Early Diplomacy

[VonEconomo]

I spent the last couple of days reconstructing an early diplomacy game in the new sandbox feature. The game was played by mail from October 1972 to April 1974 using the revised 1971 rules and was covered by Richard Sharp's Dolchstoss Zine. I thought it was interesting to see how the game has changed and figured some others might too.

Link to the game: https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?game ... n=7c507610
Link to the Dolchstoss archive: https://diplomacyzines.co.uk/home/conte ... olchstoss/

Some quick notes: The orders for Spring 1902 have been lost to time, but I was able to work back from the Autumn to make everything correct. There were also frequent NMRs (those included in the sandbox are not a mistake) and one misorder (Serbia s1908 was ordered twice and therefore held) that I feel the need to note.

[JECE]

Very interesting! But we can't see the game. Kestas made sandbox games private at some point for the privacy of scheming players and now we get this message when trying to see your game: "You can't view this game, it is a sandbox game which you didn't create."

[VonEconomo]

This is very sad to hear

[JECE]

The sandbox is a new feature. Post an idea for improving the sandbox feature here and Kestas might accommodate your request:
https://webdiplomacy.net/modforum.php

[kestasjk_testing]

I added a public link feature for sandboxes. It currently only works via the legacy board but will do for now:
https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?game ... n=7c507610

When getting the link I clicked delete instead of the public link which deleted the whole game.. That would've been rather embarrassing, except a couple of months ago (.. for no particular reason ..) I added a redundant continuous backup in case something happened to the database. This was a good test of that at least.. yeesh.
I'll add a confirmation on the delete button I think..

[kestasjk]

Have to say it just looks like any regular game to me.. Does someone with more Diplomacy knowledge want to explain how this differs from modern play?

edit: Ahh the correspondence is so quaint and South English.. almost makes me miss Amersham..

[sweetandcool]

Have to say it just looks like any regular game to me.. Does someone with more Diplomacy knowledge want to explain how this differs from modern play?

edit: Ahh the correspondence is so quaint and South English.. almost makes me miss Amersham..

I don't have tons of experience, but a lot of the opening moves were so painful for me that I lost interest and skimmed through the rest of the game. I think the most notable part of the game was the end state, with France in SMY(!) and Germany with a cheeky army in NAF.

Was this full press or gunboat? You make reference to correspondence but I don't see any.

[kestasjk]

I don't have tons of experience, but a lot of the opening moves were so painful for me that I lost interest and skimmed through the rest of the game. I think the most notable part of the game was the end state, with France in SMY(!) and Germany with a cheeky army in NAF.

Was this full press or gunboat? You make reference to correspondence but I don't see any.

I was referring to the gamemaster, talking about someone spending a pound to join then NMRing (nice to know NMRs aren't just an online Diplomacy issue), and how he got his computer hard disk fixed by a guy he met in a pub.

Kind of curious to know the background of this, hopefully VonEconomo drops back in

[JECE]

I added a public link feature for sandboxes. It currently only works via the legacy board but will do for now:
https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?game ... n=7c507610

Screenshot 2023-06-10 190314.jpg


When getting the link I clicked delete instead of the public link which deleted the whole game.. That would've been rather embarrassing, except a couple of months ago (.. for no particular reason ..) I added a redundant continuous backup in case something happened to the database. This was a good test of that at least.. yeesh.
I'll add a confirmation on the delete button I think..

Ooo, sounds like that confirmation dialog was much needed!

You forgot something, though! The orders, maps and messages archives are still blocked:
"You can't view this game, it is a sandbox game which you didn't create. You can ask the creator for a public link."

[JECE]

Have to say it just looks like any regular game to me.. Does someone with more Diplomacy knowledge want to explain how this differs from modern play?

I don't have tons of experience, but a lot of the opening moves were so painful for me that I lost interest and skimmed through the rest of the game.

The opening moves aren't that odd, are they? They seem like rather standard openings to me.

[kestasjk]

I added a public link feature for sandboxes. It currently only works via the legacy board but will do for now:
https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?game ... n=7c507610

Screenshot 2023-06-10 190314.jpg


When getting the link I clicked delete instead of the public link which deleted the whole game.. That would've been rather embarrassing, except a couple of months ago (.. for no particular reason ..) I added a redundant continuous backup in case something happened to the database. This was a good test of that at least.. yeesh.
I'll add a confirmation on the delete button I think..

Ooo, sounds like that confirmation dialog was much needed!

You forgot something, though! The orders, maps and messages archives are still blocked:
"You can't view this game, it is a sandbox game which you didn't create. You can ask the creator for a public link."

Ah yeah, I think the token doesn't carry over to other links on the board page

[sweetandcool]

Have to say it just looks like any regular game to me.. Does someone with more Diplomacy knowledge want to explain how this differs from modern play?

I don't have tons of experience, but a lot of the opening moves were so painful for me that I lost interest and skimmed through the rest of the game.

The opening moves aren't that odd, are they? They seem like rather standard openings to me.

Well, I'm now realizing this was supposed to be a press game. So odd opening moves for gunboat are presumably quite normal for press in this instance.

[echidna]

Yes, it would have been a press game. Players' names & addresses were listed at the start, so that they could contact one another by snail-mail over the course of the month - well, less than a month by the time they received the 'zine with the latest move results, and allowing time to mail their orders in for the next deadline. Ah, those were the days, none of this "hurry up and press Ready"!

[David E. Cohen]

Indeed. Those were the days. And it is a very good thing those are no longer the days. Now people can play everything remotely from 5 minute blitz vFTF to one month deadlines. Three cheers for progress!