I would wager that pure enjoyment of tactical considerations is a big factor.

Tactical skill is very important too, but I think most players can learn that skill over time and many players can even maser it. Anticipating the moves of others I think is harder to learn/master (though certainly more experience and games played can at least improve that skill).

I think timing is an important factor - knowing when to be aggressive, when to sit back and let the game come to you, and knowing when to de-escalate. Its easy to attack or stab, but its a lot harder to make amends with that player when the attack is no longer advantageous.

Yaleunc: Do you mean anticipating as in reading the other players and figuring out what they'll do (and how they'll react) given how they play?

ATC - I think there are a couple pieces to the anticipation aspect. You have 1) general anticipation of what moves each player is likely to make from the current board position, 2) anticipation of how other players will react to your moves (will you be perceived as growing too quickly, an easy target, about to stab, a valuable ally, etc. and then what will they do in response), and 3) as the game progresses, anticipating what a given player will do based on your experience with them within that game. I think #3 is what you are getting at with "given how they play". There are some moves that are interpreted by certain players as hostile/provoking in gunboat which would likely be interpreted as reasonable and acceptable (or at least not automatically provoking) if they had press accompanying them explaining the intent, with the caveat that there are of course no guarantees with press either. Anticipating whether your neighbor is one of that group of players factors into whether you should risk making that move or go with a slightly less optimal but also less likely to provoke alternative.

Intuition is needed more than in full press.

Part of it is learning to read some moves of others as communication. Any time you see a random unit that looks like it was given no orders, look in the official log to see if that was something intentional, like a support move to your unit which ended up moving.

What Yaleunc said.

But also, logistics logistics logistics.

Your units can only move one province at a time (excepting convoyed Armies).

So there are strict limits on how fast your units can get to places, so building the right units at home is absolutely critical. Even more so for the corner powers than the centrals, but even they have to think hard.


There's also skill in reading an opponent's order sets and working out how likely they are to respond in certain ways to certain tactical situations.

There are only rarely forced play situations (which you *must* take advantage of in gunboat), but usually it's a guessing game, and judging whether you're against a tactical wiz or a noob should affect your choices.

In GB you have to fully accept that you have no control. If you can maintain this mental surrender each turn, then you'll do well.

Thoughts like, "They should have..."; "I'm sure they will..." or any such hopeful thoughts will get you killed.

If you're a controlling or manipulative personality, then you will have an uphill battle in gunboat.

And don't play PPSC. You'll be too soft for gunboat. ;)

@thorfi don't logistics matter in press too?

Peterwiggin: Yeah. :-) I think everything everyone has said here also applies to press games though. That's kinda the point ... gunboat is the actual mechanics of the game.

Press is the layer on top of those mechanics, wherein you communicate in words to other players to get them to do what you want.

But the mechanics underneath are the same, whether the communication is restricted to only unit orders and "body language" for gunboat, or words for press.

"judging whether you're against a tactical wiz or a noob should affect your choices."

Wrong. This is where you can get into trouble easily in gunboat.

Who your opponent is shouldn't really factor into your decision making. It all comes down to the "best" play and letting the knowledge that a player is "bad" or "good" ultimately takes the decision out of your hands. It shouldn't matter if you're playing against the best or worst player - sometimes the game calls for an alliance with the beginner, sometimes with the veteran. But allowing the knowledge of a player's skill to factor into your decision making is when you start making mistakes.

I disagree 2WL.

Playing with a new player is much harder than playing with an experienced one because they don't know what is their "best" play and what they will do. They're much harder to predict, since they often behave irrationally.

@Jeff Kuta
I ABSOLUTELY AGREE. WTA forces people to work hard, but in PPSC people will roll over and let their 'buddies' win. The top 5 things to know for gunboat:

1. There are no such things as alliances, only less dangerous enemies.
2. Always be prepared to contribute to the stalemate line.
3. Know how to move the troops for each country. Know how to defend against ANY neighbor.
4. Always have a plan B. Assume the worst, but risks are necessary.
5. Gang up on people, move fast and quick, but don't leave your back open too long.

France and Italy are best as allies. the fight is unnecessary, and exposes both of them.
England and Germany are best as allies. They can avoid one another if they really want, and Germany can assist England against France AND Russia.

I also disagree with 2WL, but for a different reason.

New players make more mistakes. So if I smell blood, I become more aggressive hoping to break their line or break their spirit (which sometimes leads to NMRs or CDs).

@jeff Kuta
Also true, but I've had times where I'm the hyena praying on the poor newbie deer, then gets raped by a more experienced Lion.

there is always an interesting food chain in diplomacy

@Jeff

Hunting for NMR's? That's not in the spirit of the game at all.

Shame

GF, it's called playing to win. If someone doesn't have the mental toughness to play Diplomacy, that is their problem.

And I generally don't play in low stakes games because I really dislike the newbie factor. Still, if someone slips up and makes a mistake, they are history.

I disagree with 2WL as to whether who your opponent is should affect your decision making. There are always choices to make and your assessment of your various opponents' abilities should definitely come into play. The decision isn't always the same, but it does matter what you think of the opponents - sometimes it is best to go after the stronger opponent knowing that you can best the weaker one later, sometimes better to work with the stronger opponent to eliminate the weaker one knowing they will be a more reliable/competent ally and not screw up a critical order. Also I will move differently in certain situations vs what I perceive to be a highly skilled player vs a less-skilled player, in particular in stalemate line scenarios where there are multiple options.

Sigh. No GoT fans or redditors to help in my shaming

Don't forget to have fun! Seriously, enjoying the experience is great for morale and can keep you going and focused and "in the zone".

Course, I can hardly say I'm good at gunboat, so take that with a grain of salt. ;)

For most of my games, I have been playing GBs and apart from the things said above I have deduced one more thing:
It is easier to play against good/top ranked GB players as compared to against a noob in GB. The reason for this I believe is that if one think really hard then it is possible to infer what a good GB player would do. He would always go for the optimal moves for him and that can always be guessed.
Whereas, in case of a noob I always find it hard to guess what they will do next. Mostly they do the irrational or unexpected thing which harms them or me.

I am saying these things because in all my games I have been complimented at least thrice from a top ranked GB player that "I almost read their minds" (Don't want to brag here though).
http://imgur.com/exnpkCq

2WL: To be clearer - it doesn't affect the tactical choices *available* whether you're facing a wiz or a noob. What it affects is that sometimes you can rule out that the noob is going to appreciate slightly more advanced options like beleaguered garrisons, or multi directional support cuts, etc, which means you can sometimes be "guaranteed" of some movesets succeeding when they perhaps shouldn't be.

And what Yaleunc said too - sometimes it's better to just take out the unreliable noob than try to rely on them to ally.

(Or sometimes smash the wiz first so they can't stab you later.) It really depends on each board. One adjusts one's play in press games based on who's playing, no? Gunboat is no different.