This article will be posted to rec.games.diplomacy, news.answers and rec.answers every two weeks.
The latest version of this file can be retrieved by anonymous ftp at rmii.com in /pub2/starkey/rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.1 and rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.2. The latest version of the FAQ can also be retrived by Email. Mail starkey@rmii.com with "FAQ request" in the subject and the FAQ will be mailed to you. Also, a HTML version of this file can be found at ftp://rmii.com/pub2/starkey/rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.html.
Many FAQs, including this one, are available on the archive site rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which a FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-name line at the top of the article. This FAQ is archived as games/diplomacy-faq/part1 and games/diplomacy-faq/part2.
There's a mail server on that machine. You send a e-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu containing: help in the message body.
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. There are always mistakes... Send all additions, changes, suggestions, comments, questions, answers, etc. to starkey@rmii.com with "FAQ" in the subject.
The newsgroup would be for the discussion and organization of the game Diplomacy. Both regular (ie face to face) and play by mail would be discussed.
If you wish to post a game opening announcement, we ask you to please use the keyword "OPENING:" at the beginning of the subject line of your article. A game opening includes new games and missing powers for all Judge and non-Judge games. Other information about the game (game name, variant type, power available, number of centers) would also be very helpful in the subject line.
(Taken from the front cover of the Diplomacy rules.)
"Diplomacy" is a game of skill and cunning negotiations. Chance plays no part.
In "Diplomacy", each player guides the destinies of one European power through the intricacies of international politics. By negotiating alliances with other players and careful planning, each player seeks control of Europe. "Diplomacy" tests your ability not only to plan a campaign, but also to outwit your fellow players in diplomatic negotiations.
"Diplomacy" is a realistic game of strategy without dice, and nothing left to luck alone. "Diplomacy" pits man against man in an exciting battle of wits. Up to seven can play.
Of course, Diplomacy has gone a lot farther since the original game was published.
Contact Avalon Hill at:
4517 Harford RoadDiplomacy Game $25.00 Mapboard $10.00 Rules $ 5.00 Basic Rules $ 2.00 Game Pieces $ 5.00 7 maps $ 3.00Avalon Hill's address and phone number are above.
The Gamer's Guide to Diplomacy is, in the words of an old friend, "the next best thing to actually playing." While I might not go that far, I would say that any neophyte to Diplomacy with a little time and money to spare should pick up a copy.
Physically speaking, the guide is about the size of a thin magazine. It includes appx 35 pages of information ranging from historical (the who's who of the ruling class in 1901) to neat little tricks to help you play better to detailed suggestions for openings and alliances for each of the powers. There is also a sample game and some information about the hobby itself: the postal system, tournaments etc.
For my money, the most interesting part of the guide is the analysis of the various powers. The author goes through, power by power, and suggests how that power should best negotiate with each other power. He then lists several possible openings for that power and explains the strengths and weaknesses of each opening, and how these openings relate to the powers' various neighbors (i.e. is it a pro-German or anti-German opening.) The conclusion of the analysis of each power includes (IMHO) a less that thorough analysis of the midgame and endgame play for the power in question.
The author's advice viz negotiations and and openings in strongly slanted by his (unstated but apparent) strong belief in alliance play (i.e. the belief that one should choose another power and stick with that power at least through the middle of the game.
Oh, yes. I would be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not mention that the Guide contains some very funny cartoons which, IMHO, make the Guide all the more valuable.
One of only two books on Diplomacy to be commercially published (Arthur Barker Ltd, London, 1978), it quickly went out of print, it has been an item of desire ever since. Every Diplomacy fan should have a copy, but it has dated and many would argue that the book is not very well balanced; presenting a distorted picture of the game.
You can obtain a photocopy of this book by writing either
Richard Sharpor
Fred C. Davis Jr.
Eventhough the rules are very straight forward, there are always questions about certain situations. We will try to answer most of these here.
1.10.2. In the Loeb9 variant, is it possible
for a unsupported army to move from Cordoba to North Africa?
Yes, since all moves succeed (except in case of a conflict). Crd-NAf
is also valid for purposes of cutting support, and as a possible
retreat destination.
Version 4.0 of the DIPLOMACY A-Z is available by anonymous FTP at nda.com in /pub/diplomacy/Documents/AtoZ.tar.Z.
You DON'T need to know anything in the A-Z to have a good time playing Diplomacy, but if you are curious about the history of the Diplomacy hobby you should dip into the A-Z and feast your eyes...
VARIANT (3) <RE:89-90> Any game of Diplomacy using rules other than those issued by the publisher, but which is based on them in some way, may be considered a "variant" (thus arguably postal Diplomacy is itself a "variant"). However, the term "variant" is usually applied only to one of the vast numbers of games designed by enthusiasts in which a new mapboard is used to replace the standard one, or in which the rules are changed, amended or extended. Variants exist which transfer the game from a European milieu to the world of Tolkien's Middle Earth, to a worldwide setting or to medieval Italy. Others add new units like submarines and air forces, increase the number of players or provide for hidden movement, like Kreigspiel chess. So many variants have appeared over the years that a number of "Variant Banks" have been established within the postal hobby to collect them into archives. Most prominent among these are the United Kingdom Variant Bank (U.K.V.B) and the North American Variant Bank (N.A.V.B).
A list of commonly used variants on the Internet follow below:
Note on the Judge that the Indian player must use the letter "N" rather than "I" when signing on since "I" is reserved for Italy.
Victory conditions are 37 supply centers.
For more info about Youngstown, mail your local Judge "get info.youngstown". A postscript map is available by FTP (section 3.11) or FTP by Email (section 3.12) at nda.com. Also available at nda.com are editable maps (both black-and-white and color) for players who have access to xfig, an X-windows program.
Victory conditions are 18 supply centers.
For more info about Chaos, mail your local Judge "get info.chaos ".
For more info about Machiavelli, mail your local Judge "get info. machiavelli". For the rules, mail your local Judge "get rules.machiavelli". A postscript map is available by FTP (section 3.11) or FTP by Email (section 3.12) at nda.com.
The victory conditions remain 18 centers.
For more info about 1898, mail your local Judge "get info.v1898".
The victory conditions are 20 centers.
For more info about Loeb9, mail your local Judge "get info.loeb9". A postscript map is available by FTP (section 3.11) or FTP by Email (section 3.12) at nda.com. Also available at nda.com are editable maps (both black-and-white and color) for players who have access to xfig, an X-windows program.
The victory conditions are 19 centers.
For more info about the Britain variant, mail your local Judge "get info.britain".
Victory conditions are 4 supply centers.
For more info about the pure variant, mail your local Judge "get info.pure".
Each spy may: move, hold, or counter espionage. Spies themselves are completely invisible -- they may move through any space regardless of the presence of other units. Spies are never dislogded, and can only be destroyed by counter espionage. A spy performing conter espionage kills all enemy spies in the area. If two spies both CE the same area, both die. If a spy survives, it provides complete information on the unit occupying the area and its actions in the just completed turn.
Victory conditions remain 18 supply centers.
For more info about the crowded variant, mail your local Judge "get info.crowded". Editable maps (both black-and-white and color) for players who have access to xfig, an X-windows program, are available available by FTP (section 3.11) or FTP by Email (section 3.12) at nda.com.
Victory conditions remain 18 supply centers.
For more info about the shift-right and shift-left variants, mail your local Judge "get info.shift".
Victory conditions remain 18 supply centers.
Note on the Judge that the Indian player must use the letter "N" rather than "I" when signing on since "I" is reserved for Indonesia.
Victory conditions are 21 supply centers.
For more info about the Asia variant, mail your local Judge "get info.asia". To receive an ASCII version of the map, mail your local Judge "get asia.asc".
Victory conditions are 27 supply centers.
For more info about aberration, mail your local Judge "get info.aberration". A postscript map is available by FTP (section 3.11) or FTP by Email (section 3.12) at nda.com.
Victory conditions remain 18 supply centers.
For more info about Milan, mail your local Judge "get info.milan".
Victory conditions are 19 supply centers.
For more info about wraparound, mail your local Judge "get info.wraparound".
Victory conditions are 11 supply centers.
For more info about the chromatic variant, mail your local Judge "get info.chromatic".
Victory conditions are 28 supply centers.
For more info about Root Z, mail your local Judge "get info.rootz". A postscript map is available by FTP (section 3.11) or FTP by Email (section 3.12) at nda.com.
MERCATOR isn't very popular in North America, but COLONIA is. This is a huge variant (in terms of the map size) and has attracted a considerable following. Smaller world variants worth looking at are SMALL WORLD IIR (By Fred C. Davis) and FINAL CONFLICT (By Tom Swider). Most of the other world variants suffer from defects.
You can get all these variants from the NORTH AMERICAN VARIANT BANK (see below).
If you are interested in variants, grab a copy! This document should keep you busy for weeks!
Mark promises to have a catalogue of the rules for many variants REAL SOON!
If you live in North America and you want to find out more about Diplomacy variants then you should write to:
Lee Kendter Jnr
Lee is North American Variant Bank Custodian and can answer your questions and supply copy of rules/maps for cost. You can also order a copy of the NAVB catalogue from him. This lists some 1200 or so dip variants. The current price is US$5.00.
The address for the British Variant Bank is:
Mark Nelson
Mark can answer questions on many of these if you want to ask before buying them (his own variant collection is about 600 strong). Many dip variants are not particularly interesting or playable...
Mark requests that if you do ask him questions about a variant's rules, you include the rules so he know exactly what you are talking about!
The games from the Judges are published in Chapter 2, by Rich Shipley (rshipley@access.digex.net). It is published about once a fortnight, and is also distributed through Usenet, and DIPL-L.
All EP games are assigned numbers and are published in the corresponding Chapter upon completion. Sean Starkey (starkey@rmii.com) is the Judge EP number master and assigns all qualifying Judge games an EP number. More about EP numbers is below.
Eric frequently posts EP stats describing current games opening, waiting lists, etc.
Why be part of EP? This facilitates archiving, as well as allowing for a procedure to formally appeal GM decisions (a process that, while in existence, has never been necessary). It also makes getting replacement players easier, as some of us, only, or normally play, in EP games.
After a few years, custodians were assigned for various regions; there are currently custodians for the UK, Scandinavia, Francophone and Germanic Europe, in addition to the original custodian, now known as the North American custodian. Each custodian has a block of numbers he can give out, to avoid duplication of numbers around the world. Internet games were receiving Boardman Numbers (BNs) as far back as 1988, when Eric Klien first created Electronic Protocol (EP) (see section 3.1). No numbers were given to Internet games, between 1990 and 1993.
There is now an Internet BNC, who is giving out BNs to all standard Internet games, and eventually to all old games that never got one. The Internet BNC is Nicholas Fitzpatrick (nick@sunburn.uwaterloo.ca). If a game you are playing in, or are GMing, has not got one, please contact him. A log of all games with BNs is available from the Waterloo FTP site (see section 3.11), through WWW from the Diplomacy home page (see section 3.14), or by request from the Internet BNC. Both judge games, and hand-adjudicated E-mail games can receive BNs. The judge (release 5.6 and later) automatically notifies the Internet BNC of game starts, to allow him to assign numbers. Numbers can be set by the GM (or by anyone in non-Moderated games), with the SET BN command.
