Newbie looking for advice on first victory (:

New players can go here for helpful advice and to sign up for our mentor program, or if you're a veteran help answer questions.
Forum rules
This is an area for new members or members looking for help with the site or Diplomacy. Off topic threads and replies will be moved to the appropriate category.
Post Reply
Message
Author
Alitalia
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 20, 2023 2:24 pm
Contact:

Newbie looking for advice on first victory (:

#1 Post by Alitalia » Mon May 22, 2023 10:54 pm

Hi, I am very new to diplomacy and I ran several not games. I had gotten pretty close yesterday with Turkey but I couldn't get a victory so I went on Random bit games. This is my first victory in them and I got it with Germany! Could you please give me some advice on how I could improve? Thank you already.

Game ID: https://webdiplomacy.net/beta/?gameID=632204

User avatar
JECE
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2017 4:35 pm
Karma: 393
Contact:

Re: Newbie looking for advice on first victory (:

#2 Post by JECE » Tue May 23, 2023 8:26 pm

https://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=632204

Well done! At the risk of stating the obvious, play some games against human players. As for this game, pretty much everything went your way and you were able to play well and take advantage of the minimal opposition that you faced. It took you a really long time to crack England, though. You were very vulnerable because of that to facing a two-front war, which didn't end up happening, or getting blocked from winning by a stalemate line, which almost happened.
1
See my full Profile:
http://www.webdiplomacy.net/profile.php?userID=17421

Alitalia
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 20, 2023 2:24 pm
Contact:

Re: Newbie looking for advice on first victory (:

#3 Post by Alitalia » Wed May 24, 2023 8:27 am

Thanks for the advice (:

I know that I faced minimal opposition. From what I understand me letting Russia take Sweden made them think I was their ally, and Austria was too busy with Italy and Turkey. Italy also attacked France which helped me win that front. Overall I was lucky but I thankfully made something out of it.

I did really struggle with England, I think I made a mistake with positioning my army and my fleet, but I would like to hear how I could defeat England in future games. (:

User avatar
JECE
Posts: 1478
Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2017 4:35 pm
Karma: 393
Contact:

Re: Newbie looking for advice on first victory (:

#4 Post by JECE » Wed May 24, 2023 6:50 pm

I think that you got it eventually! Control of the North Sea is critical. Dislodging the English fleet in a Spring phase was smart because you could have popped the fleet without losing a supply center if it tried to retreat to Belgium or something.

If you're interested in articles about Diplomacy strategy, this is a great resource:
https://diplomacyzines.co.uk/
See my full Profile:
http://www.webdiplomacy.net/profile.php?userID=17421

Theodoric
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2021 8:23 pm
Karma: 32
Contact:

Re: Newbie looking for advice on first victory (:

#5 Post by Theodoric » Fri May 26, 2023 6:40 pm

Welcome to the game and congratulations!

In terms of tactics, I notice a few things in your game that you might think about in the future:
1) You ended up with some armies in positions where fleets would be more helpful and vice-versa. In particular, garrisoning Brest with a fleet would have helped you break England down, and garrisoning St. Petersburg with an army would have let you attack Moscow. You also had that fleet in Finland where it wasn't really able to contribute. This happens to everyone, but it can help to think ahead about what types of units you want where, and sometimes to risk builds or get builds slower in order to get the right unit in place.
2) It can help to vary your attacks. A few people have noted that you were stalemated with England in the North Sea for a long time--being in a position where you *can* take the North Sea means England will be reluctant not to defend it, which gives you the opportunity to shift your units. For instance, if you'd moved Den-Skag and Helg-Den, you would have been able to threaten Norway and the North Sea simultaneously.

In terms of broader strategy, it can really help to think ahead about which 18 centers you think you can get for the win, and which centers can be backup plans. That way, you can know from early on what the hardest conquests are going to be and prioritize them. You got Spain, Marseilles and Portugal pretty early, which is fantastic since those are hard to get as Germany. But you almost lost them to Austria because you only had one defender protecting them. If you know that those are crucial centers and will be hard to recapture if you lose them, it might be worth slower progress to St. Petersburg and Norway (which are hard to attack from the South) to get them and hold onto them.

And last, as others have said, play some games with humans! The bot games are great for getting a feel for the tactics, but you can learn so much more by seeing what humans come up with :)
1

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest