See, we're learning already.

Try to talk with everyone... most definitely talk to all the people who are your neighbors.

- don't hold grudges. sometimes your dread enemy becomes your closest ally faster than you would believe.
-play to optimize your position. this means working with "enemies" sometimes (see above).
-play to win. but if you can't win, play to become important in a draw. and failing that, play to survive - whatever it takes.

"-play to win. but if you can't win, play to become important in a draw. and failing that, play to survive - whatever it takes."
As a new player, the last is nice advice, but quite frankly you get nothing for surviving a game, whether you are bundled out in 1902 or finish with 1 SC or one less than the winner. Quite frankly, that is the one aspect of Diplomacy as implemented on this site that stinks as far as I am concerned. For a new player that is only starting to play I will forever be a "loser" It seems to me that there is no way for me to measure progress: my GR will just continue dropping as the rating system equates surviving with losing, despite Ghost's glib remarks.

I wonder how many players stop playing simply because their rating reflects that they are getting worse and worse.

"-play to win. but if you can't win, play to become important in a draw. and failing that, play to survive - whatever it takes." mscott, please excuse me. The rating system says "play to win whatever the cost. If you don't win or draw, you are a loser and get no reward"

@tallfred
In terms of points, I believe it depends on the type of game. My understanding is that for a points-per-supply center game, a "survivor" will receive some compensation.
My guess is that you are probably correct in terms of ratings, but I have not studied that particular aspect of the game carefully. While one may not receive any reward or "ratings recognition" for surviving, I feel that it is still better than being eliminated, as it reflects some ability to stay alive in a game that is clearly not going that player's way.
I would be curious to know how survivals are allocated in the Ghost rankings. Anyone?

1. Decide why you play. I play to have fun so the points and ghost rating don't matter to me. If I had fun, then a win or loss was worth it.
2. Find out what others' motivations for playing are. This can help you decide what strategy to take.
3. Play to survive. If you can make it past 1903, then you can concentrate on drawing or going for the win. No matter how bad the situation is, hang on. sometimes the board has a way of mixing things up. People drop, internet goes down, server freezes, etc.
4. Position is more important than supply centers (sometimes). If you can't continue progress after you gain a center and if you opponent can just retake it the next season GO FOR POSITION. This allows you to meet rule 1.
5. In WTA, remember it's WTA! Never have such a good alliance that your opponent can stab you and get the solo. Overextending can cost you.
6. My favorite--IF you feel that you've been f*cked, break out the can of whoop-ass on whoever wronged you. Make them think twice about doing it again.

4. Position is more important than supply centers (sometimes). If you can't continue progress after you gain a center and if you opponent can just retake it the next season GO FOR POSITION. This allows you to meet rule 1.

should read rule 3

If you're one of the final three and your buddies turn on you focus your resources on the weakest, that way you'll survive and get more points than you would if you just focused on defense.

Well, I suppose the same advice that I use for late-night paper writing works here...

NOTHING and NOBODY works in a vacuum, so the greater your frame of reference on anything and everything, to turn it to your advantage, the better...

Never give up, just keep going and going, even if you're at 5 pages and need 10, er, if you're surrounded as Austria and the funeral organ's sounding...

If you have no clue what to do, take your best shot at it and bullshit things based on instinct and that frame of reference I mentioned...

And when all else fails--quote Shakespeare (it DOES apply to both fields--if you're faced with failure, you might as well go out with a quip and, worse comes to worse, The Rest Is Silence!)

;)

Advice to new forum members, don't try and decipher obi's posts. That way lies madness.

@Czech: Interesting points. I'm not quite sure how to implement 6 though. What pointers do you have on this?

@Obi: I work in an office, not a vacuum. I hasten to add however that the domestic uses the vacuum cleaner regularly, so I can only assume that my vacuum is ready for me to work in whenever I should choose to do so.

@tallfred To meet rule 6 (as stated by Czech), it's like you're austria and italy attacks immediately, thus causing a jugger to form. Use your effort to fuck him up, since its not like either of you stand a chance anyway. This is the most common example but it happens all the time.

LOL +1 tallfred...

And Mafialligator's advice is probably the msot valuable so far (though in my defense, my posts aren't too hard to decipher at all, the basically come down "Shakespeare says ___ and I agree," "Nietzsche/Plato says ___ and I agree," "I have my own philosophical idea and it's *Wawa music from Charlie Brown music palys," "GOD my Mets/49ers/Ducks suck!" and "Marvelling at or condemning authors and philosophers who were 1,000 times more successful than I'll probably ever be."

That, and responding once mapleleaf makes his obligaory Obi-joke...\

See, kids, it's not hard to understand me at all! (It's jsut a matter of if you really CARE TO...and my guess is...yeah, probably not, eh?)

:p

Im pretty new and am having a lot of fun. Two bits of advice 1) be honorable in your diplomacy - there is always a time for the stab but do it with unclear intentions and 2) dont obsess - i find myself getting very focused on the game and need to be reminded that losing is learning.

Ducks? Mets? Obi, where do you live?

