Diplomacy Zine -- Chapter Eight EP #255

From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com

Date: Sat, 09 Nov 1991 20:33:08 +0000

Issue #255 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL:

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  Pray, v.  To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf
  of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
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Chapter One contains:

BAGHDAD, BLITZKRIEG II, KING'S GAMBIT, PASSCHENDAELE,
DRAGONS, BLACK OCTOBER, OPERATION DESERT STORM, THE SOMME

And is published by uunet!cti1!rlister or rlister@cti.com/Russ Lister

Chapter Two contains:

BEREZINA, PORTNOY, JUTLAND, TIBERIUS, MARENGO, PARIS, SPARROW, SNORRI
AJAX, DIEN, FONTENOY, AGINCOURT

And is published by loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr/Daniel E. Loeb

Chapter Three contains:

SQUALANE, BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE II, CULLODEN, GANDALF'S REVENGE,
GOODBYE BLUE SKY, MASTERS OF DECEIT, PANDORA, NOW AND ZEN

And is published by mad-2@kub.nl/Constantijn Wekx

Chapter Four contains:

DEADLY DAGGERS, MONTREUIL-SUR-MER, FIRE WHEN READY, THUNDERDOME,
BEREZINA, FONTENOY

And needs a publisher.

Chapter Five contains:

YALTA, AJAX

And needs a publisher.

Chapter Six contains:

BERLIN WALL, HIROSHIMA, GENGHIS KHAN, SEA LION, VIOLENT PEACE, GIBRALTAR

And is published by barry@brahms.udel.edu/Barry Fausnaugh.

Chapter Seven contains:

TIBERIUS, BETELGEUSE, IRON CROSS, TEUNISGEK, RIYADH'S RECKONING

And needs a publisher.

Chapter Eight contains:

TIBERIUS, BETELGEUSE, IRON CROSS, GUERNICA, TEUNISGEK, WOLF BLITZER,
THE COMMANDERS, THE SUTHERLAND CONFLICT

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Chapter Eight
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Table of Contents:

Jim and Dan Do Atlanta
Letters about variants by Peter Jennings and Matthew Seitz
Letter from Daniel Loeb
Letter from Jamie Dreier
Letter from Eric Brosius

----

The following was scribed by
cmmjr@flight-sim.gatech.edu/Cliff McKeithan:

From Diplomacy World #60:

