DipWiki - User contributions [en]

Main Page

2020-07-14T13:38:27Z

Poobaloo:

== Welcome to [[DipWiki]] ==
The online resource for all things [[Diplomacy]], the board game.

DipWiki is being refreshed! All account creations from the past few years are caught up and have been approved.

*[[Strategy]]
*[[Openings]]
*[[Variants]]
*[[Tournaments]]
*[[Publications]]
*[[Web Sites]]
*[[Member Pages]]

== Getting started ==

* What is a [[DipWiki]]?
*[[How do I log in]]?
*[[Help:Wikitext_examples|Sample Wiki formatting]]
*[[Most frequent Wiki markup]]
*[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents WikiMedia User's Guide]

Pour consulter les pages francophones de DipWiki: [[Fr:Accueil]]

User talk:W. Alex Ronke

2020-07-14T13:37:11Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

'''Welcome to ''DipWiki''!''' We hope you will contribute much and well.
You'll probably want to read [[DipWiki:Getting started|Getting started]]. Again, welcome and have fun!
[[User:Poobaloo|Poobaloo]] 08:37, 14 July 2020 (CDT)

User:W. Alex Ronke

2020-07-14T13:37:10Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I'm a professional software developer who used to work in the Video Game industry.
I now take on game design projects as a hobby, with a focus on board games (particularly Diplomacy variants).

Diplomacy Variant Work:

"1812 Overture" - Designer / Creator
This variant is for 6-player controlling two powers each across a two-continent map. I have been GM-ing playtests for this variant over the past year, including one face-to-face game at DixieCon.
"Living" Rules URL: http://tinyurl.com/1812-overture-diplomacy
Example Playtest Album: http://imgur.com/a/mDxDk

"College of Cardinals" - Artist / Contributor
(variant designed by Timothy Hayward & B. M. Powell)
During the 2016 playtest of CoC, I produced and maintained a higher-resolution SVG-based map and orders history.
Album URL: http://imgur.com/a/5hFKt

"The Two Towers" - Adapter / Artist / Contributor
(original variant "Middle Earth II" designed by Terry Kuch & Don Miller)
As part of acting as GM for a Play-by-Forum game at PlayDiplomacy.com, I chose to update the 5-player "Middle Earth II" variant from 1966. I produced a map more closely based on Tolkien's illustrations, and I made a few tweaks to the gameplay.
Album URL: https://imgur.com/a/T19We

"Ambition & Empire" (version 6.0) - Artist / Editor / Co-Designer
(original variant designed by Jeffrey S. Kase & B. M. Powell)
This project, currently in-progress, is an update both to the art and rules of "Ambition & Empire". It will likely be released later this year as version 6.0. I have been in close collaboration and communication with both Powell and Kase throughout the entire process. In addition to a map update, with new art and a few small structural changes, I will be editing and formatting the latest rules PDF.

"Emerald City" - Artist / Contributor
(variant designed by Morgan McAllister)
Similar to my College of Cardinals project, I generated an SVG-based map for this Seattle-oriented variant. I didn't end up maintaining an orders history long-term, but the art assets still exist for potential future use.
Example URL: http://imgur.com/8Z6uofH

User talk:Christian Dreyer

2020-07-14T13:36:53Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Christian Dreyer

2020-07-14T13:36:53Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

FTF dip player since many years, online player since fewer. Long time since I travelled to play Dip but I occasionaly play a ftf game with my children and their friends. Play Dip on line, probably too much. Starting to grow fond of new variants although I cherish classic dip as nr 1.

Age: 40+
Married: Yes
Children: Yes
Occupation: Civil servant
Hobbies: Taking your supply centers

User talk:Hugh Polley

2020-07-14T13:36:42Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Hugh Polley

2020-07-14T13:36:42Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Long time diplomacy player and part time GM! Over the years I have created rule centered diplomacy variants such as Engineer Diplomacy found here in DipWiki.
We have also been working on a Power Basic Adjudicator for years and have created a Basic program for creating HTML pages called 'Text Webber'.
I am looking to edit some of my contributions to this site and add some once I am given the power to do so!

User talk:Neil Lovelock

2020-07-14T13:36:09Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Neil Lovelock

2020-07-14T13:36:08Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I have been an avid wargamer for the last 20 years. My main interests are around the history of Europe from Ancient Greece all the way up to modern history. I enjoy board games from GMT and enjoy finding hidden gems in strategy and tactics magazine. I started off by enjoying games such as risk and diplomacy and enjoy playing these games as a way to understand history better and also to understand military history and tactics better.
I enjoy living history as well by travelling to the many capitals and major cities of Europe to see these wonderful places.
I enjoy the diplomacy game and am interested in this site as it allows me to play through so many variants to enjoy many different experiences of Diplomacy.

User talk:Andrei Valan

2020-07-14T13:35:57Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Andrei Valan

2020-07-14T13:35:57Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I love strategy board games, whereby Diplomacy is a wonderful new discovery. For now I am exploring alternative maps and variants to this classical game and hope for very entertaining games. It is amazing what an important role your own negotiation skills play in this type of game. It's only sad that this concept was not followed through over the decades.

User talk:Max Plithides

2020-07-14T13:35:41Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Max Plithides

2020-07-14T13:35:41Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I am currently an aspiring graduate student with an interest in IR who is currently affiliated with Rice University. I have created a 16 or 8 player modern world variant of diplomacy which I would like to upload and hopefully find a place to play test.

I have alot of experience playing diplomacy both in person and online. I was hoping to find an open forum on the internet to discuss and upload variants.

User talk:David St John

2020-07-14T13:35:28Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:David St John

2020-07-14T13:35:28Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Resident of Chicago, IL, USA. Member of the Windy City Weasels (intermittently). Witnessed, while playing (and losing) as Russia, the legendary Beefy Nate Cockerel solo as England in 1906 in less than four hours at a bar. Won the Windy City Weasels award for Best Italy 2013 (or 2014 I don't remember) with a 17 center draw against E/F.

User talk:Eric S. Raymond

2020-07-14T13:34:45Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Eric S. Raymond

2020-07-14T13:34:45Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I'm known in some circles as "ESR". It is near certain there are pieces of software I wrote in your site's implementation stack.

Diplomacy player since the 1970s.

Be aware that there is a permissions problem with your Terms of Service page. It's not viewable: "The action you have requested is limited to users in the group user."

2020-07-14T13:34:29Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

2020-07-14T13:34:29Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I was born in 1995 in Hungary. I'm currently working at a marketing agency. Heard about Diplomacy in Matthew Colville's video, played a game with random guys on webdiplomacy and it got right into my heart already so now I'm putting together some friends to play.

The Medieval Royale varient caught my eye so I'm thinking about creating a long, medieval game based on those rules. It should be a lot of fun. :)

User talk:Pau RAGA

2020-07-14T13:34:15Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Pau RAGA

2020-07-14T13:34:14Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I'm a tabletop game player, specially thematic games.
Diplomacy is my first aproach to political and high strategic games and... i love it.
I’m from a town close to Barcelona (Catalunya) where we have a player’s club. We play to all kind of games, eurogames, thematics, miniature games, wargames, ...

User talk:Matt Hopkins

2020-07-14T13:34:04Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Matt Hopkins

2020-07-14T13:34:04Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Casual diplomacy player looking to learn more about this great game. I'm from Indiana in the United States. I've been a board gamer since a very young age. I enjoy a wide range of games from war games to co-operatives to rolling buckets of dice to heavy euros. My favorites include: Combat Commander, Terraforming Mars, Pipeline, Agricola, Flashpoint and Twilight Imperium 3.

User talk:Dan Moskovitz

2020-07-14T13:33:45Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Dan Moskovitz

2020-07-14T13:33:44Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Hello, I'm Dan, one of DC's moderators. At the time of writing I still go by Dan Dip but maybe by the time whoever ends up reading this I will have gotten around to changing it all. Anyway, yeah. Not really sure to put here. But got to get it up to 50 words somehow. I like football (soccer), live in NZ, and yet to solo a standard game of diplomacy. One day!

User talk:Eamon J Driscoll

2020-07-14T13:33:23Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Eamon J Driscoll

2020-07-14T13:33:23Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Long-time GM and face to face player with the Weasels in Chicago, have since moved away from the Windy City but maintain connections through DC. Have only asked for one autograph in my life: the creator himself, Mr. A. B. Calhamer. More recently, revived the long-lost Ard Rí variant for play on realpolitik.

DC Invitational

2018-05-01T20:34:01Z

Poobaloo:

==Introduction==

The DCI, or Diplomaticcorp Invitational is a small, two-round tournament that was established in 2006 by Stephen Lytton (Deathblade_penguin).

The idea was to invite the top players to a game of [[Diplomacy]] - where the best of the best will face off.

