No communication is allowed so there are no negotiations.
Tactics play a bigger part.
Still diplomacy plays it part but you can only "contact" other players through your moves.
For example with a support move or hold order
Even if a unit needs no support to hold, giving a support hold order to it will signal the other player that you want a NAP agreement or alliance, depending on the specific game circumstances.

however i feel on this site that players do contact each other a lot in gunboat games, especially when they are non-anonymous

There are always exceptions to the rule but only a few fools would do something like that.

i dont know hellalt, i think that half of the gunboat games i have played in their is contact being made
i played one last night and it was not anonymous and as soon as the game started i had a private message from a fellow player asking me for an alliance, and i said it was not the spirit and not to contact me and he replied, everyone else is doing it so why shouldnt we

The point of gun-boat (as i see it) is to try out purely tactical play.

Without the ability to talk to your opponent you simply have to out guess their tacics, plan far enough ahead to gain supply centres...

This amounts to good practice (especially for new players who are learning the tactical parts of the game) of your tactical skills.

That some people have gone so far as to turn it into an even harder game of communicating with your moves makes it more interesting, but i'm not sure i'd even play it then.

Alright thanks guys :]

Also, please note, not messaging someone in a normal game will likely result in an agressive responce - assuming we're talking about neighbours - in gunboat that is not the case.

Doofman: I'm a troll so I only play anonymous games to avoid people ganging up on me. So, naturally I have never experienced situations like those you are mentioning :P

i agree with the purely tactical intention of gunboat and enjoy it for that as it means time is not wasted on diplomacy and instead about thinking about your tactics which is enjoyable to do sometimes, however on this site when people are communicating it gives an unfair advantage and i believe completely against the spirit of gunboat

and that is fair enough hellalt, i am thinking that personally i will not enter another gunboat game unless it is anonymous, one reason why i am enjoying the Anonimo series that is going on

What really irritates me in gunboats is when one of the players accuses in the forum two others of cheating just because they managed to anticipate moves and support one another. In half of the gunboat games I have played, I've been accused of cheating. What the fuck! I only play anonymous games, so how is it even possible to cheat??

i cant comment on that hellalt, i have done that in a forum before i admit, however it was not a situation where it was one or two supports, it was constant support and not moving against each other, it can be achieved if the people are real life friends or as many people on here tend to do and add each other to instant messenger and then decide to play the same game, i think people mention it on the forum because it that is impossible to police so what is the point of going to the mods, i just think poorly of the people involved now and wonder why they bother playing if they are not upholding the spirit of gunboat, i wont ever post on the forum again i will just think less of those players

They may just be faithful allies...

im sorry hellalt as much as i would like that, i think it is wishful thinking

When one strong player emerges, usually Turkey or another country due to CDs, it is necessary to ally to even have a chance at subduing the would be solo-winner.

If you think gunboat has to be 24/7 aggression towards your neighbours and absolutely no strong alliances, you are ignorant and stupid, just as your name suggests.

I know the game you are pointing to. You think just because you had a head start as Turkey that you deserved a win. You accused me of cheating because I chose not to fight Germany (as Russia) and instead focuses entirely on attacking you.

Had I known that MReuter (England) and Ironman (France) were going to purposely refuse to enter orders, I might have changed that decision. But once you accused me of cheating, I hoped for your death even more than my survival.

I despise punks like you, and whenever one of you join my live games, I angrily wish Kestas had never implemented code to support live games and that TGM would never consider a live game in the ghost-ratings.

Live games are all about the CDs, if you get one you can exploit, you're going to win unless you're an idiot.

On the main topic:

Very few players read the order archives to see failed moves, and I'd guess none do in Live games.

The diplomacy that many speak of here is gimped in the fact you can only enter orders that could succeed. You cannot enter orders such as "The army at Budapest support Tunis to Greece" like you can in F2F and e-mail.

Many players are overly aggressive in gunboat, meaning they get their asses kicked very early. This makes it too easy to determine the moves of your adversaries and do the opposite to thwart them.

I play Gunboat for two reasons: One, the live games are free points, and two, it keeps my mind fresh with new tactical moves and helps me guess what other players normally do.

i never accused you of cheating if you are referring to the game i think you Geofram, do you mean the game we played last night? because i am certainly not referring to you in that game

i dont think you cheated at all

i am not accusing you of cheating, it was the Austrian player who i was referring to, are you betraying a guilty conscience or just an inadequacy complex that you think everyone is always gossiping about you

I might be mistaking you and the game for another, it seems every live game I am someone is accusing another of cheating.

well sorry i certainly wasn't accusing you of that and I enjoyed that game last night, Germany was able to have such a comprehensive victory because France and Germany failed to show up, which was disappointing but will happen in live games, if our wires have crossed i am sorry Geofram, i do not think you were cheating.
i would like an apology for calling me ignorant and stupid

"No in-game messaging." - WRONG!

It means no messaging at all. Not phone calls, emails, instant messaging, PMs in the site, ro communicating / talking about it in the forums. No communication beyond what your moves indicate. Anything else is cheating.

What Draugnar said.
A lot of new people to the site abuse the messaging feature.
I've had people send me messages using the website from a Gunboat and all it made me want to do is do everything I can to make them lose.

Forgive my ignorance and stupidity, but what is apology?

Draugnar: I wasn't aware that out of game messaging was allowed in non-gunboat games. But the distinguishing factor between gunboat and non-gunboat is the lack of in-game messaging.

apology is where you defend the rigtheousness of a given action.

like 'I called you an rascist because the remarks you made insulted my race.'

or 'I didn't mean to hurt your feelings but what I said was meant as a constructive criticism of your flaws'