Play Diplomacy Online

Firstly thank you all for your messages and updates and your patience. I've had a bit more to catch up on and sort than I'd anticipated.

The current situation is such that we have

1. Multiple replacements needed
2. Round 1 games not even started because of missed sign ons
3. Round 2 looming with f2f events overlapping

I intend to put out a message tomorrow that will put forth some ideas to secure the future of the tournament but at the expense of absolute equity in the early rounds. These will be open for consultation so no one feels they are arbitrary hander down but I will ask that the aim to have a fun competitive tournament is the key driver in the decisions.

I know there are some big experienced brains out there so please submit any ideas for consideration.

In the mean time I'll keep following up on actions as best I can

TTD HardAcre

Thank you Hardacre!



Custer

All things considered, you'd have to be stark raving mad to get peeved about not quite achieving absolute equity given the circumstances...

... On the other hand, we are diplomacy players....

I'm furious!

Thanks again for stepping into the breach

Good Evening All,

A little later than hoped here is our updated situation.

One sub in place and the game now live again! Hooray!

I am actively looking for another sub for another game so will message on the separately following this update.

Calling all players of the Round 1 game that never was. Please PM me to re-register. I'll set a deadline of BST 21:00 on Thursday 26th May before I look to add replacements if needed.

Sadly it looks like the tournament structure will suffer because of the challenges of completing Round 1. Hopefully we'll have even numbers for full boards plus any helpful subs.

However, if we do not I propose a simple adjustment in that people can play more than one game in round 2. This stil has to be as a different power from all previous rounds. The best score from round 2 would stand as an incentive to step into any breach and for playing two high calibre games simultaneously. I know this isn't perfect but it should keep the tournament going with minimum disruption.

As Octavius says, we are diplomacy players, so we can sort this easily by agreeing to work as a team and do it my way...

Any concerns please flag with me by Thursday 21:00 BST.

Thanks all again for your patience but I think we've got the boulder moving.

HardAcre

I think doing anything to get the ship of state back on the rails is justified, even if it requires changing horses in mid-stream.

I would note, however, that having two bites of the cherry in R2 does confer a significant advantage. That sort of situation has created friction in other online tournaments in the past. You spoke previously of equity. Maybe a modest EV modifier such that those playing two games in R2 get 0.9 of their better score?

But mostly, thanks for picking up the ball before it grew moss and/or rolled under the boulder. I'm sure everyone playing in ODC is very grateful.

Thanks Gamekat, that's a good point.

I don't want to penalise anyone who steps in to help but do get the point about having a second crack of the whip. I'll think and see what I can come up with ahead of the round but I will favour simplicity and tournament beneficial rules to keep our momentum.

(Also loved the mixed metaphors, zapp brannigan would be proud)

HardAcre wrote:Thanks Gamekat, that's a good point.

I don't want to penalise anyone who steps in to help but do get the point about having a second crack of the whip. I'll think and see what I can come up with ahead of the round but I will favour simplicity and tournament beneficial rules to keep our momentum.

(Also loved the mixed metaphors, zapp brannigan would be proud)

I'm probably overengineering the problem, honestly. But if you stick with Plan A, I'll happily be listed as a potential double-dipper. Particularly now I know whips will be involved.

Use the KISS principle.



2 Cents Custer

If you're worried about people with 3 games played not wanting to play 2 simultaneous games, perhaps make it the first round score the top 3 games (of 3 or 4 played) for everyone. People who missed out on the first round have the opportunity to play 2 games now to make up for missing the first round but aren't forced to if they don't want it.

I'm also not sure how many round 1 games actually happened but I'd be totally okay just ignoring all of them entirely and just starting fresh for everyone now. The game I just finished was absolute trash. Shoutout to Tanjian for actually showing up but that did not feel like a game of any sort of reasonable quality for a tournament like this.

8 of the 9 round 1 games either in progress or complete. Just start the last game with replacements. Sure, it's been delayed, but delays happen in tournaments. That's not a reason to scrap round 1. Also, there's no guarantee that you won't have a delay in round 2 so you can't just ignore a round because 1 game fails.

If finding replacements to fill in that last game is too difficult then I recommend awarding points as the game stands amongst the players who signed on. So if only 4 players are left, they all get 175 each if none of them were Russia. This way, all players in the tournament get a score for each round.