[Board Game]Diplomacy 1914

[word321]

A thread dedicated to talk about the board game, Diplomacy.

[word321]

For those of u that dnt know the game, Diplomacy is a board game with a (relatively) big fandom throughout the years.. The premises of the game can be resumed with:

-No one can win alone
-Only one person can win the game
-It is an official rule that u must not abide to ANYTHING u say

It is a deterministic game; it has no dices, and the outcome of the game only depends of the actions of the players.

Essentially, 7 players, each controlling a country of europe in the years previous to the Great War, must compete with each other to gain control of the board.
It requires a degree of tactics and good social skills (as the game implies).

The official rules can be found here. There r also fanmagazines and a lot of strategy sites/articles on each country; despite having pretty simple rules (more than chess), it has gathered quite a fandom.

It would be good to poll if ppl know/r interested about the game; I thought of modding a sesion in the mish mash, but for that there must be enough players to play. A comod with previous experience on the game (or modding in general) would be great too, if the idea do lauch off the ground. I think ppl have played the chaos variant with open chat rules before on this site.

Its also good to have a thread just to give the game some luv I guess.

[CaptainMeme]

Diplomacy is the best worst board game I've ever played. I know all the reasons why it's terrible (game length, needs 7 players, player elimination etc) but I've still gotten hooked to it more than any other game ever.

Glad to see another fan!

[word321]

yeah, its easy to get hooked once u play a good match, but it is hard to solve some of those issues when playing irl. Internet has made wonders to solve some of em, tho; nowadays u can even play by the cellphone, without needing to set a day aside for it.

[Isis]

-No one can win alone
-Only one person can win the game

wat

[word321]

it is how it sounds; u cant rly muscle urself arount in a practical manner - u need to cooperate with someone to get somewhere, until u either achieve a crtical mass so u can win alone or u find someone else to ditch ur current ally
or at least indirectly, other ppl need to be bickering so u can get some profit

[CaptainMeme]

I actually run a YouTube channel focused on the game - mainly commentaries but the occasional puzzle.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_5f6r ... 986QDRf5pg

Warning though, they're not short videos This is probably the best one, where I recorded my thoughts on a game year by year as I was playing it and stitched the whole thing together afterwards:

[word321]

Ahh, Diplomacy, breaking friendships since 1959
Tbh ur channel seems pretty awesome!
I rly liked how u explained on each stage.
Its rly hard to pull a Austria/Turkey, but I guess this demostrates fully what it is capable of; I do thing that by the most probable positioning of the troops, it will inevitable favour Turkey, or at least constantly incentive a backstabb, like it happened
And I think Italy actually played to their interests when they disbanded that Navy; contributing to the formation of the stalmate line instead of helping to break it ultimately guaranteed its survival, albeit for a few years, had the game not Drawed. The rupture of that line would most probably spell doom for him in the long run, like it almost happened when Frane was about to break it.

[Gypyx]

Oh hey, i regret not checking this part of mafiascum sooner, i used to play diplomacy all the time

[northsidegal]

I actually run a YouTube channel focused on the game - mainly commentaries but the occasional puzzle.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_5f6r ... 986QDRf5pg

Warning though, they're not short videos This is probably the best one, where I recorded my thoughts on a game year by year as I was playing it and stitched the whole thing together afterwards:

by the way, i watched all of this video and it was great. very cool to see you talking through the whole thought process all along the way, even for someone who only knows the bare minimum about diplomacy. great video!! i can't believe i didn't say that when i watched this video a little while ago.

[CaptainMeme]

I didn't even think to check this thread again! Surprised (and happy) to see more posts

@word - completely agree on the AT front, longterm it definitely tends to benefit Turkey. I obviously didn't really like the Italian disband at the time but looking at the result, I'd agree that it was in his interests!

@northsidegal - Thanks! I never really expected anyone who wasn't into Diplomacy to watch something like that but I'm really glad you enjoyed it I guess it's similar to social games (like the Nonary one) in a big way.
(speaking of which, I still think you should play another LSG )

[CaptainMeme]

If anyone is interested:

I qualified for the DBNI, an invitational event that's only open to the top 28 Diplomacy players in the world by DBNI Ranking. I'm technically 30th, but a few people above me couldn't attend so I managed to sneak in as one of the lowest seeds

If anyone is interested in following the games, there'll be live commentary on the Diplomacy Broadcast Network's youtube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCj88H0KNyakiUXuN7jSz_EQ

I'm not allowed to disclose what rounds I'm playing in, but all of the commentary will be this weekend and next weekend. I'm both hyped and terrified

[Gypyx]

ooooh, i'll definetly be cheering for you !

[CaptainMeme]

Update on this! I had an okay showing round 1 (7 centre Turkey, which is better than it sounds because current meta is to crush Turkey out of the game immediately) but then I solo'd as England in my second game, guaranteeing that I qualify for finals.

I'm unbelievably stoked. Solos are ridiculously rare in ftf-style tournament - across the whole of 2020 (which had about 300 tournament games played) there were only 4 solos total.

[Gypyx]

i have trouble finding your games, how can i find those easily?

[CaptainMeme]

If you just want to see the maps, my games are here and here. Former playing Turkey, latter playing England.

If you're looking for the commentary, it was in the two livestreams here and here, the latter being my solo. Both broadcasts covered two games each, mine were Edi Birsan and Don Miller!

[Gypyx]

alright, thanks

[Cook]

Anyone play any variants either?

[CaptainMeme]

Chaos Diplomacy Best Diplomacy

I used to play variants a ton Not so much anymore but there are a lot of solid ones out there.

[Cook]

Chaos Diplomacy Best Diplomacy

I used to play variants a ton Not so much anymore but there are a lot of solid ones out there.

had a nice New York game of Empire IV recently.

[Fluminator]

Chaos Diplomacy Best Diplomacy

viewtopic.php?f=63&t=65687
Throwback to when MS played it!

[Gammagooey]

neat!

how'd the finals go?

[CaptainMeme]

Ahaha, not well. Not well at all I got attacked by all three of my neighbours from the getgo and died in 1905.

But hey, that's Diplomacy sometimes!