That's completely random.

And quite a simple and effective argument! How else do you get an alliance in such a format except through bribery? ;)

On a serious note, that's why I have never tried and never intend to try Pure. It's honest-to-God pure luck.

and also is involved comunication skills. He who's the best at convinving others will succed.

pure silence is gunboat, however there is alot less luck then people like Eden think...

"Let us consider a full-press enabled Pure game."
This is not gunboat. This is pure, but not gunboat, so you still do full diplomacy.

I would say that yes if all the players were bad at diplomacy in the case of pure, and in the case of pure silence they all were gunboat signs-illiterate, then yes it would be luck. But it's about picking up on the nuances. And in Pure it's about being persuasive. In regular maps diplomacy is a way to win, but with pure it's the only way to win.

I don't have Paypal (attacks Eden)

You guys are asserting something that plain isn't the case. Just because you've personally picked up on a gunboat signal or got someone to ally with you doesn't mean it wasn't lucky. The fact that you -- a 1-center power with literally no more or less to offer than anyone else -- were chosen for the gunboat signal or alliance is entirely a product of luck. There is no basis for picking one person over another when all positions are equal; being chosen is entirely arbitrary and, thus, a product of luck, no matter how much one might want to equate success in that game with his or her own skill in Diplomacy.

The whole point of pure is that its perfectly balanced, if someone allies with you in a gunboat its because they chose you for a random reason (luck). Unless of course someone's favorite color is blue so they ally with France every time no matter what :P

The starting is the same, yes, but the moves are not. That's why usually un pure silence, where no strat is involved (not as un gunbouat classic), in the first year or two, nothing goes out well, and if it does, it would be indeed luck. But once tha game has had a few turns, you are no longer in the same situation as everyone else, even if you are still a 1SC power. Because you would have used your moves as a comunicative weapon. Even if you have not moved, that's a signal, and a signal is a way of comunication.

@Shep yeah, granted. I'd argue though that the same element of luck exists on any map. If you have no friends and get roasted despite your best diplomatic efforts, it's not always your fault. Citation Austria.