haynes@decwrl.UUCP (Charles Haynes) (01/16/85)
These are the rules we used at Xerox for playing diplomacy by electronic
mail. Some of the considerations that were important there may not be as
important on Usenet. One assumption about the Xerox mail system, was that a
message that was sent, would be recieved in a timely fashion. If that
assumption doesn't hold for the game you're in, you may have to modify the
rules slightly.
There is a section on scoring that may not be interesting to Usenet diplomacy
players. We wanted a scoring system since there were almost always one or two
games going and there was a large group of players interested in comparing
results. The section on scoring can be skipped without losing anything.
I only want Tunis for ONE season, then I'll help you into Greece.
-- Charles
{decvax allegra ihnp4 ucbvax}!decwrl!haynes
haynes@decwrl.arpa
>> Ether Diplomacy House Rules <<
The rules for Ether Diplomacy are those of standard Diplomacy except
where superseded by the following.
1) Under no circumstances should you violate any aspect of Xerox
security to gain information about the game. This includes spying on
Ethernet mail packets, copying or otherwise examining another player's
disk, etc.
2) All information in your message headers must be legitimate. You must
not send a message such that it appears to have been sent by another
player, or by an anonymous source. That is, your messages must clearly
indicate that you are the sender. You may, of course, create bogus
messages and "forward" them as though you had received them.
3) Moves are due four working days after the previous results are
announced for normal moves, one working day or whenever orders from
everyone concerned are submitted, whichever comes first, for retreats
and builds/disbandments. This can be changed by the Gamemaster (GM) or
as described below.
4) Requests for changes of deadline must be approved by a unanimous vote
of the players, with abstention counting as a yea for deadline
extensions and a nay for moving the deadline up. (This is so that
people who are out of town and can't respond don't get screwed by an
early deadline.)
5) Except as detailed in rule 6, a game may end only by one country's
reaching 18 supply centers (in which case the remaining countries are
assigned positions based on their supply center totals at that time, or
by how quickly they were eliminated) or by all remaining countries
agreeing to share equally in a draw. At any point in the game any
player can call for a draw. The procedure is to send out a press
message to everyone in the game asking if they agree to a draw. If the
GM receives yes responses from everyone in that same game turn, a draw
is declared and the game is finished. Abstentions count as yes votes,
but this may be modified by GM depending on the circumstances. If a
player wants to call for a draw but remain anonymous he may ask the GM
to call for the vote.
6) If three consecutive winters pass with identical ownership of all
supply centers, the game is automatically declared a stalemate and is
ended, with all remaining countries sharing in a draw.
7) If an order is ambiguous, it is treated as Hold. To be unambiguous,
an order must specify the type and, for foreign units, nationality, of
all units involved. The type of order (move, hold, support, convoy,
retreat, build/disband, or special order such as espionage in a variant
game) must be clearly and explcitly specified, though the precise format
is unimportant. (E.g., "S", "supports", and "(S)" would all be valid in
a Support order.) If you wish to submit amusingly-phrased orders to
make the results interesting, and you fear the phrasing might vary too
far from accepted format, include some sort of parenthetical
straightforward format as well, e.g., "Venician army loses sense of
direction and wanders into Trieste (A Ven-Tri)." Each order must also
include the starting and, if different, desired ending location of the
unit or units involved. The coast of a two-coast province need not be
specified except for a fleet attempting to move there that is able to
reach either coast; supports for such moves must also specify the coast.
A unit expecting to be supported or convoyed need not specify the
support or convoy in its own order; if it is explicitly stated that a
convoy is expected (possibly including an explicit convoy route), then
the unit will fail to move unless the convoy is available. If support
is explicitly expected, the lack of such support does NOT automatically
mean the move fails. An army order can also explicitly deny use of a
convoy, though this almost never matters.
Since computer users are notoriously poor spellers, the GM will correct
for MINOR spelling errors, including incorrect abbreviations where only
one province matching the abbreviation would be legal (e.g., F Nap-Tyr
[ia: F Nap-TyrS], A Liv-Yor [ia: A Lpl-Yor], but if you have an army in
Ber and order A Bur-Mun instead of A Ber-Mun, you're out of luck). If
you order a unit to move from a location where you have no unit, that
order will be ignored; it will not be applied to some otherwise
unordered unit that could have made the specified move (unless, as with
A Liv-Yor above, the two locations have similar names and only one of
them results in a legal order). Likewise if you support a move that
doesn't take place, even one that couldn't possibly take place, that's
your order, and it will be ineffective. Finally, note that a unit
ordered to move cannot receive support in holding, even if the order to
move was invalid or ambiguous. A unit given a completely frivolous
order, such as "A Nap looks on in dismay", is assumed to hold and may
receive support in holding. Support for the frivolous order, as "F IonS
supports A Nap looking on in dismay", is also valid.
8) Any official communications must be addressed to the GM. Simply
cc'ing him in a message where you list your orders, for example, will
not be considered as the official orders that you submit.
9) If a country goes NMR (no moves received), the GM may call for a
standby. The standby submits orders for that country for the next move
and, if the original player again fails to submit orders, the standby's
are used and the new person takes over for that country. If a country
is almost eliminated and chooses to go CD, the GM may elect not to
bother with a standby; however, bear in mind that even a single unit has
been known to come back to win the game!
10) Players may grant other players control of some or all of their
units, subject to any constraints they see fit, by so notifying the GM.
The control may be overridden, possibly without the knowledge of the
player to whom control was granted, depending on the instructions given
to the GM. This is intended ONLY for short-term situations, e.g., when
last-minute changes to orders are anticipated and one's ally will not be
available near the deadline. It is NOT intended that a player who has
lost interest turn control over to an ally. THEREFORE, although "proxy"
authority can be granted, if no orders are received from the original
player, or from somebody outside the game designated by that player, the
player is considered to have gone NMR, and after two seasons the GM may
elect to replace the player with a standby. Exceptions will be made at
the GM's option, e.g., if a player goes on vacation for two seasons and
cannot find someone outside the game who can be trusted to take over for
that period.
>> Player Ratings <<
If you win, or take part in a draw, your score for that game is
BasicScore - Time; otherwise, your score is BasicScore + Time. "Time"
is a function of the number of Winters that you were in the game: 0.25
per year for the first five years, plus 0.20 per year for the next five
years, plus 0.15 per year for five years, and so forth until the years
1921 thru 1925, which add 0.05 each. Further years make no difference.
Thus it pays to win quickly, but if you don't win it pays to survive as
long as possible.
The BasicScore is determined using the two charts below; the first is
for players participating in a draw, and the second is for players
winning or eliminated. If two or more countries are eliminated in the
same year, the players get the average score for the positions they
fill.
BasicScore for n-player Draw BasicScore by Position
# players BasicScore Position BasicScore
1 -- 1 20
2 16 2 11
3 13 3 6
4 10 4 3
5 7 5 1
6 4 6 0
7 2 7 -1
For example, suppose we had the following counts at the end of a game
that lasted through 1910:
Austria: out in 1904
England: 18 centers
France: 6 centers
Germany: 2 centers
Italy: out in 1904
Russia: out in 1908
Turkey: 8 centers
We would then have the following scores:
Austria: -0.5(basic score) + 0.75(length bonus) = 0.25
England: 20 - 2.25(length penalty) = 17.75
France: 6 + 2.25 = 8.25
Germany: 3 + 2.25 = 5.25
Italy: -0.5 + 0.75 = 0.25
Russia: 1 + 1.65 = 2.65
Turkey: 11 + 2.25 = 13.25
Here is another example:
Austria: draw'11 7.60
England: draw'11 7.60
France: out'06 0.25
Germany: out'09 2.35
Italy: out'09 2.35
Russia: draw'11 7.60
Turkey: draw'11 7.60
Your rating is then your average score for all games you have played.
If a player takes over for another who has left the game, he has the
option, at the time he enters the game only, to have the score count
either for him or for the player he replaced.
>> Conventions and Etiquette <<
A dl for the game, which can be used for press and other such
broadcasts, is kept on an IFS under
<GamemastersName>Diplomacy>GameName.dl. For example, the dl for the
game called "Perfidy" is [Iris]<Daniels>Diplomacy>Perfidy.dl. If you
use MSG, you should ask your Gamemaster to put a copy of the mailing
list on his Maxc account, too.
We encourage a standard format for the message headers so that it's
easier to tell just by looking at the TOC who it's from and for what
game. This is especially handy when you are in several games.
We suggest using something like:
Subject: GameName, Season
From: YourCountry to OtherCountry
Reply-To: YourName
in the header. A form for this is on
[iris]<Daniels>Diplomacy>Diplomacy.form. Fill in the fields that won't
be changing, then Put it on <GameName>.form on your disk.
If you are a Laurel 6 user, there is a form for printing Diplomacy
messages on [Iris]<Daniels>Diplomacy>LaurelProfileSlice.
The notation for orders and results is basically the one suggested in
the rules, with the following changes. We use a slightly different set
of abbreviations for the provinces. Sea provinces are given 4-letter
codes, while land provinces have 3 letters. Here is the full list:
AdrS: Adriatic Sea AegS: Aegean Sea Alb: Albania
Ank: Ankara Apu: Apulia Arm: Armenia
BalS: Baltic Sea BarS: Barents Sea Bel: Belgium
Ber: Berlin BlaS: Black Sea Boh: Bohemia
Bre: Brest Bud: Budapest Bul: Bulgaria
BulEC: Bulgaria Ea. Coast BulSC: Bulgaria So. Coast Bur: Burgundy
Cly: Clyde Con: Constantinople Den: Denmark
Edi: Edinburgh EMed: Eastern Medit. EnCh: English Channel
Fin: Finland Gal: Galicia Gas: Gascony
GBot: Gulf of Bothnia GLyo: Gulf of Lyon Gre: Greece
HelB: Helgoland Bight Hol: Holland IonS: Ionian Sea
IriS: Irish Sea Kie: Kiel Liv: Livonia
Lon: London Lpl: Liverpool Mar: Marseilles
MAtl: Mid Atlantic Mos: Moscow Mun: Munich
NAf: North Africa Nap: Naples NAtl: North Atlantic
NthS: North Sea NwgS: Norwegian Sea Nwy: Norway
Par: Paris Pic: Picardy Pie: Piedmont
Por: Portugal Pru: Prussia Rom: Rome
Rum: Rumania Rur: Ruhr Ser: Serbia
Sev: Sevastopol Sil: Silesia Skag: Skagerrak
Smy: Smyrnia Spa: Spain SpaNC: Spain No. Coast
SpaSC: Spain So. Coast StP: St. Petersburg StPNC: St. Pete'g No.
Coast
StPSC: St. Pete'g So. Coast Swe: Sweden Syr: Syria
Tri: Trieste Tun: Tunis Tus: Tuscany
Tyr: Tryolia TyrS: Tyrrhenian Sea Ukr: Ukraine
Ven: Venice Vie: Vienna Wal: Wales
War: Warsaw WMed: Western Medit. Yor: Yorkshire
Results will be indicated by a * after the province of the unit's final
location. Other notations you may see:
[io] invalid order
[r] unit was dislodged and retreated to the indicated province
[d] unit was dislodged and disbanded
[r-otb] unit was dislodged, retreated off the board (voluntarily
disbanded)
[NMR] No Moves Received
[NRR] No Retreats Received
[NBR] No Builds Received
[u] unit was unordered (assumed to Hold)
[ia] interpreted as
[nsu] no such unit
[nso] no such order: you supported a nonexistent move
[otm] the unit you supported in holding was ordered to move instead
Notations for builds and disbandments are self-explanatory.
