Rules concepts and implementation;
The standard rules of diplomacy apply, exept where stated below;
Fondamental Rules:
Every turn the game progresses forward, in phases wich will be called Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Adjustment.
Spring and Autumn are movement phases, Summer and Winter are retreat phases, Adjustment is an adjustment phase.
Armies can move on the board as in normal Diplomacy during movement phases and retreat during retreat phases and adjust SCs and units in Adjustment phase
Every turn the game progresses to the next phase, going forward in time, board, armies and all; it is permitted in certain conditions with the following limitations;
No army can time-travel during retreat phases, no army can move to an adjacent space while time-traveling
Movement rules, however, have many possible implementations; I currently found three possible rules;
1. Time folding:
a certain unit can go back in time by returning to a previsious or going forward to a future board and remaining on the same space;
Present day units can support past units into present day destination
Present day units can also support a future unit from a precise future date and from an adjacent space, without knowing if he will be able to support that unit at all
Units travelling to the future disappear from the board and reappear when the date of destination is reached, and can be stopped or helped as in regular diplomacy, however, if they fail to move on that space, they are considered dislodged and have to retreat the following phase
Units travelling to the past cannot be supported by orders changed on the spot, so they require precise calculations, if a power A supports a unit in province O, occupied by B, A needs to move a unit into O in the future at the precise date in which he decided to support himself back;
If he fails and power C takes O, then C can travel back in time supported by A
It is worth noticing that support holds can be given in the future or past and armies can be convoyed back or forward in time
Armies in the future adjustment phases can built in the past and vice versa
2. Time Welfare;
Units cannot time-travel, but a power can decide to send himself time supplies (TS) to the past, depriving present day units of the supplies
To simulate this, a power is required to write how much TSs he requests from the future with a maximum of resources decided according to the map, and when the date to which he requested the resources arrives, he will have to subtract that amount from his total of SCs during the adjustment phase
3. Time Divisions
There are four types of units;
Armies, fleets, Ymras and Teelfs.
Armies and Ymras move on land and coastal territories, Fleets and Teelfs move on sea and coast
Ymras and Teelfs can however move back or forward in time, support hold in the future and convoy back and forth
Regular armies can support move Ymras from the past or the future as in rule 1