Archived from groups: rec.games.diplomacy (More info?)
Having seen the new games starting on USDP, void and silentvoid, I thought that the starting concept was very interesting and one that could work for smaller number of Powers.
For those who don't want to look up the full details (on the DPJudge under Map variants) The Void variant (devised by Mario Huys) is based on the 36 non-SC provinces that border 2 or more SCs. It starts in Fall 1900, and each of 36 Powers control one unit each, starting from one of the 36 provinces described above, and have to claim one of the 34 SCs in order to survive past Winter 1900! The game continues from there, with a Build-any rule in place. A Power starting from a sea province begins with a fleet, all others (including coastal provinces) start with an army each.
I liked the idea of the starting set-up but wondered if more conventional numbers of Powers and units-per-Power could be applied. Two variants immediately sprang to mind, with 12 Powers possessing 3 units each, and 9 Powers possessing 4 units each.
Unless the name has been taken by a different variant, I propose to call these variants "Homeless-12" and "Homeless-9" respectively, because the Powers all start without homes to go to.
The issue of how to deal with assigning HCs in Winter 1900 is one question that has yet to be resolved, and suggestions or opinions would be welcome. One possibility is having a "cap" on the number of Home Centres, so that all SCs captured by a Power up to a certain number of SCs become their HCs, at which point they are locked as the HCs for the rest of the game. Another is having some form of nominations process at the beginning. This would involve Powers nominating a certain number of SCs to be their HCs, with rules governing possession where two or more nominate the same SC. The simple option of having centres owned at Winter 1900 become the HCs is weak because of the premium it places on coastal SCs, but perhaps making all SCs owned at Winter 1901 or 1902 could work also.
I would also welcome comments or analyses of the Power distributions that I came up with. The following rules were used as the basis for devising the distribution:
1/ No Power should have more than one SC to which they and only they can move in Fall 1900. That some must have at least one is proven by the situations of ALB/SER, MAO/POR and GAL/BUD. However, I was unable in either the Homeless-9 or Homeless-12 variant to devise a way in which all Powers could have exactly one.
2/ As far as possible, a unit should be able to offer support to a move by at least one of his comrades. I am not certain that I have succeeded with this rule in the Homeless-9 variant.
I also tried as far as possible to give Powers a mix of Armies and Fleets. However, in both variants there is a Power with either only armies or only fleets.
Homeless-12 Powers: (in brackets, the SC that that Power can be certain of taking unopposed, if any)
Power 1: F ION, F AEG, F ARM (Smyrna)
Power 2: F BLA, A UKR, A LVN (Moscow)
Power 3: A GAL, A BOH, A SIL (Budapest)
Power 4: F ADR, A ALB, A APU (Serbia)
Power 5: F BOT, F BAL, A PRU
Power 6: F BAR, F SKA, A FIN
Power 7: F NTH, F NWG, A CLY
Power 8: A TUS, F TYS, F WES
Power 9: F LYO, A PIE, A BUR
Power 10: A TYR, A RUH, F HEL
Power 11: A PIC, A GAS, F MAO (Portugal)
Power 12: A YOR, A WAL, F ENG
Power 3 has only armies, and might have difficulty claiming a coastal SC in the first move.
Homeless-9 Powers: (suggested names for Powers in brackets)
Power 1 (N:Neptune): F BAR, F NWG, F NTH, F SKA (possibly Norway, see note below)
Power 2 (G:Germany): F HEL, F BAL, A RUH, F BOT (Kiel)
Power 3 (E:England): A CLY, A WAL, A YOR, F ENG (Liverpool)
Power 4 (F:France): A PIC, A BUR, A GAS, F WES (Paris)
Power 5 (R:Russia): A FIN, A LVN, A UKR, F BLA (Moscow) - A FIN may be replaced by F FIN, see note below.
Power 6 (B:Iberia): F MAO, F LYO, A TYR, A PIE (Portugal)
Power 7 (S:Slovakia): A BOH, A SIL, A GAL, A PRU (Budapest) - A PRU may be replaced by F PRU, see note below.
Power 8 (I:Italy): F TYS, A TUS, A ALB, F ADR (Serbia)
Power 9 (T:Turkey): A APU, F ION, F AEG, A ARM (Smyrna)
If A FIN is made a fleet instead, then Power 1 (Neptune) has Norway as its unopposed SC. This might make the Baltic region rather fleet-heavy.
If A PRU is made a fleet instead, then the only Power with only one type of unit is Neptune, but this might affect the balance of power around WAR adversely (or it may improve it). Also, as with F FIN, this makes the Baltic region very heavily populated by fleets.
I am more pleased with Homeless-9 than Homeless-12 but would welcome any comments or observations that people might have, before I present this as a finished article.
