As an avid boardgamer, I have a great respect for the classic strategy
game, Diplomacy. Its simple and elegant rule set immediately
highlights the most important aspect of the game—negotiation.
Diplomacy is all about forging alliances, soothing potential enemies
and wooing potential friends, all the while waiting for the perfect
time to drive the proverbial dagger into the staunchest supporter’s
back. Diplomacy is also infamous in boardgame circles, with tons
of anecdotal evidence of ruined friendships and bitter rivalries
flowing from the game into Real Life. Because of this, and
because of the six-to-seven-hour playing time, it’s often difficult for
a gamer to find six others interested in spending a marathon boardgame
session locked in grueling talks and strategies. Thankfully,
Paradox Interactive grabbed the license from Avalon Hill and brought
the tabletop version to the PC in a very faithful port, so now those
who find themselves a player or six short of a full game can still get
in on some backstabbing action.



Game play in the PC version will be very familiar to the tabletop
veterans. Diplomacy opens on a simplified map of Europe and North
Africa during the early years of the 20th century. The various
territories are divided up among seven European powers, leaving a
smattering of neutral territories which quickly get gobbled up in the
first few turns. The rules themselves are quite simple.
Some of the territories hold special Supply Centers—each Supply Center
controlled by a player allows them to field a military unit, either
land-based or naval. Only one unit can occupy a given territory
at any time, and each unit has exactly the same military
strength. Each turn, players give an order to each of their
units. A unit may move to an adjacent territory, support an
adjacent unit’s move or defense, or convoy a unit to a distant
shore. With only a handful of units for each player, it is vital
to form tenuous alliances with other players to shore up weak borders
or press the attack against enemies.



Each turn, which represents a Spring or Fall campaign, allots players
15 minutes to negotiate and place unit orders. During this time
players can enter into icon-based talks with any number and combination
of other players. Unlike the tabletop version, players will have
no idea who is talking to whom, as all conversations are completely
hidden. Players are free to agree to just about any deal
imaginable, from lending support to for a single attack all the way to
forming full alliances. Of course, absolutely none of the
agreements are binding, and it’s often advantageous to pick an
opportune time to break treaties and strike an unsuspecting
opponent. After the negotiations have ended, all player orders
are resolved simultaneously. Once the dust has settled, a
Retreat phase occurs for those units that find themselves on the losing
side of battle. There is no negotiation during this time, but all
player orders are again resolved simultaneously. Finally, on the
Fall turns, control of Supply Centers change hands if they had been
captured in the past two military phases. Additional supply
centers allow players to build more units, and those players who lose a
Center must disband one of their units. While there are a great
deal more subtleties and special cases, most of the game follows in
much the same manner. Victory is awarded to a player when they
either control 18 Supply Centers or, much more commonly, when they
convince the other players of their obvious superiority.



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