Actually obi, I just like teasing you. You're an easy target, but you make up for it by also being a good sport.

"Ducks? Mets? Obi, where do you live?"
Apparently halfway between Anaheim and New York...so near Kansas City, would be my guess.

Thanks, Mafialligator--like I've said before, I prefer "arrogantly honest" over "dishonestly polite," so yeah, with my extreme arrogance and insipid Shakespeare usage, have to take the shots in good humor (can't deal them if you can't take them and chuckle...) :)

Also, I'm from Los Angeles County (I've actually said that numerous times, I think.)



I like the New York Mets because when I was a kid in Little League I had to play catcher, didn't want to because I was the tiniest, whitest, skinniest kid ever and so playing the position where you constantly have a fast, hard ball coming towards you and a guy swinging a large aluminum bat in front of you scared the hell out of me...but then I watched a Dodgers game with Mike Piazza and suddenly being a catcher was the coolest thing ever because of Big Mike...so when the Dodgers traded him to the Marlins a few weeks later--I've NEVER forgiven them for that, hence a good deal of my Dodger hatred--I went with Mike...and when Mike was traded a week LATER to the Mets, I went with him again, and as he stayed there eight years, making the playoffs twice and the World Series once, and I loved their underdog image--works well when, again, you're a REALLY tiny kid--I stayed a Mets fan, and have been suffering ever since. ;)

Ducks fan because...well, I thought Teemu Selanne was cool as a kid (not to mention "Selanne" sounded like a really cool name) and as they were underdogs TOO, I became a fan, they've made the playoffs roughly 50% of the years I've been a fan (about 1997 or so onward, skipping the first few, horrible seasons) and so have kept my loyalty, I stuck with the team.

49ers--Los Angeles HAD no team when I as a kid (Raiders and Rams had already moved by the time I was getting into football) and I was watching Monday Night Football one night, Steve Young connected with Jerry Rice for a TD, and since I didn't have a team yet and the 49ers were regional rivals of my dad's Raiders and I, er, have always been contrary to my dad, that made picking them all the easier (and man...that 1998 GB/SF Wild Card Game! I was so stoked, I knew this team was AWESOME, had won 5 Super Bowls already, and they looked like the kind of team that'd always make the playoffs...then Young got hurt, Rice left, Garcia and T.O gave a couple playoff years...and things have gone to shit ever since.) :p



So yeah--picking my sports teams is like everything else with me, long-winded and weird, and just designed, somehow, to piss off follks around me by being so contrary! 3 teams for 3 sports, NONE of them the local one (Ducks are closest, but they're Orange County, not LA County, and NYC and SF are direct rivals of LA!)

^
Advice for new WebDip forum-goers...

NEVER ask Obiwan a question if you're not ready for a paragraph--at least--for an answer. ;)

Never ask obi-wanker a question unless you're prepared for no answer at all. All that you'll get is a spewing out of random quotes from Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Hume, or Beckett totally unrelated to your question. After awhile, you'll realize that this poseur (he claims to be an A+++ English major despite the fact that he can neither spell nor construct a proper English sentence ) possesses very little in the way of insight.

The bottom line is, this idiot has read about five books, and will boast about it until he (please God, soon) dies.

^
"That, and responding once mapleleaf makes his obligaory Obi-joke"

See, told ya, new joinees...

Why, I practically make mapleleaf's "career" here as a poster...well, me and Draugnar, I suppsoe, who maple, utilizing the full capacity of his creativity, loves to call Fag-Naur...

HEY!

How come *I* don't get my own special, derogatory nickname, malpe?!

I'm hurt...you'll take all that time and effort to come up with an unfunny and stupid-sounding nickname--especially after you knocked my literary skills, at least, whatever my abilities, *I* could think up something beyond "Make a gay joke worthy of a 13 year old" material--but I don't get one?

(And "Obi-wanker" is even worse than Fag-Naur!

Come on, maple, you satirized my "Philosophy Weekly" bit so effectively...

Is that all you have? (This, kids, is an example of what NOT to do on WebDip, by the way, feeding the trolls is discouraged, and being one is punishable by being forced to read one of my brick walls of text...yes, I've seen that first-hand...

:p )

I happen to enjoy reading Obiwan's comments. And no, I'm not some noob (I am a noob) sucking up to him. Most are educational in the least. I am coming to believe that Maple just wants his body, maybe?

But, for new players. Always expect a stab. :) oh, and try to play in person if you can. The experience will be epic.

Gee. Two Star Wars wankers making nice. That's a surprise.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1xedaZRoh8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0IXsACBRco&feature=related

The advice about putting yourself in the other person's shoes before taking the shirt off their back is good advice. Try to think what you would do if you were he, and then factor that into your decision making. But have regard to his/her level of play, some people whould never support a self bounce to make it 'fail' whilst others obviously have that tactiv in their armoury.

@ Maniac: Great advice, but I think this is also one of the hardest things to do – figuring out how exactly smart and creative your opponent is, how risk-prone etc. Any tips on how to do that exactly (other than studying game history may be)? Not sure there’s recipe for that, but thought I’d ask anyway :)