For example, the results of Fall 1902 in the sample game in the
Diplomacy rule booklet would be given as follows:
Results for Fall 1902:
Austria: F Gre* H, A Ser* S Tur A Bul-Rum, A Tri-Bud*, A Vie*-Gal
England: F BarS* S A Nwy-StP, F Edi*-NthS, A Nor-StP*, F NthS-Nwy*
France: A Bur-Bel [r-Gas*], F Mar* S A Spa, F Pic* S A Bur-Bel,
A Spa* S F Mar
Germany: A Bel* S A Rur-Bur, F Den*-Swe, F Hol* S A Bel,
A Mun* S A Rur-Bur, A Rur-Bur*
Italy: A Pie*-Mar, F TyrS-GLyo*, A Ven*-Pie, F WMed-MAtl*
Russia: F Rum S A Sev [d*], A Sev* S F Rum, A StP-Nwy [r-Mos*],
F Swe* S A StP-Nwy, A Gal* S F Rum, A Ukr* S A Sev
Turkey: A Arm*-Sev, F BlaS* S A Bul-Rum, A Bul-Rum*, A Con-Bul*
Adjustments for 1902:
Austria: (5) Bud, Gre, +Ser, Tri, Vie; builds A Tri
England: (5) Edi, Lon, Lpl, Nwy, +StP; builds F Lon
France: (4) Bre, Mar, Par, Spa; no change
Germany: (6) +Bel, Ber, Den, Hol, Kie, Mun; builds F Kie
Italy: (4) Rom, Nap, Tun, Ven; no change
Russia: (4) Mos, -Rum, Sev, -StP, Swe, War; disbands A Gal
Turkey: (5) Ank, Bul, Con, +Sev, Smy; builds F Smy
Press messages are acceptable and encouraged. One game that I've been
in was most enjoyable for me not only because of the generally high
level of play, but also because of the gallimaufry of rather creative
press that it generated. You should cc DiplomacyObservers^.PA on all
press.
Please cc the Gamemaster in any Diplomatic communications. The fun for
us is in seeing not just what happens, but how it comes about.
Finally, the rules have been resurrected and live on the <Games>
directory of your favorite IFS. If it isn't there, let me know and I'll
take steps to get it there.
Enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RULES FOR ONE-ON-ONE DIPLOMACY
==============================
This is a variant for two players, based on the two-person version
described in the Avalon Hill Diplomacy rules. Two games are played in
parallel, with orders due simultaneously in each. In each game, one
player controls England, France, and Russia, while the other has
Austria, Germany, and Turkey. Italy is considered to be in permanent
Civil Disorder. The EFR player in one game is the AGT player in the
other. The winner is the first player whose combined countries have at
least 24 units on the board (not just 24 centers) in one game or the
other. If both players reach 24 units in the same season, the games
continue until one player has more units than the other at the end of a
Winter season. That player then wins. If both players achieve 34 units
simultaneously, the match is a draw.
Note that each country of an alliance acts independently. Thus, builds
and disbands are on a per-country, not per-player, basis. Likewise, an
attack by one country could cut support by, and/or dislodge, a unit
belonging to an allied country. Note also that Italy does start with
three units, so Austria cannot just walk into Venice and Rome in 1901.
To prevent the possibility of a stalemate, the games are played using
the rules for Airplane Diplomacy (q.v.).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RULES FOR KRIEGSPLOMACY
=======================
The rules are the same as for regular Diplomacy, except as stated below.
* You always know where your own units are, but in general you don't
know where (or what) anybody else's units are.
* The game starts in Winter 1900. Each country owns its home supply
centers and has NO units. There is an initial period of diplomacy
before the Winter '00 build.
* Except for determining who owns what at the beginning of the game,
there is no special distinction to 'home' centers; a country can build
in any unoccupied supply center(s) it owns. This is because it's too
easy to lose control of your home centers when you can't see what the
other countries are doing.
* If a country is in Civil Disorder and fails to specify a Winter
disbandment, the unit removed is that furthest from any center
controlled by that country, instead of the one furthest from a home
supply center. As in regular Diplomacy, fleets are removed before
equally distant armies, and alphabetical order is used to resolve
further ties.
