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- Official Variant Maps & Rules
- Common Ruleset for DP-based Variants
- Transcribed Rules: Ambition & Empire
- Transcribed Rules: 1812 Overture
- Transcribed Rules: 1900
- Transcribed Rules: 1936
- Transcribed Rules: РАСПАД (Dissolution)
- Common Ruleset for DP-based Variants
Common Ruleset for DP-based Variants
Neutral Units
Units not controlled by a specific player are Neutral units.
Neutral units belong to Minor Powers (and, in Dissolution, Nuclear Powers). Minor Powers' territories are colored with different shades of brown, though the unit design varies from variant to variant.
- In Ambition & Empire, Minor Powers' emblems are designed to show their religious affiliations and their historical (and build-related) connections to the Great Powers.
- In 1936, Minor Powers' emblems are adapted from their national flags. Their Supply Center markers display their "client state" affiliations.
- In Dissolution, Minor Powers' emblems are adapted from the emblem for the United Nations.
The orders given for Neutral units are determined via DP allocations (see later section below).
Stationary Units & Sortie Attacks
All Minor Powers' units (brown) are stationary. Stationary units can be given orders just like any other unit. They can be ordered to hold, support, move, or (when applicable) convoy. They can be ordered to move via convoy as well.
However, while stationary units can be ordered to move, they will never actually move. Instead, their moves will always bounce. This is called a Sortie. For example, a stationary unit's move order can be used to cut an adjacent unit's support or protect an adjacent empty province from a potential invader.
Stationary units cannot retreat. If a stationary unit is dislodged, it is always destroyed during the Retreat phase. If a stationary unit's move order bounces in an otherwise uncontested province, that province is not an eligible retreat location during the subsequent Retreat phase.
TOURNAMENT-ONLY CHANGE TO VARIANT RULES: In the standard rules for Ambition & Empire, a different mechanism for adjudicating "sortie" attacks is listed. It converts stationary units' bounces-with-nothing into hold orders instead. However, for the Tournament Through Time, this procedure will not be observed. All stationary units' legal moves will bounce; they will not be converted to holds.
Because stationary units cannot leave their current locations, they cannot dislodge other units. In Dissolution, they can Disable other units; see that variant's rules for further details.
Neutral Power Adjustments
In the case that a neutral Minor SC is vacant during an Adjustments phase, that Neutral Minor Power will always rebuild an Army or Fleet there (whichever unit type was present at the game's start).
Diplomacy Points
Diplomacy Points (DP) are the system by which player determine the orders of Neutral units. Each Orders Phase, every player receives an allotment of DP; the amount allotted varies by variant. That DP is use-it-or-lose-it; none can be stored or carried over into the next turn.
Allocating & Adjudicating DP
Along with orders for their own units, players can submit potential orders for one or more neutral units. Each potential order must come with a DP allocation, and the total DP allocated by a player must not exceed their total allotment for that phase. The DP expenditures act like "votes" for that order. Other players may vote for that same order and allocate DP to it. A single player with 2 DP, for instance, can potentially spend 2 DP on a single units' order or allocate 1 DP each to two different units' orders.
At the time of adjudication, the GM analyzes all of the submitted DP allocations for a given unit. The order that has the most DP spent is the one that will be given to the unit. If two or more orders tie for DP spent, or if no DP is allocated to that unit, it will be given a default order instead. Except where specified in the specific variant's rules, the default order for any neutral unit is Hold.
All DP allocations are kept secret. Only the "winning" orders will be known publicly but not which players (if any) allocated DP to those orders. For the Tournament Through Time, all DP allocations will remain secret until the entire tournament has completed.
Keep in mind that there are additional limitations to DP expenditures per variant.
DP Allocation Examples
The following examples use the original Dissolution map to demonstrate how DP allocations determine units orders.
DP Allocations Example A
Using the Dissolution map, Assume that all units are in their starting positions. Yugoslavia & Poland are each trying to use Austria's order to assist them in dislodging a neighbor. They each have 2 DP to spend.
- Code: Select all
Poland:
PO A War - Pra
DP
2: A Aus S War - Pra
---
Yugoslavia:
YU A Bgd - Hun
DP
1: A Aus S Bgd - Hun
---
Because Yugoslavia only spent 1 DP on Austria's order, and Poland spends 2 DP on Austria's order, the GM will use "A Aus S War - Pra" as the order given to Austria for that adjudication.
- Code: Select all
Results:
PO A War - Pra Completes
YU A Bgd - Hun Bounced 1v1
A Aus S War - Pra
A Pra H Dislodged by A War (2v1)
A Hun H
DP Allocations Example B
Now assume that, in addition to the orders from Example A above, Yugoslavia has requested some DP help from Kazakhstan.
- Code: Select all
Poland:
PO A War - Pra
DP
2: A Aus S War - Pra
---
Yugoslavia:
YU A Bgd - Hun
DP
1: A Aus S Bgd - Hun
---
Kazakhstan:
DP
1: A Aus S Bgd - Hun
---
Now, the two orders granted to Austria each have an equal DP total of 2. The GM, having secretly counted these allocations and finding a tie, will use "A Aus H" as the order given to Austria for that adjudication. Both attacks will bounce.
- Code: Select all
Results:
PO A War - Pra Bounced 1v1
YU A Bgd - Hun Bounced 1v1
A Aus H
A Pra H
A Hun H
DP Allocations Example C
In this example, Yugoslavia decides to not compete for Austria DP, spending 1 DP each on two orders for other units.
- Code: Select all
Poland:
PO A War - Pra
DP
2: A Aus S War - Pra
---
Yugoslavia:
YU A Bgd - Hun
DP
1: W Ram - Aus
1: A Cro S Bgd - Hun
---
Assuming no one else has allocated DP to Croatia, Austria, or the NATO Wing in Ramstein, all three orders will be given to those units. However, by using Ramstein to cut Austria's support and Croatia to support the invasion of Hungary, Yugoslavia achieves his goal while stopping Poland's.
This example highlights that just because a DP allocation might "win" in the voting, the order eventually granted still has to be adjudicated as normal. No amount of votes can guarantee a support won't be cut by some other unit.
- Code: Select all
Results:
PO A War - Pra Bounced 1v1
YU A Bgd - Hun Completes
NA W Ram - Aus Bounced 1v1
A Aus S War - Pra Cut by W Ram
A Pra H
A Hun H Dislodged by A Bgd (2v1)