enters his own WINTER 1903 removal (F GAS). He is replaced by our program immediately afterwards. Summer 1904 - Our program is now kicked out of the Channel and for the first time automatically calculates a retreat. Spring 1905 - AUSTRIA has been eliminated. This change in the number of countries causes our program to bomb. Therefore, unit the bug is fixed, we added an austrian unit in Syria to our calculation. (This season only!) However, while waiting for the results, a new version of the program was developed that allows supports to be used, and simultenously optimizes the moves for all countries. (The program also didn't bomb with less than 7 players!) ENGLAND notes that a new program was used because of the support used (Por S A Mar-Spa). Spring 1907 - Our program has gone CD again during my June trip to the US. I recovered the position and recomputed the Spring 1907 moves. GERMANY thinks Turkey is diplomat. Fall 1908 - Our fighting with Italy and England has left scars on all sides. Italy and France have undisputed control of their own countries. England is eliminated by the Germans. In fact it is the Germans who benefitted the most from the inattention of the French and the English, as they hurtle to victory. Newsgroups: sci.math rec.puzzles Subject: UME conjectures Some of my students in this year's summer math camp proposed some problems which might interest some of you: 1) ZVONKIN - A lock on a door has n symmetrically placed holes on a wheel. In each hole is a button that can only be felt by reaching in with a hand. When all buttons are in the same position, the door opens. How many hands h(n) are required to open the door in a fixed number of operations. My student showed that h(1)=0, h(2)=1, h(3)=h(4)=2. h(6) >=3. And h(p)=p-1 for p prime. In general, what is the value of h(n)? 2) BALMITGERE - A 3xn matrix is filled with 0 and 1 so that no 2x2 submatrix is all 0 or all 1. My student showed that the largest possible n with this property is 6. (This was an old olympiad problem used in the Ralleye d'Alsace.) What happens if we consider 4xn matrices? Or kxn matrices? What if we consider 0-1-2 matrices? What if we simply forbid 3x3 submatrices with all 0 or all 1? Other generalizations? 3) BALMITGERE - Suppose the borders of 2 identical rectangles intersect in 8 points. My student showed that their intersection has area at least 1/2 of the rectangles themselves. Is it possible to find a stronger result? 4) LEFEVRE - Given 100 points in a square of unit area, connect them by the shortest path. My student showed that the length of the path in the worst case must lie between 11 and 21. Is it possible to find tighter bounds. If you have any question, comments or solutions to these problems, please send them to me and I'll respond or forward them to my students. -- Yours, Daniel Loeb loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr HOME 150, cours Victor-Hugo; Appt D45; 33000 Bordeaux France WORK LABRI; Universite de Bordeaux I; 33405 Talence Cedex France Up