This was one of the least interesting games I’ve played online. My first real game on Diplicity and what a disappointment.
Diplicity is, first and foremost, an app. However, I accessed most of this game through their website. I’ve looked at it before and not been impressed. However, while I was waiting for a game to start on Playdiplomacy I thought I’d try one on Diplicity.
One of the weaknesses with Diplicity is that, when you first start, you’re condemned to playing a game with newbies and unreliable players. OK, I thought, no matter how this game goes, I won’t be missing deadlines and my reliability will go up, which might lead to a better game.
Well, this actually happened… but I didn’t get a lot of chance to miss a deadline. I’d won the game by 1906.
I’d drawn England, which was fine by me. I like playing England. I win as England. So I was looking forward to it.
However, in S01, Germany NMRed. Well, OK, that simply meant I would ally with France… or attack France. I’d actually been communicating well with Russia in S01 and, well, with no Germany, I could concentrate or going after France and working with Russia.
France had agreed to support me into Belgium in F01 but, with an absent Germany, I agreed to risk moving to Holland or Denmark instead. I got into Holland. Although this would leave a 6 SC France to my south, I’d agreed to work with Russia so there was a good chance that I could gain ground in Germany, with Russian help, while holding back an aggressive France.
As it happened, Russia then NMRed in F01. Wow.
In W01, France then missed their builds. Could this be true? Were Germany, Russia and France all gone from the game by the end of 1901? Well, S02 proved this to be the case. And so, the only thing I had to concern myself with was the probability of the east coming together to fight me.
Italy, Austria and Turkey were all in the game. Italy was quite chatty. Austria was stony-silent. Turkey was clearly not a native English speaker (I found out they were from Georgia – not the US state). During 1902 they were caught up with in-fighting. Still, I thought, they’ll notice how unopposed I am and sort something out.
Nope. They never did.
One thing Diplicity does, I believe, is publish all messages in the game when the game’s over. I can’t wait to read them (the game is still in W06 Adjustments – I don’t know why: I’m on 20 SCs). I’ll complete this post when I can see them. I want to find out if any of these three players mentioned the free pass I had and what anyone else said about it.
My instinct is that Turkey wouldn’t let their war with Austria go. Initially, Turkey told me they weren’t used to playing online; later in the game they admitted they hadn’t played Diplomacy before. And, well, they had some weird ideas.
In 1901 they told me their aim was to take the Balkans. Fair enough – that’s what Turkey typically wants to do, as do Russia, Austria and Italy. They weren’t planning on going to war before then unless Russia moved to Rumania. This was in S01.
I was so surprised at this that I actually asked Turkey what they expected Russia to do. If F(Sev) wasn’t going to Rumania, where did they want it to go? I pointed out that the only other options were Armenia or Black Sea and that neither was good news for Turkey.
This set the scene. Turkey was an abysmal player, mainly because they couldn’t work out how to order support. I realised this when I saw that, when attacking Rumania and Serbia the supporting units were actually supporting the enemy unit to hold! So I wrote them a message going through how to order support correctly. This was met with a lot of gratitude… and no change. Turkey just couldn’t get the support order right!
Meanwhile, Austria and Italy couldn’t break out of their war, either. I thought Austria might be the main threat: they were the only player with a significant record on Diplicity. If I’d thought a bit longer I would’ve asked why they were in this game.
So, as I say, I’m wondering whether they actually discussed ending their wars to face me. I think Italy may have asked this. By the end of 1902 they had fleets in the West Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Lyons. I don’t, however, think they’d noticed France wasn’t moving: in F02 they’d tried F WMS-Spa(sc) but this failed because France’s F(Spa) wasn’t being issued orders.
Italy gave the impression of being a decent player. Austria gave the impression of knowing how to order but not how to correspond. Turkey… well…
MORE TO COME…
FINAL POSITIONS
- Mal Arky (me): 20 SCs
- Ciaras Wyatt: 0 SCs (Abandoned game)
- Michael Aragon: 5 SCs
- Mike Jopson: 0 SCs (Abandoned game)
- The Juggernaut2345: 1 SC
- Giorgi Andguladze: 8 SCs
- Tiago Andrade: 0 SCs (Abandoned game)
POSTS IN THIS SERIES
THE DIPLOMATICON 
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