So for a long time I’ve wanted to create a new variant called Nuclear Diplomacy. I’ve been working with Oli to iron out if there’s any coding issues and we seem to have a plan. The issue comes down to gameplay and were interested in the community’s views on how to make this variant work best.

It all comes down fundamentally to two options: (1) a game of 10 players who all have the ability to build and launch nuclear weapons or (2) a game where at the start 10 players can build and launch nukes, but there’s also a further 16 players without nukes initially, but after kicking off reactors and the sort can produce nuclear weapons at the start of the third game year. Option two means considerably more players which will obviously make it a lot harder to attract enough people in a game, but I think has a lot more realistic potential and explores the dynamic of a non-nuclear player winning the game (or at least surviving!)

Ok, so the details/rules so this makes a little more sense:

• the game would be played on the territories marked in the WWIV map

• The year is 2021. The ongoing global depression has worsened and tensions between creditor and debtor nations has reached breaking point, especially after America's default causing a rapid shrinking of its military. The United Nations is seen as nothing more a debating chamber after it turned a blind eye a decade earlier to Iran and North Korea's successful nuclear weapons development. Since that time a string of nations have turned their nuclear reactors into weapons factories.

• Conventional units: There are two unit types in this variant, conventional and nuclear. Conventional units are a combined naval and army force. They can move to any passable adjacent territory on the board whether land or water. Aside from this they behave like a normal unit in Diplomacy.

• Nuclear units: These units can travel to any territory on the board as they are delivered by ICBM's. In addition they have an attacking multiplier and will successfully destroy any unit, even if it is being support held by multiple units. At this point of time any half decent Diplomacy player would think "Ahh, I'll just build nukes and destroy my opponents." But you'd be wrong. Once your nuclear weapon has been used it will also be destroyed, so if used to attack an SC your nuclear weapon cannot occupy the SC. If you held your SC's come the build phase as the nuclear weapon has destroyed in the detonation you can rebuild a unit (nuclear or conventional) the following build turn. A special mention that while nuclear weapons have an attacking multiplier, they cannot defend effectively. A conventional unit will always win attacking a nuclear unit, unless that nuclear unit is being support held by a conventional unit. Normal rules of support holding and attacking then apply.

• Nuclear fallout: There is one other major downside to using nuclear weapons. If detonated on an SC, not only does it destroy your ICBM and any opposing player's unit, it will also destroy the SC itself. A nuclear fallout symbol will form over the territory and it can no longer be accessed by anyone. Again the Diplomacy player may think "This is great, I can annihilate my enemies and keep building more nukes to attack everyone else and win the game." This is of course very, very wrong. Setting aside the fact that your opponent is likely to nuke you back the following turn, the world is rapidly slipping into a nuclear holocaust. While the effects of nuclear attack is most prominent where the missile explodes, come any build phase if 50 or more the SCs are destroyed globally, the atmosphere has become so contaminated that life cannot be sustained and every player will be defeated by the nuclear fallout. Special note: nuclear explosions on non-SC territories are considered to employ battlefield nukes with lower tonnages. The nuclear fallout in these territories is significantly less, allowing units to still move to the territory post-detonation and do not contribute to the risk of nuclear fallout defeating everyone.

• Home supply centers: Units may be built on any vacant supply center that has been held for a fall. (i.e. all supply centers controlled by players are considered their "home supply centers" for the purpose of building units)

• The first turn: builds The game starts with a build phase for every power. Nuclear powers can choose whether to build nuclear or conventional forces or a combination.

• The 10 starting nuclear powers are USA, France, Britain, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Israel and North Korea. The non-nuclear powers would only add up to 16: Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Brazil, South Korea, Thailand, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Columbia, Chile, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Angola and South Africa (grand total of 26 players.)

I am fully aware that players like USA and Russia have a numerical advantage in starting in SC’s (and therefore units) over smaller SC starting players (eg Germany, France, Thailand, etc), but as a result I expect they’ll be more of a target in potential nuclear conflict as other players attempt to reduce their power.

Please vote for Option 1 or 2 and/or add your thoughts on how to improve gameplay.