Now in its 3rd year, the tournament has expanded. In 2008 there are 2 rounds consisting of 10 players. These players are some of the best, active and loyal players in diplomaticcorp dating back to the foundation of the club.

==Invitations==

The criteria for being invited to play in the most coveted game of the dc year has varied over the years with the evolution of the club. The players have been invited to play based on their game stats - including rating, number of games, solos, draws, seconds, NMRs and of course Civil Disorders. Also earning invites have been less tangible yet just as remarkable accomplishments like active GMing, persistence for survival, and other positive contributions to the community.

==History==

'''1st Annual DCI, 2006'''
The 2006 DCI was won by Kevin O' Kelly, with a 2-way Draw in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc089 dc089] and a 4-way Draw in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc104 dc097].<br />
The final standings of 2006 were<br />

*Kevin O'Kelly
*Greg Olsen
*Derek Eyler
*Michael Sims
*Bruce Ray
*Stephen Lytton
*Tony Tella

'''2nd Annual DCI, 2007'''
The 2007 DCI was won by Michael Sims, with a Solo Victory in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc104 dc104] and a 3-way Draw in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc131 dc131].

The final standings for 2007 were:

*Michael Sims
*Mikael Johannson
*Former Trout (replacing Felix Kam Chung)
*Eric Swaitek
*Kevin O'Kelly (2006 Champion)
*Bruce Ray
*Stephen Lytton

'''3rd Annual DCI, 2008'''
2008 took the DCI to the shores of England, in the [[Stonehenge]] Variant for [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc189 dc189]. A 6-way draw led the tournament into round two, with the top 7 playing a Standard game. With the top draw in both rounds, Dan Dzikowicz was crowned the 2008 DCI Champion.

The final standings for 2008 were:

*In 1st Position, a relative newcomer (perhaps being unknown helped him in this year's diplomacy) is Dan Dzikowicz.
*In 2nd Position (and first runner up) on 10 points is Jorge Saralegui
*In 3rd Position on 8.5 points is Clark Landry
*In 4th Position on 7.5 points is Mikael Johansson
*In 5th Position on 7 points is Mike Sims (2007 Champion)
*In 6th Position on 4 points is Garry Bledsoe
*In 7th Position on 4 points is Nigel Phillips
*In 8th Position on 4 points is Lee Taylor
*In 9th Position on 1 point is Brian Lam
*In 10th Position on 1 point is Derek Eyler.

The 2008 DCI invites were...

#Winner of the 2008 Winter Blitz
#Winner of the 2007 DCI
#The best 'new' player (Top score Under 3 games completed in DC)
#A Recomended Player as agreed by the 3 moderators
#The top 6 'eligible' players as calculated by the DCI formula (pre-ratings)

The top 7 of these players moved on to the second standard game.<br />

The DCI Scoring System

Each Player who has completed a game in DC, is placed on the DCI spreadsheet. They are then given a score calculated by the following formula:

#A base score for the number of games played (2 points for the first 5 games, 1 point for the second 5 games then .5 per game played)
#a score for the result acheived in the first and second games played in DC. (20 points for a solo, 10 points for a draw, 5 points for a survivial and 1 point for an elimination)
#10 points per Solo
#a bonus for the percentage of games soloed (20 points for top 75%, 15 points for 50-75%, 10 points for 25-50% and 5 points for 1-25%)
#2 points per draw scored
#a bonus for the percentage of games drawn (20 points for top 75%, 15 points for 50-75%, 10 points for 25-50% and 5 points for 1-25%)
#1 point per second scored
#3 points for a replacment position taken (after May 20th, 2008)
#Negative 1 points for every 4 NMR/NBR/NDR or NRR scored.
#Negative 1 point for every 2 games Civil Disorder.

To be eligible to play in the current year's DCI the player must:-

#have completed at least one game in DC in the past year OR be known to be active.
#have not CD or abandoned their most recent game without good cause
#have completed at least 3 games in DC (unless qualifying as best new player)

'''4th Annual DCI, 2009'''

The 2009 DCI played a single round 11-player [[Crowded]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc274 dc274]. It was won by Adam Martin-Schwartze (13 SC, Turkey) by having the largest final SC count in a 4-Way Draw. Jorge Saralegui (9 SC, Norway), Joe Hackett (9 SC, France), and Nigel Phillips (4 SC, Russia) shared in the draw.

The invitations were sent to...

#2008 DCI champion - Dan Dzicowicz, playing Austria
#2009 WB champion - Garry Bledsoe, playing England
#Top Provisional rated - Frank Martin, playing the Lowlands
#Top Regular rated - Nigel Phillips, playing Russia
#Top Companion Knight - Mikael Johannson, playing Italy
#Top Light Brigade - Jorge Saralegui, playing Norway
#Best Survivor - Joe Hacket, playing France
#Best Solo Victory - Matt Kremer, playing Spain
#Most Promising GM - Adam Martin-Schwarze, playing Turkey
#Moderator Pick - Drew Ott, playing the Balkans
#Moderator Pick - Max Victory, playing Germany

'''5th Annual DCI, 2010'''

The 5th Annual DCI began in August 2010, and played a single round 9-player [[Aberration]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc340 dc340]. It was won by Adam Martin-Schwartze (yes, again!) by having the largest final SC count in a 3-Way Draw. Kevin O'Kelly (Byzantium) and Joe Hackett (Israel) shared in the draw.

#Adam S. - All around awesome GM but most importantly DCI09 champion
#Chris M. - Winner of the WB2010
#Dirk K.- The most active Light Brigade member in 2010 (having taken the most games as a replacement player)
#Mikael J.- The highest ranking active Companion Knight (aside from Mike who...) - Order of the Oak!
#Mike S. - The highest ranking player on the site in points, esteemed moderator, all around god
#Mike Walters - The current highest ranking new player (based on provisional ranking)
#Kevin O'Kelly - Moderator pick, a scrub who is only one of the HIGHEST ranking Companion Knights, a site stalwart and a pretty darn solid player in his own right
#John R. - Best new GM based on his superb management of games including the longest game in this year's WB
#Joe H. - The player who consistently has the highest survival rate for games and has continued that trend this year (and acquitted himself nicely in DCI09)

'''6th Annual DCI, 2011'''

The 6th Annual DCI began in August 2011, and played a single round 9-player [[1600]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc405 dc405]. It was won by Dirk Knemeyer, who unseated Adam as the 2-time champion. Dirk won by barely edging out the Top Draw spot, sharing the spoils with Sun Chung and Jerome Payne.

#Adam S. - all around awesome GM and amazing guy but most importantly DCI09 champion; oh yeah, and ALSO DCI10 champion; that's right, back-to-back and REIGNING champion
#Dave K. - Winner of the Winter Blitz 2011
#Dirk K. - An esteemed diplomaticcorp moderator, a runner-up in last year's DCI and this year's winner of the "hot win streak" position with two, yep two, solos this year
#Mike S. - STILL the highest ranking dc player, esteemed moderator, all around god
#Ross G. - the current highest ranking ACTIVE new player (based on provisional ranking)
#Sun C. - the current ranking "survivor" title holder who is a player who has the most games in the last year with a survival without being eliminated
#Jerome P. - my vote for best new GM based on his management of 3 games this year including helping out in this year's WB
#Matt K - The at-large pick, Matt has been around the community a long time and is a high-ranking Companion Knight to boot.
#Mike H - Our 9th player is none other than Mr. Mike Hoffman who gets the invite for being the most active Light Brigade member in the past year and pretty darn close in the lifetime of the Brigade. The LB is a team of individuals who will take replacement positions in games when the GM is trying to backfill an abandon. This is key because typically these positions aren't always the greatest which leaves that person in a position of accepting a game that could hurt their rating. But that has never deterred Mike from charging in against all odds!

'''7th Annual DCI, 2013'''

The 7th Annual DCI was played in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc462 dc462], in the fall of 2013.

GM: John Reside
Map: [[Anarchy]]
Champion: Andrew Beaumont
Draw: Andrew Beaumont, Michael Sims, Hamish Williams, Dan Dzicowicz

'''8th Annual DCI, 2015'''

The 8th Annual DCI was played in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc525 dc525], in the spring of 2015. This game started later than the normal fall Invitational, thus there is no 2014 DCI.

GM: Garry Bledsoe
Map: [[Standard]]
Champion: ?
Draw: ?

'''9th Annual DCI, 2017'''

The 8th Annual DCI began in December 2017, and played a single round 8-player [[Machiavelli]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc561 dc561]. It was won by Michael Sims, the first player to win three DC Invitationals and the 2nd player to win the tournament in back-to-back showings.

DC Invitational

2018-05-01T20:24:38Z

Poobaloo:

==Introduction==

The DCI, or Diplomaticcorp Invitational is a small, two-round tournament that was established in 2006 by Stephen Lytton (Deathblade_penguin).

