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A place to discuss topics/games with other webDiplomacy players.
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The Ambassador (1948 D (B))
17 Jun 18 UTC
(+1)
Padlock City
What's the deal with all the padlocks that have appeared throughout my games when viewed on the vDip homepage?
57 replies
Open
The Ambassador (1948 D (B))
27 Oct 17 UTC
1066 Tournament
As discussed in episode 23 of the Diplomacy Games podcast I'm thinking of putting together a 1066 tournament. Interested takers?
143 replies
Open
Anon (?? D)
16 Jun 18 UTC
Would anyone like to join a Known World game?
http://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=35213
0 replies
Open
Frozen Dog (1497 D)
14 Jun 18 UTC
Playtest of variant
Hi! I am trying to organize a playtest of a variant I created with some unique rules that made it not possible to implement on vdiplomacy (yet!). I have called it 'Feudal Diplomacy'. [See below for details!]
3 replies
Open
ubercacher16 (2169 D)
12 Jun 18 UTC
Possible Change
See first post
10 replies
Open
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
12 Jun 18 UTC
(+1)
Game Showcase
Here, feel free to share any links to games that are notable to you!
10 replies
Open
CCR (1957 D)
13 Jun 18 UTC
Zero games variants
I thought I'd create a few games of the newest variants, and looked for those still not played, without opened games, or no new ones yet.
2 replies
Open
Mittag (1396 D)
09 Jun 18 UTC
Sandboxes?
Does anyone know any good adjudicator, online of for Mac, that I could use for playing around with positions?
7 replies
Open
Caerus (1470 D)
04 Jun 18 UTC
Clock Watching - Sniping the NMRs
I am unaware of the actual term, but is it considered bad form here on vDip to change your orders in anticipation of an opponent's upcoming NMR?
36 replies
Open
Ghastly (968 D)
07 Jun 18 UTC
Would appreciate a replacement for 1800 variant Prussia
I have no motivation to keep playing turns, so I figure I could give my only game to someone who does. Sorry for making a new thread, I couldn't find the game-sitters thread.
2 replies
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
03 Jun 18 UTC
(+1)
[New Variant] Scramble
Play as an European colonial power during the Scramble for Africa! Based on @Tristan's 'Africa' variant.

Soon on vDip: http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=124
13 replies
Open
nopunin10did (1041 D)
30 May 17 UTC
(+1)
1900 for vDip: Progress Report (ongoing)
As mentioned in another thread, I've been working on the code and assets necessary to port Baron M. Powell's variant 1900 to vDip and/or webDip.

In order to keep myself accountable in some fashion to actually complete this task, and not just talk about it, I've created a small project plan where I can mark my progress.
88 replies
Open
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
01 Jun 18 UTC
[Variant] Nautical
The Classic map, but with bigger sea territories!

16 replies
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
28 May 18 UTC
(+1)
Taking over Civil Disorders should be free of charge
Reasoning: the player who takes over a Civil Disorder is not just putting themself in a precarious position (as they must evaluate everybody's styles and strategies) but they are also saving the game's balance and fun.

In order to reward/incentive people to take more CDs, I believe that making it free of charge (rather than current 50% discount) would be for the best. Thoughts?
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Frozen Dog (1497 D)
28 May 18 UTC
I agree. I also don't think points really matter... but to the extent that they do, I think anything that encourages taking over of CD's is welcome.
Greenflame (1178 D)
28 May 18 UTC
(+1)
I agree with this reasoning. It's similar to PlayDiplomacy's "rating shield" where you don't lose rating points for taking over an abandoned country; the shield, however, needs to be "recharged" after taking over by playing a regular ranked game... idk if adding a recharge system is better than simply making CD takeovers free of charge, but regardless this post is a good idea.
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
29 May 18 UTC
I disagree - my games are infinity/1, so anyone could buy a win for free. This idea might need a little bit more thought.
Enriador (1507 D)
29 May 18 UTC
It's how it's done on webDiplomacy too, by the way.
JECE (1534 D)
29 May 18 UTC
(+1)
webDip changed this to provide justification for the removal of PPSC scoring. I disagreed with both of those changes. When points are involved, players taking over small powers have clear incentives to play better and make it into a draw (or in PPSC games, try to make it into a draw, but at least survive the game with at least as many SC's as when they joined).
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
29 May 18 UTC
Bump, for more opinions.
nopunin10did (1041 D)
29 May 18 UTC
Maybe the discount could be based on the number of SCs currently possessed by the position as a proportion of the SCs held by all players?

So the worse the position, the closer to free it is. The better the position, the closer to the current discounted rate.

(And yes, I know that SC count doesn't automatically mean a better/worse position, but it'd be a reasonable approximation)
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
29 May 18 UTC
(+1)
I'd suggest CDs at 1 or 2 SCs be free...?
Percentage based on position. Divide 100% by number of nations left in game. Multiply by current position and that is the percentage reduction.

For example, the #2 player in a FoW with 5 players left gets a 40% discount but 5th place takes over for free.
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
30 May 18 UTC
That doesn't take in SC count or units. Perhaps 100% divided by total SCs and multiplied by # of units in country?
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
30 May 18 UTC
By total SCs I mean for victory.
In that case, a player taking over in Classic with 3 SCs and 2 units (retreat phase missed) would have to pay 16.67% of normal.
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
30 May 18 UTC
Miscalculated! 11.11%.
The calculation is easier by relative position and an early lead where a player has 9 SCs versus everyone else having fewer would get a 50% discount where as my way would give them less than 15% discount.
JECE (1534 D)
30 May 18 UTC
nopunin10did: That's how it used to be calculated on webDip. Is that not how it's calculated on vDip anymore either?
Mittag (1396 D)
30 May 18 UTC
(+1)
I like picking up one or two center powers on webdip, to try to stop undeserved solos. But, even if the solo attempt is unsuccessful, that usually ends with me being eliminated. Which is why I would never ever do that on this site. No sane person would just give their points away.
Enriador (1507 D)
30 May 18 UTC
@JECE, as I said above, the system I propose (no fee at all) is used by webDiplomacy - and for good reason.

Indeed @Mittag. Evidence of this is the low number of Civil Disorders people take (you can even use the people who commented on this thread as examples - few take CDs, the ones that do takes few games as well).

CDs will always suck to take since it's a position that's usually very bad, and where you have a huge handicap of not knowing well how the game developed and needing a lot of catch-up to do.

Charging for it, however costly, is strange in my mind since it's punishing a player for taking up a very risky position just to "save the party".

I saw some good suggestions on how to change it, but what do you guys have against making CD-takeovers gratis?
JECE (1534 D)
30 May 18 UTC
Enriador: See my Profile page over on webDip.
@Enriador - some CD positions are in great shape. Early stage gunboats for example. 30 plus scenarios like Divided States is another. Should those be free? We need one calculation that accounts for all scenarios so making the takeover be based on board position equalized things out. Last place would always be free and even first place would have some discount. Early game CDs would be at first place discount if everyone was tied for first.
Enriador (1507 D)
30 May 18 UTC
@YouCan'tHandle, a fair point. For example, I don't think Spring 1901 CDs should be free as everything is still in a blank state... same about the power leading in centers, though that might depend on a number of things.

Equalizing the costs relatively to the SCs held by the power might be a good compromise, though I still believe that most people will prefer to spend 50 points on a fresh game than 5 points in a semi-lost position that will force you to check back through dozens of messages.

By making (most) CDs free of charge we give maximum incentive for people to take more CDs - and thus save more games crashing into unbalance. If it's a PPSC game, taking over a CD and trying to get as many centers as possible is viable; in a WTA game one might work to stop the solo and earn their place in the draw.
Then compute the discount against the draw value in WTA and solo value in PPSC so that the takeover becomes more likely to profit or just do away with points (my preference) altogether.
Enriador (1507 D)
30 May 18 UTC
I can get behind such an arrangement. I don't know how hard it is to code into the site's structure.
JECE (1534 D)
31 May 18 UTC
"If it's a PPSC game, taking over a CD and trying to get as many centers as possible is viable; in a WTA game one might work to stop the solo and earn their place in the draw."

