@bas: I would think that, in an expert game, it matters little how many and how large your opponents are if you are a clear solo threat; if they are experts they'll unite to stop you, whether that be one or six of them. I think it's your positioning, with regard to the stalemate lines, that largely decide whether you stand a chance once the game becomes 'stop the solo'.

IMO

@gold & valis: thanks a lot, I'll check those games out in detail when I'm not at work ;)

I think ghug nailed it by the way: "You win by getting other players to play badly. It's impossible to win against competition playing optimally."

Gold, yeah, he won because he diplomatically prevented Italy and Turkey from getting their shit together, not because I "threw" once the outcome was certain, but Italy and Turkey were both good players who understood that a solo was happening, so they were effectively throwing by refusing to put their differences aside. The fact that they weren't actively supporting him into centers is largely irrelevant.

In the light of our game, another way a win might be possible is if someone else tries to solo at the same time, and you're both in an all-or-nothing mood. Maybe it was plain naivety on my part to be trying to set up for a solo rather than stopping you though.

Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't even seem like people were talked into throwing the game...
gameID=159215

Bas, yes, it's possible to win a game without someone throwing it (or NMR-ing).
gameID=156348 was a game I won despite Italy and Turkey working together.
More interesting: gameID=155364, which I lost unintentionally :)

Yes. Ally with a carebear then stab them on the last turn.

That's not a stab, right? Nescio had a stalemate until the second-to-last year, but misordered Pie S Ven instead of Pie S Mar. At least, that's what it looks like to me.

By the way, that's one hell of an impressive game. I don't think I've ever seen a German-Italian two-way draw.

It's impossible to survive, let alone progress, let alone win, in Diplomacy without the cooperation of your opponents. So in that sense, no, you can't solo without your opponents helping you, and if you get a solo, it always means that at least one of them made a mistake.

However, a skilled player can create conditions in which it's easy for their opponents to make exactly this sort of mistake, and those who do so, at least in my book, have earned their victories. For what it's worth, I've found that it's a little bit easier to get a solo against very strong players than against intermediate players, although it is certainly easiest against weak players. So, perhaps you should try playing better opponents? :)

I'm playing with Valis and 2ndWhiteLine now, so yeah, I need better opponents ;)

You're playing with bo too, who is far, far worse.

I soloed a SoW as France largely by getting slightly lucky to grab Berlin after having previously gotten Tunis. Since Scandinavia and StP can't be defended from the west, I ended up soloing by guessing right on the critical term. We had seven serious players, TAs I think and professors. It can be done. Note, for me it is very rare

Isn't Bo the one who made you cry at The Boroughs? I'm pretty sure it was Bo.

Nothing like being forced into taking a 7-way draw.

@Ogion: you mean gameID=133722? That's a great game, really well-timed stabs on Italy and Germany. Count me impressed :)

@Valis: yes.

So worth it.

Define "throw the game"? Because that's at the heart of the issue. :-) But I think plenty of people have laid out options above.

I should make a very tangential side: this (solos without anyone "throwing" the game) is fairly common in gunboat, for the obvious reason that organising a coalition is much harder when you don't have words.

But less tangentially - creating conditions where a coalition has difficulty forming whilst you're making the solo run is actually the key trick, in both gunboat and normal press games.

"Throw the game", for me, is defined as a power deliberately handing SCs to another power (or directly helping them to gain them from others) at their own expense, and in a manner which increases the gaining power's chances of winning.

Usually this is done out of spite or revenge, but it can also be used in the form of a legitimate tactic - although it is something of a nuclear option.

I have deliberately "thrown" a couple of games. In one case, partly because I was cross with an idiot neighbour who kept throwing himself at me in a desperate attempt to gain one SC, when I was also under assault from a power on 15 SCs with a serious solo chance. Unlucky guesses aside, I had a good chance of holding my position - so the solo was not inevitable, nor was my defeat. I made it clear to idiot-boy that if he didn't stop, I would continue resisting *him*, but would meekly surrender SCs to the solo threat, this making a solo almost inevitable. Idiot-boy ignored my *repeated* warnings, so I went through on my threat - allowing one front to collapse, and the game ended in a solo victory.

The fact that I have "thrown" in the past is something I now occasionally use as a bargaining tool, to present a (hopefully) credible threat that I will do so again unless a given power co-operates with me (or at least stops attacking). It is moderately successful against non-noob players - but only those of a somewhat cautious disposition. Newbies or people bad at press usually fail to grasp the threat.

gameID=46844

gameID=81978

The key to soloing is trapping people so that if they don't work with you you can just kill them

@throfi: throwing for me means intentionally helping another player to solo - which I consider very different from the "pretend to throw to stay alive longer" strategy that we all have used.

Also, you're totally right about Gunboat (and probably public press). Much harder to set up a defensive line with multiple powers without press.

So there are multiple paths to a solo, although some clear patterns arise.

Option 1: be England or Turkey, and walk across the main stalemate line early. England gets Tunis/Warsaw/Moscow or Turkey gets Spain/Marseilles/Munich. Keep it while you scoop up all the centers on your own side of the line, which the other powers cannot stop. Examples: gameID=156348, gameID=118381, gameID=46844, gameID=81978.

Option 2: be France, make sure England has a weak opening. Grab Tunis, then use naval superiority to take out England, outflank Germany and force Scandinavia. Example: gameID=133722, although there must be more.

Option 3: be anyone, play a strong 2-player alliance that sweeps the board. Both of you cross your respective stalemate lines, then fight it out for the solo. Example: gameID=112043.

Option 4: be anyone, start strong but not too strong. Another power becomes a solo threat, everyone rallies to defend against him, and in the aftermath you grab a solo too fast for the rest of the board to coordinate. Example: gameID=161926

Option 5: be Russia, get to a strong 12/13, then try to win by brute force. Example: gameID=39970.