Everyone can see the global press in a game by going to the game and clicking the messages tab at the bottom. In your games it will show all your press for that entire game, even what's fallen off the individual tabs. In games you aren't in it shows the global press. Mods are the only ones who can post in the global press of a game we're not in though.

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With only 2.5 hours left before the phase and no german orders, this is not looking too fun.

I've paused the game and will email Germany shortly.

Thanks for the pause. As much as free SCs would help my game, an opponent will help my learn more for future games :)

If Germany's out I'd much rather wait a while (but not too long) to have a live opponent. You don't learn much of anything attacking a CD.

As this is a learning process meant to replicate a high quality game of Diplomacy, I've advised triumvir to seek a substitute. If anybody wishes to pick up a 3 center Germany in an unenviable but important position, please post here. First priority will go to beginners, but any other players are welcome to post interest, regardless of skill level (MadMarx, you interested? :P)

Perhaps if need be, the German TA should step in and clean up his students mess :)

Haha... I certainly would, although in theory it'd be better to find someone to replace the student as a student.

I like 2WLs suggestion of getting MadMarx. His ghostrating would probably go down 300

I'd prefer to replace Germany with another student, but if we can't find one, I would be happy to replace them with the TA.

Thanks for the pause- this will be a better game because of it.

I would like to take over Germany's position if possible, I'd consider myself a student. It's not likely I'll get anywhere, but I don't care about another Defeated on my record, nor do I care about losing something like 3 .

Thanks, Hawkeye. I'll get you set up and connected with your TA shortly.

Hawkeye has taken over Germany (thanks again). The game has been unpaused and the current phase was reset at 48 hours (to give Germany time to get caught up). I would suggest using the time to get to know your new neighbor in the press.

A Guide to When a Player Goes Into CD

It looks like we have the german situation resolved. On the topic, let's take a look at how to deal with disappearing countries.

The two terms we use for a disappearing country is NMR and CD. When a player doesnt submit orders, we usually say that the country has gone NMR, meaning No Moves Received. When that happens twice in a row, the country goes into CD, meaning Civil Disorder. At that point, if the player doesnt come back, another player may take over the position.

Depending on the situation, there are different ways of handling a CD or NMR. The fact is that, other than in top tier games, this is something we have to deal with. There's an etiquitte when dealing with a CD that is worth knowing. Even if you think you know this, glance through this refresher.

If a player goes into CD before 1902 (usually at the start of the game), I usually put up a draw vote until autumn 1902. This gives the other players a reasonable opportunuty to decide either to draw or keep on playing. (When i have a really bad start, i lobby heavily for the draw.) Some folks insist that those games should be canceled, not drawn. I think thats a little ridiculous, but to each his own.

If a player goes into CD later in the game (1903 onward), you have to consider the situation. If the player has only a couple of supply centers, he probably left because he is losing. Since the player was being attacked anyway, you might as well finish him off and play on.

If the departed player has a lot of centers, things are different. You certainly could go ahead and take advantage of the loot, but it would be worth checking with your opponents before you get too greedy. If the country in CD has a fairly good position, why not post a forum thread like this: 'Replacement player needed, good position, Russia, 8 supply centers'. If nobody responds, you and your opponents can discuss whether to keep playing it out or just to draw.

When a player takes over the abandoned position, treat him as a brand new player. If you were attacking the old player, consider allying with the new player. Keep your options open, at any rate.

When should you take over for an abandoned country? Thats tough to answer. Most of us who are interested in keeping our stats looking good rarely or never take over for abandoned countries. But if youre interested in giving it a try, keep an eye to the forums. Every so often, a replacement is sought for a good position. You can also check the game lists under the 'games' tab to see if there's a good opportunity.

One of my favorite players on this site is 'tendmote'. He doesnt play diplomacy for stats. He plays for the adventure. He buys into seemingly hopeless 1 or 2 center positions and, like houdini, magically survives or helps to force a draw. If he buys into a position for 2 and he comes out with 3 , he comes out smiling.

Whenever you buy into a previously abandoned position, be sure to let everybody know that you are a new player to the game. If one player is making a run for solo, rally the other players together to help stop the draw, tendmote-style. Try to strike up alliances that werent there before you joined. Taking over for abandoned positions helps the site and really makes games more fun.

I'll be glad to answer any NMR or CD related questions. Post below.

