This weakened Germany allows for more variance in alliance structures

Yeah diplomacy is meant to give each country a chance at winning along with a number of options for allies and not restrict us to what actually went down in ww1. But if we were to set the sc counts to a more realistic starting point based on what happened in ww1 then they would roughly be: germany with 5, austria with 2, russia with 3, italy with 2, turkey with 2, england with 3 (2 in the uk and 1 in the middle east next to turkey), and france with 3. Now you might have to tweak those numbers a little bit based on gameplay (the war ended in an armistice with the eventual total victory by the allies pretty far off in the distance so the gameplay should be very even, especially in the west where germany twice came very close to landing a decisive blow against england and france) but other then a few minor changes I think that those numbers would lead to a pretty realistic ww1 diplomacy game.

Germany is most likely to have 5 ground armies after 01.
It shouldnt be stronger than that.

@sandyshu47
There's actually a variant of Diplomacy called 1900, which attempts to make Diplomacy as historically accurate as possible. Some of the changes are a little bit off, but most of them are alright. For example, Germany starts off with four units—three armies, and one fleet.

@Nikola Maric Eto
I wouldn't say "ground armies," but, yes, Germany usually does have five units by 1902. I don't think this does too much justice, however. I'd be nice if Germany was strong enough to fend off England and France competently at the same time. That's the kind of strength I'm looking for. (This would exist in a variant, of course.)

Germany is most likely to have 5 ground armies after 01. I would say that. :)

The ability to competently fend off two players at once also happens to be the name of the game.

Diplomacy does not do a good job in the historical accuracy department. Germany does not have five armies. England does not have five fleets. There are many war games which do a better job. But that is not a problem, since Diplomacy is not meant to be historically accurate.

What Diplomacy does do, in a way that is not equaled by any other game, is evoke the feeling Great Power interaction on a grand-strategy level. It does this using what are, at the heart of the game, elegantly simple mechanics. That is Mr. Calhamer's gift to us all.

is the 1900 variant active anywhere?

@mitomon
I'm not sure. The closest I have gotten to playing such an experience was in a WW1 reenactment game on webDiplomacy. You might be able to find something like it on vDiplomacy.

@LeonWalras
Last time I checked, the name of the game was "Diplomacy"—unless you're talking about a variant or something . . .

Anyways, talking is nice and all—but for the sake of imitating history, it'd be pretty nice if Germany could fight his way past England and France.

@SuperMario0727
I already checked all vDip variants. I may have to join you on this quest for historical accuracy.

I'm X-posting this to the experts at vDip.

@mitomon
I do not mind accommodating you on this quest of ours. But . . . What is the "quest"?

Our mission is to either find or create a historically accurate and playable diplomacy map.

@mitomon
One already exists. It's the map for the 1900 variant. (Are you actually serious about this?)

Does it have germany start off strong enough to fend off francr and england? Sure, I am a fan of history.

http://www.vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=72

Found the actual variant

@mitomon
Germany is strong in that version, enough to resemble its historical counterpart. I'll do my best to explain. Germany's provinces are: Alsace-Lorraince, Berlin, Cologne, Kiel, Munich, Prussia, and Silesia. Of those provinces, four are home supply centres—Berlin, Cologne, Kiel, and Munich—giving Germany four starting units. All home supply centres have armies except Kiel, which has a fleet.

Bordering Germany are many neutral supply centres, giving Germany an opportunity to grow rapidly. I'll post a link to a picture of the map.

Here's the link: http://www.variantbank.org/results/rules/1/1900.gif

@mitomon
We posted at the same time. Interesting . . .

Lol, except the variant that mitomon found is for europe 1939 so its for the wrong world war. I like the map though, I think I might have played it on vDip before.

@sandyshun47
Lol. It is the wrong map. I posted a link to the right one in a previous comment on this thread. It'd be nice to see this variant, and others, posted on vDiplomacy.

Oh yeah I checked it out. It seems interesting, they mught have gone a little crazy with the neutral scs but I think it could work.

@sandyshu47
I do agree somewhat. For example, Switzerland should not be a supply center. And there should be fewer provinces on the board. It's a little bit too crowded.

@supermario haha yeah we did. I posted the closest playable one I could find on vdip. I had to skip a few decades forward in time...

@mitomon
The variant you posted looks like a WW2 variant. It has a similar map, though, just different Great Powers. Did you see the map that I posted? That is the one that I am talking about. You can look it up online.

Yeah, but it isnt playable, its just a gif

@mitomon
I guess that's where your "quest" comes in. Ha-ha!

:P May I remind you it is "our" quest.

"I do not mind accommodating you on this quest of ours."~SuperMario0727, April 16, 2017

@mitomon
Typical journalism--quoting only part of what's said. I believe you failed to quote the remainder of what I said, which was, "What is the 'quest'?" Implying a sense of humor.

NO... No humor for you... finding historically accurate dip variants is serious business...

@sandyshu47
I presume that you will help us--and by "us," I really mitomon--search for this treasure? And by "treasure," I really mean a bunch of pictures of Diplomacy maps. After all, it is "serious" business, as you say.