DipWiki - User contributions [en]

Michael Sims

2008-01-09T16:44:52Z

12.152.177.194: New page: My name's Mike, one of your diplomaticcorp and dipwiki moderators. Some things I do when not playing Diplomacy: * My very out of date [http://www.sims-family.net home page] * Simcity ...

My name's Mike, one of your diplomaticcorp and dipwiki moderators.

Some things I do when not playing [[Diplomacy]]:
* My very out of date [http://www.sims-family.net home page]
* Simcity 4 Newspaper - [http://www.sims-family.net/sc4 Scruffaluffa County]
* Some model railroading photos of my [http://www.sims-family.net/rr Coffee Table Train] - table built entirely from scratch:
* Some LEGO buildings I've made:
** [http://www.sims-family.net/cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan] - based on a similar building in Seattle
** [http://www.sims-family.net/almaden Almaden] - based on a similar building in San Jose
** [http://www.sims-family.net/cityhall City Hall] - work in progress, based on the new San Jose City Hall built in 2006 - now the tallest building in SJ.

Diplomaticcorp

2008-01-09T16:29:44Z

12.152.177.194: New page: About us... by deathblade_penguin Back in September 2000, at the "generally accepted" start of the millenium, 7 great men chatted online and by email and said "We should start our own Dip...

About us...
by deathblade_penguin

Back in September 2000, at the "generally accepted" start of the millenium, 7 great men chatted online and by email and said "We should start our own Diplomacy club, after all how much work can it be?"

The words were spoken (and the work load completely underestimated) but that day diplomaticcorp was born. For that we have to thank:

[[Tony Tella]] aka JAFAinRI (Initial founder of diplomaticcorp) also known as that grumpy old guy from Rhode Island.
Stephen Lytton aka deathblade_penguin (founder and current moderator) played in dc1 and plans to play in the last DC game ever. An established player in our club.

[[Felix Kam Chung]] aka Felix388 (Founder and current member). Anyone who knows online diplomacy has encountered this mad player. Beneath his random moves, incohesive rants and diplomacy obessesion is rumoured to be a competent player.
Salim Furth aka Chops (Founder) This highly political christian was an outspoken key member of the initial start to the club. His argumentative style was an asset to many games and the club.

David Hill aka Hobart4life (Founder). Arguably, the better of the Hill brothers, Dave was a vocal member of DC and a very dangerous player.
Dan Foreman aka dan39_usn (Founder). A very quiet reserved player but got things down.

Jon Hill aka coolj43 (Founder). Unlike his brother, Jon seems to play diplomacy with his heart on his sleeve which either worked very well for him, or was used by his enemies.

So the club was formed and games had started. Invites went out to friends, fellow players, work colleagues and our membership number began to increase. We made ties with the other diplomacy clubs of the time and fought for our share of the diplomacy players out there. Over time, old players left to take up spots in real life, new players came, old moderators left and new ones were recruited.

That was 7 years ago and many things have changed in that time. Many players have come and gone, but what remains constant is the friendly community atmosphere and wide selection of games to choose from in Diplomaticcorp. Our moderators today are:

[[Stephen Lytton]] (deathblade_penguin, moderator) the guy who's been here since the start, with over 50 games played.

[[Michael Sims]] (poobaloo, moderator & web design) active member since 2004, GM, and technical liason.

[[Former Trout]] (moderator) our newest additon in 2007, well known for his vibrant GM'ing and committment to improving the game.

The club website (www.diplomaticcorp.com)has changed significantly over the years, evolving from a static page to the interactive games and player database we have today. Over 300 players have played a game in the club, and there are currently around 25 games active at any one time.

Our purpose is to have a club where each player can quickly and easily play a game of diplomacy without fear of spam emails, heavy regulations and other hassles. We also tried to create a community with one forum, one message board for games (and any topic that took the player's fancy) and of course a place where Diplomacy players could get to know each other. We also wanted to create an environment where every game was played as if it was the first, and every player was treated as if you never played them before. Each game was new, but with old friends.

Web Sites

2008-01-09T16:28:28Z

12.152.177.194:

==[[Diplomaticcorp]]==
[http://www.diplomaticcorp.com diplomaticcorp.com] is a Diplomacy community that offers standard and variant Play-By-Email and Live games. Approximately 100 variants are documented and playable. Also home to the DipWiki, the first online community-content-driven strategy and variant library. All games are run by a human GM (game master), no automated systems. Besides having colorful graphics, maps, a large database and player stats, there's also a wide-ranging forum for games and related topics of interest.

Opening Strategy Part II - Regarding Fellow Players

2008-01-07T17:01:29Z

12.152.177.194: New page: by Jake Orion This is part two of my three-part series on opening strategy. The articles are intended to be general guidelines which apply to every country you may play. In part one,...

by [[Jake Orion]]

This is part two of my three-part series on opening strategy. The articles are intended to be general guidelines which apply to every country you may play. In part one, we learned ways to present oneself in opening diplomacy, in order to optimize one's chances for future success. Part two, below, looks at the other side -- namely, the competing players, and how one can best assess their characteristics.

This is a exceptionally difficult topic, upon which there exist a lot of subjective opinions. There are no hard rules here. Like Philosophy, however, Diplomacy is a science; it is well that we study it.

The bad news is, messages written in Diplomacy bear no firm relation to orders submitted. Technically, a player can say anything he wishes, yet the rules make no binding obligation that players act as indicated in their letters. This attribute of the game does two important things:

•It makes the game exponentially more difficult; and
•It allows for lawless anarchy (which is the sheer joy of the game).

The good news is, maximum entropy invariably yields little success; and therefore it behooves us players to embrace some civil correlation between our words and our actions (at least some of the time). What all the above really means is, you never really know what the other players will do. However, optimizing your chances of properly filtering the information you receive is critical. Although this is extremely difficult to do, I have developed some general guidelines as to how best to judge your competition.

In my Diplomacy study-data-book, I have tediously logged over two hundred Diplomacy letters written during year one, evaluating and categorizing each entry as best possible. I have relatively equal data sources from every power in the game. More than seventy percent of the data sources are from intermediate or advanced level players. Being an engineer myself, I am well aware that the number of uncontrollable variables in my data-pool is unthinkably large. I have however found a few behaviors in year-one diplomacy that correlate well with future actions.

Here are some behavior patterns that I have noticed in year-one Diplomacy, and what they likely mean:

1 Short, aggressive letters are likely to be lies or just useless chatter.
2 An offer to be a third party in a blitz-attack is usually a scam.
3 Multi-letter explanations or detailed-logic letters are excellent signs of desire for a close alliance.
4 Alliances contingent on or starting out with aggressive openings are extremely unstable ones.
5 Accusations and rash talk are made by less reliable (more capricious) players.
6 Silence implies a dangerous neighbor.
7 Fellow players write their most sought-after allies first.

Generalities are really unsettling propositions to technical people like myself, but the way I see it, if an indicator presents itself, there is no sense in ignoring its potential implications. At the very least, it's best to utilize the above information (and perhaps to construct ways to clarify better a letter's possible true message) than callously to overlook it.

I have a few more pieces of information that I have theories on, but have little or no data to back them up:

8 Capricious players, overly-opinionated players, and warlike-military players are poor allies.
9 Players who make alliances based only on very favorable divisions are poor allies.
10 Key phrases about fellow players' philosophy are often insightful.

Comments, Clarifications (referring to above numbering)

1 Letters like, "Hey let's attack England," or, "I'll go to Trieste if you move to Galicia," rarely bear any meaningful intent by the sender. I have even found that even when I respond with, "Sure, let's attack," the sender rarely takes me seriously.

2 The classic here is G-E offering Italy a piece of France or E-T offering Germany a piece of Russia. Regardless of the case, the last to get the offer is usually the last for a reason. Namely, two scared players are trying to embroil you in conflict against their neighbor.

3 - 6. No further comment...

7 This is a critical detail which appears to be of great value. Everyone likes to write their anticipated future ally first and not their planned enemy. If you find out that one country has been having detailed conversation with another only to write you days later, time to be concerned.

8 If they sound like Norman Schwarzkopf, it's a bad sign. (Still love ya Norm.)

9 If they seem to be spending their time pushing everyone for an obvious territorial advantage early on, they often are too single-minded to be trustworthy. For example, Turkey pushing to trade Greece for Rumania (a classic offer) or Germany demanding Belgium in exchange for an F-G assault of England. Are these reasonable offers? Yes, but to push hard for them in the spring of 1901 is a bit much, especially if the initial response is not met favorably.

10 Don't forget to read into the other player's feeling by their words. I'll just give an example here... If Russia says "everyone knows Russia and Austria must battle at some time, but let's not let that happen." This is a useful piece of data which may very well be foreshadowing, so keep it in mind.

Of course, I realize, there is a lot more to handling and assessing fellow players than what I have written. Most of it is far too intangible to categorize or stereotype. Subjects like decoy information and persuasion techniques are just too involved for this introductory article. I will go into much further detail when I discuss the individual countries and what I see as their options. All I hope to leave you with in this portion of literature are some simple thoughts, based on experience, which may tip you off as to a player's possible characteristics or plans.

The third article in this sequence will get involved with more peripheral points regarding general opening strategy. I plan to make it a short topic and then tie in all three parts of the sequence. Always feel free to write me and express your comments or ask questions. It has been a pleasure and an inspiration, reading some of the comments that I have received on part one.

Openings

2008-01-07T17:01:21Z

12.152.177.194:

*[[Standard Openings]]
*[[Austrian Openings]]
*[[English Openings]]
*[[French Openings]]
*[[German Openings]]
*[[Italian Openings]]
*[[Russian Openings]]
*[[Turkish Openings]]

<BIG>'''Opening Articles'''</BIG>

*[[Black Sea Strategy]] by [[Stephen Agar]]
*[[The Bulgarian Gambit]] by [[Beyerlein]]
*[[Burgundy 1901]] by [[Bruce Linsey]]
*[[The Fiafranchetto]] by [[Felix Kam Chung]]
*[[The German Attack]] by [[John Dennett]]
*[[German Variations]] by [[Geoff Challinger]]
*[[The Hedgehog]] by [[Richard Sharp]]
*[[The Hedgehog An Asset or a Liability for Austria]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[The Iberian Gambit]] by [[Chris Warren]]
*[[The Iberian Indecision]] by [[Gregory M Ellis]]
*[[In the Beginning]] by [[Noel Weer]]
*[[An Introduction to Austrian Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to English Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to French Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to German Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to Italian Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to Russian Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to Turkish Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[Is The Alpine Chicken A Tasty Bird]] by [[Stephen Agar]]
*[[The Italian Attack Against France]] by [[Michael Adams]]
*[[The Jutland Gambit]] by [[Edi Birsan]]
*[[The Koniggratz Freakout]] by Edi [[Birsan]]
*[[The Lapland Lurch]] by [[Mark Berch]]
*[[The Lepanto Opening]] by [[Edi Birsan]]
*[[The Lisbon Leapfrog]] by [[Mark Berch]]
*[[The Livonian Lunacy]] by [[Mark Berch]]
*[[Naming the Openings]] by [[Richard Sharp]]
*[[The Octopus]] by [[Richard Sharp]]
*[[Opening Strategy Part I - Philosophy]] by [[Jake Orion]]
*[[Opening Strategy Part II - Regarding Fellow Players]] by [[Jake Orion]]
*[[Opening Strategy Part III - Noteworthy Points and Summary]] by [[Jake Orion]]
*[[Playing the Key Lepanto (and living to tell the tale)]] by [[Tony Swinnerton]]
*[[Russias Northern Offensive]] by [[Rod Walker]]
*[[Sacrifice Openings]] in Diplomacy by [[Nicky Palmer]]
*[[Safe Openings]] by [[Dick Schultz]]
*[[The Three Build Opening]] by [[Scott Morris]]
*[[The Turkish Hedgehog]] by [[Nicholas Whyte]]

Openings

2008-01-07T16:56:16Z

12.152.177.194:

*[[Standard Openings]]
*[[Austrian Openings]]
*[[English Openings]]
*[[French Openings]]
*[[German Openings]]
*[[Italian Openings]]
*[[Russian Openings]]
*[[Turkish Openings]]

<BIG>'''Opening Articles'''</BIG>

*[[Black Sea Strategy]] by [[Stephen Agar]]
*[[The Bulgarian Gambit]] by [[Beyerlein]]
*[[Burgundy 1901]] by [[Bruce Linsey]]
*[[The Fiafranchetto]] by [[Felix Kam Chung]]
*[[The German Attack]] by [[John Dennett]]
*[[German Variations]] by [[Geoff Challinger]]
*[[The Hedgehog]] by [[Richard Sharp]]
*[[The Hedgehog An Asset or a Liability for Austria]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[The Iberian Gambit]] by [[Chris Warren]]
*[[The Iberian Indecision]] by [[Gregory M Ellis]]
*[[In the Beginning]] by [[Noel Weer]]
*[[An Introduction to Austrian Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to English Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to French Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to German Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to Italian Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to Russian Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[An Introduction to Turkish Opening Strategy]] by [[Richard Hucknall]]
*[[Is The Alpine Chicken A Tasty Bird]] by [[Stephen Agar]]
*[[The Italian Attack Against France]] by [[Michael Adams]]
*[[The Jutland Gambit]] by [[Edi Birsan]]
*[[The Koniggratz Freakout]] by Edi [[Birsan]]
*[[The Lapland Lurch]] by [[Mark Berch]]
*[[The Lepanto Opening]] by [[Edi Birsan]]
*[[The Lisbon Leapfrog]] by [[Mark Berch]]
*[[The Livonian Lunacy]] by [[Mark Berch]]
*[[Naming the Openings]] by [[Richard Sharp]]
*[[The Octopus]] by [[Richard Sharp]]
*[[Opening Strategy Part I - Philosophy]] by [[Jake Orion]]
*[[Opening Strategy Part II - Regarding Fellow Players by]] [[Jake Orion]]
*[[Opening Strategy Part III - Noteworthy Points and Summary]] by [[Jake Orion]]
*[[Playing the Key Lepanto (and living to tell the tale)]] by [[Tony Swinnerton]]
*[[Russias Northern Offensive]] by [[Rod Walker]]
*[[Sacrifice Openings]] in Diplomacy by [[Nicky Palmer]]
*[[Safe Openings]] by [[Dick Schultz]]
*[[The Three Build Opening]] by [[Scott Morris]]
*[[The Turkish Hedgehog]] by [[Nicholas Whyte]]

Main Page

2008-01-04T18:57:05Z

12.152.177.194:

<big>'''Welcome to DipWiki.'''</big>

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