I haven't played many games, but maybe my thoughts are better than nothing. I don't have a complete answer, but three things come to mind.

First, talk to everyone. For example, a player at the other side of the board might be willing to pass you information, for various reasons [0]. Even if they don't give information, it's good to talk: in my first game, I openly asked the other players for advice, because I figured six untrustworthy ideas probably have some grain of truth between them.

Second, keep in mind that a smart player will only attack you if it's good for them. Try to find out whether they'll benefit from attacking you. This is no easy task, but think about things like: if this player attacks me, where can they go next? Who might their allies be? Would they really be better off attacking me than joining in?

Third, it's probably a bad idea to be too trusting at the start. For example, some players would say that Turkey and Russia should *always* bounce in the black sea in the first turn, and if they have respect for each other's intelligence, they won't try to pretend they won't. Of course, some others would disagree, but it's worth keeping it in mind. If you want to work together with another player, try to come up with plans that don't require too much trust.

[0] Example reasons: to keep your neighbors from growing too strong by defeating you, or just to get on your good side.

Also, if you're playing on the classic board, read parts of http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/resources/strategy/opening.htm : I would start with "An Introduction to X Opening Strategy", where X is the country you end up with.

When I asked another player for advice during a game, they sent me that link. I really can't overstate how important it is to talk to people.

I have a slightly different strategy. In fact, my style of play is different from most on this site. Treacherous, slimy, plotting....I've been called it all.

How I base my gameplay is that I don't trust anyone. Ever. The moment you rely too much on an ally is the moment you lose control over your destiny. You must appeal to logic - make it reasonable for your neighbors to attack each other. At the same time you should try to remain an enjoyable and lively person to talk to, while drawing attention away from your own growth.

Should you be in a bad position, make yourself useful, then run like hell for the stalemate line and sit there.

I hope we find each other in a game together, goldfinger0303.

These are my thoughts on being the stabber and not the stabbee: (that is having the upper hand)
1. You need to have a clear understanding of where each players best interests lie, including your own.
2. Your own movement choices will alter the balance of those interests. Thus if you leave yourself too exposed to an ally, the balance of his best interests may switch to attacking you, which is something you definitely want to avoid. On the other hand if you play too defensively you will tie up your ally's forces into defending himself from you, which can also be dangerous. Get the balance right.
3. Understand the notion of the path of least resistance. When you work with an ally you need to make sure the path of least resistance is working with you and against your enemies.
4. You need to communicate, communicate, communicate. Don't assume that just because you think you know where your ally's best interest lie that he is on the same page. You might need to spell it out quite clearly so that he gets the picture. Likewise you need to convince your enemies that you are not such a threat and really it is the other guy they need to worry about.
5. Be manipulative. Convince the other guy that what are actually your best interests are his best interests too. But try to manage the negotiations in such a way that you always have the upper hand, even if by only a small margin.
6. Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. If you can see that conflict is inevitable between you and your ally, it is probably best if you make the first move. Be bold, but make sure you get the timing right. The worst thing is when you are stabbed and you say "I knew you were going to do that. Damn you bastard". If you knew it, why didn't you do anything about it.

To add to my comments above. I actually do believe in trust. Sometimes it is necessary to leave yourself open to a potential attack by an ally. Sometimes you have to trust. But that trust is more likely to be respected if your ally has better options than attacking you, and if you are sure that he feels that way then, and if you think the potential gains are worthwhile then throw caution to the wind. You can't win this game by all by yourself. I am a big believer in fostering a solid ally. Just make sure your assessment is correct.
Regarding openings, I think risky openings are often worthwhile. If you can make an ally in that first year and everything goes well, then you can put yourself in a power position straight way. Some players have a wait-and-see philosophy in the first year, a strategy which is not without its merits, but if you are France and you tell England and Germany that you want to see how things turn out before making a committment, and they're both looking for action straight way, you could be in big trouble. The start of the game is like musical chairs and you don't want to be caught without a seat when the music stops.

I agree with spyman...but at the same time, a quick attack against someone who you stand something to gain from has its advantages. In this particular game as Turkey, I negotiated with Italy in the spring to attack Russia in the fall. When Italy's moves proved to be untrustworthy, I stabbed him and attacked, taking his SC's. It can have advantages to stab the other player to make sure that you don't sit there, unassuming. (gameID=93522)

At the same time, if you become too strong by quickly stabbing, you may find everyone against you. I was Germany in a tournament and I got 3 builds in 1901 because France wasn't very good at all and moved A Paris > Gascony and A Marseille > Spain, giving up Belgium in 1901. I then attacked France and took two SC's without support. However, I was so strong that everyone ganged up on Germany and attacked, defeating me and ending the game. (gameID=93305)

Hehehe, I think I remember that game...

