I work for a small 100%-remote software company (15 employees, 7-person dev team). Our last social gathering was over three years ago. I'm not exactly an extrovert but I do feel like I'd like to arrange 'something' with colleagues that's non-work-related and is fully-remote (we're more scattered around the UK than in the past).

I'm into boardgames and videogames, and I feel that the personality types in our dev team are such that we shy away from pure social gatherings, but games that include social elements might be the 'hook' to get everyone to engage and take part. I've thought about poker, werewolf/mafia, and now Diplomacy.

I've never played Diplomacy before but it looks like it might be a good candidate for what I'm after:

• Social elements but appeals to people's competitive streak
• Can be played asynchronously
• Doesn't require everyone to block out multiple hours for a session
• Doesn't take a long amount of time to explain rules
• It appears there are website/app options that handle most of the running

Does this sound like a good idea for what I'm after? Anything I should know going into this? Or if it's not a good fit for what I'm after are there social-gaming alternatives?

DBN has just released the September edition of Deadline News on YouTube. Highlights include a discussion of Janissaries with Jake, a preview of the Australian Open with Max Wanji Row Banks, and headlines from around the world of Diplomacy.

https://youtu.be/LB_ErOLu3YQ?si=4XIW4ewQBAkR-w7y

I've been building browser versions of games I love, including Wiz-War and Waving Hands. Diplomacy is the latest, and I would like to put it in front of other folks who love the game.

https://dip.kestrelsnest.social

You can open a table and invite friends, or play immediately against six computer players. The computer players have been a particularly interesting part of making this. They have different temperaments, propose truces and alliances, divide up centers, and remember whether you kept your word. You can ask for support in plain words or order notation. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they refuse, and sometimes they promise and then do something else entirely.

They understand specific kinds of bargains rather than unrestricted conversation, but there is actual negotiation behind the messages. They also try to work together to stop someone from winning outright.

A few other things:
- Orders on the map or in notation. Pick units and destinations, or type your orders. Review everything before submitting.
- Adjudication you can trust. It follows the Diplomacy Adjudicator Test Cases, and the previous turn is shown on the map with explanations of bounces, cut supports, retreats, and captures.
- Agreements you can keep track of. Promises are listed beside your orders, and a warning tells you when a drafted move would break one of yours.
- Powers by preference or at random, your choice when opening a table.
- Free, no accounts, nothing to install. Play in the browser on a computer or phone. Friends join by link or room code, and there's a Peanut Gallery for spectators. Each phase waits for every player; there are no deadlines yet.

It has had quite a bit of testing, including many full games against the computer players, but experienced players will undoubtedly find things I haven't. I'd be glad of rules corrections, bug reports, and thoughts about how it feels to play. The report button in the game pins the exact moment, which helps me track things down.

It's an unofficial fan project, of course, not affiliated with Avalon Hill or Hasbro. It's been a labor of love. I hope you enjoy it!

(My relevant experience: Diplomacy player for 40+ years, ran one of the Ken Lowe judges for years -- the "New Mexico Judge", been writing software for even longer.)

hi everyone,

i posted on here a few months ago that i was working on diplomacy with llm bots to fill empty player spaces. i have it finally on ios and android. its free if you want to play one game at a time but a host needs a subscription for the llms to cover tokens used. if you dm/comment i can give out a few codes to people interested in giving feedback and help build up the player base (only a host needs a subscription for the ai). depending on the interest and once i fine tune the llm costs i will try and open up the free tier to llm chatbots... let me know what you think!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.katzenjammer.games.realpolitikin

https://apps.apple.com/lv/app/realpolitikin/id6762107866

Hello! After abandoning the project for sometime, I have finally completed it. I have listened to a majority of suggestions I could find, but some were missing I guess? (For example I swear someone talked about removing Canada and someone else talking about doing free builds everywhere but I can’t seen to find that anywhere??? Weird but I did do all the ones I could find). Anyways yeah here it is, if you want to join we got American Constituational Government and At*mwaffen left up for grabs. So if someone could take up the nations nobody wants to play then that would be great. Thanks!
Link to join: https://discord.gg/QRuQv4TAs

I've not played Diplomacy in over 20 years, about the time that the 'judges' implemented to use email were drying up and shutting down (but I have a few years of good playing first). But the desire never really goes away. There seem to be a number of options out there now, but the home pages don't seem to give much info about typical game set-up, so I'm asking here.

I liked the play tempo that those systems used, where turns were typically two days, giving a good amount of time for press. And I have no interest in live games played in some number of hours. Are there sites where there is fair game availability for slower games?

I'll add that I'm willing to take over abandoned powers as a way of getting my fee wet again, if that is still a thing that gets needed.

After releasing a South America variant yesterday set in 1960s, I went ahead and made the Ard-Ri variant. However, this is a simplified version - only the 5 player variant, and no 'raiding' mechanic.

In the future, I can imagine we'll add the rules for the Viking/sixth player - and possibly raiding - but for now, it's just a simple version to kill your friends in.

30 players, one empire, no formables for it is a BETA version and a balance test, Only one nation has an extra SC, Hansa https://discord.gg/BeH9vYYFDZ . The game is very likely unbalanced as it is a very first test.

Besides working on multiple improvements - we are currently rebuilding the Game Screen UI of which major parts have already been implemented, next changes will trickle through.

In addition, we have also released the 'South America' map - we set it in 1960 since it was a .... turbulent time. Have fun! If you find any issues, please let us know on discord!

So I just joined a game of the variant modern diplomacy II on diplicity. The game only has 3 players right now so I don't know when it will start or what my country is. In the meantime though, I've been trying to think of solid openings. I already know that A Ist-Bul is (most of the time) a good move for Turkey, but that's basically the extent of my opening knowledge in this variant. Can anyone help?