The idea was to invite the top players to a game of [[Diplomacy]] - where the best of the best will face off.

Now in its 3rd year, the tournament has expanded. In 2008 there are 2 rounds consisting of 10 players. These players are some of the best, active and loyal players in diplomaticcorp dating back to the foundation of the club.

==Invitations==

The criteria for being invited to play in the most coveted game of the dc year has varied over the years with the evolution of the club. The players have been invited to play based on their game stats - including rating, number of games, solos, draws, seconds, NMRs and of course Civil Disorders. Also earning invites have been less tangible yet just as remarkable accomplishments like active GMing, persistence for survival, and other positive contributions to the community.

==History==

'''1st Annual DCI, 2006'''
The 2006 DCI was won by Kevin O' Kelly, with a 2-way Draw in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc089 dc089] and a 4-way Draw in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc104 dc097].<br />
The final standings of 2006 were<br />

*Kevin O'Kelly
*Greg Olsen
*Derek Eyler
*Michael Sims
*Bruce Ray
*Stephen Lytton
*Tony Tella

'''2nd Annual DCI, 2007'''
The 2007 DCI was won by Michael Sims, with a Solo Victory in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc104 dc104] and a 3-way Draw in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc131 dc131].

The final standings for 2007 were:

*Michael Sims
*Mikael Johannson
*Former Trout (replacing Felix Kam Chung)
*Eric Swaitek
*Kevin O'Kelly (2006 Champion)
*Bruce Ray
*Stephen Lytton

'''3rd Annual DCI, 2008'''
2008 took the DCI to the shores of England, in the [[Stonehenge]] Variant for [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc189 dc189]. A 6-way draw led the tournament into round two, with the top 7 playing a Standard game. With the top draw in both rounds, Dan Dzikowicz was crowned the 2008 DCI Champion.

The final standings for 2008 were:

*In 1st Position, a relative newcomer (perhaps being unknown helped him in this year's diplomacy) is Dan Dzikowicz.
*In 2nd Position (and first runner up) on 10 points is Jorge Saralegui
*In 3rd Position on 8.5 points is Clark Landry
*In 4th Position on 7.5 points is Mikael Johansson
*In 5th Position on 7 points is Mike Sims (2007 Champion)
*In 6th Position on 4 points is Garry Bledsoe
*In 7th Position on 4 points is Nigel Phillips
*In 8th Position on 4 points is Lee Taylor
*In 9th Position on 1 point is Brian Lam
*In 10th Position on 1 point is Derek Eyler.

The 2008 DCI invites were...

#Winner of the 2008 Winter Blitz
#Winner of the 2007 DCI
#The best 'new' player (Top score Under 3 games completed in DC)
#A Recomended Player as agreed by the 3 moderators
#The top 6 'eligible' players as calculated by the DCI formula (pre-ratings)

The top 7 of these players moved on to the second standard game.<br />

The DCI Scoring System

Each Player who has completed a game in DC, is placed on the DCI spreadsheet. They are then given a score calculated by the following formula:

#A base score for the number of games played (2 points for the first 5 games, 1 point for the second 5 games then .5 per game played)
#a score for the result acheived in the first and second games played in DC. (20 points for a solo, 10 points for a draw, 5 points for a survivial and 1 point for an elimination)
#10 points per Solo
#a bonus for the percentage of games soloed (20 points for top 75%, 15 points for 50-75%, 10 points for 25-50% and 5 points for 1-25%)
#2 points per draw scored
#a bonus for the percentage of games drawn (20 points for top 75%, 15 points for 50-75%, 10 points for 25-50% and 5 points for 1-25%)
#1 point per second scored
#3 points for a replacment position taken (after May 20th, 2008)
#Negative 1 points for every 4 NMR/NBR/NDR or NRR scored.
#Negative 1 point for every 2 games Civil Disorder.

To be eligible to play in the current year's DCI the player must:-

#have completed at least one game in DC in the past year OR be known to be active.
#have not CD or abandoned their most recent game without good cause
#have completed at least 3 games in DC (unless qualifying as best new player)

'''4th Annual DCI, 2009'''

The 2009 DCI played a single round 11-player [[Crowded]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc274 dc274]. It was won by Adam Martin-Schwartze (13 SC, Turkey) by having the largest final SC count in a 4-Way Draw. Jorge Saralegui (9 SC, Norway), Joe Hackett (9 SC, France), and Nigel Phillips (4 SC, Russia) shared in the draw.

The invitations were sent to...

#2008 DCI champion - Dan Dzicowicz, playing Austria
#2009 WB champion - Garry Bledsoe, playing England
#Top Provisional rated - Frank Martin, playing the Lowlands
#Top Regular rated - Nigel Phillips, playing Russia
#Top Companion Knight - Mikael Johannson, playing Italy
#Top Light Brigade - Jorge Saralegui, playing Norway
#Best Survivor - Joe Hacket, playing France
#Best Solo Victory - Matt Kremer, playing Spain
#Most Promising GM - Adam Martin-Schwarze, playing Turkey
#Moderator Pick - Drew Ott, playing the Balkans
#Moderator Pick - Max Victory, playing Germany

'''5th Annual DCI, 2010'''

The 5th Annual DCI began in August 2010, and played a single round 9-player [[Aberration]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc340 dc340]. It was won by Adam Martin-Schwartze (yes, again!) by having the largest final SC count in a 3-Way Draw. Kevin O'Kelly (Byzantium) and Joe Hackett (Israel) shared in the draw.

#Adam S. - All around awesome GM but most importantly DCI09 champion
#Chris M. - Winner of the WB2010
#Dirk K.- The most active Light Brigade member in 2010 (having taken the most games as a replacement player)
#Mikael J.- The highest ranking active Companion Knight (aside from Mike who...) - Order of the Oak!
#Mike S. - The highest ranking player on the site in points, esteemed moderator, all around god
#Mike Walters - The current highest ranking new player (based on provisional ranking)
#Kevin O'Kelly - Moderator pick, a scrub who is only one of the HIGHEST ranking Companion Knights, a site stalwart and a pretty darn solid player in his own right
#John R. - Best new GM based on his superb management of games including the longest game in this year's WB
#Joe H. - The player who consistently has the highest survival rate for games and has continued that trend this year (and acquitted himself nicely in DCI09)

'''6th Annual DCI, 2011'''

The 6th Annual DCI began in August 2011, and played a single round 9-player [[1600]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc405 dc405]. It was won by Dirk Knemeyer, who unseated Adam as the 2-time champion. Dirk won by barely edging out the Top Draw spot, sharing the spoils with Sun Chung and Jerome Payne.

#Adam S. - all around awesome GM and amazing guy but most importantly DCI09 champion; oh yeah, and ALSO DCI10 champion; that's right, back-to-back and REIGNING champion
#Dave K. - Winner of the Winter Blitz 2011
#Dirk K. - An esteemed diplomaticcorp moderator, a runner-up in last year's DCI and this year's winner of the "hot win streak" position with two, yep two, solos this year
#Mike S. - STILL the highest ranking dc player, esteemed moderator, all around god
#Ross G. - the current highest ranking ACTIVE new player (based on provisional ranking)
#Sun C. - the current ranking "survivor" title holder who is a player who has the most games in the last year with a survival without being eliminated
#Jerome P. - my vote for best new GM based on his management of 3 games this year including helping out in this year's WB
#Matt K - The at-large pick, Matt has been around the community a long time and is a high-ranking Companion Knight to boot.
#Mike H - Our 9th player is none other than Mr. Mike Hoffman who gets the invite for being the most active Light Brigade member in the past year and pretty darn close in the lifetime of the Brigade. The LB is a team of individuals who will take replacement positions in games when the GM is trying to backfill an abandon. This is key because typically these positions aren't always the greatest which leaves that person in a position of accepting a game that could hurt their rating. But that has never deterred Mike from charging in against all odds!

'''7th Annual DCI, 2014'''

The 7th Annual DCI was played in dc525, in the fall of 2014.

'''8th Annual DCI, 2017'''

The 8th Annual DCI began in December 2017, and played a single round 8-player [[Machiavelli]] Variant in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc561 dc561]. It was won by Michael Sims, the first player to win three DC Invitationals and the 2nd player to win the tournament in back-to-back showings.

User talk:PhillBecker

2015-05-04T00:52:49Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:PhillBecker

2015-05-04T00:52:49Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Relatively new to Diplomacy. Playing frequently using Droidippy and a few times face to face.
My biography must be at least 50 words long, but I don't know why. I really just wanted to make an account so I could ask that the named openings include the actual moves, as well as discussion of their uses.
I'm trying to figure out why France just opened MAO, GAS, SPAIN

User talk:Simon McGrother

2015-05-04T00:52:36Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Simon McGrother

2015-05-04T00:52:36Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

Englishman in NC. Married with a kid. Love diplomacy in all its flavours...particularly Payola.
Love soccer particularly the world's greatest team: Oldham Athletic (look them up).
I work as a technical writer, so love the diplomacy phase of the game. Salve my friends and dupe my enemies.
I have a PhD in theoretical chemistry.

User talk:Mario Huys

2015-05-04T00:31:55Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Mario Huys

2015-05-04T00:31:54Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I'm the judgekeeper on USDP, UKDP and DPFG and the main contributor to the DPjudge project on SourceForge. I've been appointed as the site lead of the Diplomatic Pouch and am the current chief editor of the DP Zine, for which I've written a good number of Holmes stories and some variant articles. I live in Japan, but have the Belgian nationality.

User talk:Tyler Collins

2014-10-07T12:28:52Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Tyler Collins

2014-10-07T12:28:52Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I am an infantry officer in the USMC and was introduced to the game two days ago. I love strategy games like chess, but also enjoy the added social dimension and analyze the reactions of people as well as my ability to trust them or predict when that will be broken. I intend to play diplomacy in person during deployments as well as online with coworkers where we talk about it in person but use the interface to keep the board running.

User talk:Samy

2014-10-07T12:28:25Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Samy

2014-10-07T12:28:25Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I am a long time Diplomacy and board game enthousiast, and engineer. Few games build a memorable narrative, a story, quite like a good game of Diplomacy does, and with so few rules. I've always been interested in new variants, both trying out others' designs and sketching out my own.

DipWiki:About

2014-07-30T15:42:32Z

Poobaloo:

'''DipWiki''': A community driven, online repository for Diplomacy information.

'''Who provides the content?''' Anyone is able to create and post articles in the DipWiki, making this the first completely interactive open [[Diplomacy]] resource on the Web.

'''When did it all begin?''' The DipWiki went live on December 6, 2007. It was first announced in the centennial edition of the [[Diplomacy World]] Magazine and the December [[Diplomaticcorp Newsletter]].

'''Who are the mods?''' DipWiki is moderated by [[Michael Sims]], [[Garry Bledsoe]], and [[John Reside]]. If you have any questions about how to post, procedures, or where to go for questions, email feedback-at-diplomaticcorp-dot-com.

Haven

2014-07-22T13:05:45Z

Poobaloo:

by Michael Sims, 2008 Diplomaticcorp

==Overview==

The Haven was created to be the greatest [[Fog of War]] game of all time. It ran in the spring of 2008, in [[Once Within a Fog so Dreary]].

The Haven was played again in 2009 in dc224 - [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc224 Slaughter at Storytime]. It ended in a 6-Way Draw.

The Haven was run in 2010 in dc303 - [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc303 Furry Little Woodland Creatures]. It ended in a 3-Way Draw.

The Haven 1.1 was played a final time late in 2010 in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc303 dc354]. It ended in a 4-Way Draw. After this 4th play, some changes were considered that led to the map as it exists today...

The Haven 1.2:

[[Image:Haven12.gif]]

==Civilizations==

There are 19 civilizations in The Haven. They are:

* Archers (blue)
* Barbarians (ivory)
* Centaurs (brown)
* Dwarves (teal)
* Elves (cyan)
* Faeries (yellow)
* Gnomes (olive)
* Hobbits (orange)
* Knights (black)
* Leprechauns (forest)
* Magicians (magenta)
* Nomads (red)
* Ogres (tan)
* Pirates (gray)
* Rogues (pink)
* Samurai (navy)
* Trolls (green)
* Undead (white)
* Wizards (purple)

==Victory Conditions==

There are 102 supply centers:
* 58 Starting home centers
* 44 Neutral centers (32 Regular, 12 Eternal Build)

52 centers are required for a solo victory.

In addition to the 102 supply centers, there are...
* 89 Clear land provinces
* 42 Sea zones

==Map Features==

As typically happens in games like [[World War IV]], it is usually very difficult to obtain a victory with a majority of supply centers. As nations grow large, it becomes tougher and tougher to keep expanding, and too easy to force a stalemate. The Haven map was designed to change all that, by circumventing normal stalemate lines:

===East-West Wrap===

The Haven map is a sphere, and so it wraps around from side to side. Several spaces are drawn on both sides of the map purely to make the adjacencies more apparent. A unit will only be shown in one of the two sides so be aware the unit also exists on the other side. See for example The High Seas, which exists as a space toward the left edge of the map, but is drawn for reference on the right side as well.

===The Underworld===

The Haven is played both above and below ground. The underground passages are connected to the overworld at 8 points. These crossover spaces are:

* Mount Nimro (center)
* Neverpeak Mountain (center)
* Cave of Ordeals (northwest)
* Icereach (north pole)
* Dragons Teeth Mountains (northeast)
* Hoarluk (southwest)
* Devils Canyon (south pole)
* Nowwhat (southeast)

A unit in a crossover space exists on both maps, even tho it will only show in the overworld portion. A crossover space is connected (via land, for army movement only) to all spaces adjacent to it in both worlds. For example, an army in Yggdrasil (underground) could support a fleet moving from Thon Tholas (overworld) to Cave of Ordeals (both worlds). But once the fleet occupied the Cave of Ordeals, it could not move into either underground space - only an army could do that.

===The Eternal Build Centers===

There are 12 special centers on the board, designed to create hot spots and extremely desireable centers to capture. This is because any power may build in one of the 12 eternal build centers! There is no delay in the holding of such a center before it is buildable. If you capture one, you may build there as soon as it becomes vacant in a winter turn. The 9 eternal build centers are:

* Telmar (northwest)
* Icereach (north pole)
* Spiral Castle (northeast)
* Dargaard Keep (west)
* Neverpeak Mountain (central / east)
* The Julianthes (central / island)
* Myth Drannor (central / island)
* Never Never Land (central / east)
* Whoville (southwest)
* Devils Canyon (south pole)
* Krikkit (southeast)
* Spirit Pond (underworld)

===The Rivers===

Rivers are marked by blue lines on the map, and function like the standard game canals in Constantinople and Kiel. A fleet may move into a space that contains or is along a river, and may cross thru that space provided it moves to an adjacent space also connected to the river.

Land spaces adjacent to rivers are considered coastal. That is, fleets may move there, but a fleet on such a space cannot order a convoy. Only a fleet in a sea zone (blue) may order a convoy.

==Province Names==

The names are taken from over 75 fantasy books, movies, shows, games, songs, places, mythologies, fairytales, folklore, and a few of them completely made up. The more you can relate to, the more you were probly a fantasy geek growing up!

----

'''**** All the rules below this point do not apply to [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc394 games currently in play].**** '''

----

==Fog of War Rules==

There are some additional rules that apply when the game is played in the [[Fog of War]]

===Lighthouses & Watchtowers===

Lighthouses and Watchtowers are functionally equivalent - Lighthouses are shown on the map where they are adjacnet to water, and watchtowers are drawn where inland. Either facility watches over the two spaces adjacent to it, and keeps them lit up on every map you receive. This makes it harder to sneak up on these key cities.

If your lighthouse or watchtower is captured, it does NOT operate for enemy occupiers but will stop working for you. If you liberate the city, it would resume operation.

===Special Abilities===

Each Civilization has one special ability that it can use throughout the course of the game. The special abilities are:

* Archers
Archers may attack any space from a distance. An archer would order "Archer [source] range attacks [destination]. The order is treated like a normal move order, except the archer does not actually move into the space after completion. This power may be used to attack fleets at sea: Archers on a coast may support adjacent fleets (or fleet moves) at sea. Archers on a coast may also attack a neighboring sea space (as if they could move there) -- if they succeed in dislodging the defender, it must retreat like normal, even tho the archer does not move into the space. Range attacks may be supported like normal by other units.

* Barbarians
Barbarians can sense when an enemy army is approaching! Maybe it's a twich in their ear, or a scent carried on the breeze… but any time an enemy army approaches within two spaces of a Barbarian, the player is told that they sense the [number of] units to the [direction]. The specific civilization and province are not revealed.

* Centaurs
The Centaurs control an owl. The owl can move one space at a time over water or land. The owl sees two spaces every turn - the space it's moving from, and the space it's moving to. Only VISION is returned, no orders. The owl must remain within 3 spaces of any centaur to relay this information. If an owl strays too far, it will get lost. If the owl gets lost, one centaur may then train a new owl, however training a new owl takes 1 unattacked turn. Owls may only be trained by centaur armies.

* Dwarves
Dwarves may convert their fleets to armies or armies to fleets at any time (in coastal provinces only). Converting takes 1 turn, and any attack on a converting unit will cause the conversion to fail.

* Elves
Any elf that Holds - and is approached by an enemy unit - will be concealed within the trees until such time as the enemy unit attempts to move into the elven province, or the elf moves or gives support. Any order other than holding will reveal its position.

* Faeries
Faeries can fly. Any fairy that takes flight over water must return to land within two turns or it automatically disbands. Faeries may not attack over water -- any attempt to move into an occupied or challenged space fails irrelevent of supports given. Faeries may retreat to vacant sea spaces. Faeries over water may not issue support orders. A fairy move from water back to land may be supported.

* Gnomes
The ultimate makers of mischief and mayhem, Gnomes can choose to set booby traps! Setting a trap takes one unattacked turn. Three types may be set: 1) Alert: If any enemy power enters a province with an alert trap, all players within 3 spaces will hear that a [specific unit] was caught in a trap to the [direction]! 2) Snare: If any enemy unit enters a province with a snare, the unit will be rendered immobile for 1 turn! (immobile units may be supported in place). 3) Distraction: This trap does nothing until an enemy unit in a province gives a support order. When this occurs, an explosive surprise causes the support to fail. Once any trap is set off, the space is clear of traps. A max of one trap may be set per province. The Gnome player may not know one of his traps has been set off if he is not around to see it, or close enough to hear an alert.

* Hobbits
Hearty and resourceful, Hobbits will make the most of the bad times. Any time one of the Hobbit home centers is in enemy hands, the Hobbits can maintain one more unit than they have supply for. If the Hobbits are reduced to 0 SC, their bonus unit will survive for one extra year, and then be eliminated like any other power.

* Knights
Knights may charge forward 2 spaces (from A, thru B, to C). The intermediate space must be vacant at the start of the turn. The player must be able to see where he's charging into - one cannot charge thru a province into the fog. If a knight fails to move thru the intermediate space then the destination space is unaffected. A knight will move half-way and stop in the intermediate space if bounced from the final space. Supports may be ordered for the destination move (Army nearby supports Knight A to C -- the route (B) need not be specified in the support). Any activity in the intermediate space will cause the charge to be abandoned, and the move treated like an unsupported move from A to B.

* Leprechauns
Somewhere... Over the Rainbow, you never know what you'll find! Perhaps a pot of gold, or maybe a band of ogres -- but the leprechauns can choose to find out! In the Spring, one Leprechaun may choose to order over the rainbow. If he does, the GM will randomly select one of the 95 clear spaces on the map. Only vacant spaces, after all conflict is resolved will be considered... and the leprechaun instantly moves there at the end of the spring turn. The leprechaun is considered moved out of the space he originated in, for purposes of considering other moves into that space. The rainbow moves are only available to Leprechauns that are within 3 spaces of a home SC. (rainbows dont just pop up in the murky lands surrounding!) Once a rainbow move has been done, rainbows will not be available for the next two springs, limiting this move to once every 3 years.

* Magicians
The Magicians may peer into their crystal ball once per turn to reveal the contents of any one space on the map. The space must have previously been observed by the owning player -- or at most 1 space into unexplored fog (i.e. Crystal ball peer into the space [direction] of [province]).

* Nomads
The ultimate travelers that call no one place home, Nomads may build in any open (and originally neutral) supply center that they control.

* Ogres
An Ogre may order to Roar! If it does, it will distract all enemies in adjacent provinces - cutting all supports, except supports for an attack on itself. The support cuts are treated as if the Ogre had ordered an unsupported move into all adjacent spaces. A roaring ogre may be supported in place by another Ogre.

* Pirates
When ordering a fleet build, Pirates may build on any of their home centers, or in any sea zone (sea only, not coastal) in which any fleet was disbanded. Once a fleet is "rebuilt" the same one may not be rebuilt again, even if it gets disbanded again. Spaces must be vacant.

* Rogues
A rogue may disguise itself as any other army unit that the owning player has personally observed. To disguise requires a turn in which the rogue does nothing but hold and don its disguise. If attacked, the disguise order fails. Once changed, it will remain as the other unit until it changes to something else. Any disguised rogue that is dislodged for any reason instantly loses its disguise. Only one rogue may be disguised at any one time. Orders reported to anyone who sees a disguised unit move will see them as if they are the disguised civilization.

* Samurai
Samurai armies may conduct a Bonsai suicide attack. A Bonsai attack has a strength of 2 (as if it has an uncuttable support) and is lethal. If a samurai succeeds in dislodging the enemy, the target unit is disbanded, NRP. The attack must be declared with one's orders. Bonsai attacks may only be supported by other samurai - supports from other civilizations are not counted. Bonsai attacks may not be conducted on enemy units in their own home supply centers. After completion of the attack (either success or failure) the Bonsai warrior is automatically disbanded!

* Trolls
Any time a Troll is disbanded, as soon as the space that it was disbanded in becomes vacant, if there is sufficient supply, the Troll may return to life. If there is insufficient supply, the Troll will remain dead in the spot until such time as there is sufficient supply on a winter turn, at which time the Troll player may choose to let the Troll regenerate or build at home. If he opts to leave a Troll dead, it can not then choose to regenerate later. You either regenerate it at the first available time, or it withers away. If a dead troll remains dead for 2 years (4 seasons) either via choice not to regenerate, or due to the space being occupied for so long, then it will be dead forever. Any regenerated Troll is weaker than a regular Troll - it will automatically disband if dislodged, and cannot regenerate again. Any players who are in a space with a dead troll will be told there is a dead troll there, but no further explanation.

* Undead
The Undead leader may order a skeleton (army) build in any of his home centers, or may attempt to raise any disbanded enemy army on the map. It is up to the undead leader to figure out where units on the board have been disbanded, to know what dead-raising options he has. He may not raise his own skeleton dead armies, only enemy armies that were once alive and have been disbanded. Raised armies are weaker than regular armies - if they are ever dislodged, they disband, NRP and cannot be re-raised.

* Wizards
The wizard player may listen into any one space on the map and learn all orders that affect that space. The space must have previously been observed by the owning player -- not via guess or intelligence.

==Realworld==

[[Realworld]] adjudicator files for The Haven can be found in the [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/variants Variant Library].

==Older Versions==

Haven 1.1 - played in dc224, dc303, and dc354.

[[Image:Haven.gif]]

==The Making of The Haven==

I love creating and playing Diplomacy variants, and have focused my development on fantasy worlds. A gamer at heart, I grew up playing the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, Battletech, Civilization, Axis and Allies, and The Legend of Zelda. All of these themes, and more, come out in the variants I've created.

[[Image:Haven_Making_A.gif|thumb|400px|right]]
This particular map was to be an improvement over my [[Pleasantview]] map, a 10-player fantasy-world Diplomacy game. Recently inspired by playing in Stefan Krekeler's [[World_War_IV]] variant, I wanted to extend my mapmaking to a larger scenario - while addressing some of the pitfalls that I felt came from such large maps.

I found 4 main drawbacks that arose out of playing a large world:

# The supply lines tended to get quite long, making for a game that bogs down toward the middle of the game. It becomes increasingly difficult to move around the world as players amass armies of 15-20 units and stalemates develop.
# The games tend to discourage changes of allegiance, i.e. stabs. Because so much time must go into moving units into position, the fluidity of the game is reduced and players tend to stick to long drawn out alliances.
# Altering the course of the game once a particular mechanic has set in motion is difficult. A draw that sets up with large powers is unlikely to result in anything other than a draw, and a solo-run that gets momentum is difficult to stop. Both are due to the problem of being unable to move units around the map freely when such vast distances must be crossed.
# Some players will never bother to write other players who start on distant continents. Because of this, some large variants, like [[World War IV]] tend to be an agglomeration of multiple smaller games put together. That is, the players in Africa will resolve their local theater first, dealing with only the local powers and perhaps the powers directly across a sea, but hardly talk to players in North America or East Asia at all. There is just no interaction. Then as the players dwindle, the game moves to a later stage where those who have survived the local fallouts have reason to interact.

So from it's earliest stage of development, I set out to create a large game that would be fluid. The initial map (seen at right) was rectangular with closed edges. Key to this initial design tho, was two new concepts: The Eternal Build centers, and the Underworld.
[[Image:Haven_Making_B.gif|thumb|300px|left]]
* The Eternal Build centers (8 of them) were on the initial draft of the map, albeit in slightly different locations. These special centers could be built in by any power. Not to be confused with [[Chaos Builds]], the Eternal Build centers are very powerful and are coveted by every civilization for that lucrative ability to build at a forward point. This draws players into conflict over these centers where players might otherwise be content to demilitarize. How can you allow somoene to own a center, after all, if it allows them to bulid right in your back yard?
* The Underworld (very early rendition, left) was created for a mechanism by which units could quickly cross the entire world. You could enter the caves at one corner, and within 3-4 spaces, exit the caves on a completely different continent. This 3-dimensional aspect to the game was first tested with the bridge concept in [[Pleasantview]] and was expanded to a separate map off to the right of the primary map for The Haven. The Underworld was later enhanced by making it the Dwarf starting location, with access to the Mirianic Ocean, and of course - an Eternal Build center making so that anyone who controls the Underworld will have influence all over the map.

<div style='clear:left;'>

[[Image:Haven_Making_C.gif|thumb|400px|right]]

Also key in the initial design was the placement of the Nomad civilization. In concept they are the scattered warriors that exist in small tribes, but in game play they fill a very key role - that is, a single player that ties together all the 3 major continents. No longer can you diplome with only the powers local to you, for the results on another continent may result in changes to your own. Akin to Germany in a standard game, a Nomad player must interact with nearly every civilization on the map in order to survive. But done well, can lead to control in many theaters.

At this early stage of the design, many of my large-variant concerns had been addressed, but still there was the problem that nations in the middle had very little chance compared to nations that started along the edges. Thus I started looking at early ways to wrap the world. I decided to wrap the world somewhat diagonal due to how the oceans had been laid out, and eventually tipped the map by about 50 degrees and redrew everything to get to the map as we have it today. For finishing touches, I created a fresh icon set using images from my favorite stories and games, and wrapped the world with some imagery to enhance the fantasy feel to the game.

I hope you have as much fun playing it as I did designing it, and if this map ever gets played outside of [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com Diplomaticcorp], please let me know how it goes! Feel free to add any comments to this page.

==Change Log for Haven 1.2==

by Michael Sims
August 16, 2011

I don't take changing variants lightly or after only a playtest or two, since you don't get enough of a feel for the map to draw definite conclusions about the map itself. It is tough to discern what happened in a game of Diplomacy due to the players vs because of a map feature. After four playings tho, the time has come to make a few tweaks.

What to change? I didn't want to change things just for the sake of change. The variant is fun, people seem to love playing it (thank you!) and it's even been copied to other sites... of course the ultimate compliment. But I think it needs a few things.

What I changed, was...

* Nomads start on 4 centers and units. One common request I got is that the Nomads were just too weak. They start split up across the map with little hope of uniting their empire. Now the Nomads get a 4th life, perhaps a center to trade away in one region for help in another.

* Land of Sweets is no longer a supply center - it is moved to Fionavar, and belongs to the Nomads. The Faeries were a bit too strong, starting with an average of 2.5 builds (2/2/3/3) in the first 4 games. Now they may start +2, but finding that next dot will be a challenge.

* Northeast Corner revisited. All those dark gray non-playable barriers in the Haven 1 map made it difficult for powers to cross from one side of the board to the other. The changes around Sleepy Hollow tear down some walls, and give particularly the Barbarians a few more opening options.

* More Eternal Build Centers! Another one of the most requested enhancements. Players love getting a forward build point, and now there's 33% more of them to choose from. Icereach (North Pole), Devils Canyon (South Pole) and Neverpeak Mountain (East) are all EBCs.

* Fewer stalemate lines at the poles. We have seen many alliances develop around the poles and work from there. I don't know if this is psychological or a real edge, since you can turn the globe any way you want and have a new pole. Still it seemed to create some continental divides, so now the North and South Poles have a direct connection to the Underworld. Maintaining a continental stalemate will now require an additional two units to block the extra Underworld passage.

* Rivers, rivers rivers. Come on we all love them. They bring life, happiness, and... fleets! We were still seeing breakdowns at being able to cross from one continent to another - players either get too many fleets then can't invade, or get too many armies and get landlocked. Now you should be able to use fleets more effectively on land, as the rivers twist and turn thru the larger land masses.

* Several of the EBCs now border Rivers - making them even more valueable. Icereach, Neverpeak Mountain, and Whoville are all capable of producing fleets.

* Southern continent overhaul. That area looked ugly in Haven 1 and was admitted one of the last regions I had drawn... It had too much white space, and that made it too convenient for southern powers to arrange DMZs. Now players are drawn into heated conflict right from the start with the EBCs being reachable in the first turn. Additional rivers here make moving around the southern continent a breeze.

* Smaller map. 5 spaces were removed: Gollerus (by the Leprechauns), Adder (Wizards), Brandywine (Hobbits), Eridu (Barbarians) and Hall of Echoes (Underworld) are completely gone, taking this variant from 238 to 233 zones.

* Domino effect... The domino effect was carefully considered here. i.e. in slightly moving one center, like the Wizard starting home center from Faerun to the City of Splendors, puts them slightly further from the center of the map, which will have repurcussions of a slightly stronger Dwarf and Nomad - altering their opening moves, which then affects the Archers and Pirates, and so on.

Hopefully those effects created by these changes produce a more fluid game where each power has a good chance of winning, and multiple paths to go about doing so. Comments welcome!

==Player Comments==

Haven

2014-07-22T13:04:37Z

Poobaloo:

by Michael Sims, 2008 Diplomaticcorp

==Overview==

The Haven was created to be the greatest [[Fog of War]] game of all time. It ran in the spring of 2008, in [[Once Within a Fog so Dreary]].

The Haven was played again in 2009 in dc224 - [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc224 Slaughter at Storytime]. It ended in a 6-Way Draw.

The Haven was run in 2010 in dc303 - [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc303 Furry Little Woodland Creatures]. It ended in a 3-Way Draw.

The Haven 1.1 was played a final time late in 2010 in [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc303 dc354]. It ended in a 4-Way Draw. After this 4th play, some changes were considered that led to the map as it exists today...

The Haven 1.2:

[[Image:Haven12.gif]]

==Civilizations==

There are 19 civilizations in The Haven. They are:

* Archers (blue)
* Barbarians (ivory)
* Centaurs (brown)
* Dwarves (teal)
* Elves (cyan)
* Faeries (yellow)
* Gnomes (olive)
* Hobbits (orange)
* Knights (black)
* Leprechauns (forest)
* Magicians (magenta)
* Nomads (red)
* Ogres (tan)
* Pirates (gray)
* Rogues (pink)
* Samurai (navy)
* Trolls (green)
* Undead (white)
* Wizards (purple)

==Victory Conditions==

There are 102 supply centers:
* 58 Starting home centers
* 44 Neutral centers (32 Regular, 12 Eternal Build)

52 centers are required for a solo victory.

In addition to the 102 supply centers, there are...
* 89 Clear land provinces
* 42 Sea zones

==Map Features==

As typically happens in games like [[World War IV]], it is usually very difficult to obtain a victory with a majority of supply centers. As nations grow large, it becomes tougher and tougher to keep expanding, and too easy to force a stalemate. The Haven map was designed to change all that, by circumventing normal stalemate lines:

===East-West Wrap===

The Haven map is a sphere, and so it wraps around from side to side. Several spaces are drawn on both sides of the map purely to make the adjacencies more apparent. A unit will only be shown in one of the two sides so be aware the unit also exists on the other side. See for example The High Seas, which exists as a space toward the left edge of the map, but is drawn for reference on the right side as well.

===The Underworld===

The Haven is played both above and below ground. The underground passages are connected to the overworld at 8 points. These crossover spaces are:

* Mount Nimro (center)
* Neverpeak Mountain (center)
* Cave of Ordeals (northwest)
* Icereach (north pole)
* Dragons Teeth Mountains (northeast)
* Hoarluk (southwest)
* Devils Canyon (south pole)
* Nowwhat (southeast)

A unit in a crossover space exists on both maps, even tho it will only show in the overworld portion. A crossover space is connected (via land, for army movement only) to all spaces adjacent to it in both worlds. For example, an army in Yggdrasil (underground) could support a fleet moving from Thon Tholas (overworld) to Cave of Ordeals (both worlds). But once the fleet occupied the Cave of Ordeals, it could not move into either underground space - only an army could do that.

===The Eternal Build Centers===

There are 12 special centers on the board, designed to create hot spots and extremely desireable centers to capture. This is because any power may build in one of the 12 eternal build centers! There is no delay in the holding of such a center before it is buildable. If you capture one, you may build there as soon as it becomes vacant in a winter turn. The 9 eternal build centers are:

* Telmar (northwest)
* Icereach (north pole)
* Spiral Castle (northeast)
* Dargaard Keep (west)
* Neverpeak Mountain (central / east)
* The Julianthes (central / island)
* Myth Drannor (central / island)
* Never Never Land (central / east)
* Whoville (southwest)
* Devils Canyon (south pole)
* Krikkit (southeast)
* Spirit Pond (underworld)

===The Rivers===

Rivers are marked by blue lines on the map, and function like the standard game canals in Constantinople and Kiel. A fleet may move into a space that contains or is along a river, and may cross thru that space provided it moves to an adjacent space also connected to the river.

Land spaces adjacent to rivers are considered coastal. That is, fleets may move there, but a fleet on such a space cannot order a convoy. Only a fleet in a sea zone (blue) may order a convoy.

===Province Names===

The names are taken from over 75 fantasy books, movies, shows, games, songs, places, mythologies, fairytales, folklore, and a few of them completely made up. The more you can relate to, the more you were probly a fantasy geek growing up!

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'''**** All the rules below this point do not apply to [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com?game=dc394 games currently in play].**** '''

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==Fog of War Rules==

There are some additional rules that apply when the game is played in the [[Fog of War]]

===Lighthouses & Watchtowers===

Lighthouses and Watchtowers are functionally equivalent - Lighthouses are shown on the map where they are adjacnet to water, and watchtowers are drawn where inland. Either facility watches over the two spaces adjacent to it, and keeps them lit up on every map you receive. This makes it harder to sneak up on these key cities.

If your lighthouse or watchtower is captured, it does NOT operate for enemy occupiers but will stop working for you. If you liberate the city, it would resume operation.

===Special Abilities===

Each Civilization has one special ability that it can use throughout the course of the game. The special abilities are:

* Archers
Archers may attack any space from a distance. An archer would order "Archer [source] range attacks [destination]. The order is treated like a normal move order, except the archer does not actually move into the space after completion. This power may be used to attack fleets at sea: Archers on a coast may support adjacent fleets (or fleet moves) at sea. Archers on a coast may also attack a neighboring sea space (as if they could move there) -- if they succeed in dislodging the defender, it must retreat like normal, even tho the archer does not move into the space. Range attacks may be supported like normal by other units.

* Barbarians
Barbarians can sense when an enemy army is approaching! Maybe it's a twich in their ear, or a scent carried on the breeze… but any time an enemy army approaches within two spaces of a Barbarian, the player is told that they sense the [number of] units to the [direction]. The specific civilization and province are not revealed.

* Centaurs
The Centaurs control an owl. The owl can move one space at a time over water or land. The owl sees two spaces every turn - the space it's moving from, and the space it's moving to. Only VISION is returned, no orders. The owl must remain within 3 spaces of any centaur to relay this information. If an owl strays too far, it will get lost. If the owl gets lost, one centaur may then train a new owl, however training a new owl takes 1 unattacked turn. Owls may only be trained by centaur armies.

* Dwarves
Dwarves may convert their fleets to armies or armies to fleets at any time (in coastal provinces only). Converting takes 1 turn, and any attack on a converting unit will cause the conversion to fail.

* Elves
Any elf that Holds - and is approached by an enemy unit - will be concealed within the trees until such time as the enemy unit attempts to move into the elven province, or the elf moves or gives support. Any order other than holding will reveal its position.

* Faeries
Faeries can fly. Any fairy that takes flight over water must return to land within two turns or it automatically disbands. Faeries may not attack over water -- any attempt to move into an occupied or challenged space fails irrelevent of supports given. Faeries may retreat to vacant sea spaces. Faeries over water may not issue support orders. A fairy move from water back to land may be supported.

* Gnomes
The ultimate makers of mischief and mayhem, Gnomes can choose to set booby traps! Setting a trap takes one unattacked turn. Three types may be set: 1) Alert: If any enemy power enters a province with an alert trap, all players within 3 spaces will hear that a [specific unit] was caught in a trap to the [direction]! 2) Snare: If any enemy unit enters a province with a snare, the unit will be rendered immobile for 1 turn! (immobile units may be supported in place). 3) Distraction: This trap does nothing until an enemy unit in a province gives a support order. When this occurs, an explosive surprise causes the support to fail. Once any trap is set off, the space is clear of traps. A max of one trap may be set per province. The Gnome player may not know one of his traps has been set off if he is not around to see it, or close enough to hear an alert.

* Hobbits
Hearty and resourceful, Hobbits will make the most of the bad times. Any time one of the Hobbit home centers is in enemy hands, the Hobbits can maintain one more unit than they have supply for. If the Hobbits are reduced to 0 SC, their bonus unit will survive for one extra year, and then be eliminated like any other power.

* Knights
Knights may charge forward 2 spaces (from A, thru B, to C). The intermediate space must be vacant at the start of the turn. The player must be able to see where he's charging into - one cannot charge thru a province into the fog. If a knight fails to move thru the intermediate space then the destination space is unaffected. A knight will move half-way and stop in the intermediate space if bounced from the final space. Supports may be ordered for the destination move (Army nearby supports Knight A to C -- the route (B) need not be specified in the support). Any activity in the intermediate space will cause the charge to be abandoned, and the move treated like an unsupported move from A to B.

* Leprechauns
Somewhere... Over the Rainbow, you never know what you'll find! Perhaps a pot of gold, or maybe a band of ogres -- but the leprechauns can choose to find out! In the Spring, one Leprechaun may choose to order over the rainbow. If he does, the GM will randomly select one of the 95 clear spaces on the map. Only vacant spaces, after all conflict is resolved will be considered... and the leprechaun instantly moves there at the end of the spring turn. The leprechaun is considered moved out of the space he originated in, for purposes of considering other moves into that space. The rainbow moves are only available to Leprechauns that are within 3 spaces of a home SC. (rainbows dont just pop up in the murky lands surrounding!) Once a rainbow move has been done, rainbows will not be available for the next two springs, limiting this move to once every 3 years.

* Magicians
The Magicians may peer into their crystal ball once per turn to reveal the contents of any one space on the map. The space must have previously been observed by the owning player -- or at most 1 space into unexplored fog (i.e. Crystal ball peer into the space [direction] of [province]).

* Nomads
The ultimate travelers that call no one place home, Nomads may build in any open (and originally neutral) supply center that they control.

* Ogres
An Ogre may order to Roar! If it does, it will distract all enemies in adjacent provinces - cutting all supports, except supports for an attack on itself. The support cuts are treated as if the Ogre had ordered an unsupported move into all adjacent spaces. A roaring ogre may be supported in place by another Ogre.

* Pirates
When ordering a fleet build, Pirates may build on any of their home centers, or in any sea zone (sea only, not coastal) in which any fleet was disbanded. Once a fleet is "rebuilt" the same one may not be rebuilt again, even if it gets disbanded again. Spaces must be vacant.

* Rogues
A rogue may disguise itself as any other army unit that the owning player has personally observed. To disguise requires a turn in which the rogue does nothing but hold and don its disguise. If attacked, the disguise order fails. Once changed, it will remain as the other unit until it changes to something else. Any disguised rogue that is dislodged for any reason instantly loses its disguise. Only one rogue may be disguised at any one time. Orders reported to anyone who sees a disguised unit move will see them as if they are the disguised civilization.

* Samurai
Samurai armies may conduct a Bonsai suicide attack. A Bonsai attack has a strength of 2 (as if it has an uncuttable support) and is lethal. If a samurai succeeds in dislodging the enemy, the target unit is disbanded, NRP. The attack must be declared with one's orders. Bonsai attacks may only be supported by other samurai - supports from other civilizations are not counted. Bonsai attacks may not be conducted on enemy units in their own home supply centers. After completion of the attack (either success or failure) the Bonsai warrior is automatically disbanded!

* Trolls
Any time a Troll is disbanded, as soon as the space that it was disbanded in becomes vacant, if there is sufficient supply, the Troll may return to life. If there is insufficient supply, the Troll will remain dead in the spot until such time as there is sufficient supply on a winter turn, at which time the Troll player may choose to let the Troll regenerate or build at home. If he opts to leave a Troll dead, it can not then choose to regenerate later. You either regenerate it at the first available time, or it withers away. If a dead troll remains dead for 2 years (4 seasons) either via choice not to regenerate, or due to the space being occupied for so long, then it will be dead forever. Any regenerated Troll is weaker than a regular Troll - it will automatically disband if dislodged, and cannot regenerate again. Any players who are in a space with a dead troll will be told there is a dead troll there, but no further explanation.

* Undead
The Undead leader may order a skeleton (army) build in any of his home centers, or may attempt to raise any disbanded enemy army on the map. It is up to the undead leader to figure out where units on the board have been disbanded, to know what dead-raising options he has. He may not raise his own skeleton dead armies, only enemy armies that were once alive and have been disbanded. Raised armies are weaker than regular armies - if they are ever dislodged, they disband, NRP and cannot be re-raised.

* Wizards
The wizard player may listen into any one space on the map and learn all orders that affect that space. The space must have previously been observed by the owning player -- not via guess or intelligence.

==Realworld==

[[Realworld]] adjudicator files for The Haven can be found in the [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/variants Variant Library].

==Older Versions==

Haven 1.1 - played in dc224, dc303, and dc354.

[[Image:Haven.gif]]

==The Making of The Haven==

I love creating and playing Diplomacy variants, and have focused my development on fantasy worlds. A gamer at heart, I grew up playing the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, Battletech, Civilization, Axis and Allies, and The Legend of Zelda. All of these themes, and more, come out in the variants I've created.