Talk a lot. The more press there is to analyze, the better your chance of correctly evaluating whom to trust. Have your neighbors lay out for you how they would like to see the game develop. Talk to your non-neighbors, who may be more open. The riskier the proposal, the more trust you need, so the more information you should have assembled before taking the risk. Sometimes you get burned and/or choose incorrectly, but that's the game. The strongest starts are the ones where neighbors forego traditional bounces/safe plays because they are willing to trust each other and as a result it frees up their units.

I agree with almost everyone who replied...

Ask a lot of questions and don't be afraid to raise concerns. The best way to convince someone to do what you want is to have them make the arguments for it, not you.

That is badly worded. It should say "The best way to convince someone to do what you want is to have them be the one making the arguments for that action, not you" or something. I dunno... I'm a math major.

lol Jack! heheheh

To give a quick answer to your question: how do you know someone is BS'ing you?
By his actions!!. Make agreements on stuff not that harmfull for you if he breaks them. And you can say no to someone!!! You dont have to agree on everything someone is proposing. Just say you dont trust them with three army's at your border and demand a max of 2, they are expecting it!

Here are my tips, in no particular order: Pay attention to "The Care and Feeding of Allies"--You don't want them to get too big, or too hungry either. Watch for recreational stabbers--those who love to stab just for the fun of it, even when it doesn't make sense, long-term. This is especially true if you are Austria or Italy when the other one is your ally. Don't expect all players to act the same in the same situation. Realize that in some games, there's nothing you can do to win, and despite the quote on the opening page, luck is extremely important in terms of who you are playing, what kind of game they decided to play, etc. Develop a reputation for being a good long-term ally. Have FUN!--If that means taking risks, then by all means do so, but plan on a certain percentage of your games going downhill.

I'd just like to clarify my statement. Just because you don't trust someone, doesn't mean you can't be an ally with that person. You just have to constantly watch your back. So my "don't trust anyone" mantra doesn't mean I don't ally with people, or that I don't make a good ally.

Also, spyman touches on a good point. Manipulate manipulate manipulate. I can't say it enough. But do your best to do it without lying. Case in point, in a game I'm in right now, I am the largest power on the board. The second largest power and I are allies, but we are both stuck on one side of the stalemate line (okay, we have a toe or two across). So we are faking a war between the two of us and have successfully imploded the opposition to our advance. Now, though, I'm working with the "opposition" to stab my "ally" so that I can take the solo. Our fake war is about to turn into a real one :)

Layers upon layers of manipulation. Just make sure you're the one pulling on the puppet strings.

Oh, and +1 to Mujus for feeding the allies. One of the most important things to do. They get quite cranky if they aren't fed on time

One other thing that I have noticed which I find amusing: No matter who is actually winning (even if you are winning), if you start sounding the alarm that someone else is going to win and has no enemies etc etc, even if it is clearly untrue it hardly even matters. As long as you get that message back that "No, Turkey isn't going to win" it becomes true, since people hate to be wrong.

Basically, everyone's greatest fear is to be hear "I told you so"

Oh, and on that note one more thing I thoroughly enjoy doing if I'm about to die is vow to haunt whoever kills me to their grave. Then I work the press like a madman post-mortum until I see at the least that they do not win, but preferably that someone else does (like if I were Italy and France killed me, I'd make sure Turkey won because I was warning France all along that Turkey would solo without me).

Then, I send the ever-so-casual "I told you so" After a couple of games, the message should sink in hahaha.

I just recently started playing a few months ago but some things I've found helpful to do:

1) Talk to everyone, you might be given information that pertains to you or other neighboring countries
2) Tell the truth as much as possible, this includes the feeding of information to other players. Say you know Turkey is getting Lepanto'd and you are Germany, talk to Turkey. Figure out what his plans are, if he is amicable, then disclose to him about the Lepanto. It might very well pay off later in the game, as that player might trust you the most, and thus be more willing to ally with you.

4) If you can manage it, make sure your allies are weaker then you. For example in a game I'm Germany with 10 SC's. Then there is Turkey with 9 SC's(my secret ally), Italy with 8 SC's, and England with 6. Now I used Englands weakness to my advantage, and allied with him against Italy. Keep in mind Englands three SC's were all taken with my support. So really I have an ally in Turkey(endgame alliance) and one with England in which I'm making sure that England gets a couple SC's, but Turkey and I take a mass majority of them. This way, England is oumatched even singlely by me alone.

The beauty is being in a much weaker position, England has no choice but to ally with me, or he wont gain Sc's. This means I'm in the position to do the stabbing, with the knowledge he wont stab me.

Allying with weaker nations, if its manageable, puts you in control, and leads to easily manageable solo's or backstabs.

