Diplomacy Academy 4: Negotiating from a position of weakness

[DQ]

The latest video in my series on Diplomacy is up.



This episode focuses on the endgame. Feedback welcome!

[hedge trimmer]

I think your videos are also well made and easy to follow, so they're fun to watch.

As for the advice itself, #3 (keeping your cool) can definitely be the hardest one to remember, especially if you just got stabbed.

[jimbobicus]

My advice is don't get yourself in a position of weakness to start with! Hehe...

More seriously... if I was to add something to your 3 points...
4. Locate those players in a stronger position and ask yourself what do they want. Or you can even start by asking them this question if you think they'll give you a sincere answer. Then try to strike a deal with one of these more powerful countries that firstly keeps you in the game in the short run and secondly looks like you might have a chance to get back in the game in the longer run.
5. Be prepared to gamble. If you're in a bad position and play safe, the chances are you'll just gradually die. Especially in games against good players if you try to just sit it out on 1 or 2 SCs and play for a draw, you should get punished. Although I noticed in your video this sometimes didn't happen. Some of your opponents are far more charitable than I would be.

But all in all, a good video

[DQ]

My advice is don't get yourself in a position of weakness to start with! Hehe...

More seriously... if I was to add something to your 3 points...
4. Locate those players in a stronger position and ask yourself what do they want. Or you can even start by asking them this question if you think they'll give you a sincere answer. Then try to strike a deal with one of these more powerful countries that firstly keeps you in the game in the short run and secondly looks like you might have a chance to get back in the game in the longer run.
5. Be prepared to gamble. If you're in a bad position and play safe, the chances are you'll just gradually die. Especially in games against good players if you try to just sit it out on 1 or 2 SCs and play for a draw, you should get punished. Although I noticed in your video this sometimes didn't happen. Some of your opponents are far more charitable than I would be.

But all in all, a good video

All good points, mostly agree, a couple comments. In the endgame, most times I think you can find out what they want - they want to get the solo, or eliminate you for a smaller draw. And I agree that you can't sit around and hope for the draw - RARELY as Turkey, or if you are in a time-limited format that's an idea that can work, but I have only seen that maybe twice in 20 years of f2f play? Taking a gamble is so satisfying when it pays off, and if it doesn't and you die, well, you were headed that way anyway.

I think you're referring to my 1c Italian negotiating the 6wd in your last comment, and well, that was special. From a "scoring the tournament" perspective, they absolutely should have eliminated me - but the two big players on the other side of the board were world-class, and I was the most experienced player trying to stop them. One of them said (on the facebooks) in response to this episode: "So painful to listen to - if they had cut you out, we'd have rolled them back as far as we wanted."