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Nuclear Surok (1362 D)
27 Feb 17 UTC
(+1)
"Papers,Please" variant idea
I just thought,wouldnt the papers,please variant be a nice addition to vdip?The map should be something like this- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=190964694&insideModal=1
Every country borders at least two others,but there are no neutrals.The SC names are already in(tho nirsk should just be a province).I have no idea how to program or balance stuff,so,can this even be done without copyright problems?And can this be an actual variant someday?
26 replies
Open
The Ambassador (1948 D (B))
31 Jan 17 UTC
New podcast segment: Dip Dilemmas
In a semi recent podcast episode Kaner and I floated the idea of a Diplomacy Dilemmas segment where players either post via a forum thread or PM us a tricky problem/issue they're having in a game for our "sage" guidance. We'll be recording next week, so send your dilemmas through!
10 replies
Open
Decima Legio (1987 D)
22 Feb 17 UTC
"Per rulebook" press option
From: http://webdiplomacy.net/gamecreate.php
"Per rulebook" means no discussion during builds and retreats as per the original Diplomacy rulebook. In this mode, saved retreats and builds are automatically readied for the next turn.
11 replies
Open
Anon (?? D)
24 Feb 17 UTC
Awesome game. You'll live forever if you join! With colonials!
http://vdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=30322
0 replies
Open
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
04 Feb 17 UTC
(+1)
Any interest in a WWIV bourse game?
I'm just testing the water here, but after the current KW901 bourse game concludes (not for a while yet), I was wondering about getting a mega WWIV bourse game up and running...
RUFFHAUS 8 (2490 D)
04 Feb 17 UTC
Yes!
DogsRule11 (866 D)
04 Feb 17 UTC
If the betsize isn't too high/it's unrated, sure!
dargorygel (871 D)
04 Feb 17 UTC
Yes
Yes. Strongly prefer anonymous, but not a deal breaker.
Ezio (1057 D)
04 Feb 17 UTC
Oh god. That would be insane. I would love it!
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
05 Feb 17 UTC
We could make it anonymous players in-game and non-anon in the bourse. The problem would be players could work out who's who quite quickly if they wanted to.
RUFFHAUS 8 (2490 D)
05 Feb 17 UTC
I think a bourse game probably needs to be non-anonymous. I also think that you have to be crazy to undertake this, but I love the idea of it!!!
Leif_Syverson (1400 D Mod)
05 Feb 17 UTC
Oh I am so in on this!
Mapu (2086 D (B))
05 Feb 17 UTC
As everyone knows, I am the best WWIV player on the planet. However, and please forgive my ignorance, I don't know what a bourse game is. Would anyone care to explain or point me in the right direction to learn? Thank you.
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
05 Feb 17 UTC
(+4)
sure, basically it's a stock-market game that runs concurrently to the actual game. Everyone starts out with 1000 shares in the stock of each other country. each season players send the GM their buy/sell orders. Then at the end of the season for every 100 units of any given currency sold or bought the dollar value of that stock falls or raises. The Victory Points for the bourse game works out as a ratio of how much stock in a country you own vs. how many supply centres that country has.

Bourse strongly encourages a lot of cross country diplomacy between all players, and it creates incentives to keep minor powers in the game for much longer than in a normal Diplomacy match.

For a more detailed run-down on the rules have a look at the first page of threadID=66195 and check out the on-going bourse game being run on the Known World 901 map here: gameID=28246
Mapu (2086 D (B))
05 Feb 17 UTC
Thanks, kaner! +1
I'll probably go back and forth on this a few times before the game fills, because I'd really hate to miss out, but I'm not sure I'll play non-anon due to unavoidable biases. If you fill it without me, I'll sit out. If you struggle to fill it, I'll join. So keep my name penciled in at the bottom of the list.

Also, you're totally insane for doing this kaner, and I love you for it.
dargorygel (871 D)
05 Feb 17 UTC
Kaner is most awesome. In fact, perhaps we need to define "Kaner" as "incredibly self-sacrificing and enables us all to have a blast."

Regarding the WWIV bourse game... I am not bothered by whether or not it should be anonymous. Either way is fine. I only know a couple of you. And no one very well. So it doesn't matter. And for those of you who DO know each other, you usually guess anyway. AND anonymous games just make you spend too much energy TRYING to guess.
Just promise you won't hold past games against each other... OR favour each other due to past games. Unless you want to favour me. Or pity me because I died in THIS game. But that is all. Besides. We can all trust each other, right? Right? ummm... right?
ScubaSteve (1234 D)
05 Feb 17 UTC
Sounds like a miserable experience for whoever has to run it... but count me in.
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
05 Feb 17 UTC
(+3)
I'll run it, and it's not such a miserable experience ;)
ScubaSteve (1234 D)
05 Feb 17 UTC
(+3)
Kaner deserves a statue or something. At least a snack.
Many thanks to kaner for all he does. But not WWIV. Nope, not gonna do it. You can't make me. Uh, uh...



Oh. what the hell. Count me in.
And I prefer non-anon. I like knowing who I am chatting with.
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
06 Feb 17 UTC
Twisting your rubber arm ey?
ManBearPig (1133 D)
06 Feb 17 UTC
Somewhat new here. I am interested.
This is ridiculous. I'm in.
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
06 Feb 17 UTC
(+1)
Kaner, you're insane.

I'm in :D
RUFFHAUS 8 (2490 D)
06 Feb 17 UTC
Based upon what we're seeing in the present bourse game I'd recommend having this as a rated game, WTA with 125 SCs as the victory condition. And while I'm a big fan of the sealanes variant for WWIV play, I think that the original map could possibly be okay for bourse play simply because the economic dynamics are likely to break up some of the monotonous stalemate lines. The WTA aspect adds a balancing weight to the bourse play where both are valued, both are relevant, and yet players can prioritize one or the other, or both. This makes for truly exciting game play, which should be a classic on the WW4 map.
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
06 Feb 17 UTC
Well there is definitely enough nibbles for me to start building a spreadsheet to host the game.

At this point in time I'm leaning towards a small point buy-in, WTA game.
Kaner if you are crazy enough to run this, I'm crazy enough to join.

Happy either way re anon/non-anon and rated/unrated.
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
(+1)
I think it would be nice if, instead of making it rated, we fixed the actual issue with Bourse Scoring.

The Bourse variant we play was designed to have different people playing the Powers and the Investors. Players would play an actual Diplomacy game, and investors would play a completely separate game and would be unable to influence the players. I believe they would still be able to negotiate amongst themselves, which made it something of a Diplomacy game, but all in all it's not a particularly interesting variant for the Investors and isn't anything new for the Players.

Merging the two roles and having the Players also invest was a genious move and created a Diplomacy variant unlike any other, where keeping on top of information is essential and attempts to outthink opponents in the Bourse would shape the game in ways Diplomacy players would otherwise never see.

The massive issue with this is the way scoring has been adapted - to only include the Bourse side. That means that you personally don't need to do well on board to get a good result. Think that's a good thing because it gives eliminated players a good chance of winning too? Think again.

Players who initially do well on the board (and who understand the game) are *guaranteed* to win Bourse under this system. This isn't because they've probably invested in their own currency, nor is it because they can demand information from people. It's because they can hide small powers away behind their lines.

First thought there for everyone who has bothered to read this far (Hi!) and who has played Bourse is "Of course! Money farm!" but that's not the real issue here. The actual reason is VP farms. Notice that I said those who "initially" did well on board would be guaranteed to win? That's because they don't end the game with any supply centers.

For players unfamiliar with the concepts here, I'll lay out of couple of definitions (if you don't know about these then you'll be at a massive disadvantage going into games):

Money Farms - Keeping a small power with a low currency value alive on one or two SCs, investing enough money into their currency that it rises ridiculously high, and then selling that currency until you run out and finally eliminating that power.

VP Farms - Keeping a small power with a low currency value alive on one or two SCs, investing as much money as you possibly can into their currency, then throwing your SCs to them to gain an insurmountable Victory Point Lead.


Money Farms are very strong, but they have counterplay. Overinvesting in a Money Farm is a big risk of using the strategy - this is where you invest too much, and the majority of your invested cash gets locked into that currency for the rest of the game due to your inability to sell quickly. The problem of Overinvestment can be reduced by buying with Partners, meaning none of you have to invest as much and you can all sell more quickly - but any partner who invests a bit less than the others will be able to make a higher profit and cause a decrease in the profits for the other Partners. Additionally, Money Farms can be countered by careful investment by other players. If you think someone is setting up a money farm, invest 4-5K in that currency (much less earlier in the game) and you'll still make a large profit from it without having to invest anywhere near as much as the other powers did. If your guess is wrong and they don't money farm with it, you don't actually lose a huge amount, and you massively decrease the amount they can buy if they try it on the following few turns.

VP farms have all of the benefits of Money Farms and none of the downsides - the only problem with it is that you need to be in a strong position to pull it off. With a VP farm, you don't have to worry about overinvesting at all, because anything you have locked in that currency is converted to VPs and you can guarantee that those will be worth it by throwing your centers to the smaller power. Additionally there is zero counterplay - people cannot invest enough to prevent your buy, because the amounts they would have to invest to make it not worthwhile for you would be extremely high and would take them out of the game if you eliminated the power. You don't have to go in with partners, because overinvestment isn't an issue. Most of all, though - if you manage to set up a large stalemate line, this strategy gives you an instant guaranteed win, because nobody can stop that VP farm from growing to consume all of your territory.


VP farms are only a possibility because board score is meaningless in Bourse. RUFF's suggestion to fix that (making the game Rated) is okay, but it doesn't entirely solve the problem because it splits the incentives entirely and forces players to choose between whether they want higher rating or higher bourse score. Games scored in two conflicting ways are not great to play in.

My suggestion would be a relatively simple one - merge the Board and the Bourse. Here's how I would do that:


Player Score = PVP + (0.5*TVP*PSC/TSC)

The acronyms stand for:

PVP = Player's Victory Points
TVP = Total Victory Points (the sum of all victory points earned by every player)
PSC = Player's SC count (Since the Diplomacy Rulebook states that in the event of a solo that player is considered to have conquered the entire board, in the event of a player soloing this is every SC for that player and none for everyone else)
TSC = Total SC Count (Total number of Supply Centers on the board)

This way, your board performance accounts for 1/3 of your score, and your Bourse performance for 2/3. This works by essentially scoring you on the percentage of the total VPs you managed to obtain, and the percentage of total SCs you managed to obtain, and combining the result.

The fractions might need some work - 1/3 Board might actually be a bit too much - but in general this system should make the game significantly less broken.
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be when I started typing.
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
I should clarify - VP farms are still possible with this scoring system, but they're nowhere near as beneficial. They turn into a risky strategy as opposed to an autowin.
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
Oh, one final thing!

I'd advise adding a cutoff year. Since it's WWIV it will be late into the game, but the nature of a game like bourse is that if multiple players are close to first place they will not want to finish the game until they are in first place, which means a draw may never happen and it's possible that nobody gets into a position from which a solo is possible.
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
Cool suggestion and thanks for sharing some insight into some of the strategies employed for newcomes to the variant! How about I put this new scoring system into the current game as a 'hypothetical' for the purposes of seeing what sort of numbers it spits out. That way it can give us a 'baseline' for whether or not to adopt the new system for scoring in the WWIV game.
Have to thank Cap for the insights and new ideas, as well as kaner for offering to be gamemaster of this crazy game (I mean, who on earth *manages* 35 currencies in their foreign exchange portfolio in real life?)

This WWIV bourse game is so tempting but I will have to bench myself, too many things on my plate in real life to afford the attention. I will definitely be spectating the board and keeping up with the thread though.
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
Well the KW901 bourse game will need to finish first, and I definately expect EoGs for that one. I'd also expect a little bit of recuperation time to be factored in as well. It's most certainly not signup time yet ;D
kaner406 (2181 D Mod (B))
07 Feb 17 UTC
@captainmeme, just to be sure you meant:

Player Score = PVP + ((0.5*TVP*PSC)/TSC)

or

Player Score = PVP + (0.5*TVP*(PSC/TSC))
If rated that high, I'm out.>50 D is too much. <=50 I'm good with.
DogsRule11 (866 D)
07 Feb 17 UTC
Sorry, I actually have quite a few games going on right now, so I don't think I'll be able to join. But I hope you have fun!
Ezio (1057 D)
07 Feb 17 UTC
EoG's?
End of Games. A discussion about why you did what you did at various phases along the way.
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
12 Feb 17 UTC
@Kaner - those two equations are the same, so either :)
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
12 Feb 17 UTC
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E1mtIvQJTLIS6sm50n32PAV0WLgx9KEpWEdaqBPOAsc/pubchart?oid=1777677898&format=interactive

I made this after Amby and Kaner discussed the % of each that the score should come from. It's a chart showing the relative scores in the current phase of the ongoing Bourse game, against the % of points that come from VPs. I have a fair bit to say about it but I have an assignment due tomorrow so it'll have to wait :D
Unstupid (1058 D)
22 Feb 17 UTC
Sounds great but isn't part of what makes Bourse Bourse rather than just diplomacy with currency the fact that you can get rid of all of your SCs for Bourse gameplay?
RUFFHAUS 8 (2490 D)
22 Feb 17 UTC
Captain, what's the driving factor behind the revised bourse scoring system?


41 replies
aman2000 (970 D)
22 Feb 17 UTC
World War 6
If anyone wants to play a WWIX variant (36 players) then join the game World war 6 revisited. Hope we get enough players and have a lot of fun!!
0 replies
Open
Flame (1073 D)
07 Feb 17 UTC
(+6)
For all mapmakers & adapters.
Dear Sirs! I don't know what had happened to Oli, may be he got some business and got no time to cope with DiploTestLab. So I decided to start DiploTestLab2 to make our job go on...
24 replies
Open
FIFA18coins (1000 D X)
21 Feb 17 UTC
EverQuest, and World of Warcraft.
<a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBMOKKZkKfw'>FIFA 18 coins</a>
0 replies
Open
Maucat (1834 D)
20 Feb 17 UTC
To Adninistrators: please pause this game.
http://vdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=29678#gamePanel
I'll be without internet connection from February 22nd to 27th due to a job journey abroad, please can you pause this game otherwise i'll be in civil disorder, thanks.
2 replies
Open
drano019 (2710 D Mod)
17 Feb 17 UTC
NWO Game Replacement Recruitment
NWO game in progress is seeking a pool of interested replacement players for potential nation takeover in the event of CD. Currently, one nation is needing to be replaced. The game is about 70% complete. We would need some players who love the game of Diplomacy to fill in for a few weeks.Email zeldark@gmail.com if you're interested in being added to the pool. Thanks!
0 replies
Open
Carebear (1000 D)
15 Feb 17 UTC
(+1)
Online Diplomacy Champhionship - Round 1 Deadline SOON
Read here: http://www.playdiplomacy.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=797
2 replies
Open
nesthocker97 (969 D)
10 Feb 17 UTC
Vacation
I need someone who manages my account for the next two weeks
2 replies
Open
Murcanic (1453 D)
08 Feb 17 UTC
Who is the best multi-tasker!
Hello,
I'm just wondering how many games everyone has played all at once and how many people are currently playing?
19 replies
Open
Captainmeme (1400 D Mod (B))
24 Jan 17 UTC
The Online Diplomacy Championship 2017
Some of you may have participated in ODC 2015, the tournament run on webDiplomacy in which players from all sites competed for the title of Online Diplomacy Champion. It was won by webDiplomacy player Octavious.
22 replies
Open
The Ambassador (1948 D (B))
25 Jan 17 UTC
Dip Directions?
In episode 11 of the Diplomacy Games podcast Kaner and I discussed longevity aspects and risk management of sites like vDip and webDip to ensure they grow and reduce the chances of going down (either technically speaking or perceptions of IP infringement). We said we'd create a thread for this for others to contribute. What do you reckon?
8 replies
Open
Nemesis17 (1709 D)
11 Nov 16 UTC
Help
Haven't played in a while, looking to get back into the game but pretty much all the games are password protected. Is there a thread with protected games? Or should i just start a new game?
6 replies
Open
The Ambassador (1948 D (B))
15 Aug 16 UTC
(+3)
Thoughts on improving vDip
As mentioned in another thread, I thought I'd summarise here my thoughts on the idea of vDip "dying". Please feel free to add your perspectives on avoiding this to the mix.
202 replies
Open
Flame (1073 D)
25 Jan 17 UTC
For Russian-speaking players
I still want to remind that russian-speaking players are also welcomed to Diplomail.Ru webdiplomacy server.
0 replies
Open
Mephisto (1462 D)
23 Jan 17 UTC
FtF in Germany (Hannover)
From 12.05.2017 - 14.05.2017 there will be some FtF-gaming in Germany (Hannover). Perhaps someone is interested.
Details you can see here:
http://www.zoombot.de/45868.html
0 replies
Open
Carebear (1000 D)
23 Jan 17 UTC
Cross-site Diplomacy Tournament
www.PlayDiplomacy.com is hosting a cross-site Diplomacy tournament. We have *eliminated* the paid premium membership requirement to allow us to invite members from other sites. vDiplopmacy players with strong reliability ratings and ratings in the top 10%+/- on this site are invited to participate in this event .
1 reply
Open
drano019 (2710 D Mod)
05 Jan 17 UTC
Return to Vdip
Hi All!

After a nearly 2.5 year hiatus from playing here, I thought it might be a good time to stop back over and take a peek at what's going on. I've missed some of the variants here, and am hoping to be able to gather up a solid group of players to play a few games (not all at once necessarily) and give me that variant "fix" I've been missing. Anyone interested in some top notch play?
61 replies
Open
dachi (1415 D)
13 Jan 17 UTC
Fall of the American Empire
http://www.vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=20

Is there a reason I can't host this variant? I've played in before on this server, and I'd really like to try it again, but I can't find it in the drop down menu for hosting new games.
5 replies
Open
e (1000 D)
05 Jan 17 UTC
High School and College Diplomacy Clubs
Hello everyone! Are you in a high school or college Diplomacy Club? I'm trying to compile a list of schools that currently have Diplomacy Clubs, so it would be great if you could post here if you know of any or are part of one! School name, location, and a contact email would be great. Thanks!
2 replies
Open
Machiavelli
Peace be with you
The Machiavelli variant of diplomacy is very interesting. I would suggest you add it to your list of variants in this website.
4 replies
Open
Machiavelli
Peace be with you
The Machiavelli variant of diplomacy is very interesting. I would suggest you add it to your list of variants in this website.
2 replies
Open
Ikaneko (832 D)
22 Dec 16 UTC
(+1)
Arctic warfare variant. What do you think?
I'm making a new variant, Arctic Warfare, featuring Scandinavia, Canada and Russia scrambling to control the Arctic. This is very early WIP, but here it is nevertheless.

http://imgur.com/T1NZWUs
11 replies
Open
Anon (?? D)
07 Jan 17 UTC
New Game - PRINCE OF GUNBOAT
gameID=29599 125 bet WTA Classic Anon Gunboat 2 day phases

No riff raff.
3 replies
Open
Mikey99 (1441 D)
10 Jan 17 UTC
Cannot join new game because "having trouble keeping up with the ones I'm in"
oops... just posted this in a current thread, sorry - lol - Does anyone kindly have a view. I'm in four games, with a couple about to close and I decided to join a new one... only to be told that I can't. I have a reliability rating of over 99%. What other factor may be affecting this please?
1 reply
Open
Mikey99 (1441 D)
05 Jan 17 UTC
Cannot join new game because "having trouble keeping up with the ones I'm in"
oops... just posted this in a current thread, sorry - lol - Does anyone kindly have a view. I'm in four games, with a couple about to close and I decided to join a new one... only to be told that I can't. I have a reliability rating of over 99%. What other factor may be affecting this please?
11 replies
Open
SLOTerp (0 D)
04 Jan 17 UTC
NWO goes MAD
The current NWO game being run at Redscape incorporated new experimental rules for the nukes: MAD (nuclear strikes can trigger automatic nuclear response). Spring 2005 sees 9 nukes trigger 3 nukes which begat another 3 nukes. Yikes!
http://www.redscape.com/viewforum.php?f=151
1 reply
Open
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