Non-Internet games (such as CompuServe, AOL, Genie, etc) must get BNs directly from the North American BNC, who is Andrew York (BNCYork@aol.com).
MNs are named after the late Don Miller, who was the first postal Miller Number Custodian (MNC) in 1965. In addition to the North American MNC, there are MNCs in the UK and France.
Internet games first received MNs in 1990. In 1993 an E-mail MNC was appointed. He is Nicholas Fitzpatrick (nick@sunburn.uwaterloo.ca). He can give MNs to any E-mail variant game, including those on CompuServe, Genie, AOL, etc. If any game you are GMing, or playing in does not have an MN, please contact him. A log of all games with MNs, and also NAVB CNs in use in E-mail games, is available from the Waterloo FTP site (see section 3.11), through WWW from the Diplomacy home page (see section 3.14), or by request from the E-mail MNC.
The North American MNC is Lee Kendter Jr, 376A Willowbrook Drive, Jeffersonville PA, 19403, USA.
The Hall of Fame is kept by Nicholas Fitzpatrick (nick@sunburn.uwaterloo.ca).
Points are based on the formula Points = (N-W)/W where N = # of players (7 in standard, 10 in youngstown) and W is # of winners (1) or people who shared in the draw. Ie, in a standard game, 6.0 points for a win, 2.5 for a two-way draw, 1.33 for three-way draw. (One exception, chaos games are deemed to only have 20 plyaers.) The top 100 players are ranked at the end of the list. Survivors get 0 points.
All Judge games, and non-Judge EP games are welcome for this list, except for games that meet the qualifications below. If you have games that are missing, or incorrect on this list, please contact Nick.
Games will not be granted points if:
The Judge presently supports the following variants; Standard, Youngstown, Loeb9, Chaos, 1898, Crowded, Machiavelli, Britain, Pure and Fleet-Rome. Press and no-press gunboat versions of all these games are available.
To get information on how to play in a game, send "help" (no quotes) in the body of a mail message to one of the Judges below. Also read section 3.9 for a beginner's FAQ on the Judge.
If you use the Judge, please thank its author, Ken Lowe. Send a postcard or a T-shirt (size: large medium to small large) to:
Ken Lowe
Thanks Ken for all the time and effort you've put into the Judge!!!
Massachusetts, USA (EFF Judge) [USWA]
In November 1992, after Ken's announcement the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) opened up a new Judge to take away some of the traffic
from Washington's Judge. The address is
judge@morrolan.eff.org
and the operator is David Kovar (kovar@morrolan.eff.org) David requests
that only moderated games be started on the EFF Judge. Any unmoderated
games will be removed.
Durban, South Africa [ZADU]
A full fledged Judge is running in Durban, South Africa. The
address is
judge@owl.und.ac.za
The operator is Russel Vincent (vincent@cc.und.ac.za) The South African
Judge is open for all games.
Manitoba, Canada (U of Manitoba) [CAMA]
In January 1993 a new Judge was announced at the University of Manitoba in
Winnipeg, Canada. The address is
judge@cs.umanitoba.ca
The operator is Arne Grimstrup (agoper@ccu.umanitoba.ca)
Arne is planning for only a few games on this Judge. If you wish to start
up a game on this Judge, please ask Arne.
Australia (Defence Science and Technology Organisation)
In February 1993 a Judge was publicly announced in Australia.
judge@dipvax.dsto.gov.au
The operator is Grant Ward (gaward@dsto.gov.au).
New Mexico, USA (New Mexico Tech) [USNM]
A new Judge has sprung up in New Mexico.
judge@nmt.edu
The operator is Eric Wagoner (ewagoner@nmt.edu).
Games can only be created by Eric, please write ewagoner@nmt.edu to request
games...
A complete list of the Judges is available by FTP from nda.com (192.150.206.1) in pub/diplomacy/list_of_judges.
All messages to the Judge are sent with Email. The Judge looks at the body of the mail message for commands that you supply.
To register, fill out the following form and mail it to a Judge. The most widely used Judge at this time is the EFF Judge (judge@morrolan.eff.org).
------- Cut here ------- REGISTER Name: Aretha Holly Phone: (505) 555-5555 Site: University of Hodunk Address: 1515 St. Claws Lane, Kris Mass Country: USA Email: user@host.domain.edu, user@host.bitnet, host2!host1!user Level: Novice, Intermediate or Expert Birthdate: Dec 25, 1907 Sex: Female Package: Yes END ------- Cut here -------Registering on the Judge will enter you in the database necessary for you to play in any of the games.
get info
get syntax
get deadline
get rules
get press
You will get a bunch of files from the Judge mailed to you. READ THEM!
At least print them out and have them nearby. It is a lot to read, but
the basic knowledge is needed to use the Judge to it's full extent.
The files mentioned above are considered essential for playing Diplomacy through the judges. You can also send
get package
to a Judge. You will be sent the above files along with three other
files: ep.house.rules, index (a comprehensive summary of Judge commands),
and flist (a list of the all the Judge information files).
Most of the Judge information files including all the ones mentioned above are also available via WWW at:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/ss8c/dip/FILENAME.html
where FILENAME is the name of the file you want. The complete list of files can be found in the flist file.
The information in the following sections is helpful with the understanding of these files.
list
The complete list of the games on the Judge will be sent to you by mail.
Information like the gamename, moderator's name, turn length, and variant type
are sent with this list.
To get specific information on a game, use the list command with the game name as the argument:
list gamename
where "gamename" is the name of the game. All games on the Judge have a
eight or less character name to identify it. The list gamename command
will display all of the parameters in the game. Many of these parameters
are explained in the "deadline" and "press" file.
observe guerre [your password]
Obviously for a different game, you substitute a different name and the
password is of your choice. (Do not type the brackets.) You will then
receive all messages that were publicly broadcasted in that game, as well
as the processed moves.
signon Pgamename password
^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^
| | ----------- Your Password for the game
| --------------------- The gamename for the game
------------------------- Power specification (one letter)
Power specification is which country you are playing (E=England, F=France,...)
For new games, you signon with the following command
signon ?thegame password {nameofvariant}
set preference FEGRAIT
The question mark is intentional, if the game is not of standard variant,
the variant type must be specified in the {nameofvariant} field.
(e.g. Youngstown, Crowded, Gunboat, ..)
"set preference" tells the Judge which country you would prefer to play in order from most desired to the least.
If you are new to the Judge, it is recommended that you signon to a Moderated standard game. A Moderated game has a master (a real person who is running the game.) The master is always there to answer your questions.
After that, it's quite simple. The Judge will tell you turn results, what units need to be moved, and when the deadlines are for orders.
What happens if you miss the deadline? Most games have a grace period after the deadline for those people who are late. All good players get their orders in BEFORE the deadline! For those of us who miss the deadline and the grace period will be abandoned and give up your country.
Deadlines and dedication points are further described in the "deadline" file.
get syntax
For how to move units. It's much the same as the way you usually do it
in the Face to Face game. (If you don't have the real game rules, you're
expected to buy the game.) So it should be pretty simple. The Judge is
pretty helpful when you screw up with the syntax and province abbreviations.
Unless you're merely listing games, to put in orders (movement and/or press commands), you need to signon first. Similar to when you first signed on:
signon Pgamename password
Replacing the power's initial, game name and password. Note that once you
are playing a power in the game, you don't need to specify the variant anymore.
After the Judge parses your commands, a confirmation is sent back. Read the confirmation that the Judge sends back to you! If there were problems with your orders, the Judge will tell you and if you don't fix them, then you will still be considered late. Not checking the confirmation from the Judge is probably the biggest problem with players (beginners and experts).
For example, the following might be the opening orders of France in the game guerre:
signon Fguerre <password here> Par - Pic Bre - MAO Mar - SpaNote the signon command starting the letter, and the three movement commands that follow.
If you send the Judge:
get press
You will get a file explaining all the press commands and how to use them.
Let me guess -- it's just too friggin' long and nothing makes sense so what's
the use? Here's a simple summary of common (??) info tidbits:
Most games are white press, no fake broadcast. This means, you can send press to anyone and they will be informed of which power it's coming from. Specifically, the message they receive will go something like this...
Message from lokendr@ecf.toronto.edu as France to Germany in game guerre:
[the message]
The message tells you who its from (power played, and e-mail address), which
powers are receiving it and the game.
If the game has grey press, the e-mail address and the power originating the message are not shown. If the game is no partial, that means any message you send must be broadcast message (no private mail).
To send press, you give ONE of the following commands in an empty letter to the Judge, or at the end of orders. Everything after this command line will be sent as press... *** Do not put any orders after this press command (unless you really WANT someone else to see them.)
Commands:
press [the following message goes to all players]
press to a [the message goes to Austria only]
press to eg [the message goes to England and Germany and both
players know it's being sent to _both_ of them]
press grey to f
[in games where it's allowed, adding grey after the
the word press, makes it anonymous]
broadcast [interchangable with the word "press"]
press to m [the messages goes to the Master of a moderated game]
get summary gamename
to the appropriate judge. The information listed in the output from
the summary command includes:
get info.VARIANTNAME
The files are also available via WWW at http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/ss8c/dip/info.VARIANTNAME.html
Variant names as listed below. (Note: use "v1898" as the VARIANTNAME to get information about the 1898 variant)
Maps may be required: the standard map, and some variant maps are available (postscript) by anonymous FTP to ftp.u.washington.edu in /public/misc and from other FTP Judge sites. Or you can get it directly from the Judge -- check the help file for details. (send the Judge the word help.)
The matching on the siteid works in such a way that xxx00 matches xxx01 and xxx02, but xxx01 doesn't match xxx02. If you register and specify a "Site:" that is spelled the same as someone else's site, you'll be given a siteid that is the same as theirs, but if you're registering from a site as yet unknown to the Judge or if you spell your site name differently than another player, the Judge picks xxx00 to avoid problems with two people getting into the same game and then having to be asked to have one of them resign.
If you are having problems signing on to a game because of the different site
rule, talk to your Judge administrator about changing your siteid from xxx00.
3.10.2. How does the "map" command work?
The map command uses the Mapit program to create a postscript map of a current
game phase. This command is being improved all the time, and might be at
different rev levels at different Judges. To get the latest syntax of the
command, send a "get index" command to the Judge in question.
If you can, please use your own Mapit program on your computer rather than
the Judge's. This will help our Judges run faster and cut down on Internet
bandwidth.
3.10.3. How do I get the postscript maps (from
the map command) to print on A4 size paper?
On line 411 of the file, one should change the postscript code:
0.9 dup scale to 0.8 dup scale
3.10.4. All the orders are in, there are no set
waits, where are the results?
Such things do happen. Normally there are three reasons
HISTORY <gamename>will get the last few weeks of broadcast messages (including turn results). See the "index" file for more information on the HISTORY command.
This usually happens because you are submitting orders to the Judge from a different account than the one you originally signed onto the game with, but it may also be caused by changes to your local node or network identifications or structures.
Sending a message which signs onto the game and issues a "SET ADDRESS" command should solve the problem. Subsequent commands will be ignored, so this should be the only thing you include in the message.
3.10.7. I am moving and I'm changing my Email
address. How do I move my Judge registration from one Email address
to another?
Re-registering is not required, it's nice to have your correct address
in the registary files, but its only for information. The judge must
maintain two different lists of addresses, one from the registration form,
which it does not use, and the one from where you sent you E-mail from
Simply, from your new address, send the message iamalso ckd@my.old.address.org (whatever that was)
Thats it . . .
Afterwards (not before!), you may wish to re-enter your Registration, and the judge will update your information, however this is only for user reference . . . (If you do it before, the judge will add a new registration, which is not what you want.)
3.10.8. How do I resign as an observer?
The same as getting out of a game as a player
signon ogamename password resignFor observers the judge does not match the password, but matches the E-mail address that you are sending from. If this does not match the address you originally started observing the game from, then preface your message with the line:
Reply-To: myoldaddress@wherever.i.was.then.edu(substituting in your old address for myoldaddr.......)
While this is not really part of the mail header, it is close enough
for the judge's parsing to cope with.
3.10.9. How can I get the latest Judge game
openings easily?
The list of Judge openings can be retrieved by sending an Email
message to starkey@rmii.com with "Opening request" in the subject.
The current Judge openings will be mailed to you shortly. Note that
this uses the "list" command from the Judge, so NOLIST games will not
show up in the list. The Judge Openings List is also available by WWW
at
ftp://rmii.com/pub2/starkey/openings.html.
rmii.com (198.59.29.10)in the pub/diplomacy sub-directory.
XXXXX XXX X XX:XX EP.gamelog EP Judge Gamelog
XXXXX XXX X XX:XX rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.1 This FAQ (1/2)
XXXXX XXX X XX:XX rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.2 This FAQ (2/2)
XXXX XXX X XX:XX openings The latest Judge Openings
(Updated hourly)
nda.com (192.150.206.1)in the /pub/diplomacy sub-directory.
/pub/diplomacy:
512 Oct 17 23:54 Documents/ Directory
512 Oct 17 23:52 EPC2/ Directory
512 Oct 17 23:53 HallOfFame/ Directory
89249 Aug 11 14:55 L4E-27.ps.Z
512 Nov 1 15:35 Maps/ Directory
429 Oct 17 23:58 README
512 Nov 5 23:33 Sources/ Directory
512 Oct 28 20:21 TAP/ Directory
8823 Sep 22 23:30 epcc.const Constitution for EPCC
82683 Oct 6 00:00 house.rules EP House Rules
1431 Oct 13 09:32 list_of_judges List of judges
/pub/diplomacy/Documents:
203949 Sep 2 15:11 AtoZ.tar.Z Diplomacy A-Z 4.0
131955 Aug 19 14:37 diplomacy.A-Z.Z Diplomacy A-Z 3.0
33326 Jun 21 13:04 fred.davis.tar.Z Interview with Fred Davis
28218 Jun 21 09:03 peery.tar.Z Interview with Larry Peery
50334 Jun 21 09:03 variants.tar.Z Variants A-Z
/pub/diplomacy/EPC2:
62464 Oct 12 01:41 epc2-305.ps.Z EP Chapter 2 #305
44608 Jul 31 18:17 epc2-306.ps.Z EP Chapter 2 #306
54403 Sep 22 17:26 epc2-307.ps.Z EP Chapter 2 #307
84169 Oct 12 01:41 epc2-308.ps.Z EP Chapter 2 #308
/pub/diplomacy/HallOfFame:
94013 Jul 16 11:44 halloffame.10.Z Hall of Fame #10
112549 Sep 1 15:44 halloffame.11.Z Hall of Fame #11
143379 Dec 10 18:28 halloffame.12.Z Hall of Fame #12
/pub/diplomacy/Maps:
512 Nov 1 10:35 ColorMaps/ Directory - Editable color maps
592 Nov 1 10:54 README
71169 Oct 25 22:34 aberration.ps.Z Abberration III map (Postscript)
22515 Oct 27 16:07 armies.ps.Z Map showing all possibly army
movements (Postscript)
5098 Oct 28 10:33 crowded.bw.xfig.Z B/W crowded map for xfig
5122 Oct 28 10:33 crowded.color.xfig.Z Color crowded map for xfig
23689 Oct 27 16:07 fleets.ps.Z Map showing all possible fleet
movements (Postscript)
5334 Oct 28 10:33 loeb9.bw.xfig.Z B/W Loeb9 map for xfig
5384 Oct 28 10:33 loeb9.color.xfig.Z Color Loeb9 map for xfig
85479 Oct 20 03:50 rootz.ps.Z RootZ map (Postscript)
171111 Oct 20 03:50 rootz2.ps.Z RootZ map (Postscript)
4988 Oct 28 13:37 standard.bw.xfig.Z B/W standard Dip. map for xfig
5020 Oct 28 13:37 standard.color.xfig.Z Color standard Dip. map for xfig
11746 Oct 28 10:33 youngstown.bw.xfig.Z B/W Youngstown map for xfig
11850 Oct 28 10:33 youngstown.color.xfig.Z Color Youngstown map for xfig
/pub/diplomacy/Maps/ColorMaps:
1710 Nov 1 09:46 colormaps.readme Please read this file on
cpt.hqx files
46626 Nov 1 09:49 loebe9.2.GIF larger Loeb9 map
106163 Nov 1 09:52 loebe9.2.cpt.hqx.Z
75329 Nov 1 09:50 loebe9.GIF Loeb9 map
141477 Nov 1 09:54 loebe9.cpt.hqx.Z
42926 Nov 1 09:50 standard.2.GIF larger standard map - 670x670
74498 Nov 1 09:51 standard.GIF standard map about 640x460
142490 Nov 1 09:55 standard.cpt.hqx.Z
102781 Nov 1 09:57 standard2.cpt.hqx.Z
/pub/diplomacy/Sources:
