War in the Americas 2: Now full

[RedelMondo]

Hi RedelMondo - good to hear from you.

Before I simply say 'Yes', can I just check that you understand how this works (because it demands much more effort from players!) Game results and maps, and any public press, are posted in a separate sub-Forum in Active, and all other communication is via Private Messages. That means you have to go actively looking to see what's appeared (set your User Controls to e-mail you when you receive a PM, and Subscribe to the sub-Forum so that you are alerted immediately anything happens.)

If you're happy to commit yourself to that, and you undertake to stick with the game, you're in!

And there will be at least 24 hours from your reply for discussion about the British SCs question in my previous post before the auction begins.

I've browsed some of the active games and have been following a few of them, so I generally see how it goes. I have e-mail sent when I get a PM. I haven't subscribed to anything before, so I will look into that.

I do commit to do what is necessary and sticking with it!! Thanks for having me.

[RedelMondo]

I have a few questions mostly relating to the Great Lakes/NE area, so I can make sure I understand what is what:

If my fleet is in the WGL, it can enter into Chi, Min, Mic, Tor, and EGL, correct?
Similarly, if my fleet is in the EGL, it can enter into Tor, Mic, Chi, Was, NYS, and Mon, correct?

The blue line between NYS and NYC is a canal which connects NEC to EGL, correct? so I could move from EGL to NYS to NYC to NEC?

Can a fleet in Mon move directly to NEn, Hal, or NYS? Can an army?

Can a fleet in App move directly to Msp?

Moving to the south:
An army in Par can go north or south regardless of which part of the province it seemingly appears as the whole thing is one territory, correct?

I apologize for all these questions. I just want to make sure I am absolutely clear before we begin!

[RedelMondo]

Another question (yeah, I'm a pest, but I want to be fully invested):

The variant bank (awesome website btw) notes that this would normally be build anywhere. I know you have said home centers only. While you're the GM and you make the rules, I was just curious as to the reasoning.

[theangrycastle]

I essentially see britain as almost three different countries with one player. There's the centers up in Canada, which can expand north and west, but can't go south unless you want to fight with America. There's the Caribbean, where it's duking it out with Spain and everyone lining the Caribbean for control. And then there's Falklands, which as far as I can tell is most useful as some sort of mercenary unit, unless you want to commit from another theater. So giving it Guyana would give it a better chance to thrive in the Caribbean theater, which would eventually help it in other areas.

The downside to Britian is that since it's so spread out, it's vulnerable to attack. If Canada gets attacked, there's not a lot that the units already in south america can do, for instance. So it can grow a lot, but it's much more vulnerable to attack. How that evens out, I have no idea. Just my thoughts. I'd be curious how Britain has done in other games.

[Willie900]

questions about Panama:

1) if I have a fleet in Mos and I order it to ChG, and the current owner does not have a unit in Panama, will the order work whether or not he gives consent to pass through?

2) can I order Mos-Pan on a fall turn, then Pan-ChG on the next spring turn, conquering Pan?

[stalin813]

I'm having second thoughts about my decision that Britain doesn't have British Guyana at the start. This is because, very unusually, it starts with no more than two in its main homeland, Canada, and the other three are very scattered further south. The addition of Guyana would give it more of a power-base around the Caribbean. But the question then is whether it could become too strong. I'd like any views from you all (and if you have comments about the rest of the map, now's the time to air them; once the auction starts then that version of the map and rules will be final - unless there's an issue which isn't covered by the starting version.)

Putting 3 bases in the Caribbean, which is equal to Spain, plus 3 other bases, although spread out makes Britain way to powerful. They already start off with the most units, its up to them to use DIPLOMACY (weird, i Know) to not get attacked on all fronts, but they have plenty to defend their home bases.

[Pedros]

I've started a new topic for the discussion and questions about the rules; I should have posted my first note (about Britain) there. I will quote each of the questions and comments that have been made in that topic and deal with them

See viewtopic.php?f=253&t=20487

[Pedros]

At last we're ready! Hope everybody's kept up-to-date with the rules discussions. Definitive map and rules will be posted in the Rules thread before the end of the auction, but no more changes will be made (unless it becomes clear that there's a question that nobody's thought of yet and isn't covered in the existing rules.)

One last thing that wasn't finalised - Britain does NOT start with Guyana - there was no strong feeling that it should.