Ta,
Oliver Thornton
Having seen the new games starting on USDP, void and silentvoid, I thought that the starting concept was very interesting and one that could work for smaller number of Powers.
For those who don't want to look up the full details (on the DPJudge under Map variants) The Void variant (devised by Mario Huys) is based on the 36 non-SC provinces that border 2 or more SCs. It starts in Fall 1900, and each of 36 Powers control one unit each, starting from one of the 36 provinces described above, and have to claim one of the 34 SCs in order to survive past Winter 1900! The game continues from there, with a Build-any rule in place. A Power starting from a sea province begins with a fleet, all others (including coastal provinces) start with an army each.
I liked the idea of the starting set-up but wondered if more conventional numbers of Powers and units-per-Power could be applied. Two variants immediately sprang to mind, with 12 Powers possessing 3 units each, and 9 Powers possessing 4 units each.
Unless the name has been taken by a different variant, I propose to call these variants "Homeless-12" and "Homeless-9" respectively, because the Powers all start without homes to go to.
The issue of how to deal with assigning HCs in Winter 1900 is one question that has yet to be resolved, and suggestions or opinions would be welcome. One possibility is having a "cap" on the number of Home Centres, so that all SCs captured by a Power up to a certain number of SCs become their HCs, at which point they are locked as the HCs for the rest of the game. Another is having some form of nominations process at the beginning. This would involve Powers nominating a certain number of SCs to be their HCs, with rules governing possession where two or more nominate the same SC. The simple option of having centres owned at Winter 1900 become the HCs is weak because of the premium it places on coastal SCs, but perhaps making all SCs owned at Winter 1901 or 1902 could work also.
I would also welcome comments or analyses of the Power distributions that I came up with. The following rules were used as the basis for devising the distribution:
1/ No Power should have more than one SC to which they and only they can move in Fall 1900. That some must have at least one is proven by the situations of ALB/SER, MAO/POR and GAL/BUD. However, I was unable in either the Homeless-9 or Homeless-12 variant to devise a way in which all Powers could have exactly one.
2/ As far as possible, a unit should be able to offer support to a move by at least one of his comrades. I am not certain that I have succeeded with this rule in the Homeless-9 variant.
I also tried as far as possible to give Powers a mix of Armies and Fleets. However, in both variants there is a Power with either only armies or only fleets.
Homeless-12 Powers: (in brackets, the SC that that Power can be certain of taking unopposed, if any)
Power 1: F ION, F AEG, F ARM (Smyrna)
Power 2: F BLA, A UKR, A LVN (Moscow)
Power 3: A GAL, A BOH, A SIL (Budapest)
Power 4: F ADR, A ALB, A APU (Serbia)
Power 5: F BOT, F BAL, A PRU
Power 6: F BAR, F SKA, A FIN
Power 7: F NTH, F NWG, A CLY
Power 8: A TUS, F TYS, F WES
Power 9: F LYO, A PIE, A BUR
Power 10: A TYR, A RUH, F HEL
Power 11: A PIC, A GAS, F MAO (Portugal)
Power 12: A YOR, A WAL, F ENG
Power 3 has only armies, and might have difficulty claiming a coastal SC in the first move.
Homeless-9 Powers: (suggested names for Powers in brackets)
Power 1 (N:Neptune): F BAR, F NWG, F NTH, F SKA (possibly Norway, see note below)
Power 2 (G:Germany): F HEL, F BAL, A RUH, F BOT (Kiel)
Power 3 (E:England): A CLY, A WAL, A YOR, F ENG (Liverpool)
Power 4 (F:France): A PIC, A BUR, A GAS, F WES (Paris)
Power 5 (R:Russia): A FIN, A LVN, A UKR, F BLA (Moscow) - A FIN may be replaced by F FIN, see note below.
Power 6 (B:Iberia): F MAO, F LYO, A TYR, A PIE (Portugal)
Power 7 (S:Slovakia): A BOH, A SIL, A GAL, A PRU (Budapest) - A PRU may be replaced by F PRU, see note below.
Power 8 (I:Italy): F TYS, A TUS, A ALB, F ADR (Serbia)
Power 9 (T:Turkey): A APU, F ION, F AEG, A ARM (Smyrna)
If A FIN is made a fleet instead, then Power 1 (Neptune) has Norway as its unopposed SC. This might make the Baltic region rather fleet-heavy.
If A PRU is made a fleet instead, then the only Power with only one type of unit is Neptune, but this might affect the balance of power around WAR adversely (or it may improve it). Also, as with F FIN, this makes the Baltic region very heavily populated by fleets.
I am more pleased with Homeless-9 than Homeless-12 but would welcome any comments or observations that people might have, before I present this as a finished article.
Ta,
Oliver Thornton
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram