Across the Board

When thinking about the  Diplomacy  board you may think of dividing it into zones.  A traditional division is to split the board into two parts: the Northern (or Western) Triangle, featuring England, France and Germany, and the Southern (Eastern) Triangle of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. Personally, though, I prefer to narrow down the areas of the board and consider the possibilities there. I therefore have a number of ' theatres ' that I consider, and the Black Sea Theatre is one of them. The Super Fleet You'll never see this image in Diplomacy ... or you shouldn't! One of the keys to the game is that only one unit may occupy a space. I'm simply using it to demonstrate the power of a fleet in the Black Sea, regardless of which power occupies it. Let's look at Italy's fleet first, because if Italy occupies the Black Sea, chances are she's on her way to winning the game. To get there, she has to overcome so many obstacles and occupy ...

When thinking about the Diplomacy board you may think of dividing it into zones. A traditional division is to split the board into two parts: the Northern (or Western) Triangle, featuring England, France and Germany, and the Southern (Eastern) Triangle of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. This isn't a clean division. Italy doesn't really fit into either Triangle, and only gets involved depending on how she opens. Russia sits on the dividing line and can't afford to ignore the north or the south. There's nothing wrong with this consideration; it is useful to focus your attention. And, if you are considering long-term strategy knowing the stalemate lines that split the board is an advantage. Personally, though, I prefer to narrow down the areas of the board and consider the possibilities there. I therefore have a number of ' theatres ' that I consider, and the Black Sea Theatre is one of them. The Black Sea Zone The first thing to mention ...

There are some things to remember that help you play  Diplomacy  better.  Some of them are tactical, some of them strategic; some are about the way you communicate, or negotiate. Very few of these things are a collective of everything to do with Dip. Knowing how to take action to prevent defeat, and knowing when to carry home your advantage, are two of these. http://m.likesuccess.com/ So far, I've looked at how to deal with difficult situations, when someone else is sticking their cold steel into you. Not a nice experience. In this post, I'm looking at how you can deal with this situation from the other end of the bayonet - you're the one sticking to your opponent. Much nicer... but no less complicated. The Choice OK. You're in the position of strength. You're opponent - well, one of them - is at your mercy. You could slip your units deep into her empire, plundering her resources and eliminating her. Success. But, should you? Instinct ...

There are some things to remember that help you play  Diplomacy  better.  Some of them are tactical, some of them strategic; some are about the way you communicate, or negotiate. Very few of these things are a collective of everything to do with Dip. Knowing how to take action to prevent defeat, and knowing when to carry home your advantage, are two of these. https://memegenerator.net/ When all else fails Sometimes aggression has to be answered with aggression, even if it's passive aggression. There are two ways to do this. On the board:  Here, you're going to throw everything at your aggressor. Forget about what's going on elsewhere on the board - it doesn't matter now. Perhaps you  are  going to lose out by being pig-headed in full-on defence or counter-attacking. But that's the point of it: your oppressor has to see that what she's doing is costing you - and by extension -  her.  You're on the way out, anyway. Off the board:...

There are some things to remember that help you play Diplomacy better. Some of them are tactical, some of them strategic; some are about the way you communicate, or negotiate. Very few of these things are a collective of everything to do with Dip. Knowing how to take action to prevent defeat, and knowing when to carry home your advantage, are two of these. Any excuse to get a belly button on the blog. www.artistshot.com/ There are times when you'll find yourself in the position of having a Diplomacy opponent who is being very aggressive towards you. Unfortunately, this might be by being nasty; even in a game like Dip there are still those idiots who think being online is a free pass to let out the abusive side of their natures. More often it will be part of the game. They're able to press you relentlessly and they intend to take it. There's nothing wrong with this; it is part of the game. It's a tactic that enables the aggressor to grow and which means...

Across the Board is a blog about playing the game Diplomacy online. A representation of the Diplomacy board at the start of the game. The game of Diplomacy is a game of deception. It is based in the pre-WWI era; each of the seven players, representing seven major powers, compete to dominate Europe. It is won when one player owns the majority of the supply centres on the board. Well, that's about as simple an explanation as can be expressed. What I haven't talked about is the skills required: persuasion, manipulation of players, strategy, and honesty and deceit in (approximately) equal measures. It's a highly skilled game with (generally) simple rules. It isn't a war game, although it looks like one and the pieces are military units, armies and fleets. It's a game about diplomacy, about getting your opponents to help you win. Yes, "about getting your opponents to help you win". You read that right. You're facing six other players,...

There is a lot written about opening strategy in Diplomacy. This isn't, perhaps, surprising; the start of a game is when it can be lost, although not won. https://salesbenchmarkindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/StrategyTactic_Chart.png Never come across this? Where've you been? The Diplomacy Archive has a section devoted to opening strategy ; each power has it's own section on the Archive, featuring named openings . Richard Sharp's book, The Game of Diplomacy , discusses openings, again under each power's chapter. There are discussions about openings in Playdiplomacy's forum, in the Strategy section . And there's a Wordpress blog devoted to Diplomacy Openings . As you might expect, Wikipedia discusses Diplomacy. WikiBooks has Diplomacy , which has some sketchy ideas.  However, as good as some of these pieces and articles are, they tend to miss the most important aspect about a good opening strategy: the diplomacy. Know Your Enemy It ...