Archived from groups: rec.games.diplomacy (More info?)
Proposal for ASCII diplomacy:
I propose an idea for the usage of standard ASCII characters in the
creation of an ASCII diplomacy map. This would be useful for printing
out maps, people who are colorblind, and so forth.
Each province would take a 7x4 box of ASCII characters to describe,
and if required, that could be 4x2 (or any combination of the 7
required characters) by removing the border and an extra space.
Provinces could be connected in eight directions with |, \, /, and -.
Ex:
\|/
-*-
/|\
Provinces themselves would use 19 different symbols (some multiple
times) not including the name and any border. This may seem a bit
much, but when you consider that 7 of them (in a standard diplomacy
game) would be used for the players, with one more for neutrality,
that's really only 6 symbols. The provinces themselves would be
arranged as such with a border (which could be changed to the GM's or
even the player's preference):
o~~~~~o
|@1 *0|
| SPA |
o~~~~~o
This would be an army owned by player 1 in a land province with a
supply center owned by no one, called SPA.
As you can see, the data is arranged into two groups of two, followed
on the next line by the 3-letter abbreviation of the province. The
symbols are explained in full below:
@=Army
#=Fleet
-=None
-=No A/F (redundancy required)
0=Neutral A/F
1=Player 1's A/F
2=Player 2's A/F
3=Player 3's A/F
4=Player 4's A/F
5=Player 5's A/F
6=Player 6's A/F
7=Player 7's A/F
*=SC
-=No SC
$=Sea
!=Impassable
0=Neutral SC/Country
1=Player 1's SC/Country
2=Player 2's SC/Country
3=Player 3's SC/Country
4=Player 4's SC/Country
5=Player 5's SC/Country
6=Player 6's SC/Country
7=Player 7's SC/Country
Here are some examples:
An army owned by player 1 at a SC owned by player 2 in the province of
PAR:
o~~~~~o
|@1 *2|
| PAR |
o~~~~~o
A fleet owned by player 3 in the neutral and non-SC province of POR:
o~~~~~o
|#3 -0|
| POR |
o~~~~~o
An empty sea province named MAO:
o~~~~~o
|-- $0|
| MAO |
o~~~~~o
Coastal areas would be inferred by looking for connections to sea
provinces, unless someone can come up with a way to add in a coastal
designator without a new row of characters. Land areas would be
inferred if it was not explicitly stated as a sea province.
Maps/variants with special provinces such as double SCs, canals, and
so forth would have to come up with their own ideas.
Please post or e-mail any comments or questions to me.
--
Alan Downing, alasseo an cuile.
Proposal for ASCII diplomacy:
I propose an idea for the usage of standard ASCII characters in the
creation of an ASCII diplomacy map. This would be useful for printing
out maps, people who are colorblind, and so forth.
Each province would take a 7x4 box of ASCII characters to describe,
and if required, that could be 4x2 (or any combination of the 7
required characters) by removing the border and an extra space.
Provinces could be connected in eight directions with |, \, /, and -.
Ex:
\|/
-*-
/|\
Provinces themselves would use 19 different symbols (some multiple
times) not including the name and any border. This may seem a bit
much, but when you consider that 7 of them (in a standard diplomacy
game) would be used for the players, with one more for neutrality,
that's really only 6 symbols. The provinces themselves would be
arranged as such with a border (which could be changed to the GM's or
even the player's preference):
o~~~~~o
|@1 *0|
| SPA |
o~~~~~o
This would be an army owned by player 1 in a land province with a
supply center owned by no one, called SPA.
As you can see, the data is arranged into two groups of two, followed
on the next line by the 3-letter abbreviation of the province. The
symbols are explained in full below:
@=Army
#=Fleet
-=None
-=No A/F (redundancy required)
0=Neutral A/F
1=Player 1's A/F
2=Player 2's A/F
3=Player 3's A/F
4=Player 4's A/F
5=Player 5's A/F
6=Player 6's A/F
7=Player 7's A/F
*=SC
-=No SC
$=Sea
!=Impassable
0=Neutral SC/Country
1=Player 1's SC/Country
2=Player 2's SC/Country
3=Player 3's SC/Country
4=Player 4's SC/Country
5=Player 5's SC/Country
6=Player 6's SC/Country
7=Player 7's SC/Country
Here are some examples:
An army owned by player 1 at a SC owned by player 2 in the province of
PAR:
o~~~~~o
|@1 *2|
| PAR |
o~~~~~o
A fleet owned by player 3 in the neutral and non-SC province of POR:
o~~~~~o
|#3 -0|
| POR |
o~~~~~o
An empty sea province named MAO:
o~~~~~o
|-- $0|
| MAO |
o~~~~~o
Coastal areas would be inferred by looking for connections to sea
provinces, unless someone can come up with a way to add in a coastal
designator without a new row of characters. Land areas would be
inferred if it was not explicitly stated as a sea province.
Maps/variants with special provinces such as double SCs, canals, and
so forth would have to come up with their own ideas.
Please post or e-mail any comments or questions to me.
--
Alan Downing, alasseo an cuile.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram