This is starting to get to sound very much like
CivDip, which was essentially a cross between 1898 &
Fog of War. You start off with a single unit, the
centres you own after two game years become your home
centres. You can only see the spaces surrounding your
units and supply centres, and are only given contact
details for players whose pieces of Supply centres you
encounter.
I was thinking of running a game of this myself, and
had got an idea for a map, but have not progressed it
so far.
I believe that 18 players is too many for such an
endeavour, with about 9 probably being the optimum
(although the exact number could be kept a secret by
the GM).

Martin

--- Warren Fleming <alwayshunted(at)hotmail.com> wrote:

I only replied to Mike, but essentially I'm with
Fletcher.

Warren


Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:05:23 -0800From:
tfletch33(at)yahoo.comSubject: Re: FOG infoTo:
mike(at)southwall.com; variants(at)diplomaticcorp.com;
caleb.edwards(at)utoronto.ca; clockheardt(at)yahoo.com;
dc122(at)diplomaticcorp.com; derekthefeared2(at)yahoo.com;
diplomaticcorp(at)yahoogroups.com;
isaac.zinner(at)gmail.com; jorgesaralegui(at)verizon.net;
leewarrentaylor(at)yahoo.co.uk; mgdip(at)yahoo.com;
mrh(at)panix.com; rolfloschek(at)yahoo.de;
stevelytton(at)hotmail.com; afretired(at)charter.net;
dc118(at)diplomaticcorp.com; eric.grinnell(at)yahoo.com;
felixkamchung(at)mac.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com;
Garry.Bledsoe(at)alltel.com; kielmarch(at)hotmail.com;
catsfather(at)gmail.com; m_don_j(at)hotmail.com;
rjroddayjr(at)yahoo.com; alwayshunted(at)hotmail.com




Well..first of all, I'm a fan. Its add a very
challenging wrinkle to hide the map. I like the idea
that you don't know who is who, until you meet
them...but can also see you point.

How about THIS for a mechanism. You have to go out
and meet you neighbors (sure, some chance involved
here--like Age of Empires). Only when you are
Adjacent to their unit to you or them have the
OPTION of exchanging email address. Then, once your
neighbor knows who you are...he/she is free to pass
on that info.

I really think this will work. You can horde up all
your intel..or chose to barter it out for more
intell like people do with maps now. There could
even be quite a lot of creative misdirection....

You could call it Fog of War: Caveman Era. Only
communications with those you meet....

Fletcher
----- Original Message ----From: Michael Sims
<mike(at)southwall.com>To: variants(at)diplomaticcorp.com;
caleb.edwards(at)utoronto.ca; Christopher Lockheardt
<clockheardt(at)yahoo.com>; dc122(at)diplomaticcorp.com;
Derek eyler <derekthefeared2(at)yahoo.com>;
diplomaticcorp(at)yahoogroups.com; Isaac Zinner
<isaac.zinner(at)gmail.com>; Jorge Saralegui
<jorgesaralegui(at)verizon.net>;
leewarrentaylor(at)yahoo.co.uk; mgdip(at)yahoo.com;
mrh(at)panix.com; Rolf Loschek <rolfloschek(at)yahoo.de>;
stevelytton(at)hotmail.com; Trent Woodruff
<afretired(at)charter.net>; dc118(at)diplomaticcorp.com;
eric.grinnell(at)yahoo.com; Felix Kam Chung
<felixkamchung(at)mac.com>; former.trout(at)gmail.com;
Garry.Bledsoe(at)alltel.com; kielmarch(at)hotmail.com;
catsfather(at)gmail.com; m_don_j(at)hotmail.com;
rjroddayjr(at)yahoo.com; tfletch33(at)yahoo.com;
alwayshunted(at)hotmail.comSent: Tuesday, November 27,
2007 11:57:08 AMSubject: FOG info



So what do ppl think. Thus far w the FOW3’s my
first impression is to try FOW4 starting gunboat and
only negotiate w who you discover. But some have
mentioned an aversion to such…

The concept of gunboat diplomacy is you can see all
the units but you can’t diplome. In fog, you can’t
see your enemies, but you can diplome. So to
deprive one of both vision and diplomacy… well what
have you got left but some random chance orders?
It’s not Diplomacy at that point.

I think I’m leaning back toward having fow4 when it
launches, be open diplomacy… Otherwise what’s the
point of an 18-player game, if you can only ever
negotiate w your 3 or 4 adjacent neighbors that you
meet? There has to be some mechanism to encounter
other players, so that you can negotiate w ppl a few
nations away… For example we all know that although
E/T are rarely adjacent, they always have plenty to
discuss in the standard game.

-mike

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