Dodecodonia Diplomacy

I loved board games as a kid. Actually I still do, and Diplomacy was one of favorites. So, I thought it might be fun to invent our own, somewhat simplified, web version of Diplomacy and invite y’all to play along. If we can snag twelve players, we’ll do it. If not, c’est la gere.

You see above the fabled continent of Dodecodonia, so-called for the twelve nations it hosts. You can be the ruler of one of these nations, if you have the fortitude to lead. Each nation has an army with a unique strength. Some of the nations (not all) also have a navy. Obviously the two land-locked countries do not have a navy, but there is no guarantee that the every coastal nation does as well. The strength of each army and navy will be known only to you, its ruler. You can share this information, publicly or privately, with other rulers. Or you can lie about it. Or both.

Three of the nations possess a single atomic weapon. The identity of one nuclear power will be known to everyone at the start of the game. The identity of the other two will be a secret known only to them, unless they choose to reveal their capability. (And, of course, they could be lying).

One turn will be played each day. By noon CST, you should e-mail me with your move. You will have four choices:

1) Declare War – You may declare war on a single nation only. The outcome of the war is then decided by the total military strength of you plus any other nations declaring war on the defender, compared to the total military strength of the defender plus anyone who has entered in a Mutual Defense Pact (see below) with the defender. If the attacking coalition wins, the defender is elimated from the gams. If the defender wins, the weakest member of the attacking coalition is eliminated.

If more than one war is declared in a day, only the war involving the biggest total number of forces will be decided. All other wars will be declared “inconclusive”. Thus there is some risk in declaring war – you may make an enemy, but not have the chance to eliminate him. Using this formula, only one nation will be eliminated per day.

2) Mutual Defense Pact – If you enter into a Mutual Defense Pact, you will tell me which nations you are allied with in the Pact. For the Pact to be valid, the nations you list must also list you in their Mutual Defense Pact declaration. Thus, if Rufus says he has a Mutual Defense Pact with Floyd, Mike and JohnFN, but neither Floyd, Mike nor JohnFN lists Rufus in their declaration, then Rufus is on his own if attacked. If only Floyd lists Rufus, then it’s just Rufus and Floyd if attacked. Mutual Defense must be reciprocal.

If no wars are declared in a given day, then the weakest nation that is part of the weakest Mutual Defense Pact will be eliminated on that day.

3) Neutrality – If you chose neutrality you’re on your own. (Neutrality will automatically apply if no e-mail is recieved by noon on a given day).

4) Nuke ‘Em – If you have a valid a-bomb and you choose to use it, the nation that you nuke is eliminated. If more than one nuke is employed, then more than one nation can be eliminated. This is the only exception to the “one nation eliminated per day” rule. Nukes can only be used once.

That’s about it. You may discuss alliances publicly, or privately. I will e-mail each of the players every other players e-mail address, if you want to have private discussions. (For commenters, I will use the e-mail you submit with comments – unless you tell me otherwise).

If you  would like to play, please say so in the comments section of this post. I will assign your nation randomly (using the random number generator in Excel) and will e-mail each of you with the particulars of your country. Also, if you are playing, tell me what you would like your country to be named. If we get twelve, I’ll publish a post with the rulers of each country and their location on the map. I’ll also be sure to publish my e-mail (richard_trzupek@prodigy.net) with each post so that you can send me your moves each day. After I receive the moves, I’ll publish an afternoon post summarizing the results of the day’s events in Dodecodonia.

Oh, one other note: I am god in Dodecodonia. Thus, if there is some dispute, I will arbitrarily settle it in the way that amuses me most. Kind of like Loki. But far better looking.

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