Messages - webDiplomacy

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20 Nov 11 UTC	Spring, 1: Alright, so just a quick intro. You'll notice that some countries/territories have black circles in them. These are Supply Centers and the object is to be the first person to control 18 of these. If you control all of them, you win with 50 points. If you share the win with another player, you split the points 25/25. The game plays in Spring then Fall then Spring again and so on. In order to control a Supply Center (the black circles, you want 18 of them) you need to end a Fall turn occupying it. After that, you can leave, but if someone else occupies it, you obviously lose it. It says what season we're in up at the top of this page. Fall is also important because you will gain or lose units at the end of it. You will only have as many units as you have supply centers, so if you lose a supply center, you will lose a unit. If you gain a supply center, (rocket science alert) you gain a unit. For your first move, you're probably gonna want to head towards supply centers. You have Armies (land units, the little green tanks, we each have 2) and Fleets (sea units, little grey ships, we each have 1). Armies only move onto land spaces. Fleets (sea units) can travel in any sea space (the blue bits...) or onto any country that touches the coast. You can also move Armies (land units) over sea spaces by putting a Fleet (sea units) in it and using the CONVOY order. For example, Sal (Green) could move his Army in Athens to the island of Crete by sailing that ship into the Aegean Sea and convoying across it. Every single unit can only move one space per turn and only to an adjacent space. When you've put your orders in (below the map) click SAVE to save your place, and click READY when you're ready to move to the next turn. Once everyone has clicked READY or 72 hours have gone by (whichever happens first), the next turn will start. I'll explain more as we go on, but reading this short page will explain mostly everything: http://webdiplomacy.net/intro.php
20 Nov 11 UTC	Spring, 1: If you want to send a private message to another player, click on their empire's name (Justin - Egypt // Lou - Carthage // Sal - Greece // Jeremy - Persia // Pete - Rome) and type in the box.
22 Nov 11 UTC	Spring, 1: So I someone doesn't put orders in within the 3 days, does his army just hold position?
22 Nov 11 UTC	Spring, 1: Yeah. Sucks to be Lou.
22 Nov 11 UTC	Autumn, 1: Alright, so now it's Autumn. At the end of this turn, you will gain control of any supply center that you end the turn in. For example, Lou will only control Numidia if he holds there this turn. Jeremy will control Tyre if he holds there. Pete will get Vindobona and Massila if he moves there this turn. You get the idea. You already control the 3 supply centers you started with. You only lose them if someone else takes them from you. If you look over near Sal, there's a good example of how a CONVOY works. The Army in Sparta can be CONVOYED across the Aegean Sea into Miletus. As we move closer to each other, now is a good time to explain how we affect each other. Each Army and/or Fleet (on it's own) has equal strength, so sometimes adjacent units need to SUPPORT each other's moves or holds in order for them to be successful. If an unit is trying to move into a space that another unit is trying to move into, the two will just bounce off of each other and no one will move. BUT, if the first unit has SUPPORT from another piece, its strength is now greater than the opponent's and it will succeed where the Fleet will fail. If you are trying to move into or hold a certain territory, support can be offered by any unit (even opponents) that are adjacent to that territory (the one you're trying to end the turn in). This is a good time to start making plans and alliances with other players. Any questions, just ask.
23 Nov 11 UTC	Autumn, 1: If you lose a battle do you lose the unit or just the space it was in? Say you are defending a non-supply center territory (for whatever reason) and you are attacked by two units, do you lose your unit or does he just retreat?
23 Nov 11 UTC	Autumn, 1: You have the option to either disband (destroy) or retreat.
23 Nov 11 UTC	Autumn, 1: If you force a unit into a position where it can't legally retreat, it will only have the option to be destroyed.
25 Nov 11 UTC	Autumn, 1: This turn is an in between turn. No one moves, but we all put in our BUILDS or DESTROYS depending on the number of Supply Centers we now control. You can build Armies or Fleets (as long as they're in a coastal territory). One thing I want to make sure everyone understands is that you gain control of a Supply Center by ending an Autumn turn in it. So Jeremy doesn't control Tyre, but he does control Jerusalem since he ended Autumn in it. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
29 Nov 11 UTC	Spring, 2: If two people invade the same territory guarded by a third person, but the two attackers do not support each other, does anyone win or lose? Or do all three people just block each other?
29 Nov 11 UTC	Spring, 2: Good question. This would count as two separate 1v1 battles and the defender would win the territory.
01 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 2: I hope I've pretty much explained the meat of the game. The key things to remember are that you need to outnumber your attackers (through the use of SUPPORT) if you want to take or hold territories. Any nation's units can support any other nation's units in moving or holding. And pay attention to the seasons. It's Autumn again, so any Supply Centers you occupy at the end of this turn will become yours. You can only have as many units as you have supply centers, so you will gain and lose units as you gain and lose supply centers.
01 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 2: There are a couple of weird instances where support will fail and I'll try and example them before they actually happen. Here's one that may arise later: Unit A is moving to Territory A. Unit B is supporting Unit A's move. Unit C attacks Unit B, withdrawing Unit B's support from the first move. Unit B needs to defend itself so it will fall back to that if it is contested elsewhere. If that doesn't make sense, just say so.
07 Dec 11 UTC	Spring, 3: Found this useful: http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/resources/rulebooks/2000AH4th.pdf
07 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 3: Very helpful, thank you! I should've posted this earlier, but this is helpful and succinct: http://boardgamegeek.com/file/download/xhddvj2ia/Diplomacy_Rules_Precis.doc Is there anything major I forgot to mention? I realized the other day that I never mentioned that units must be built from home supply centers. If an enemy is occupying one of your home supply centers, it decreases your build by one.
08 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 3: Just a reminder about winning conditions. The object is to be the first to control 18 Supply Centers at the end of an Autumn turn. If more than one person achieves this, those players can propose a draw and split the win.
11 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 3: Sal is the new Lou.
11 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 3: Sal has hit a new Lou.
11 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 3: Aren't Lou glad we're Sal waiting for this turn to be over?
11 Dec 11 UTC	Autumn, 3: He'll probably make his move Justin time, for Pete's sake.