Again, take a look at my Profile page on webDip. I have the URL listed on my profile here on vDip. How would you give players incentives to pursue those aims without having points at stake? I had very clear goals for the games I used to take over on webDip.

There might be a better way. I certainly never took over WTA positions and I used keep track of PPSC games to join at the right time rather than join any PPSC game I saw available. I just don't see how making everything free helps.
JECE (1534 D)
31 May 18 UTC
used to keep

P. S. By the way, in PPSC games, the first incentive for small powers is always to get into the draw. Trying to survive with as many supply centers as possible is only a secondary objective.
JECE - some of us can't look on WebDip.
Mittag (1396 D)
31 May 18 UTC
(+1)
I don't understand the turn this discussion took.

Do you guys really think it's a bigger problem that sometimes people would get a CD with a good position for free, than that small powers who could decide the outcome of the game are left in CD for several seasons?
JECE (1534 D)
31 May 18 UTC
YouCan'tHandleTheTruth: Huh? You don't need to log in. Just copy and paste the URL listed on my vDip profile page into your browser.

You're talking about a workplace block on webDip?
JECE - Banned users are blocked by IP from seeing any part of WebDip.
Caerus (1470 D)
31 May 18 UTC
As someone who has only ever been on vDip: WebDip doesn't seem like a fun place to hangout.
Greenflame (1178 D)
31 May 18 UTC
You could develop a cost-reduction algorithm from the following nums:

1. total number of SCs on the map (S)
2. total number of SCs currently controlled by players (s)
3. total number of players at first (P)
4. total number of players remaining (including the replacement) (p)
5. total number of SCs controlled by the replacement (r)

So a formula for the discount for joining a CD could be smthng like (for arbitrary constant K) K*(s/S)*(P/p)*(rp/s) [constant * ratio of all owned SCs to all SCs * ratio of starting players to current players (both measure how far the game has progressed) * ratio of replacement's SC's to average num of SC's (measuring how well off the replacement is)]. Simplifying, we get KPr/Ss, which if nothing else looks cool, and interestingly enough doesn't use p...

If you're replacing a 3-center power in S01 of classic, your discount is KPr/Ss = 0.02807K, which implies that K should be 0 in this case.

However I don't think any sort of formula like this will prove really effective without very specialized values of K that vary from year to year and power to power...



Therefore we might need more variables:
1. total number of SCs on the map (S)
2. total number of SCs currently controlled by players (s)
3. total number of players at first (P)
4. total number of players remaining (including the replacement) (p)
5. total number of SCs controlled by the replacement (r)
6. "expected number of SCs" for the power to have in a given game year. This variable (E) is sorta tricky, especially since it can fall apart later on in the game. Also it needs a decent sample of game data, and probably would work best as something like "E = this or that number for Austria given that the game year is 1906 and the following powers remain". Nevertheless it's easily flawed...

note: I've been writing this in little bits and pieces when I have time and yet have never realized that I'm overthinking this way too much lol
Greenflame (1178 D)
31 May 18 UTC
Instead of messing around with E, you could add a 6th num T, where T is the starting number of SCs controlled by players. Then you can replace s/S with (s-T)/(S-T).This way you don't need to have K = 0 for the first turn. Nevertheless an issue is that if a country NMRs in S01, giving them a disadvantage, there won't be a discount like this. Therefore you should give a flat bonus to the discount in case of NMR (let n be the number of NMR's (n) times an NMR constant N).

The formula becomes N*n + K*((s-T)/(S-T))*(P/p)*(rp/s) = Nn + K(s-T)Pr/(S-T)s = Nn + (KPrs - KPTr)/Ss - Ts = Nn + (KPr / S-T) + (KPTr / Ss - Ts), which admittedly looks really ugly. If we turn KP into a conglomerate constant C, then it becomes prettier:

Nn + (Crs - CTr)/(Ss - Ts).

