i have sinned I repent.
not to many stright out lies but mostly half truths and playing with words you know

I do it all the time... I really need to stop... kind of a bad habit, huh?

I never lie outright unless I can absolutely destroy an opponent by doing so. Frivolous lies over inconsequential shit just make you less trustworthy in the current and in future games.

whoever stated the rule that you should never lie on the first turn is a liar. you should rarely lie on any turn.

Tru Ninja lies. You should lie on every turn to someone. The key is to know who is going to be the strong ones and also figure out who is lying to you. Tell the truth to the strong ones if they are telling the truth to you and work with them until it's time to stab. If the stronger players are lying to you (or you think they are) then tell the truth and work with the weaker players so that together you might just win the day, until it is time to stab of course.

Lying is such a strong word... Perhaps we should be using the word "mislead"...

I always lie to get into a better position for later in the game........as long as I tell the truth to someone they might decide to ally with me.

Don't lie. Just be creative with the truth.

Maybe the maxim should be: Don't lie on the first turn, but if you must don't lie to *everyone* on the first turn, and if you do make sure it is worth it.

"Once when I was playing England I told France I wouldn't move to the English Channel. But I did."
I dot it almost every time I play England.

Well dont play with me if your england hellalt I will tell france to move to EC unless of course I am france

I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.

I agree with spyman's maxim. There are certain territories such as the Black Sea and English Channel that I have lied about. But I was pretty committed to attack those countries on the hope I wasn't the only one charging into the fray.

If you aren't lying, you aren't trying.

I always try to make friends with everybody on the first turn, and I usually succeed. As a result, the combination of all of the statements that I make to everybody is generally contradictory. So there must be some dishonesty somewhere, right?

And yet, I don't lie about my actual moves, and I usually haven't decided yet who I'm really going to ally with. So there's no statement that I know is false when I write it. So I'm not really lying about anything yet, am I?

Always have a reason for each and every move that keeps everyone satisfied and give those reasons before you even do the moves. That makes you Spring '01 moves enigmatic but not a surprise to anyone and you develop trust for the Fall '01 stab. You aren't lying about the moves, but you are lying to someone about the motives behind them.

That's exactly what I do. Everyone on the board knows what my moves are going to be until that one person is surprised in the fall. Helps prevent mistrust from "so and so said they were doing x, but they told so and so they were doing y" and helps kill "so and so told me they were going here they're lying to you!" guesses.

I saw an article on something a while back on something similar to this topic.
http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/alliance-breaking.htm
Persoanlly I think it is bull: (following his example) If you are Russia and you don't present an interest in allying with my Austria then I'm going to do three things.
1. Tell Germany and England that their is a certain Juggernaut on: you've just lost sweden on the first turn.
2. Tell Italy ditto and remind him what happens when Italy joins RT at the last moment to attack Austria: Turkey will be facing a committed Lepanto.
3. Tell Turkey that Russia has leaked the Master Plan by stupid diplomacy, that I've just done 1 and especially 2, and that the only way he's going to avoid a deadlock (or worse, a reversal) is to open to Armenia so Italy will realise there is no more juggernaut threat.

So as a result, Russia's silence has pretty much cost him the game. Hopefully next time he'll mislead Austria properly.

I for one am glad these valuable lessons are being indoctinated in the websites raw upcoming talent. /chomps

What else can we teach them?

Good thing I never lie in Diplomacy.

I prefer to avoid lying as far as I can, just in case I need to re-ally later on in the game. I find it most satisfying when I can avoid lying but anticipate the stab on the exact move it's going to happen and foil it. That way I can claim I only attacked because of the stab and not because I was going to do it anyway.

I feel bad when I lie, but I will admit that I do it. Not without reason, however!

I never lie, but sometimes I change my mind in the last minutes......

I only lie to Austria in the first turn... I say "let's not attack each other" :D

Lying crushes the spirit of a player, but, alas, that is what this game is about. I, too, have felt the sting of cold realization as France moved in on me, but, then the chill was turned to fiery righteous anger.

I stabbed the same player five times last night. Later found out that whenever I stabbed him in the Spring, he'd been planning to stab me that Fall.

Austria/italy have more reason to than most...

Geofram: Do you call that a series of stabs, or a war? Sounds like you guys were slinging propaganda and going at it tooth and nail. :)

lol OMGNSO so who are you in this scenario?

The rule about lying is this: make sure its justifiable lying.

Why would any one tell the truth about lying? That ruins the purpose of lying in the first place. There for, yes I lied or did I?

I cosider it to be more of a diplomatic risk than a lie...