Pouch Deposits

Pouch Deposits

Hello folks, our mail bag is very light this spring, but it's the quality, not the quantity (ok, I want more quantity as well).

Scott Webster & Randy Lawrence

Hi friends,
I live Mexico City and I am a fan of Diplomacy. I just found you in the internet and am very happy for this opportunity. Years ago I did play by post Diplomacy, and it took a lot of time to end some games, unless you surrendered from boredom. Here is a new, for me, way to play.

Are there any players who live in Mexico, so we can play sometime, face to face? I have two sons who can, and love to, play Diplomacy. Please give my best compliments to the people who work at all the necesary jobs to be done, to have success in Diplomacy’s development.

Reciba un atento y cordial saludo de:
Julio Sanz C.

direccion de correo electronico:
[email protected]
Mexico, D. F.

[Editors Note: Well Thanks for the compliment Julio. Generallly This kind of email would go to the face to face section, but I felt it best to post it here. I will send this along to the editor of that section to update. I have personal contact information for anybody in the Mexico city area that wants to get in touch with Julio, just please contact me.]

[Editor's Note: in the Pouch Deposits in the F2004M issue Adrien submitted a letter about the paradox problem. In it I mentioned that I didn't know the answer to which solution the DPjudge used, but that I would find out. Please see the "About the Diplomatic Pouch" for the answer.]

Andy writes about Adrien's letter to the Pouch in F2004M:

I read the article, but the voting buttons seemed broken. In response to the gut reaction question I selected rule 2, and was presented with
a blank screen. Using back and the can't decide button I saw the arguments for the two rules, but all of the buttons then led to a blank screen.

[Editor's Note: Manus looked into the buttons and repaired them. They now work although they do not tally votes anymore.]

Adrien's second proposal suggests that a beleaguered garrison is dislodged if the balanced attacking forces exceed the defending force. That
is a bad resolution as it affects non-paradox situations, and is likely to happen in practice. Also, it doesn't resolve the modified paradox if Mao s Eng is added, as there is a 2 on 2 on 2 situation.

Adrien's first proposal also seems bad to me. It seems to be saying an attacked unit cannot convoy or support. Again, it affects non-paradox
situations, and happens all the time. Of course normally support is cut by an attack, unless support is for an attack on the attacking unit and the supporter is not dislodged. However, that exception is quite common. Also the rule effectively means only a single attack on a convoying fleet is required to stop the convoy.

On first reading I didn't realise the first rule in the article applied in non-paradox situations, but the arguments for both rules do point this out. That suggests to me the combination of the two rules may be better, as follows.

Paradox-eliminating Rule Number 1: "If a convoyed army attacks a fleet that is supporting an action in or into a body of water that contains a convoying fleet, that support is not cut by the convoyed army under any circumstance (but a convoying army does cut all other supports normally)."

Paradox-eliminating Rule Number 2: "If a situation arises in which an army's convoy order results in a paradoxical adjudication, the turn is adjudicated as if the convoying army had been ordered to hold."

Paradox-eliminating Rule Number 3: "If a situation arises in which an army's convoy order results in a paradoxical adjudication, then if that convoyed army attacks a fleet that is supporting an action in or into a body of water that contains a convoying fleet, that support is not cut by the convoyed army under any circumstance (but a convoying army does cut all other supports normally)."

An advantage of rule one over rule two is that both rules require support not to be cut, and rule one goes no further. The advantage of rule three over rule one is that it doesn't change existing non-paradoxical adjudications.

Andy F

Randy Lawrence-Hurt,

As the poor fool who played Turkey in regularflavor, I don't think that the game makes a very good example of the point you make in your DP article. At no point did I truly consider Italy to be a strong ally, nor did I see the expansion path through Russia as more tantalising than the one through Italy. We were not allied for years as you suggest but for a brief period while I made serious diplomatic and tactical blunders.

The game started as a fairly powerful AT through 1903, which I destroyed when I misjudged Italy and France's intentions and made a poor stab of Austria. Our alliance was more the result of that badly timed stab by me of Austria. Had I not been distracted by your well placed suggestions that I attack Austria and France's offers of help which never materialised then we would have never entered our short lived alliance.

The Italian Turkish alliance lasted only one year until you and France stabbed me an exposed the error of my plans against Austria. I congratulate you on your victory, but I don't think that it was an example of an Italian-Turkish alliance made good.

Yours,
Josh Uretsky

P.S. At least I got my revenge in the sequel, an example of why France and Italy can fight in their first years and still solo.

Josh,

You make a good point. I suppose regularflavor wasn't the best example I could have come up with, as you're right, it doesn't show an ITALY alliance from the beginning. I mentioned it, however, because I did, for a short while, consider you an ally. Granted, this only lasted a year or so, until France and I got rolling, but I thought it made a decent example of Italy and Turkey being allied for a little while, and the advantages given to Italy by this. I still hold the ITALY to be the best, in most circumstances, alliance for Italy, despite its risks.

Regards,
Randy

P.S. Oh, and hearty congratulations on your win in regularflavor2; I haven't gotten around to sending my EOG yet, though I plan to, and maybe I can explain my position in that game a bit better.

We all know and love Baron Powell’s great variant, 1900. Everyone loves the improved play balance, the increased player interaction, and the greater historical accuracy. Over the seven years since the variant was first playtested, there are lots of people who have whetted their appetites by indulging in the variant. Now is your chance to try you hand against the best of the best -- the best players from the DPJudge and the non-judge PBEM games.

• To register as a player, contact Aki Halme at <[email protected]>. You will need to provide your full name and current e-mail addresses. The 49 seats in the tournament will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.
• It is a three round tournament. Everyone plays in the first two rounds. In the first two rounds, one will neither play the same power twice nor play any of the same opponents twice. The seven players with the highest cumulative scores from the first two rounds will advance to a final round championship table. The games of the first two rounds will last from 1900 to 1909, and the game of the final round championship table will have no time limit.
• All the games for the tournament will be run on the DPJudge. Players will need to register to play on the DPJudge, if they are not already registered. All games will have the following settings:
  • ALWAYS_WAIT,
  • WHITE_GREY,
  • LIST_UNORDERED,
  • EAVESDROP!,
  • NO_DIAS,
  • MUTE_OBSERVERS,
  • CIVIL_DISORDER in effect starting from 1903,
  • CD_BUILDS in effect starting from 1903,
  • CD_RETREATS in effect starting from 1903,
  • NO_REVEAL until the tournament is completed.
• The tournament is for individuals only; there is no team aspect.
• The tournament is set to begin on June 1, 2005. The pace of the tournament will be a full game year every two weeks. That means that the first two rounds will take at least forty weeks, plus whatever extensions may be necessary and required. Expect a full year commitment to participate in the tournament.

From the 1900 Designer,
"I've been pleased by the reception 1900 has received from the Diplomacy community since it was first introduced seven years ago. The variant's increasing popularity on such forums as USDPJudge seems to confirm my own belief that 1900 offers something that fans of Diplomacy find appealing. Now, it appears the variant is taking another step forward by becoming the focus of an on-line tournament. At this time I cannot help but feel the future of 1900 is bright indeed.

Before the games begin, I want to the acknowledge the tournament organizers, GMs, and players. Without you, this event would not be possible. I wish all of the tournament participants the best of luck and I look forward to seeing how the games play themselves out. May the best diplomat win!"

Happy Stabbing,
Baron Powell (VonPowell)

Scoring
Of course, everyone wants to know how the games will be scored to determine the seven players who will advance to the final round championship table. The scoring system developed rewards both influence and outcome.

• The influence is determined through a sum value of the annual supply center counts throughout the game. To determine this sum value, total the number of supply centers held by each power at the end of each game year. Those powers that start with only three supply centers get +1 added to their total number of supply centers unless they have been eliminated from the board. The point value per supply center goes up by one each year, beginning with 10 points awarded for supply centers held at the end of year 1900. Points for the final game year are provided an additional +1. So as not to give an edge to longer games, each power's influence points are divided by the sum of the points of all seven players, then multiplied by 390. Fractions are rounded so that the total will be exactly 390.
• The outcome is weighed by awarding 180 points amongst the winners when the game ends, or when DIAS is called at the end of 1909. This outcome points are forfeited in the rare case of a seven-way draw.
• The sum of the influence points and the outcome points is the final score for that power in the game. Two examples of the use of the scoring system can be found below.

Game #1 (Turkish solo), History of Supply Center Counts and Scoring Results

Game #2 (3-way Austrian-French-Russian draw), History of Supply Center Counts and Scoring Results

Sharpen your knives, polish your lies, and make your reservations now so that you are sure to be a part of the best WDC event in the Hobby's history!

The Potomac Tea & Knife Society (PTKS) is very pleased to invite you to the Fifteenth World Diplomacy Championship (WDC XV) to be held at the Holiday Inn Capitol from 29-31 July 2005!

The Holiday Inn Capitol is the ideal venue for this event, offering great gaming space and an excellent location--just a block from the Washington, D.C. Metro--which makes the entire city accessible to our guests who want to see all of the sights Washington has to offer.

And it couldn't be easier to get here from there! The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is served by three major airports:

• Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI)
• Ronald W.Reagan National Airport (DCA)
• Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD)

In fact, Reagan National is just a few Metro stops away from the hotel!

For those who prefer the train, Washington D.C.'s Union Station, is also just a few Metro stops from the hotel.

Would you rather drive--find I-95 and drive north or south as appropriate. You won't be able to miss D.C., and the traffic on the Beltway will give you plenty of time to admire the sights!

The Holiday Inn Capitol is in the final stages of a complete renovation. The rooms are large, comfortable and, at $129 per night, very affordable. They also include in-room Hi-Speed Internet access at no additional charge. You can reserve those rooms now, by phone or online at the website above. Just use this three digit code: WDG to get the reduced rate.

Diplomacy in D.C. with the Pitkissers as your host? Do you really want to take a chance on missing this? I didn't think so. More details will follow in the next few weeks. Until then, visit www.wdcindc.org, bookmark it, and check back often for all the latest
updates!

The Potomac Tea & Knife Society