341 Oct 18 19:29 README
10001 Oct 13 17:46 deadliner Perl script to help check on
deadlines for players
1164429 Aug 17 10:06 dipsrc.tar.Z The latest sources for the Judge
516 Oct 6 00:02 dipsrc.v4.0-v4.1 Patch #1
1178 Oct 6 00:02 dipsrc.v4.1-v4.2 Patch #2
1367 Nov 30 15:00 dipsrc.v4.2-v4.3 Patch #3
28493 Dec 9 02:54 dipstrma.zip Dip. Strategy Map for MS Windows
410271 Dec 17 19:19 mapit-1.8.tar.Z Baseline Unix sources for MapIt
272630 Oct 18 19:25 mapit-NeXT.tar.Z Mapit for the NeXT including GUI.
230107 Nov 30 23:51 mapit-dos.exe Mapit for MS/DOS.
265682 Oct 18 12:31 mapit.mac.hqx MapIt for the Mac
208639 Oct 18 09:57 mapwin.zip MapIt for Windows on MS/DOS.
/pub/diplomacy/TAP:
97447 Jul 14 14:28 ap131.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #131
90869 Jul 30 15:02 ap132.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #132
98973 Aug 19 11:53 ap133.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #133
84423 Sep 9 12:54 ap134.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #134
80801 Oct 6 11:12 ap135.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #135
93021 Oct 28 16:15 ap136.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #136
123919 Nov 18 21:34 ap137.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #137
112317 Dec 14 00:25 ap138.ps.Z Abyssinian Prince #138
sunburn.uwaterloo.ca (129.97.50.26)
/pub/nick/diplomacy:
39554 Mar 7 16:12 aberrat.pict Aberration map in MacIntosh
PICT format
48630 Mar 7 16:11 aberrat.wmf Aberration map in Windows WMF format
2567 Mar 12 19:21 bnc.log Log file of Boardman Numbers
45588 Mar 7 18:05 hall.abridged.13.Z Abridged Hall of Fame 13
18453 Mar 7 18:25 hall.stats.13.Z Top 100 and List of Games forHoF 13
188412 Mar 13 12:02 halldata.zip Data files for HoF 13
172771 Mar 7 18:11 halloffame.13.Z Hall of Fame 13
1482 Mar 7 18:09 judge.codes List of Judge Codes
7859 Mar 7 13:25 judge.statistics.Z Judge Statistics (monthly post
to r.g.d)
15534 Mar 12 19:29 mnc.log Log file for Miller Numbers
FTP.FU-berlin.DE (130.133.4.50)
/pub/misc/diplomacy:
512 Feb 21 1993 classic/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 dipl-l/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 general/ Directory
512 Sep 1 19:50 hall-of-fame/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 loeb9/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 machiavelli/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 other-variants/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 source/ Directory
512 Feb 21 1993 youngstown/ Directory
/pub/misc/diplomacy/classic:
2172 Apr 24 1991 map.ascii.Z
2501 May 22 1991 map.info.Z
34076 May 22 1991 map.ps.Z
2291 Apr 7 1991 rules.classic.Z
/pub/misc/diplomacy/dipl-l:
6789 Apr 24 1991 convoys.Z
8557 Apr 24 1991 dipcon.Z
2513 Apr 24 1991 email-dip.intr.Z
1919 Apr 24 1991 example.game.Z
12176 Apr 24 1991 france.Z
5662 Apr 24 1991 germany.Z
2741 Apr 24 1991 greek.Z
2034 Apr 24 1991 mediterranean.Z
3100 Apr 24 1991 musical.dip.Z
2140 Apr 24 1991 stab-stab.Z
4850 Apr 24 1991 stalemates.Z
639 Apr 24 1991 top.ten.lies.Z
2951 Apr 24 1991 winning.dip.Z
22767 Apr 24 1991 zine_list.Z
/pub/misc/diplomacy/general:
2176 Jun 13 1992 changes.Z
4211 Jun 13 1992 deadline.Z
1301 Jun 13 1992 form.Z
5504 Jun 13 1992 index.Z
4471 Jun 13 1992 info.Z
4364 Jun 13 1992 master.Z
3242 Jun 13 1992 press.Z
2750 Jun 13 1992 syntax.Z
/pub/misc/diplomacy/hall-of-fame:
10774 Aug 9 1992 hall-of-fame-01.Z Hall of Fame #1
19809 Jun 10 1992 hall-of-fame-02.Z Hall of Fame #2
25857 Aug 9 1992 hall-of-fame-03.Z Hall of Fame #3
29563 Sep 3 1992 hall-of-fame-04.Z Hall of Fame #4
34419 Dec 19 1992 hall-of-fame-05.Z Hall of Fame #5
46370 Jan 14 1993 hall-of-fame-06.Z Hall of Fame #6
55070 Feb 24 1993 hall-of-fame-07.Z Hall of Fame #7
62907 Mar 30 1993 hall-of-fame-08.Z Hall of Fame #8
76925 May 11 1993 hall-of-fame-09.Z Hall of Fame #9
94013 Jul 2 17:50 hall-of-fame-10.Z Hall of Fame #10
112549 Sep 1 19:34 hall-of-fame-11.Z Hall of Fame #11
/pub/misc/diplomacy/loeb9:
1510 Jun 13 1992 info.loeb9.Z
35505 May 21 1991 loeb9.ps.Z
/pub/misc/diplomacy/machiavelli:
1366 Jun 13 1992 info.machiavelli.Z
11253 Jun 13 1992 machiavelli.ps.Z
14174 Jun 13 1992 rules.machiavelli.Z
/pub/misc/diplomacy/other-variants:
481 Jun 13 1992 info.1898.Z
459 Jun 13 1992 info.britain.Z
934 Jun 13 1992 info.chaos.Z
550 Jun 13 1992 info.crowded.Z
724 Jun 13 1992 info.gunboat.Z
450 Jun 13 1992 info.pure.Z
/pub/misc/diplomacy/source:
255255 Sep 16 1992 diplomacy-adjudicator.tar.Z Judge Sources (old)
/pub/misc/diplomacy/youngstown:
3145 Jun 13 1992 info.youngstown.Z
5842 Jun 13 1992 map.young.Z
596 Jun 13 1992 report.young.Z
52113 Jun 13 1992 youngstown-DINA4-1PAGE.ps.Z
52050 Jun 13 1992 youngstown-DINA4.ps.Z
51922 Jun 13 1992 youngstown.ps.Z