Jim and Dan Do Atlanta
  by Jim Yerkey
	I came away from ORIGINS '90 in Atlanta with four
impressions: the Hilton Towers is an excellent facility for
gaming, Dragon Con attracts more women than any gaming
event I've ever been to (many of them were barely clad in the
barest of D&D type costumes), it's not a good practice to
leave your car parked on a downtown Atlanta street over
night, and the people that ran it could do themselves a lot of
good by taking lessons from the folks at AtlantiCon, DixieCon,
the late great MaryCon, and everybody else in the "CON"
business.
	After attending DixieCon/DipCon/World DipCon I arranged
to spend the following week calling on some of my business
contacts in the southeast and then attend ORIGINS the
following weekend.  I was joined for the weekend by my old
associate and (after getting the better of him in the first
game we played there) former friend Dan Mathias.
	Things were going bad well before we made the trek south.
Despite repeated attempts to get information as to tournament
times, number of rounds, fees for playing in the tournaments, etc.
I had received nothing from them.  Dan had sent his registration
info in (sans Dip tournament info) months before and had gotten
no reply.  So, when I picked him up at the Atlanta airport (that's
a different adventure for another time) and headed for the Hilton,
we were flying blind.
	We arrived at ORIGINS at about 11:00 PM Tursday and were
informed by ORIGINS security that we could not register because no
one knew where the registrars were.  Nor could they provide us
with an ORIGINS booklet because no one knew where they were either.
Dan, using the Diplomatic prowess he has come to be known for,
smooth talked these Junior Gestapo Agents into taking us to their
leader.  There we found a little cooperation, and more importantly,
the elusive ORIGINS booklets.
	We found that we had already missed the 1st round of
Diplomacy (6:00 PM Thursday) and that we would miss the 2nd round
which started at 2:00 AM (that's right AM) Friday if we didn't find
a way to get registered.  The tournament was set up to run at 6:00 PM
and 2:00 AM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Additional rounds were
added at 9:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday.
	Well, we the unpaid were again informed that we would have to
leave.  We headed back to our rental digs at El'Cheapo Motel, south
of the city, and I stated calling the Hilton to see if I could locate
anyone with some authority, other than the Guards.  It was like calling
the Federal Social Security Administration.  Nobody know nothin' and
everybody passed me off to someone else.  I gave up after about 30
minutes.  "Smoothy Dan" took over and in no time had talked the
Security people into letting us play.  But, we were not to wander around
the facility.
	We took an hour and a half nap, showered and headed for the
Hilton again, getting there just in time to be included on the last of
4 boards.
	Danny drew France and put together an alliance with Germany to
dispose of England.  I drew Austria and put together an AIR alliance.
Russia sent two units south to secure Rumania and his Southern flank.  All
of his other units, for the entire game, fought in Germany, and
Scandinavia, as well as England.  Italy took tunis, and then sent two
fleets to help me against Turkey.
	As Turkey was subdued, Italy redirected his attention to the West.
By this time, Russia was creating havoc for France and Germany around
England.  So much that Dan had to send a Fleet up into the North Atlantic
and the Norweigan.  This, of course, meant that he was unprotected at
home.  Italy took full advantage of the situation taking Marseille and
Spain before France could stop him.
	Then smooth-talking Danny struck pay dirt.  He convinced Austria
(me), who had finished off Turkey, to come to his aid.  I caught Italy as
much off guard and out of position as he had caught France.  And while Dan
was retaking his lost supply centers, I was able to take over most of the
rest of Italy.  Russia and I then began a march to the Atlantic.  As
happens in tournaments two things became obvious: one, that Russia and
I had the upper hand and, two, that we were all tired and running out of
time.  So, the remaining 5 players voted a two way Russian/Austrian draw.
	It was now about 8:00 AM and Registration was open.  We got into
line and signed up for Diplomacy and Shogun.  In the Registration area
we bumped into several Dipsters including Bob Odear and the soon to be
expecting Mrs. Odear, Don Del Grande, and the previous weekend's winner
Jason Bergmann.
	We were now planning to get some shuteye.  Upon arriving at my
car we found the back quarter window had been broken out and my case of
cassette tapes gone.
	In the 6:00 PM Friday round Dan wa a part of a three way draw as
France.  In my second game I drew Germany.  This game was one of those
long, fiercely fought affairs which go nowhere.  It ended in what was
basically a four player deadlock, although there were six players on the
board at the end.  The ensuing discussion about who was to be in a
draw, etc. lasted forever.  I finally voted myself out of it so I could
get some rest before the 2:00 AM round began; as it was already close to
1:00 AM.
	Once again I drew Germany.  England began immediately pushing for
a Western Triple.  I was wary of this arrangement at first and quickly
found that France was as well.  So we cooked up a scheme wherein we would
go along with England until the time was right to get him out of our
"back yard."  I, of course, had further plans (just as I'm sure both
of them did) to make sure that I got the lion's share of all the spoils.
I endeavored to get both of them in positions from which they could
do me no harm.
	As the game progressed I encouraged France to build fleets so
he could "better attack into the Med."  Additionally I pointed out that
having all those fleets would come in handy when it came time for France
and I to cut England out of the deal.  France played the entire game with
2 armies.
	Conversely I tried to convince England that he needed to build
armies to be able to conquer Russia.  If my recollection is correct he
played the entire game with two fleets.  I was running a risk, being
flanked by his armies in Scandinavia and Russia, but so long as France
built fleets I was not really surrounded.  Obviously there would be a
natural tendancy on the part of France to go after England, no matter
how much diplomatic effort England put into turning him around, because
of this imbalance of French fleets vs. armies.
	Much to my relief/disbelief this strategy worked to a "T";
even better!
	The three of us moved quickly and quietly enough that the eastern
powers were late getting their defenses organized and set up.  England
and I trashed Russia very quickly with Turkey jumping in to grab
Sevastapol.  I also made some gains in Austria and helped France against
Italy.  Despite their best diplomatic efforts Turkey and Austria could
not split this western triple.  France and I agreed that the taking of
the last Italian supply center would be the start of the assault on
England.  Because I was going to carry on the batle against AT, France
would begin the attack alone.  With the build resulting from his conquest
of the final Italian center, France would build a fleet in Brest.
	Reading of the Fall's moves revealed not only the aforementioned
fleet in Brest but that Turkey and Austria had decided to call it a day,
as it was now between 7:30 and 8:00 AM and everybody was wearing down.
They both went into civil disorder (CD).  I personally thought they were
significantly premature in giving up.  In light of the coming Frech stab
of England they were, I'm sure, regretting their decisions.
	This, of course, put me in the driver's seat.  France had his
only 2 armies in Italy and all but one of his fleets were in the area.
Therefore he could not mount a viable offense against me while I could do
some real damage by throwing several of my armies into his homeland.  I
was also in position to potentially grab all of the CD supply centers
while keeping the English units pretty much bottled up in Russia.  I
estimated I could handle any two of these chores.  To handle all three
would have taken some luck, and I was beginning to run down like Austria
and Turkey.  I decided to try to bluff my way into a win.
	Pointing out my tactical advantage to France, as well as the
problem he would have getting England to trust him as a result of his
building a fleet in Brest (that had been outlawed in a previous agreement
between the three of us), I convinced him to support my attempt to get the
win.  He would, of course, get to keep the supply centers he already had.
	With his support behind me I made an offer to England. He could
keep his supply centers, I would get all the CD'd centers and get the win
with 19 centers.  England was pretty upset, just as most of us are when
we're stabbed, and it took a little time but he finally saw he could
not get himself into a draw and gave in.
	The CD by the Austrian and Turkish players obviously was the key
point in the win.  Sometimes you get help from directions you would
never dream of.
	The Diplomacy Tournament was run by Mike and Matt Kelly of
MaryCon fame.  Within the confines of the time, space, and scheduling
limitations which were handed to them they did a good job.  They used
the MaryCon scoring system: 1 point for each supply center held when the
game ends, and a 34 point bonus pool to be divided up evenly amongst all
players involved in the result (34 points to a sole winner, 17 points
to both parts of a 2 way draw, etc.).  To my knowledge, however, no effort
was made to separate friends.  The playing times were a pain, as was the
registration problems illustrated above.  Those were not under the control
of the Kellys.
	I would have like to see a larger turnout.  The final two rounds
(one of which was added to the schedule after the tournament began) were
cancelled for lack of interest.  The total number of players was only 85;
and many of them only played one round.  The skill level of the players
ran from those who didn't know the rules all the way up to Dip master
Jason Bergmann.
	ORIGINS '91 will be back in Baltimore next year.  We are looking
for a big turnout and an exciting tournament.

ORIGINS 90 Final Results

1. Jim Yerkey			Best Austria: Jim Yerkey
2. Stan Plummer			Best England: Gabe Dambaugh
3. Gabe Dambaugh		Best France: Stan Plummer
4. Garth Thorpe			Best Germany: Jim Yerkey
5. Jeff Freymuller		Best Italy: Jerry Steffer
6. Bart DePalma			Best Russia: Chris Semler
7. Jason Bergmann		Best Turkey: Garth Thorpe
8. Robert Albrecht

Jim Yerkey (4 Dutton Avenue, Baltimore MD 21228) is the 1990 ORIGINS
Diplomacy Champion.
---

Letter from Pete D Jennings <pdja@engin.umich.edu>

As to the World Diplomacy, I am looking for a map.  There was a posting
about this variant on rec.games.pbm a while back.  Do you know who
was running the game, or where I could find a map?

Letter from seitz@netcom.com (Matthew Seitz)

On the subject of variants, is
anyone playing Twin Earths Diplomacy?  During Jr. High and High School, this
was the favorite variant among my friends.
---

In issue #251, I accidently reprinted an old letter from Steve Robinson
claiming that Diplomacy is a game of perfect information.  Here is a
reprint of Daniel Loeb's response:

From: loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr (Daniel LOEB)

I would like to respond to the remarks of Steve Robinson on my latest
posting in the Electronic Protocol.

He says that Diplomacy (like Chess or Go) is a game of perfect
information. In fact, this is not the case. In Chess of Go, each
player moves in his turn, and that together with his knowlege of the
board, allows the players in theory to always make the best moves
possible.

However, in Diplomacy, moves are revealed simultaneously. While you
can all see the position on the board and while there is no luck in
the resolution of the orders, you can only guess what moves the other
players are writting.

The classic example is Italian Fleet Tyrrhenian versus Turkish fleet
Ionian. Italy can not defend both Naples and Tunis. He must guess
which one to defend. Conversely, Turkey might assume that Italy will
cover one of the two, and then prefer to advance his fleet into the
Tyrrhenian instead of gambling on a 50% chance.

Turkey's decision will be based on his perception of the
probabilities. There is no "best" action in an deterministic sence,
but only in a probabilitic sence.

Yours, Daniel Loeb, Diplomacy Programming Project
"Pas de Panique"

Here is a new letter from pl436000@brownvm.bitnet/Jamie Dreier
supporting Danny:

The number of options facing any player at any time is not relevant to
whether the game is perfect information or not. What's relevant is
whether the player knows exactly which node in the game tree he's on.
Technically, a game is perfect information if every node in the tree
forms an information set by itself. That doesn't happen in Diplomacy.
Every combination of orders that might be submitted by the other players
puts me at a different node (that is, determines in a different way what
will happen if I submit such-and-such orders). So I don't know which
node I'm sitting on.

In short, Danny is right: no simultaneous game can be perfect information.

There are finite games that ARE perfect info, like chess. There
are finite games that are NOT perfect info, like Dip. Or, to take
a simpler example, like scissor-paper-rock.
There are infinite games that are perfect info. Infinite games do
not spring readily to mind, but here's a made-up one:

We take turns placing checkers on the table in front of us.
The first player who is unable to place a checker on the
table, because there is no room, loses. This game is infinite
in the sense that at most junctures there are a continuum
of possible moves. (Technically, each node has an infinite
number of paths leading out of it, though the length of
paths from start to finish is always finite.)
But, it is perfect information.
(Quiz for combinatorialists: if all of the checkers are
the same size and shape, should the first or second player
win this game?)

There are also infinite games that are not perfect information,
but I am tired of giving examples.

Danny and I once discussed the possibility of a perfect information
variant of Dip., but there don't seem to be any good ones in the
offing.

Jamie

Here is a new letter from Eric Brosius <72060.1540@CompuServe.COM>
supporting Danny:

I wanted to comment on the discussion about games of "perfect information".
The way I remember it, part of the definition of such a game is that there are
no simultaneous moves.  I.e., the primitive game of "rock, paper, scissors" is
*not* a game of perfect information.  Neither is Diplomacy.

Publisher comments:

If you didn't receive issues #249 - #252 around Oct 28th, let me know
and I'll resend them to you.  Issues #253 - #254 are available directly
from me or from the Diplomacy conference on Portal.  They contain game
reports of THE SUTHERLAND CONFLICT, which has the best press of any of
my games.

Quote is from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

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