Oh and 5) Dont get too powerful. The last thimg you want is to be the strongest player on the board, head and shoulders above everyone else. This just leads to people allying against you to prevent you from getting too powerful and pulling off a solo

Not saying being the most poweful isnt good, just dont go overvoard. For example if I'm playing as Germany, I NEVER, even if I can, open with a 3 SC gain year. This freaks both France and England out, making it likely they'll ally against you

Always check, double-check, triple check an rechek your orders!!!!
Otherwise you may wake up with seeing you didn't win a game because you've had a misorder! And the first 15 minutes of your day will be spent on shouting out loud! :) f**k!

^This is the BEST advice of all. I swear I would be a top 10 player on this site by GR if it wasn't for the fact the I am such a klutz.

And I might have to correct myself, because I'm already awake for an hour, and still shouting :D

I've misordered at least once in my last ten games. It's actually amazing I make any headway at all -- a couple of these are gunboat games that are ongoing, but when they finish, I'm going to have a nice highlight reel of idiocy.

Lots of good advice from other players

the biggest difference in playing on the Web to the old board game caper is that you get a lot of random CD's / missed orders in web games
so if you are playing games watch the order status of other players
eg I rarely finalise my orders - I put in a set of orders that are "saved" but not "finalised"
and watch the order status of other players -- that way if another player hasn't done his orders and I can exploit that, then I'll set an "alarm clock" check back on the game and watch the game in the last 20 minutes of an order phase, to make sure I can take the chances that occur from a missed set of orders

Another tip is to learn from the "topline players" eg when I come across any player ranked "Diplomat" so top 3% to 5 % type chaps then click on their player name & review their previous games-- if you see solo wins then click on the game, then click on Maps in the Archive section bottom left hand corner -- and scroll back to map for 1901
& then study the game.

want to find out another players "favourite opening move ?
eg you have Austria -- do the "research" on the players with neighbouring countries
eg the chap with Russia -- look at his past games with Russia & how he "opens"
then repeat for players with Italy & Turkey

don't promise all & expect promises for all in spring 01
be friendly to all players at the start, don't promise too much, see how players react in both messages and actions, don't over commit too early in an alliance

decide on your strategic plan, then "work" your Diplomacy to suit that plan

allies -- the ideal ally is the weaker country with a competent player

there will always be games where you get caught on the wrong side of the alliance dances, or get messed about by incompetent players etc or for whatever reason that are games where you are always stuffed -- so cut your losses and go to a new game.

I have just finished a game where due to the incompetence of Austria & Italy's choice of strategy, the player with Turkey was getting a "dream run" -- I had France and realised in about 1903 that I would have to ditch my strategic plan entirely, make an alliance with England and pursue a "stop Turkey winning" strategy
so my whole game strategy changed & was not to try & win myself, but to simply prevent Turkey from winning -- which I managed to achieve
so keeping some flexibility in alliance choice at the start of the game is also handy
while you see how the game shapes up

the easiest games have been where other player(s) engage in too many backstabs too early
for example I had Turkey & sought an alliance with Austria (seriously) & made a half hearted offer to Italy & was never really interested in an alliance with Russia at the start of the game ---- the player with Austria proceeded to backstab Italy, Russia and myself in the first 2 moves -- so of course no one would trust him after that & I made a good alliance with Italy -- Austria got wiped out quickly then Russia & France
it ended in a 3 way Draw - England, Italy & myself with Turkey

By it's nature this game is a "Machiavellian caper"
-- I like the "Meta gaming rule test" -- always do what is in the best ( game length )interests of the country you are playing, so I like to put all alliances / moves etc to that test

MajorMitchell, if you're waiting to see if another player CDs, there's no reason not to finalize your orders. Why? Because the turn can't end early if the other player CDs, and even if you finalize your orders, you can still un-finalize them five minutes before the turn ends if you see another player CD.

An added bonus is that the other players don't get annoyed / suspicious about you not finalizing your orders.

^ actually no, not if your own orders are conditional on the other player CDing. If you see that cross change to a tick then some changes might be necessary. You don't that phase ticking over before you have a chance to reassess.

spyman, the idea is to submit orders assuming nobody will CD. Then, five minutes before the end, if it looks like there will be a CD, change your orders.

the idea? Where is that written in the rules? The idea is to guess what moves my opponents will play and then I base my decision on that.

it depends on the game
& if there is a player with an "occasional" completely missed set of orders
( sometimes it's from an ally, other times opponent )
i generally play games with a 24 - 36 hr "move" time period

players are allowed to not put in orders until the last few minutes
and then suddenly stick them in
that's why I'll have orders saved on the grey tick
& go to green when / if I decide to

I'll often not get my "best" set of orders figured out
in the first attempt (s)

spyman, I should have said "my idea" rather than "the idea" :-) Enter your moves however you want to. The only tangible differences are that you need to decide what you would do if nobody CDd, which could be wasted effort, and that you won't hold everyone up if it turns out nobody CDs (but you can acheive a similar effect by checking frequently).