If you play a live game, click ready when you are done with your moves. Save just makes everyone wait the entire time and gets people grumpy. Welcome to the site.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not planning on doing any live games at least until I've played a few time based games.

What are Blastoises and why should they be avoided?

Live games are time based. They are just real short time, like 5 or 10 min per turn. Many times they are gunboat, which is no talking. Gets you used to the moves without all of the bother of talking to allies/enemies. You can do these games of any time length. Just look under games and look for a no chat game with a small bet amount. Once you are familiar with the technical aspect of entering moves and seeing what does what, the real fun begins. It ain't called Diplomacy for no reason.

1. This is a very cutthroat game, expect to be stabbed in the back. You can only win by standing on the backs of your former allies. Balancing paranoia and trust can be tricky. Make sure to try and look at things from everyone elses point of view.

2. Read the official rulebook: http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/resources/rulebooks/2000AH4th.pdf

3. Don't join too many games until you get the hang of home much time it takes.

4. Never give up until your last unit is gone. At the very least you can make those who put you in a bad position pay for what they've done, which is better than giving up and letting them profit easier than they should. At the best you can come back and win or at least participate in a draw.

That was supposed to be "how much time it takes", not "home much time it takes."

Hi munari, welcome here, looking forward to playing you sometime.

Most importantly, talk a lot to people. If you are quiet they expect you to be an enemy. Talk with everyone, even Turkey and England have a lot to discuss.

Second, talk a lot to pleople.

Third, balance trust and paranoia. You will be stabbed and you will stab yourself.

Fourth, learn the rules, read an official (boardgame) ruleset, not the one on the site here. Know what supports and convoys can achieve, know about self-standoffs, supporting opponents, cutting support, dislodging units, when attacks and convoys fail and succeed...

Fifth, sort of "etiquette" rules. Don't abandon games, play them out, no matter how bad they go, don't insult people, don't miss turns that usually effects other people as well, not just you, If you know you will have trouble getting your orders in, try arranging a pause (almost every good player will agree to a pause when given a reason) or get an account sitter.

Sixth, never give up. You can be included in a draw with one unit left, in rare cases even without a SC.

Seventh, do not play to maximize your points, even if it is tempting in the beginning. Play for a win, always. If not possible play for a draw. If not possible try to get existing alliances to break to turn th esituation. Then nothing for a long time... If nothing of hte above is possible play for a survive. If not possible eiher, ask yourself what went wrong.

Last, always trust me.

Have fun on the site and learning the game! Arguably the best game ever :)

Check out The Diplomacy Pouch website, it has a bunch of very useful articles, and most importantly, have fun!

well come to the site.

just a few advice i gathered up, though i'm pretty new, too.

1. never ever ever go CD, which means you are lossing and you quit the game (by nog logging on or checking the game)...makes people wait forever for a turn.

2. never give up. alderian mentioned it, but it's true. sometimes the fact that you didn't give up prevent your enemy from exploiting your supplies, and you help your allies to take him down.

3. never lie. be obscure. take out informations. avoid mentioning facts. but never. ever. lie.

;-]

good luck, mate. i hope to play you sometimes

I hate it when I stab myself.

Never lie? I am not so such about that. I can assure you there's more than liar in the top ten by Ghostrankings.
Of course, speaking for myself, I never lie ;)

I have been known to change my mind though, which could seem like I am lying, but I really don't mean to. I just get so confused sometimes.

I was playing against a pretty powerful alliance so I told one member to "forget" to support hold his ally. His response: I have a bad memory. Fun times!

But, generally I agree you shouldn't outright lie. Be as vague as possible. It helps you cover your ass later.

Connor: Read the rules http://webdiplomacy.net/rules.php - particularly the one on spamming.
munari: Where was this video, what did it say? I'm interested to know where people come from to find this place...

Lying is a part of the game, if you don't partake, at least on rare occassion, you are at a considerable disadvantage. I'm not encouraging anyone to become a one trick pony and turn that into your go-to move (though those types certainly exist on this site), but if you never lie and merely be vague about things, that's about the easiest thing in the world to interpret that you are about to stab. Per the rulebook:

"Diplomacy is a game of negotiations, alliances, promises kept and promises broken... Knowing whom to trust, when to trust them, what to promise, and when to promise it is the heart of the game."

I also find http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/resources/strategy.htm helpful if you like to read about stuff and not just learn by doing so, especially the opening strategies help a bit, also to understand the different needs of the different countries.