New to Diplomacy, but I know some...

[LordAhriman]

I'm getting Diplomacy soon, and I'm very excited; I know full well the premise of backstabbing, conquering nations, etc. - that's why I'm buying it :D I don't at all understand, however, the technicalities. Here are my questions:

1. What is 'bounced'?
2. I understand the rules for attacking are as such: an army or navy may be attacked by a player if the attacker has a piece adjacent to both the original piece and the target. However, what happens to the piece that was attacked? Is it removed from the board? Does it retreat? If so, how are pieces removed, and what does it mean to be 'dislodged'? Does the piece, if the attack was successful, move onto the territory it attacked, like in chess?
3. Can a fleet move from one coastal territory directly to another or must it go out to sea first?
4. What is 'build'? How is it that you can directly own a piece of foreign land without having an army or navy on it? How does one come to 'own' a supply center?
5. North/South coast... what does this portend for movement?
6. What are the rules for the creation of new armies at the start of every round?

I have been to a number of 'learn how to play diplomacy' sites trying to find this out, but as of yet I still have no answer.

[BlackHawk]

1. What is 'bounced'?
2. I understand the rules for attacking are as such: an army or navy may be attacked by a player if the attacker has a piece adjacent to both the original piece and the target. However, what happens to the piece that was attacked? Is it removed from the board? Does it retreat? If so, how are pieces removed, and what does it mean to be 'dislodged'? Does the piece, if the attack was successful, move onto the territory it attacked, like in chess?
3. Can a fleet move from one coastal territory directly to another or must it go out to sea first?
4. What is 'build'? How is it that you can directly own a piece of foreign land without having an army or navy on it? How does one come to 'own' a supply center?
5. North/South coast... what does this portend for movement?
6. What are the rules for the creation of new armies at the start of every round?

First off I suggest this (http://ry4an.org/diptutor/) tutorial, it's where I and many others here learned how to play.

1. A bounce is when one army attacks another but does not have sufficient power to take it out, therefore it bounces back to it's original space. (If an attacker is only attacking with one unit, and the defender has only one unit then they are even and therefore the defender wins and the attacker must go back to it's originating space).

2. If the piece that is attacked is dislodged then it is not removed per se, it is removed from the map, however the power controlling it can move it to another space (if there are any open), so it retreats. Dislodged means the unit has been succesfuly attacked with enough force to 'kill' it. If the attack is succesful the attacker moves into the space it attacked, just like in chess.

3. Fleets can move directly from one coastal province to another, they do not need to go out into the sea first.

4. A build is when you have more SC's then units and therefore can make another unit. However the new unit (either fleet or army) must be placed on one of your home SC's (one of the SC's you started with). You can own an SC even though you have no unit in it as long as you had a unit their at the end of a year (i.e. at the end of the Fall turn). To own an SC you just have to have a unit in it at the end of the Fall turn.

5. On countries that are very large and connect to multiple oceans, there are North / East / South / or West Coasts. Take Spain for instance, if you are on the North Coast then you cannot move into the Western Med because it is on the south part of Spain, therefore you would have to move to the South Coast before moving into the Western Med, it just keeps everything balanced...

6. Explained in 4.

NOTE: These answers are based on the variant rules we use on these forums, and some answers may be 'wrong' when it comes to the actual board game (therefore you should read the rule book for the board game if that's what you intend to play).

Hope I helped :D.

[Sperate]

Whee. Welcome to Diplomacy.

1. What is 'bounced'?
Two units bounce when they both try to move into the same llocation with any equal amout of support. This can also happen with 3 units, but that's rare. Could, in theroy, happen with more, but that's rather unlikly.

2. I understand the rules for attacking are as such: an army or navy may be attacked by a player if the attacker has a piece adjacent to both the original piece and the target. However, what happens to the piece that was attacked? Is it removed from the board? Does it retreat? If so, how are pieces removed, and what does it mean to be 'dislodged'? Does the piece, if the attack was successful, move onto the territory it attacked, like in chess?
The peice that was attacked is disloged and must retreat in the following phase of gameplay (there's a special one just for retreats). If, however, there is no place for the peice to retreat (it was surrounded with units, enemy or friendly or both), it is removed from the map. If the attack is successful, then the unit who attacked moves into the space.

3. Can a fleet move from one coastal territory directly to another or must it go out to sea first?
It can move from one costal territory directly to another.

4. What is 'build'? How is it that you can directly own a piece of foreign land without having an army or navy on it? How does one come to 'own' a supply center?
A build is when you own more supply centers then units. You are then allowed to build at any home (the ones you started with) supply center, as long as it is free of any other units and you still own it.

You cannot own a foregin land without having a unit there - at least at first. When the unit leaves (as long as it was there in the Fall) you retain control of the territory until someone else claims it.

You own a supply center by having a unit there in the fall and keeping it there until spring. Simple, eh?

5. North/South coast... what does this portend for movement?
This only effect fleets. If a fleet is on one cost, it cannot directly move to another. As well, if you had a fleet in, say, LIV, you could not move it to STP(nc), you would have to move it to STP(sc), and thusly would not be able to reach the Barrents sea for at least 3 other turns. Regarding supports: if it can't move there, it can't support there. There are some rather annoying rules on fleet/army interaction, but I don't know them offhand. Sorry.

6. What are the rules for the creation of new armies at the start of every round?
I already answered this above, heheh.


I hope none of you asses beat me to this. :-\

[BlackHawk]

Muwahahah, beat Orodeth.

Anyway, between the both of us, Lord, I'm sure you can figure it out. (I skimmed Oro's and I saw he got some stuff I forgot, and I got some things he didn't have, so just read 'em both and you should get it...). Hope to see you around!

[LordAhriman]

Thank you very much; I hope to play a game here as soon as a space opens up.

[BlackHawk]

Thank you very much; I hope to play a game here as soon as a space opens up.

Well...speaking of openings, my game (http://www.warboards.org/showthread.php?t=1588&page=32&pp=10) currently has an opening as Italy that if not filled is going to be under my control. If you want to take over as Italy just tell me and I can give you any help you need with the orders, although it may be a bit hard for someone just starting out (you'll be jumping head on into a large war and a game half-way through so it can be pretty challenging if you're just learning the game).

[LordAhriman]

Sounds good; as I say I've found (in playing the game in history class) that I'm more than capable of doing well for the mental aspect of the game; I think I might be shaky on movement still, but that's nothing that can't be ironed out with practice.

[TheGreatBrain]

Yey! A new player. Welcome.

[Whiteknight]

Yes! New blood to conq... I mean make alliances with and help. :shiftyr:

Ah well, welcome to warboards, have a drink and stay awhile. :beer:

[Maegtelluma]

Score! new players. Welcome to WB, btw

Maeg

[Battlecruiser]

Welcome to Warboards and have fun playing Diplomacy.

[Modred]

Bying the boardgame, eh? I too own this fabled boardgame of legend. I just can never find enough people in RL to play, so almost all of my games are online. :p

Welcome to WB, and most of all, have fun.

Also...if you're buying the boardgame, read the rulebook cover to cover a few times. It helps.

The rulebook can also be downloaded from here (http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/diplomacy.pdf) (for those of you who might want it but don't own the game). That link is from the official AvalonHill (makers of Diplomacy) website, which is http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/welcome. Yes...they are owned by Wizards of the Coast (which is in turn owned by Hasbro).