[The three immediately preceding paragraphs describe what's known as
"flexible-build Diplomacy".]
* There is an additional order called 'espionage' (e.g., A Mun E) that
gives information about ALL places into which the unit so ordered could
give support. Thus, F SpaSC E would not give information about Gas, but
F Gas E WOULD give information about SpaSC.
* If a unit ordered to spy is attacked, then the espionage is cut and no
information is learned. The unit is then considered to be holding.
* A unit ordered to spy will learn of movements from, to and through the
places covered, as well as supports from or into those places, and which
units (if any) in those places also attempted Espionage. (If incoming
support was cut, it is not revealed.) You are told the type and country
of the units involved, but you are not told of any locations not covered
by the Espionage. Thus, F SpaSC E might learn:
Ita F ???-WMed* (as usual, the * indicates where the unit ended up)
Eng F WMed-MAtl*
Eng F ??? S Eng F WMed-MAtl
Fre F MAtl-??? [r-???*]
The last line above shows that the French fleet tried to move out of
MAtl to some place not accessible to the F SpaSC, but the move failed,
and the F MAtl was then dislodged and successfully retreated somewhere,
again not accessible to the spying fleet. You may get additional
information in the course of the next round of diplomacy, if a
previously unknown retreat occurs into your area.
* If a support order revealed, or partially revealed, by espionage was
in support of a nonexistent order, this is indicated:
Eng F WMed S Ita F ???-GLyo [nso]
* A unit ordered to spy will also learn the ownership of any supply
center to which the unit could give support (or on which it is sitting).
Ownership of supply centers changes only at the start of Winter, so a
Fall espionage order will reveal who owned the center for the year just
past, as well as revealing whether any other country has now occupied
that location.
* In addition, a counter-espionage order can be given to a piece.
Again, this is cut by an attack and the unit is then considered to be
holding. A CE essentially 'hides' all information about any place to
which that piece could give support. Any E order covering a place that
is also covered by a CE treats the place as empty and inactive for that
turn. Examples:
France: A Bur E
Germany: A Rur CE, A Hol-Bel
In this case, the French piece learns nothing. (Germany is also told
nothing.)
France: A Bur E
Germany: A Rur CE, A Bel-Pic
France learns "Ger A ???-Pic*" (assuming A Bel-Pic succeeded). In both
these examples, France knows there was CE in the area, because he was
not told who owns Belgium and Munich.
* Espionage will reveal a CE order, but only if the CE (and any other CE
covering that place) is cut by an attack, so that the espionage can
succeed.
* A unit attempting espionage is not affected by CE by the same country.
CE will always interfere with all other countries' espionage however;
you cannot exempt your allies.
* Any unit ordered to spy or to counterspy can be supported, but this
support acts as a support against an attack (in case of attack) and does
not increase the effectiveness of the E or CE order. Two units ordered
to spy on overlapping terrain do not increase each other's
effectiveness.
* If a country goes NMR, that is NOT reported. Espionage against that
country will show its units were ordered to Hold.
* Other than the above, the only information you get is:
-- what supply centers you own at the end of the year
-- the supply center chart at the end of each year (i.e., the total
for each country, but not who owns which centers)
-- when a unit of yours is attacked or opposed (but not by whom or
from where, or even by how many, nor whether you were supported)
-- which of your own moves succeed
-- when a unit of yours is dislodged and forced to retreat, and
whether the subsequent retreat was successful (retreating to an
occupied space results in the unit's disbanding, just as if two
units had attempted to retreat to the same space)
Note that you are NOT automatically given any particular information
about what is happening to your own supply centers; that is, you are NOT
informed when one of your centers is attacked or occupied, though you do
learn during the Winter which of your centers have been lost.
* Other things you explicitly DON'T learn:
-- if your move out of a space succeeds, you don't learn of any
attacks against the space you just left, nor is your unit
considered to have "opposed" a move into that space
-- if you support an order that does not take place, or support a unit
in holding when the unit was ordered to move, you don't learn this
-- if you order a unit to support and it is attacked, you're told of
the attack but don't get to know whether the support was cut by it
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rules for Airplane Diplomacy
============================
The only difference between standard Diplomacy and Airplane Diplomacy is
the addition of a new unit--the airplane. The letter P is used to
designate the plane on all orders. All rules governing fleets, armies,
orders, and conduct still apply.
Movement and Support
A plane may choose to move 1 or 2 spaces at a time, or not to move
(Hold). Planes can fly over water, making it possible to cross any body
of water to reach a land province. A plane cannot land on or give
support to any body of water. Planes can fly over occupied spaces. A
plane can offer support to any province it could legally move to.
Planes can receive support and can dislodge foreign units just like an
army or fleet. The exact route followed by a plane to get from one
space to another is never relevant. (Thus, P War-Ber is a valid order;
one need not specify whether the intermediate space is Pru or Sil.)
Standoffs
A plane attempting to move across a border does not interfere with an
army or fleet moving across the same border in the opposite direction.
Thus, neither P Tri-Mun (via Tyr) nor P Tri-Tyr would interfere with A
Tyr-Tri. Likewise, two planes crossing the same border in opposite
directions do not stand each other off; P Tri-Mun and P Mun-Tri will
both succeed, provided no other units oppose them at their final
destinations. (They are treated the same as if they were two armies
swapping locations with one of the armies being convoyed.)
Retreats
A plane dislodged by an attack cannot retreat; it must be disbanded.
(Planes are fragile!)
Control of Centers
Planes cannot claim supply centers. Only armies and fleets can take
ownership of supply centers. Therefore, planes will not receive credit
for occupying a supply center but can be instrumental in supporting a
fleet or an army there or in preventing enemy takeover by simply
remaining there.
Number of Planes
There is no limit to the number of planes that a country can build.
However, moderation should be used in building planes since they cannot
take additional supply centers. All countries start with no planes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rules for Spy Diplomacy
=======================
Note that this is NOT the same as Kriegsplomacy. The rules are the same
as for regular Diplomacy, except as stated below.
* Each of the seven major powers has one extra unit, called a "Spy".
Only the owner of a spy is told its location. The Spy does not require
that a supply center be devoted to maintaining it.
* A Spy may move in any manner valid for either a fleet or an army.
Thus it can occupy inland provinces as well as water spaces. A Spy's
move always succeeds, as a Spy can occupy the same space as another
unit, including other Spies. Each Spy starts out in one of its home
supply centers, selected by the owning player, together with whatever
unit normally starts there.
* Any season in which a Spy is not ordered to move, it may infiltrate
whatever non-Spy unit (if any) shares its location. The player owning
the Spy issues an order for the non-Spy unit, and that unit obeys those
orders. No indication of the sabotage is given in the results, though
of course the country owning the sabotaged unit will know (unless it
happened to give it identical orders, e.g., if a Spy was used to protect
against a possible stab that didn't happen).
* If more than one Spy gives orders to the same unit, that unit is
deemed to have ambiguous orders, and is listed in the results as having
been ordered to Hold. (However, if all of the Spies issue the same
order, then that order is used.)
* If a Spy is sharing a location with a unit belonging to its own
country, it can be ordered to protect that unit against sabotage. The
unit will follow the orders given by the owning player, ignoring all
orders (if any) from foreign Spies.
* A Spy cannot sabotage units in other spaces, even if those units
attempt to move or support into the space occupied by the Spy.
* Provinces with two coasts are, as usual, treated as single locations.
Thus, if a Spy moves Mar-Spa while an enemy fleet moves MAtl-SpaSC, the
Spy can (the next season) sabotage the fleet.
* If a country is reduced to zero supply centers, its Spy vanishes. [An
alternative rule would be to combine Spy Diplomacy with Underground
Diplomacy (q.v.), and let the country continue to play with just the
Spy, in an attempt to regain a supply center by forcing the foreign
invaders to move away.]
* Note that it is almost certainly impossible to set up a stalemate
line.