Reading articles about diplomacy, I occasionally see references to intentional NMR or CDs. Are there ever times where an NMR is advantageous, or are the intentional cases just players throwing their toys out of frustration?

No. A better strategy is to threaten to throw your dots to a player. For example, i'm russia, and im being stabbed by germany and italy. All 3 of us have about 12 centers each and we had agreed to a 3 way draw. I might threaten italy to open up all my supply centers (dots) to germany, helping germany to get a solo. That might cause italy to try to persuade germany to draw, or at least throw off their attack enough to give me an advantage. 'Dot throwing', or threatening to throw dots, is an advanced diplomatic tool used when being attacked by 2 or more powers. Going into NMR is such a bad idea that it should never be done. I bet most of the people writing diplomacy articles havent played as many games as I have.

A great resource for Diplomacy knowledge is the podcast DiplomacyCast. Unfortunately, a lot of the 'openings' and 'strategies' in diplomacy articles are written about by players who've tried them, maybe, once. I actually contributed an article that will be in the Diplomacy Pouch coming out next week because the quality of writing and advice in Dip zines is just so horrible. I could go on for awhile on this topic, but it would be great to have a better resource for Diplomacy knowledge. When i look at chess.com, for example, and I see the openings library, the blogs, the grandmaster videos, and the articles, everything is so user friendly and clean looking. In Diplomacy, the best resources (this website, diplom.org, etc) are so archaic its a shame. I've been toying with the idea of creating a chess.com style resource for diplomacy. I think the game needs it.

@thehamster: whilst I agree with the majority of what you say, there are situations (e.g. tournaments) where a cancel is clearly a better response to a CD in my opinion.

I often use diplomacy-archive - whilst the stuff there is often seriously old, there's also a lot that's well worth reading. For example, analysis of stalemate positions hardly goes out of date. As a chessplayer I know what you mean about the lack of resources, and would definitely help contribute to your project if you wanted it.

Good points mendax.

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Bump. Builds are in.

The English and German builds are actually pretty interesting. Personally, I like the Germany one and dislike the English one, but I am curious what the professors think.

Bump.

A general question for the professors relating not to the SoW game but Diplomacy in general.

Would you, under any circumstances, tell another country that you plan on attacking them.
If so, when, and why?

Good question Hawkeye.

Usually, if my opponent is particuliarly obnoxious, and I'm big enough that I can defeat them, I'll have no problem telling them exactly what I'm going to do. But by and large, cloaking your intentions is the best idea.

Winter Adjustment 1903

There were a few surprises in the build phase. I'm in a lackluster diplomacy mood this weekend, unfortunately, so forgive the vanilla commentary. I'm getting killed in all the diplomacy games I'm playing, leading me to think that you should do the opposite of whatever I'm telling you to do. Also, in non-diplomacy news, I hate the Red Sox, and I've brought an engagement ring for my pretty girlfriend. Hoping for a yes. I think I'll propose Friday and go into next weekend a happy hamster.

No surprises from the eastern powers. (I predicted Austria would disband his fleet, but it doesnt matter.)

I think I predicted Germany would build in Kiel. Instead he put an army down in Berlin, which is easily a better idea. I think we're all hoping that, instead of laying down to die like Turkey is, the new Germany will shake things up diplomatically.

I tried to encourage England to place his fleet in Edinburgh, since the only place his new boat would go is the North Sea. Instead, England plopped his boat in London, opening up lots of interesting possibilities, and perhaps causing France some anxiety. I dont know whether the build is good or bad. It all depends on the diplomacy at this point.

France's build was as expected, which leaves a lot of things up in the air. Now that he has his offense going, will he have to make an about-face to go on defense? On to 1904.

Thehamster

First, thanks for the compliment
Second, when you say you hate the Red Sox, does that mean you're rooting for the Red Sox but hate how poorly they're doing (which I am), or do you mean you are rooting for the Cardinals and hate the Red Sox because they are the opposition?

(Sorry if this is getting off topic, just curious)

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I'm a Yankees fan. They had a horrible season. I liked the Indians this year, because they were young and scrappy. I like the Cardinals in the Series because they look like a baseball team. The Sox look like a bunch of Duck Dynasty characters. I dont think a bunch of animals should win the Series. Okay, thats my baseball opinions. Back to Diplomacy.