[[Image:Haven_Making_A.gif|thumb|400px|right]]
This particular map was to be an improvement over my [[Pleasantview]] map, a 10-player fantasy-world Diplomacy game. Recently inspired by playing in Stefan Krekeler's [[World_War_IV]] variant, I wanted to extend my mapmaking to a larger scenario - while addressing some of the pitfalls that I felt came from such large maps.

I found 4 main drawbacks that arose out of playing a large world:

# The supply lines tended to get quite long, making for a game that bogs down toward the middle of the game. It becomes increasingly difficult to move around the world as players amass armies of 15-20 units and stalemates develop.
# The games tend to discourage changes of allegiance, i.e. stabs. Because so much time must go into moving units into position, the fluidity of the game is reduced and players tend to stick to long drawn out alliances.
# Altering the course of the game once a particular mechanic has set in motion is difficult. A draw that sets up with large powers is unlikely to result in anything other than a draw, and a solo-run that gets momentum is difficult to stop. Both are due to the problem of being unable to move units around the map freely when such vast distances must be crossed.
# Some players will never bother to write other players who start on distant continents. Because of this, some large variants, like [[World War IV]] tend to be an agglomeration of multiple smaller games put together. That is, the players in Africa will resolve their local theater first, dealing with only the local powers and perhaps the powers directly across a sea, but hardly talk to players in North America or East Asia at all. There is just no interaction. Then as the players dwindle, the game moves to a later stage where those who have survived the local fallouts have reason to interact.

So from it's earliest stage of development, I set out to create a large game that would be fluid. The initial map (seen at right) was rectangular with closed edges. Key to this initial design tho, was two new concepts: The Eternal Build centers, and the Underworld.
[[Image:Haven_Making_B.gif|thumb|300px|left]]
* The Eternal Build centers (8 of them) were on the initial draft of the map, albeit in slightly different locations. These special centers could be built in by any power. Not to be confused with [[Chaos Builds]], the Eternal Build centers are very powerful and are coveted by every civilization for that lucrative ability to build at a forward point. This draws players into conflict over these centers where players might otherwise be content to demilitarize. How can you allow somoene to own a center, after all, if it allows them to bulid right in your back yard?
* The Underworld (very early rendition, left) was created for a mechanism by which units could quickly cross the entire world. You could enter the caves at one corner, and within 3-4 spaces, exit the caves on a completely different continent. This 3-dimensional aspect to the game was first tested with the bridge concept in [[Pleasantview]] and was expanded to a separate map off to the right of the primary map for The Haven. The Underworld was later enhanced by making it the Dwarf starting location, with access to the Mirianic Ocean, and of course - an Eternal Build center making so that anyone who controls the Underworld will have influence all over the map.

<div style='clear:left;'>

[[Image:Haven_Making_C.gif|thumb|400px|right]]

Also key in the initial design was the placement of the Nomad civilization. In concept they are the scattered warriors that exist in small tribes, but in game play they fill a very key role - that is, a single player that ties together all the 3 major continents. No longer can you diplome with only the powers local to you, for the results on another continent may result in changes to your own. Akin to Germany in a standard game, a Nomad player must interact with nearly every civilization on the map in order to survive. But done well, can lead to control in many theaters.

At this early stage of the design, many of my large-variant concerns had been addressed, but still there was the problem that nations in the middle had very little chance compared to nations that started along the edges. Thus I started looking at early ways to wrap the world. I decided to wrap the world somewhat diagonal due to how the oceans had been laid out, and eventually tipped the map by about 50 degrees and redrew everything to get to the map as we have it today. For finishing touches, I created a fresh icon set using images from my favorite stories and games, and wrapped the world with some imagery to enhance the fantasy feel to the game.

I hope you have as much fun playing it as I did designing it, and if this map ever gets played outside of [http://www.diplomaticcorp.com Diplomaticcorp], please let me know how it goes! Feel free to add any comments to this page.

==Change Log for Haven 1.2==

by Michael Sims
August 16, 2011

I don't take changing variants lightly or after only a playtest or two, since you don't get enough of a feel for the map to draw definite conclusions about the map itself. It is tough to discern what happened in a game of Diplomacy due to the players vs because of a map feature. After four playings tho, the time has come to make a few tweaks.

What to change? I didn't want to change things just for the sake of change. The variant is fun, people seem to love playing it (thank you!) and it's even been copied to other sites... of course the ultimate compliment. But I think it needs a few things.

What I changed, was...

* Nomads start on 4 centers and units. One common request I got is that the Nomads were just too weak. They start split up across the map with little hope of uniting their empire. Now the Nomads get a 4th life, perhaps a center to trade away in one region for help in another.

* Land of Sweets is no longer a supply center - it is moved to Fionavar, and belongs to the Nomads. The Faeries were a bit too strong, starting with an average of 2.5 builds (2/2/3/3) in the first 4 games. Now they may start +2, but finding that next dot will be a challenge.

* Northeast Corner revisited. All those dark gray non-playable barriers in the Haven 1 map made it difficult for powers to cross from one side of the board to the other. The changes around Sleepy Hollow tear down some walls, and give particularly the Barbarians a few more opening options.

* More Eternal Build Centers! Another one of the most requested enhancements. Players love getting a forward build point, and now there's 33% more of them to choose from. Icereach (North Pole), Devils Canyon (South Pole) and Neverpeak Mountain (East) are all EBCs.

* Fewer stalemate lines at the poles. We have seen many alliances develop around the poles and work from there. I don't know if this is psychological or a real edge, since you can turn the globe any way you want and have a new pole. Still it seemed to create some continental divides, so now the North and South Poles have a direct connection to the Underworld. Maintaining a continental stalemate will now require an additional two units to block the extra Underworld passage.

* Rivers, rivers rivers. Come on we all love them. They bring life, happiness, and... fleets! We were still seeing breakdowns at being able to cross from one continent to another - players either get too many fleets then can't invade, or get too many armies and get landlocked. Now you should be able to use fleets more effectively on land, as the rivers twist and turn thru the larger land masses.

* Several of the EBCs now border Rivers - making them even more valueable. Icereach, Neverpeak Mountain, and Whoville are all capable of producing fleets.

* Southern continent overhaul. That area looked ugly in Haven 1 and was admitted one of the last regions I had drawn... It had too much white space, and that made it too convenient for southern powers to arrange DMZs. Now players are drawn into heated conflict right from the start with the EBCs being reachable in the first turn. Additional rivers here make moving around the southern continent a breeze.

* Smaller map. 5 spaces were removed: Gollerus (by the Leprechauns), Adder (Wizards), Brandywine (Hobbits), Eridu (Barbarians) and Hall of Echoes (Underworld) are completely gone, taking this variant from 238 to 233 zones.

* Domino effect... The domino effect was carefully considered here. i.e. in slightly moving one center, like the Wizard starting home center from Faerun to the City of Splendors, puts them slightly further from the center of the map, which will have repurcussions of a slightly stronger Dwarf and Nomad - altering their opening moves, which then affects the Archers and Pirates, and so on.

Hopefully those effects created by these changes produce a more fluid game where each power has a good chance of winning, and multiple paths to go about doing so. Comments welcome!

==Player Comments==

User talk:Ed Cotter

2013-11-22T20:17:00Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Ed Cotter

2013-11-22T20:17:00Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I'm a high school social studies teacher. I live in California, have a BA from Stanford. I've lived and travelled all over the world. I'm hoping to get my student enthused about playing Diplomacy while learning about Asia. I am somewhat at odds regarding the purpose of writing a personal biography in order to play a game, however, perhaps when I am able to sign in I'll get a better idea how this online Diplomacy works. I hope so, in any case.

User talk:Ecotter

2013-11-22T20:16:25Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Ecotter

2013-11-22T20:16:25Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

This is my second attempt at registering for Colonial Diplomacy online. I'm a high school teacher. I went to Stanford. I've lived and traveled all over the world. I'm not accustomed to having to write a biography in order to get access to an online resource. I'm trying to get my students interested in learning to play Diplomacy.

User talk:Pedro

2013-11-22T20:15:58Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Pedro

2013-11-22T20:15:58Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

What can I tell about me... I am a computer engineer who works in the quality assurance field for a tourism company. The first time I found out Diplomacy was because one of my work colleagues showed it to me. He invited me to one of his usual game rounds and since then, I can not stop playing it. We are now searching for new maps and variants and we have realized that there is plenty of possibilities.

User talk:Peter Tuffley

2013-11-22T20:15:52Z

Poobaloo: Welcome!

User:Peter Tuffley

2013-11-22T20:15:52Z

Poobaloo: Creating user page with biography of new user.

I was a frequent Diplomacy player during my undergraduate days and for some years thereafter (longer ago than I care to remember). It's a long time since I played and I want to get up to speed again. Until recently I had not been aware that the game was still in existence and still being played. I was delighted to discover that it is.