A diplomacy map consists of two types of region – Control Regions and others. To win the game, you need to be in possession of a certain number of Control Regions. This will either be agreed beforehand, or be set specifically by Realpolitik.
There are two main moves in each year, Spring and Fall. As well as these, there are three other seasons (Summer, Autumn and Winter) which may or may not be used. Anyone in a Control Region at the end of the Fall turn takes control of that region for their country. The Summer and Autumn moves occur directly after Spring and Fall moves, and are for retreats, when a unit has been forced out of the region they occupy. The Winter move is for builds and disbands, which will be explained later. Each move, your orders should be sent in a private message to the Adjudicator account, clearly titled (most people just put “orders” – it’s really not helpful for the Adjudicator. At least say what country you are.)
Game Play
Diplomacy is really a very simple game - overwhelming numbers always win. Basically, if you are attacking a territory that is defended by two units, you need three units to capture the territory.
Each country has two different types of units – Armies and Fleets. Obviously, Fleets are limited to the sea, coast, and occasional canal regions, while Armies can only move on land, unless convoyed by fleets. There are four different options for each unit in a move:
Move:
A unit can move to any region adjacent to the one it currently occupies. Or at least attempt to! The basic order looks like this: “A Picardy – Belgium”. This means that an Army (“A”) is moving from the region of Picardy to the region of Belgium.
Hold:
If you are happy with your unit where it is, and don’t want it to do anything, a hold order can be applied, eg: “A Picardy Hold”
Support:
A unit can also support the move or hold of another unit. This would look like, eg: “F English Channel Supports A Picardy – Belgium”. This is a Fleet (hence “F”) in the English Channel supporting the move that was used as an example earlier. The important thing to remember is that a unit can only support into a region that it itself could move to. So, the region being moved into must be adjacent to the unit supporting the move, as well as the unit moving. Also note: an army could not support a fleet into a sea region.
Convoy:
Armies can cross the sea! But only when convoyed by a fleet. This is the most complicated move situation you can find in Diplomacy, so it’s not too bad... If you want to convoy an army, the order would be, eg: “F English Channel Convoys A Picardy – Wales”. In all other ways, this follows the normal rules applying to a move, so it can be supported, cut, bounced etc.
Attacking a Region:
If an enemy occupies a territory that you want, you will have to take it from him! If diplomacy fails, you’ll have to take it by force. If he has only that one unit, you will have to attack it and support that attack with one more unit. However, if he has another unit adjacent to the unit you want to attack which supports the unit, you will need two units supporting your attack to be victorious. Keep in mind that once you’ve taken a region, you will probably need to defend it, so a quick risky grab with little support isn’t always the best plan. Remember, you will only take control of a region if you are in at the end of the Fall move, so if you can’t keep it until then, it might be better to hold back until a better time.
Builds/Disbands:
In each Winter move, every player has to balance their units. This means that every player should have the same number of units as Control Regions. So, if, during the Fall move, you took control of two more Control Regions, then in the Winter move, you can build two more units. However, it is important to note that you can only build in your “home regions”, which are the initial Control Regions you started the game with. So if you have two new regions, but only one empty Home Region, you will only be able to build one new unit that year!
Conversely, if you have lost Control Regions, you will have to disband one of your units. This can really mess up your plans, so it’s best to make sure you don’t have all your units involved in vital positions at once, if you can possibly avoid it.
Diploming
DO NOT LIE.
Obviously, as the name suggests, a big part of the game is the actual Diplomacy. Talk to the other players, A LOT!! At least to start off with, you will almost certainly need a strong alliance to see you through. Keep in mind though, that even your allies are also your opponents. A good alliance can sweep aside everyone else on the map with relative ease, as you have basically doubled the number of units available to you. Supports, Convoys etc do not have to be done by units of your own country, you can get an ally to help too!
DO NOT LIE.
There are a few things that it’s important to remember, however. These are long games. People have long memories. It’s best to not piss off too many people, as it may well come back to bite you in the ass five or ten years down the line.
Did I mention, DO NOT LIE? I think I might have... playing Diplomacy over one game, or even several, you gain a reputation for how you play. If you lie to people, they will tell others, and people will stop trusting you. Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t mislead, confused or beguile. But if you make a specific statement saying you will do something, you really really need to do it. Any short-term gain you get by deceiving one person is likely to be outweighed by the long-term bad reputation you might get. If someone is stabbed in the back having had a specific promise from you, they aren’t likely to take it very well. Would you?
Obviously, there are many more complexities than this, but the rest you need to find out for yourself by playing. Really.
Using Realpolitik:
Realpolitik is a very handy program for Diplomacy, but it isn’t vital, you can play without it... but it does make things a hell of a lot easier. The best way to learn how to use it is just to mess around for a while, trying moves, supports, defences, convoys etc until you find out what works. Once you have input your orders into the game, if you open the Orders window, it will give you a nice long list of orders in the form they need to be, which you can copy-paste into your message to the Adjudicator each move.
The best thing about RP is that you can play through scenarios that you think might happen several moves into the future, giving you a chance to anticipate moves in advance, rather than simply reacting to them as they happen. A long-term plan is much more profitable, in general, than just going for the nearest available Control Region.
Each move, the Adjudicator should post a download link to the latest .dpy file (Realpolitik game file), which you can open to have all the latest moves inputted for you. Otherwise you can copy-paste the list of orders into a .txt file and load them in via Orders – Load Text, or even just input them manually yourself, it’s down to personal preference, but the more involved you get, the better your understanding of the game normally is.
Finally:
Be online! If you only visit the forums once a week, this is probably not the game for you. You might miss a deadline completely, or a chance offered to you from another player via PM might go to someone else. If you are going to be unavailable for a while, let the players and Adjudicator know in advance, so deadlines can be re-arranged accordingly. Everyone has occasional offline periods, but if it’s every other week, or you’re going on holiday for two months in the near future, don’t start the game and then point out three moves in that you have to give up. Replacement players can usually be found, but it’s damn awkward for everyone involved, and people will not be happy with you. Unforeseen situations happen of course, and that’s fair enough. For the smooth running of the game however, it’s best to keep everyone informed as much as you can.
On top of this, the games take a long time, it's not a one-month commitment. Expect to spend the best part of six months on a full-length game, maybe even more.
Realpolitik is available for download here: http://realpolitik.sourceforge.net/ and a pdf of the rulebook (which goes into much more detail) is here: http://www.wizards.c...s/diplomacy.pdf
The rulebook in particular is a useful cure for insomnia, and you might even pick up a few hints...
This post has been edited by caladanbrood: 16 October 2008 - 03:15 PM