At the time of this writing, there are two addresses which provide FTP by Email access:
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu
FTP commands should be placed in the body of your message similiar to
sending commands to the Judge. To get a list of commands available, send the command "help" to one of the addresses above. Some commands that you might want to use are:
connect <site name, such as teetot.acusd.edu>
chdir <directory files you want are in; only one per session>
dir <return a listing of the current directory's files>
get <name of file you want sent to you>
For example, to get a directory listing of the Diplomacy archive on
nda.com, you would send the following commands:
connect nda.com
chdir /pub/diplomacy
dir
To get a PostScript map of the standard variant, you would send the
following commands:
connect nda.com
chdir /pub/diplomacy/Maps
get standard.ps
You can get more than one file with multiple get commands. After a while you should get a mail response similar to this:
From: "ftpmail service on ftp-gw-1.pa.dec.com" <nobody@pa.dec.com>
To: starkey@netcom.com
Subject: your ftpmail request has been received
We processed the following input from your mail message:
<what commands you sent>
We have entered the following request into our job queue
as job number 749867482.01937:
The message will conclude with how many jobs are ahead of yours.
Since this service is in such high demand, expect to wait 24 hours or
more for your files.
Thanks Pete Woodruff for the Gopher site!
http://www.hmc.edu/~irilyth/diplomacy/index.html
Most of the judge information files are also available via WWW. They are located at:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/ss8c/dip/XXXX.html
where XXXX is the judge file name (index, info, syntax, etc.)
A complete list of the available files is located at:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/ss8c/flist.html
subscribe dipl-l
to the address
majordomo@nda.com
DIPL-L is gatewayed to Usenet as the newsgroup rec.games.diplomacy.
If you already receive rec.games.diplomacy, don't register on this
mailing list.
subscribe dip-advice
to the address
majordomo@nda.com
You can't be a real Internet Diplomacy nerd unless you are on this
list.
subscribe judge-maint
to the address
majordomo@nda.com
The mapit program is discussed on this mailing list as well.
listserv@gu.uwa.edu.au
with any subject and the message
subscribe wa-diplomacy Jo Bloggs
Then to mail all the subscribers of the list simply mail to
wa-diplomacy@gu.uwa.edu.au
The Diplomacy Subject Index (maintained by Simon Szykman) is a comprehensive index, organized alphabetically by subject, covering all the major topics related to the PBEM diplomacy hobby. The index is intended to be used as a reference by anyone involved PBEM diplomacy, from novices to experts alike. This index will hopefully be able to point anyone with a question to the correct information source where the answer can be found.
The index is located at http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/ss8c/dip_index.html.
All of the Judge maps are in postscript, and all output from the Mapit program is also in postscript. The easiest way to print out a postscript file is with postscript printer. If you don't have a postscript printer there is a free postscript interpreter/viewer available for many platforms called ghostscript.
Ghostscript is written by L. Peter Deutsch, and is distributed under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License. Ghostscript will compile on most common platforms, and has drivers for many common peripherals, including X11R[345], MS-DOS-VGA, Deskjet 500, Epson dot matrix printers, and HP laserjets.
FTP sites for ghostscript: Many of these sites are mirrored all over the world. It shouldn't be too hard to find a ghostscript close to you. Any questions about ghostscript installation should be taken to comp.lang.postscript.
UNIX: (The original sources) prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/ghostscript* X11: (UNIX and VMS) prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/ghostview (get ghostscript too) MS-DOS: simtel.coast.net:/postscrp/gs261286.zip simtel.coast.net:/postscrp/gs261386.zip simtel.coast.net:/postscrp/gsview10.zip MS-Windows: simtel.coast.net:/postscrp/gs261win.zip (make sure to get fonts!) Macintosh: sumex-aim.stanford.edu:info-mac/util/ghostscript-252b2-runtime-*.hqx Atari ST: atari.archive.umich.edu
Jim Burgess' postal szine (snail-mail zine) comes out once every three weeks, runs about half a dozen Diplomacy games with extensive postal fannish style press writing, has a letter column that features interaction between the postal and Internet worlds of Diplomacy, and indulges the editor's wide ranging tastes in music.