In S01 / F01 of the game, this simplifies to Nn. Once the game gets going and no neutrals remain (s=S), the formula simplifies to Nn + (Cr/S), which isn't so ugly after all ;)
Now all we need to do is perform the assuredly pain-free action of finding a good value of C for every power in every variant...

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62 replies
d-ice (1969 D)
16 May 18 UTC
(+5)
Variants as maps, rules and tweaks
I’d like to propose a variant system that could lead to a significant increase in flexibility of testing out new variants.
12 replies
Open
Imp. Dipl.: urgent replacement for Prussia required
For following game as Prussia:
http://vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=34905#gamePanel
Post your user ID/send it
3 replies
Open
00matthew2000 (2409 D)
29 May 18 UTC
New Imperial Diplomacy Game, Players Wanted
http://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=35028
0 replies
Open
David E. Cohen (1000 D)
24 Jan 18 UTC
(+2)
New Variant: Dawn of the Enlightenment
It is on a temporary homepage, http://davidecohen.wixsite.com/diplomiscellany, since I am having a bit of trouble editing my main website. Please take a look. I would love to get comments, suggestions and criticism.
40 replies
Open
Sky_Hopper (365 D)
26 May 18 UTC
(+3)
A suggested change
It would be nice if eliminated players would be displayed in the order they were eliminated in, not alphabetically.
3 replies
Open
Flame (1073 D)
09 Jan 18 UTC
Western Known World 901
Please join the testgame
http://lab.diplomail.ru/board.php?gameID=67
5 replies
Open
Argentinean Empire (1606 D)
17 Jan 18 UTC
(+4)
Cold War Tournament
I am looking to start a rated Cold War tournament consisting of group and knockout stages. Groups of 4 will face each other twice, once as each country. The top two (or three, pending interest) from each group will move on to the knockout stage, with each matchup lasting two games. Users will play as each country once. If tied 1-1, an additional two games are played until a winner is determined.
147 replies
Open
vixol (1774 D)
26 May 18 UTC
CountrySwitch
Hi, if I use countryswitch in a non anonymous game, will the temporary players ID be visible instead of mine? The question in another way: will the other players see that the owner is temporarily another player?
1 reply
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
05 Mar 18 UTC
(+1)
Soon on vDiplomacy: Canton Diplomacy
After trying three excruciatingly long games of Colonial Diplomacy and seeing its annoying lack of balance by myself, I decided to revive Paul Webb's 'Canton Diplomacy' from the depths of the internet. With Oli's help and blessing we'll be playing it quite soon!

http://www.dipwiki.com/index.php?title=Canton
39 replies
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
24 May 18 UTC
[New Variant] Legacy of Versailles
Here's a new variant I have been cooking up for some time. It's set in 1939, right before war blows in Europe once again

http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=111
9 replies
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
28 Apr 18 UTC
(+2)
New Variant: Spice Islands
David Cohen's 'Spice Islands' will be coming to vDip! Here's a preview of the variant: http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=116

Available soonTM.
19 replies
Open
The Modern UN Tournament
Information below
19 replies
Open
pancake (934 D)
18 May 18 UTC
east asia map!!!
i think that should exist with a small advantage to china but a unified korea an an i india to balance that up.
6 replies
Open
GetDoneSon (967 D X)
16 May 18 UTC
(+2)
Feature Request: Friends List
Similar to how the site already has functionality for muting and blocking other players, we should be able to add them to a friends list so that tracking them down to send PMs is more convenient. It would also make hosting games with players you know you enjoy playing with much easier. I don’t believe that this feature is currently in the issue tracker, and it seems like it would be very easy to implement given the current muting and blocking features already in place.
6 replies
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
10 Apr 18 UTC
(+5)
New Variant: 'Napoleonic: Empires & Coalitions'
Oli has locked me in his basement and only gives me food when I port a new variant. Send help.
14 replies
Open
Enriador (1507 D)
12 May 18 UTC
[New Variant] Caucasus
I was contacted by user @vixol a few weeks ago, who showed me his awesome variant set in post-Soviet Caucasus. I hope you guys like it!

Preview: http://vdiplomacy.com/variants.php?variantID=118
9 replies
Open
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