Diplomacy Magazine -- Chapter Two From: loeb@geocub.UUCP (Daniel LOEB) Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1992 09:48:13 +0000 Issue #277 of Chapter Two of the Electronic Protocol By Daniel Loeb (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr) March 10, 1992 Distributed via: rec.games.pbm rec.games.board dipl-l ------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic Protocol Games played on the Diplomacy Adjudicator ------------------------------------------------------------- **** TABLE OF CONTENTS **** PART ONE - Opinions, Letters, and Editorials: Russian language game Austrian Naval Power Mercury Start Up mesage PART TWO - Summary of all moderated games on the Judge: List of game openings List of EP games on the DA For more info List of Gamemasters PART THREE - Report from the Battle Front Nothing new? ***** PART ONE ***** **** RUSSIAN LANGUAGE GAME **** Pete D Jennings <pdja@engin.umich.edu> proposes a game with all press in Russian. I asked him Cyrillic messages could be handled. Here is his response: "Actually, the Russian game would not be hard if everyone could agree on a Cyrillic-ASCII mapping order, and then make a Macintosh font, or write a little conversion number if they use a unix or IBM box. Think there are any other Russian speakers out there who could handle it? If so, maybe I'll try to start a game." **** AUSTRIAN NAVAL POWER **** Reprinted from GENERAL ORDERS, Vol. 2, No. 7, May 12, 1975 by the "Phantom Phreshman" J. Southard Most Diplomacy players think that Austria should stick to inland power and build no or few fleets. They usually try to justify this with arguments like, "Well, if he's allied with Turkey or Italy they're going to attack him if he builds fleets" or, "He doesn't really have any need for fleets and it takes a year to get them into play." This is ridiculous (and also false on all counts). First, the best 1901 attack for Italy is toward Austria. If he doesn't do that, nine times out of ten it's an attack on France. In either case, Austria can get the advantage only if he has two or more fleets with which to get the Ionian and Naples. Secondly, if Austria builds no fleets, he's got only one real attack--toward Russia. <DL: Actually, his other main option is allying with Italy and attacking Turkey. Austria could hope to pick up GRE BUL and perhaps RUM or CON.> Then he'll have to go toward Germany, since the middle game is too late for Austria to wrest control of the Mediterranean from Italy, which will almost never fall without being attacked by Austria. This is a flagrant case of failing to keep one's options open. Third, how likely is it that a strong Turkey and a strong Italy are going to sit around on their duffs while Austria gets strong? Not very. <DL: Quite high if you take into account the fact that Turkey can not tolerate Italy controlling his possession of the seas.> I believe that Austria should try to establish a 2 to 3 fleet task force fairly early in the game, for immediate use against Itlay and long range use against either France or Turkey (probably the later, for reasons which I'll explain further on). This is especially true if Italy has opened with (A Ven-Tyl) or something equally interesting. (The best opening <DL: from an Austrian point of view - according to J. Southard> is an immediate attack by Italy on France. Then he really gets wiped.) If Austria can arrange to leave Trl open in the second year, he can build the second fleet then. One way to do this is to take Ven with 2 armies. Another is to use (A Bud) and (A Vie) to stand each other off protecting the space and leaving it open at the same time. The key point in the diplomacy of a navally oriented Austria is to not let Russia and Turkey combine. If they do, your fleets are not going to protect you. <DL: This is something Turkey is bound to notice....> While very good pieces, they can't get to Turkey before he builds a couple of fleets of his own. To achieve this goal, the best method is to play them off against each other. It is possible to start a Russo-Turkish war using exactly one unit (see game#3 in TK). This way you convince Russia or Turkey to go with you against the other. You will give them the support they need to dislodge a key piece or two, but they'll get most of the spoils (all but one center). I think that it is better to help Turkey against Russia, other things being about equal. The fleets you are in the process of building will allow you kill Turkey later on. They won't help you a bit against Russia. Also, Russia will fall even though you have committed only one unit, because he will almost always have a northern war to deal with (England). <DL: I would count *THIS* as a reason to help Russia. Always help the underdog. If you help Turkey, he will win quickly and fight you on all sides. If you help Russia, he will fight against Turkey in perpetuity and thus be effectively out of the game.> If you help Russia, you will end up doing most of the fighting, while Turkey will be glad to share the burden of a Russian Campaign supported by one Austrian unit. If England and perhaps Germany are attacking Russia, France can be induced to take on Italy by dangling Rome, and Tunis, and the promise of future anti-German aid in front of him. It's of course unlikely that you'll let him get Rome, but he doesn't know that, does he? In any case, you should remember that Austria's real gains are in the West not the East. The pickup of one Eastern center (War or Rum) will allow you to build the second fleet that you need to wipe up Italy in cooperation with the French. <DL: Of course, after attacking Russia, you might be better advised to build an army and defend yourself.> Once Italy and Russia are gone, Austria has to decide whether to go against Germany (with France) or Turkey (with Germany). Who you attack depends on the relative strength of all parties, but remember that Germany will be occupied with England and France. With 1 or 2 German units aiding you, you can easily mop up Turkey. Remembe in this and all other stages that you goal in the endgame is to concentrate and grow while other countries fight at equal odds and stagnate. I believe that in general Austria should attack Turkey but it depends a great deal on the tactics and situation at the time, and the strength adn ability of the various country/players. COMING NEXT WEEK: Another article on Austria. This will be the first episode of a 3 week series entitled "I like to play Austria, England, and Germany". **** MERCURY START UP MESSAGE **** From: Doug Van Belle <ASDAV@ASUACAD.BITNET> I already have two people for the quick game I mentioned earlier and i need four more. Turns will be daily, probably five days a week. Communication ie press settings is still open to suggestions, I think something other than snow whit might be nice. One thing about communications is the problem of answer and reply. With a 24 hour cycle it will obviously be difficult to get mail to someone have them read it, reply, and have time to acknowledge their reply. The simple solution is that you don't. The game will be "pony express" style (that's a local phrase) A pony express game is one wher you submit your orders and communications at once. Thus it's half way inbetween gunboat and standard. I think you can see how interesting it can become to communicate with your moves as you do in gunboat, but suppliment it with a note of explanation. Let me know if youwant in on the quick game or look for it on the judge I'll be putting it on late Thursday night under the name of Mercury. Please only sign up if you can consistantly submit your orders on time. (DL: Mercury is listed as standard with Grey press. If it is not GUNBOAT, then I don't see how PONY EXPRESS differs from STANDARD. The players have each other's addresses and can send each other WHITE messages whenever they wish. They can also send WHITE or GREY message via JUDGE when they wish. So what are you trying to say?) ***** PART TWO ***** Now that JUDGE is back working. Here is your regular weekly update. **** LIST OF GAME OPENINGS **** Moderated Replacement Opening: Furlong - Germany (Spring 1901) Normandy - Austria (Spring 1901) Unmoderated games openings include: berkeley, squid, blind, lobo, stockhol, one Signups available for the following moderated games in formation: jugful, 7senuf, grass, mercury, dppc Moderated games in formation are at a low! Please volunteer to be a GM! **** LIST OF EP GAMES ON THE DA **** --- EXPLANATION --- Here is an update on games played on Judge. Each game is represented by a line of data (followed possibly by a line of comments --- please send me comments I can use if you are a GM!). The games are sorted according the the variant rules which are used. The 1st column gives the name of the game including a "#" if the game is a "private" or "unlisted" game. The 2nd column gives its Electronic Protocol number if available. If the game is published in another EP chapter (other than number two), then that is indicated after a slash. The 3rd column gives the name of the GM (see list of GMs below). The other columns give updates on this game in chronological order with the most recent entry on the right. The updates for a game in formation indicate the number of players needed to start. For example, -5. The updates for a game in progress indicate the season (F for Fall or S for Spring), the last 2 digits of the year, and the phase (M for movement, B for builds, and R for retreats). All this is possibly followed by the indication of the number of replacement players (-1), temporary replacements (T1) needed, or needed later on (*1). I'm listing the status of each game not only for this week but for the last several weeks, so that you can see not only where the game is, but how fast it is moving. Please tell me if this extra information is useful to you. --- LIST --- Name EP# GM Oct4 Nov4 Dec5 Jan3 Feb4 Feb19 Mar10 ------- --- -- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----- STANDARD RULES cubit 158 jdr S01M F01M S02M dram 159 jdr S01M S01M S02M evolt 161 jdr -7 S01M F01M furlong jdr S01M S01M-1 gallon jdr -3 F01M hector jdr S01M infinite jdr S01M jugful jdr -1 marengo 129 scottb S03M S05M F06M F07M S09M S10M F10M Ita strong. Ger builds. Fra survives. Eng/Aus weaken. osijek 137 cebulad F02M S04R S05M S06M F06B F07M The Juggernaut has stumbled, what will the FEGI do now?!? paris 134 skiman -4 S02M F03M S04M S05M S06M F06B sparrow 133 casmacin S02R F03B S05R S06M S07M F07R F08M Italy trys to play Kingmaker, England pulls ahead of Turkey. # normandy loeb -2 -3 -3 -3 -3 -1 S01M*1 French game. Ce jeu (en francais) a vient de commencer. grass karl -5 All press will be written in German. Spiel in Deutsch, alle Verhandlungen werden auf Deutsch gefuehrt. croatia 148 nick -2 F02M F02R F03M S04M F04B Austria crushed by FIT, 5->2 centres, G and E attack Russia quebec 154 nick S01M F02M England attacks Germany, Russia attacks (stabs?) Turkey mercury asdav -2 High speed game (24h turns). Grey press. STANDARD GUNBOAT - Identities of players unknown. All messages are public. # khafji 138 skiman S03M F05M-1 F05B F06B F06B-1 S09M Fast pace. No press. Delays over a few hours unacceptable. boadicea 147 pl436000-6 F04M F08M S09M S11M F11M F12B conan pl436000 -5 -2 F02B F03B S05M dppa loeb -6 F01M ddpb loeb F01M dppc loeb -5 Play against a computer opponent (DPP version 1b). No press. YOUNGSTOWN RULES (10 players) Extended map including Asia and Africa. dien 124 jdr F07B F09M F10B-1 S11M F11M S12M F12M giggles dwiseman S03M F04B S06R S07R F08B F09M S10M Local ERIM game timor 160 nick -10 S01M F01M Game finally gets off ground, conventional openings by all LOEB9 RULES (9 players) Spain and Scandinavia are added as extra players. eylau 153 loeb -3 S01M F01B-1 S03M F03M S04M S05M Spain stabs England. Austria/Russia at war. GREAT BRITAIN RULES (7 players) Britain starts with 6 SC's but all armies! hastings 139 loeb S01M F01M F03B F04M-1 S05R S06M F07B Germany picks up 5 SC's. The Battle of Britain begins. CHAOS RULES (34 players) Regular map. Each SC is owned by a different player. fontenoy 114/4 jdr S05R-6 S06M F07R F08M F09M F09B F10M 7 players left. Danny Loeb takes over the falling Roman empire iona jdr -20 -13 S01M F01M F02M 2 interesting convoys. Con->Bul (to avoid Bul->Con) & Bel->Wal 1898 RULES (7 players) Regular map. Each player starts with only his capital. bataan 152 dmb -3 F99M F00B F01R F02M S04M CROWDED RULES (11 players) 4 more players added, leaving no neutrals. 7senuf jdr -5 -5 -6 -6 -6 -4 -1 emu mjmcleod S02M-4 S02R-1 F02M-2 F03M F03M F04M MACHIAVELLI RULES - An economic variant of Diplomacy marketed by Avalon Hills vega cebula -7 -5 -4 -3 U54M S55M U55M Pope takes out Florence in 1st move but at what political cost? dagger jdr ??? S56R S57M U57R F57B-1 S58M F58M poverty andre -6 -6 -5 S54M U54M **** FOR MORE INFO **** 1) FOR A PARTICULAR GAME: For more detailed information about game's current status: Send "LIST <name-of-game>" to JUDGE@U.WASHINGTON.EDU For the game's history: Send "SUMMARY <name-of-game>" to the JUDGE For regular game updates: Send "OBSERVE <name-of-game> <password>" to the JUDGE For a copy of the variant rules: Send "GET INFO.<name-of-variant>" or "GET PRESS" or "GET GUNBOAT" For other information (including house rules): Contact the GM. (See list below) 2) FOR THE JUDGE IN GENERAL: For general information about the judge, Send "HELP" to the JUDGE For an update of the list of games given above: Send "LIST" to JUDGE@U.WASHINGTON.EDU For a more detailed list: Send "LIST FULL" to the JUDGE To be informed of all changes in the list of games, Send "OBSERVE CONTROL <password>" to the JUDGE. For a copy of the default house rules: Send "GET EP.HOUSE.RULES" to the JUDGE. For other information: Contact me (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr) or Ken (jdr@u.washington.edu) 3) FOR THE ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL IN GENERAL: For general information: Contact the editor Eric Klien (eric_s_klien@cup.portal.com) To solve Email problems, contact one of the email wizards: swb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu, andre@hern.stonemarche.org eisen@cs.jhu.edu, eisen@jhuvms.bitnet, or wcw27974@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu For back issues: Contact the archivist, jlitvin@swtec1.intel.com/John Litvin **** LIST OF GAME MASTERS **** Brian Bacher bacherb@physics.orst.edu David M Bowen dmb@bigd.cray.com dmb@sequoia.cray.com Dave Cebula cebulad@physics.orst.edu Karl Dotzek karl@adler.philosophie.uni-stuttgart.de Jamie Dreier pl436000@brownvm.brown.edu, pl436000@brownvm.bitnet Bryant Durrell durrell@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu Nicholas Fitzpatrick nick@sunburn.waterloo.edu Nawwar Kasrawi skiman@leland.stanford.edu Edward J Koll koll02@snybufva.bitnet Koll02@snybscva.bitnet Danny Loeb loeb@nestor.greco-prog.fr Ken Lowe jdr@u.washington.edu ken@milton.u.washington.edu Matt McLeod c9106225@wombat.newcastle.edu.au Michael Luft scottb@cs.utexas.edu Sean MacIntosh casmacin@atlas.cs.upei.ca John Aidan O'Regan J_ORegan%csvax1@iruccvax.UCC.IE Doug Van Belle ASDAV@ASUACAD.BITNET Andre Verweij andre@duteina.tudelft.nl andre@hlniob.uucp ***** PART THREE ***** no report this time :( Up