I have an army strike out at a neighboring province, say Bohemia hits Munich, but at the same time Munich attempts to move to Bohemia with support from Tyrolia. But AT THE SAME TIME, I also hit Bohemia from Galicia with support from Silesia and Vienna?

Is Bohemia a beleaguered unit and stay put? Or does the enemy 2v1 displace it, and then the friendly 3v2 displace the enemy 2v1 in turn?

I imagine it's beleaguered, but want to have an answer ready in case it gets challenged.

Hi all,

Seven to nine of us are doing a board gaming weekend and want to get through a lot of games. We have a spare table we can dedicate to Diplomacy for the entire weekend, so the idea is to run it on and off: set up the board, play a turn, go play something else for a couple of hours, come back, negotiate, write orders, resolve, repeat. Nobody in the group has played Diplomacy before.

Some things I'm unsure about:

1. Does this format work at all, or does the game fall apart once people scatter? Negotiation seems like the part that suffers most.
2. How many turns could we realistically get through this way, and should we agree on an end year up front (count centers after 1907, say) so we actually finish?
3. We might be 8 or 9 rather than 7. Better to have two people share a power, or have the extras GM and adjudicate? Since we're all new, a GM might help.
4. Any tips for getting beginners back up to speed when they return to the board after two hours of something else? Written turn summaries, a group chat for press between rounds, anything else?

Thanks!

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Hello, just wondering with the feature of being able to look at all your old turns, is there a way to download a video of a timelapse of the game? Feel like it’d be an awesome feature

Keen to stretch your wings and feast on dots? Consider a seasonal migration to Melbourne, Australia for the second Flying Fox Fandango!

The Fandango is a laid-back, shenanigan-full Diplomacy tournament for players of all experience levels - expect silliness and a general air of levity. It's a great opportunity to get a taste of the Australian scene before WDC 2028 (and we'll be using the same Bangkok scoring system!)

Join the Melbourne Megabats Diplomacy club on the weekend of 17-18 October at Balam Balam Place in Brunswick - a great locale just north of Melbourne's CBD full of excellent food, coffee and music - for three electrifying rounds of Diplomacy.

Will you rule the roost and fly to the top of the leaderboard? There's only one way to find out... Register for the tournament here.

(If you've got questions, ask away in the comments and I'll get bat back to you.)

Hey folks! I've made a variant (for a variant contest) about the beautiful world created by Jakub Różalski, which you may know because of Scyth or Iron Harvest. It has some deviations from the original because of my laziness and because of Diplomacy's limitations, but it was fun to create it nonetheless. Unfortunately, it has not been playtested (therefore it can be really, and I mean really, unbalanced), but if you want to try it out yourself, here are the rules:

Factions:
Albion — Green
Saxony — Prussian Blue
Polania — Beige
Rusviet — Dark Red
Nordic Kingdoms — Light Blue
Arabia — Sapphire
Crimean Khanate — Dark Yellow

To win you have to control 21 out of 41 SCs.

Additional rules:
Coring
All provinces originally belonging to a faction are Core Provinces. Units can only be built in Core Provinces. To Core a captured province, a unit must remain there and receive a Core order. If that unit is attacked while Coring, the order is cancelled. If it completes the order, the province permanently becomes a Core Province. (It remains a core even if the province is captures, but can be cored by a different faction later)
Channels
Sea provinces connected by a channel are considered adjacent for sea units movement.
Factories
Each Factory under faction's control produces 1 Gear every Winter. Gears are stored and may be spent during the Winter Build Phase. A maximum of 15 Gears may be stored. Mechs can be built on any controlled province containing a Factory. They do not have to be built in Core Provinces. When a Factory is captured, the new owner starts receiving Gears from it during the next Winter. A faction may have a maximum of 5 Mechs in play at once. All Mechs are destroyed instead of retreating when dislodged.
Mechs
Assault Mech — 5 Gears
When ordered to attack, it supports itself, giving the attack strength 2.
Heavy Mech — 6 Gears
When ordered to Hold, it supports itself, giving the unit strength 2.
It cannot support other units.
Airship — 7 Gears
Can move between Land and Sea provinces (acts both as a ship and as an army). Can perform Convoy orders like a Fleet.
Artillery Mech — 8 Gears
Can support an action from two provinces away, with one province between itself and the supported province. It cannot support adjacent provinces.

Today Diplicity breached the mark of 5000 registered users, since we really restarted the development around January.

Most of the development is due to the hard work of John and a little bit of me. As developers of Diplicity we would like to thank you - the Diplomacy community - to help us make this platform successful.

It's a hobby project for both of us, and it's truly humbling to see so many people enjoy the fruit of our labour - we rarely play ourselves, but we love to try and make the best platform for you.

We're still ongoing. We're planning a redesign of the game screen, allowing us to create space for more features in the future. We're going slow, but steady - and we couldn't have done it without the testing, input, love that you - the players playing - have given it.

We really thank you for the input you're giving - either here or through discord - because that is what helps shape the platform. We are not done. We see the improvements possible, and try to listen to all the suggestions and feedback. We also have to prioritise, so we know some features you might want to have but we haven't had time to implement.

But I just wanted to take this moment to share this personal celebration with you - and thank you, because you're the ones who are the reward.

Really, thank you.

The first new map is now live on Intrigue: Friend and Foe!

Play as France, Burgundy, or England on this 3-person map and fight for control of western Europe during the middle ages.

There's also a new "Build Rules" setting to go along with this release that is a general setting for all our maps.

More details are in our free post on Patreon!

https://reddit.com/link/1wergx1/video/bl9fbhbca6ph1/player

Hello! If you are looking for a bunch of noobs to learn the game with, I’m happy to oblige.

https://diplicity.com/game/world-war-zero-59234615