Messages - vDiplomacy

Chat archive

06 Dec 16 UTC	Spring, 1901: GameMaster: Please remember that negotiations before the game begins are not allowed.
06 Dec 16 UTC	Spring, 1901: Info: This is a choose your country game.
13 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1903: This variant requires too many 50/50 guesses.
14 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1903: Yes, but it might be hard to design a symmetrical map where that is not the case. Do you know of any other two person symmetrical maps?
14 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1903: Only Lepanto, but it has too many changes to the rules and it's too crowded. It seems to always end in a stalemate. Actually, I think Duo is an excellent variant. I don't really think there is a way around the 50/50 guesses. But, I love the way it has 4 fronts that need defending and/or attacking. I like the fact that it doesn't end with a simple majority of SC's. (although 19 is too many). I like the way the home SC's are placed slightly back so that a one turn gain doesn't automatically turn into a landslide victory. And I like the neutrals which have units in them. My only other complaint is that this site did not follow the original makers rules for the middle 4 SC's. They were supposed to be supporting each other: Ost & Sun, Web & Nor, supported each other. If Nor or Sun were disbanded, then under certain conditions, the middle SC's supported each other. I think that rule would have been good to maintain.
14 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1903: I have done some experimenting with Lepanto, and I am fairly certain that it is possible to force a draw. It would be a good variant when you only need a tie, but in this tournament that would only be the case if you were challenged to a specific variant, accepted, played that round to a tie, then were able to pick the variant for the second round. Maybe we can play an unrated game of Lepanto sometime, you might see a strategy that I missed to overcome the forced draw. I was not aware of the original rules of Duo with the neutral supports, that would be interesting to try. I think Duo is a very good and challenging variant. Also, I have never had a game end in a draw. I am surprised the draw percentage isn't lower, but I looked through some of the games that ended in draws, and I did not see any that were really stalemated.
14 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1903: Every time I play Lepanto I regret it. It is too easy to stalemate. I'll pass, unless you want to challenge me in the tournament. :-) There are no stalemate lines in Duo. You can only stalemate one, two, or possibly 3 attack lanes, but not all of them. I think the draws in Duo come from when the middle SC's are taken out. The play goes between one player gaining a SC or two and then losing them. If the players are relatively equal, it can go on forever. This is when the 50/50 guesses are really annoying. I think players just decide enough is enough.
14 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1903: I also think that is why the original makers had the middle SC's support each other.
30 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1906: I am going out of town for the weekend and need a pause.
30 Dec 16 UTC	Autumn, 1906: GameMaster: Red voted for a Pause. If everyone votes Pause the game stop and wait till everybody votes Unpause. Please consider backing this.
03 Jan 17 UTC	Autumn, 1906: GameMaster: Red voted for a Pause. If everyone votes Pause the game stop and wait till everybody votes Unpause. Please consider backing this.
15 Jan 17 UTC	Good game.
15 Jan 17 UTC	Good game. Congratulations on defending your 1v1 title.
15 Jan 17 UTC	I wasn't sure I would. If you haven't listened to the podcast with Ambassador and Kaner of my interview, I gave a shout out to you.
15 Jan 17 UTC	Thanks, I haven't listened to it yet.