If you're interested in E-Mail distribution, the szine is available in TeX source code format, most of which is fairly readable right off the screen, or it can be extracted and printed if you have access to TeX. The latest issue of the szine also is available by anonymous FTP from nda.com [192.150.206.1] in the pub/diplomacy/TAP directory in postscript format. The group of Internet folks on the distribution list occasionally discuss issues of general interest related to the topics on this bulletin board and their interface with the postal hobby.
In an exciting new development, we now have a mail group for the szine. Just send the message SUBSCRIBE TAP to "majordomo@nda.com" and then you will receive the TeX version of the szine automatically. Moreover, you can send messages to "tap@nda.com" and a copy will go out to the entire list.
MISSION FROM GOD is the U.K. edition of the Zine Register. It contains details and reviews of almost all UK snail-mail Diplomacy and other postal games zines, together with a representative selection of zines from other countries.
The latest issue of MISSION FROM GOD is now available in the ASCII and postscript formats by anonymous FTP from nda.com in the pub/diplomacy/Magnifique directory.
5. Computer versions of Diplomacy
This section describes Diplomacy computer games and Diplomacy
utilities for personal computers. If you have written your own
Diplomacy program, please let me know so I can put your name below!
A quick review:
I used to spend hours in my college dorm room either playing Dip against the computer or with a few friends. That was 1986 and at the time I had the latest version of the game. For the hardware I was running on it was just fine. I liked using it as an adjudicator because it avoided pointless arguments. The current version still does that job well, but in this age of high speed, high resolution graphics, Computer Diplomacy is an anachronism; a throwback to an earlier age. There have been very little if any aesthetic changes to the newer version. It still uses the CGA mode exclusively, and it doesn't have an exit function. You have to reboot the computer to exit or (as I have done) run it under Windows or a similiar multitasker that will allow you to terminate the program. This is not nearly as annoying as the user interface, which still only uses the keyboard and does not let you see the whole map at once. The one good thing I can say about Computer Diplomacy is that it works. It will even play a mediocre game of strategic Diplomacy (no negotions with the computer). In short, if your looking for an adjudicator for your FTF games or would like to be able keep track of your Judge games on the computer, it may be worth the US$35 plus shipping that Avalon Hill asks for it. I am not overly dissapointed. I just wish Avalon Hill would get off its butt and put a little effort into making the came more playable.
If you want to order the game just give AH a call at 1-800-999-3222.
Thank you to Donley R. P'Simer for the review!
Judge is fantastic for GMing!
There is also a mailing list devoted just for programming the Judge. To subscribe to this list, send a message to majordomo@nda.com with
subscribe judge-maintin the body of the message. Sending a message to judge-maint@nda.com will distribute the message to this mailing list. If you have any ideas for the Judge, please send a message to judge-maint@nda.com with your suggestions.
David Kovar (kovar@nda.com) has volunteered to keep track of the latest source/updates of the Mapit program.
Mapit understands nearly all of the Judge's output and uses it to create postscript maps of the game, including unit icons and country designations. It will handle the standard games plus loeb9, youngstown and many others.
The Mapit program is now operating on the Durban Judge and the Australian Judge. Use the "map gamename" command to receive the postscript map in the mail. Mapit was removed from EFF because of the load on the system.
There are many ports to other platforms of Mapit availble for FTP at nda.com. Look at the section of FTP sites (section 3.11) for a complete list. To help save some of the Judge's time, it is asked that you uses your own version of Mapit rather than the Judge's Map command.
Strategy Finder: (Staykov, Faure, Westling, Schaeffer) C program which takes a position and diplomatic constraints, and finds the best moves for all players.
Observer: (Moustov, Moustier) LCS program to be incorporated into a full negotiator. Takes as input an old friendliness matrix and recent ORDers, and computes new set of alliances and new friendliness matrix
Negotiator: (Aubert, Westling, Richard) Currently, simply connects SF to DI. May have bugs. When/if fully developed, should play diplomacy and carry out full negotiations. Play is based mostly on strategy finder. Work is needed mostly on negotiation and long term strategy.
Avalon Hill's COMPUTER DIPLOMACY - plays badly, doesn't use any protocol, doesn't negotiate
Program Daniel wrote for Apple ][ while in High School - same
DIPLOMAT AID for Macintosh - same, also some bugs in the version Daniel has tested
(Please tell Daniel if you have additional information to add to this list)
POSSIBLE NEW DIRECTION: Programs that play multiplayer games based on an abstract description of their rules. (Based on ideas in the Stable Winning Coalitions paper.)
For more information concerning the Diplomacy Programming Project, contact Daniel Loeb (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr).
Sean Starkey (starkey@rmii.com)
Gary Arkoff (arkoff@lclark.edu)
Karl Dotzek (karl@ims.uni-stuttgart.de)
Nick Fitzpatrick (nick@sunburn.uwaterloo.ca)
Eric Klien (Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com)
Kendrick Lo (lokendr@ecf.toronto.edu)
Daniel Loeb (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr)
Ken Lowe (jdr@u.washington.edu)
Mark Nelson (amt5man@sun.leeds.ac.uk)
Kenneth Sproat (kenspr@deakin.edu.au)
Simon Szykman (ss8c+@andrew.cmu.edu)