Here is the list of players:-

Palin
slayer666
Tooth1066
mr bump
Willie900
BAMonHAM
theangrycastle
AardvarkArmy
stalin813
RedelMondo

But now it's time for the Auction for countries. The Rules of the Auction are below. Please make sure you understand them; check through the examples, because some of the implications may not be immediately obvious.

Remember - you may not discuss your bid (or your thinking about it) with any other player; if found out, it would mean immediate disqualification

The Auction closes at 1800 BST (1300 EDT) on Tuesday 7 June; I will post the bidding and the results as soon as possible after that, and the game will then have started.

In the rules which follow, I have made small numerical changes to reflect the fact that we are playing with 10 countries not seven. Apart from that they are exactly as Dirk Knemeyer presented them (http://dipwiki.com/index.php?title=Blin ... on_Bidding). My changes are in blue.

This bidding variant reflects my personal enjoyment of and desire for determinism in attempting to secure a particular starting power. While Blind Auction Bidding technically gives every player an equal chance at each and every power, the system is designed to accommodate very different strategies: go all-or-nothing for the power you most want to play? Go for a few powers in a balanced way, to make it likely you can play one of a select few? Or avoid that one power you simply do NOT want to play by bidding for all of the others in a conservative way that should help you avoid the one you despise? The choice is up to you.


PROCEDURE
1. Each player has 200 points to spend on bids for all of the powers in your game

2. You must spend at least one point on every power in your game and no more than 160 on any one specific power

3. You must only bid in whole numbers, no fractions or decimals are allowed

4. You must spend all 200[color=#0000BF][/color]of your points and will be asked by the GM to re-submit if your total is less or more than 200

5. Players may change their bids up until the moment the GM has received the bid from the last player or the announced deadline, whichever is earlier, after which bids may not be changed

6. The GM will then review the bids of all players and identify the most points spent on any particular power

7. If only one player has the high bid on the highest bid power that player is assigned that power for the game and removed from the bidding

8. In the event of a tie bid, where two or more players have bid the same high amount on the same power, the GM will randomly determine which player receives the disputed power

9. The process continues until every player in the game has won a power

10. Players not interested in bidding may express "no preference". In this case they will receive 20 allocated to each power

11. Players are forbidden to discuss their bidding, strategy, or even if they are simply choosing "no preference", with any of the other players in the game. By design this process is intended to be completely blind and force the player to deeply consider risk and reward


EXAMPLE (nb these examples are based on the original 100 points amongst 7 countries
In a game of Standard Diplomacy, Joe very badly wants to play Russia. To have the maximum chance at securing Russia, Joe assigns his 100 points as follows:

Russia - 80 Austria - 4 England - 4 France - 3 Germany - 3 Italy - 3 Turkey - 3

As long as no other player submits this precise bid, Joe will get Russia. If one or more other players submit this precise bid, Joe will have a chance to get Russia, but he also has a chance to get stuck with a leftover power at the very end.


EXAMPLE
Jane has played Austria, Germany and Italy each three times in Standard Diplomacy but has only played each of the other four powers either never or once. If Jane knows one thing, it's that she doesn't want to get stuck with one of her three old standbys. So, Jane decides to bid her 100 points like this:

England - 25 France - 24 Russia - 24 Turkey - 24 Austria - 1 Germany - 1 Italy - 1

Jane is a little worried because she figures that a lot of other players will only bid one on the rarely popular Austria or Italy, but she is optimistic that with 24 or 25 points on four different powers one of them will slip through the cracks to her.


EXAMPLE
Jerry doesn't want to play Italy in his upcoming game of Standard Diplomacy. Bottom line. No way, no how. He can bid one on Italy but a lot of other people will probably do that, too. He thinks he needs to get creative. England and Russia are the two most popular powers so he is going to just give them one point, too. That gives him 97 points to spend on four powers. Thinking about which of them he likes best he decides to bid his 100 points like this:

Turkey - 51 France - 16 Austria - 15 Germany - 15 England - 1 Italy - 1 Russia - 1


EXAMPLE
Harvey doesn't care who he plays in the new game of Standard Diplomacy. What's up with this crazy bidding anyway? "No preference," he writes to the GM. So the GM assigns his points based on the prescribed formula:

100 points, divided by 7 powers in Standard Diplomacy and rounded down to the nearest whole number is 14. so Harvey's bids are:

Austria - 14 England - 14 France - 14 Germany - 14 Italy - 14 Russia - 14 Turkey - 14