Play smart, or less so?

[FlaviusAetius]

When in press, should you pretend you are smarter than you actually are, or less smarter than you actually are?
There's pros and cons to each, thoughts?

[Senlac]

When in press, should you pretend you are smarter than you actually are, or less smarter than you actually are?
There's pros and cons to each, thoughts?

Depends who you’re talking to like any diplomatic consideration. What do you think the opponent wants to hear that will sway him to do what you would prefer?

[swordsman3003]

It is usually to your advantage to act attentive, engaged, friendly (towards your allies at least), and interested in the match. (Not 100% of the time, but the exceptions are unusual.)

And you probably want to demonstrate a certain basic level of competence to get another player interested in allying with you. (It's quite risky to ally with a complete novice or someone who is otherwise incompetent.)

But I think it is usually a good idea to hold back on just how good (or "smart") you really are.

I think a great way to disguise your true ability is to portray your high-quality play as the product of anything other than your brilliant mind. Act like you're just doing what someone else tells you (it's great if even your fake-puppetmaster believes that!), or that it's a coincidence or luck that your moves are working out, or that you're pleasantly surprised to be doing well "for the first time in a long time!", etc. With the right technique, you can cause other players to believe your every move is somehow someone else's idea. Claim that you make your decisions based on who you like (instead of what is tactically sensible). Anything, as long as you are consistent and believable.

I love the drama of a Diplomacy match, and probably among my favorite dramatic moments is when that charade comes to an end—when a player who has been sandbagging attacks and backstabs in every direction in a (competent!) effort to achieve a solo win.

[Octavious]

When in press, should you pretend you are smarter than you actually are, or less smarter than you actually are?
There's pros and cons to each, thoughts?

Any idiot can play Diplomacy, as demonstrated by the diverse array of top quality idiots who inhabit (or at least used to inhabit) the forum . Similarly there are a great many intelligent people with less talent for the game than my Nan, and she's dead.

It's a natural human instinct to partially mimic the communication style of whoever you're speaking to, and doing so can be very useful in Diplomacy. If you're unfortunate enough to be a nation adjacent to the sort of player who knows the jargon for every alliance and set of moves ever devised, it can be useful to respond in a similar fashion rather than saying, for example, "speak English, you prat". You don't need to learn all the names (life is far too short) but it's useful to know where you can look them up.

The only time I go out of my way to act like some Diplomacy genius is after I've been stabbed and want to explain with absolute authority why continuing the stab will be far less beneficial than simply admitting it was an error and adopting a new plan.