Thanks for your response. I wasn’t implying it happened at the beginning of a game. Here’s the game in question:

https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=48697#gamePanel

In this situation, Purple is thinking of giving up its SCs to Blue in order to help prevent a Yellow solo win. In his game, a solo win has a huge significance, whereas draws are considered losses for all. There is a debate among the players of whether a strategy like this is against the “spirit of the game” or instead is a necessary tool to fight against a solo win.

While the general topic is certainly a fair one to discuss, site rules prohibit discussing ongoing games on the forum. Please refrain from any discussions about the mentioned game.

My apologies. If possible, could you delete this thread, and I will repost after the game is completed.

Just do what you think is best, and remember. If anyone solos then everyone else loses, so any alternative is better than that.

In these games, draws are considered no different than being eliminated.

Why do you say draws are no different to being eliminated? My understanding of PPSC is that draws work as standard and the points per SC only takes effect if someone solos. Though I could be wrong on that as I tend to avoid PPSC wherever possible.

Draws are not considered no different than losing for the surviving players. No game mode supports that.

My game mode suports that. LOL

Careful, Mr. Cohen. You don't want to end up like I did. ;-) So many years . . .

Don't listen to the naysayers, Mr. Watson. If you ask the mods nicely, I'm sure that they'll support your game mode. Just tell them to transfer the pot to "JECE" in the event of a draw.

Hmm...

A player should do whatever he/she thinks will improve his/her final result. That is the spirit of the game.

>In his game, a solo win has a huge significance, whereas draws are considered losses for all.
At this point, you're discussing house rules rather than those observed on the vDip site, so your consultation would perhaps be more productive if limited to those who have agreed to and are aware of the full house rules?

Under either rated ruleset available on vDip, draws are scored equally between all surviving players. In games with a winner, all other players are marked as 'Survived' or 'Defeated' to refect their survival status. Further, in PPSC games with a winner, the pot is distributed based on centres owned which may result in some surviving players receiving more of the pot than they would have for a draw at that player count.

Thanks for all of the responses everyone. To clarify, it’s a private game, and we all know each other. Starting with the next game (this game was a quasi-tutorial with many new players) we’re going to have a championship “belt” of sorts, which only changes hand in the event of a solo win. The points and statistics compiled by vDip are meaningless for our purposes.

In that situation, if you are not in a position to solo yourself then any action is going to be the an equivalent level of kingmaking - either you allow a solo (and thus the likely change in champion) or you prevent a solo (and thus the change in champion).

In such a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation, it's really down to personal choice. There certainly isn't any 'good play' obligation to do either, unless you're the current holder and preventing a solo retains your position.

(personally I'd go for the draw every time, though, as regardless of whether the formal rules structure reflects it or not I consider a draw better than a survive, which in turn is better than a defeat)

Mouse, thank you for the insight. I‘ve copied one of your quotes to a private group to use as a discussion point. While I can understand how you personally value the various game results, we‘ve adopted the „draw for any = loss for all“ metric in order to promote aggression and provide for a more exciting game. Hopefully our valuation will encourage the final stab in an otherwise safe draw.

I want to bear your children.

I also want to know if you and your group might be interested in membership in the Academy of Creative Destruction.