A&E 090205 Players: The game is ready to begin.
Regarding the player assignments, there were a few very popular countries, and so not everybody could get one of their top couple choices. Sorry about that.
Here are the player assignments & e-mails:
Great Britain: Frank Martin, frankmartin@surewest.net
France: Mike Norton, mjn82@yahoo.com
Spain: Isaac Zinner, isaac.zinner@gmail.com
Denmark-Norway: David Gould, davidchegould@bigpond.com
Sweden: Kurt Weihs, Sturmkraehe@comcast.net
Prussia: Mark Utterback, MDemagogue@gmail.com
Poland & Saxony: Matthew Kelly, kelly058@verizon.net
Austria: Jorge Saralegui, jmsaralegui@gmail.com
Russia: Nathan Albright, nathanbalbright@yahoo.com
Turkey: Robert Stein, smileyrob68@gmail.com
Here are the rules:
1) The first deadline (Spring 1763) will be Thursday, February 12th at 10 pm USA eastern time. That is 7 days from now. One week is a bit short for the opening deadline, and if anybody would like more time, I have no problem extending it to two weeks.
2) The game will have one week seasons. All orders are due at 10 pm USA eastern time. Here is the schedule:
Movement Phase (Fall/Spring): Thursday night
Retreat Phase (if necessary): Friday night
Adjustment Phase (Winter): Monday night
Confirmation/Reminder E-mail: Tuesday or Wednesday night
I will adjudicate orders the same night, and will let you know if that's not possible for some reason (missing orders, I won't be home, etc). My goal is that a consistent schedule will make it to easy to remember the deadline - if it's Thursday, orders are due!
3) I encourage players to send in preliminary orders ("prelims") as early as possible. This helps to avoid missing a deadline by accident. One or two days before the deadline, I will send either an "orders confirmation" or a "gentle reminder" to each player, depending on whether I have a set of orders or not. When I have time, I will also check to confirm the legality or logic of your moves, and will ask you to resolve any possible ambiguities. However, ultimate responsibility for the orders lies with the player.
4) This game will follow strict deadlines. Here is the system for dealing with players missing deadlines:
1st time: 24-hour grace period. Players can continue diplomacy and send in new orders during this grace period. After this, civil disorder rules are applied (all units hold). If the player still has not been heard from, they must re-establish contact with me before the end of the weekend, or a replacement will be found.
2nd time: Civil disorder rules are used immediately. The player again must contact me before the end of the weekend in order to remain in the game.
3rd time: The player is immediately removed from the game.
There is no 24-hour grace period for missing a retreat or adjustment deadline. For a retreat phase, all retreating units disband. For an adjustment deadline, either all builds are waived, or the unit(s) farthest from the greatest number of home SCs are disbanded.
5) When sending e-mails related to this game, please include "A&E" or "DC240" in your subject line. If you are sending in orders, please also include the word "orders" or "prelims" in your subject line. I use filters to organize my e-mail, and this ensures that I can easily find your orders.
6) The Ambition & Empire variant has significantly different rules than standard Dip. Please read over the Diplomacy Points rules carefully, as they can be tricky, particularly with the religious rules. Also, be aware that the 2 SC powers can add one more home SC, which is the first SC that they capture. Please be sure to carefully read the rules on this webpage:
http://www.diplom.org/Online/variants/aerules060824.pdf
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.
7) I use a program called the GameEngine to adjudicate games. When I adjudicate a season, I will send a History file, the map, and the adjudication written out in the e-mail. You do not need to have Excel to play in the game. I will update the page for this game on the Diplomatic Corps also.
8) With the GameEngine, it is helpful if orders are written using the following format (caps are not relevant):
A Lon H
F Lon S F Nth
F Nth C A Lon - Bel
a lon - bel
A London - Belgium
The most important aspect is the spacing and dashes, using the " - " format. While this makes life a bit easier for your GM, orders written in any reasonable format will be valid.
9) Order Interpretation: Because this is a variant with unusual province names, I will interpret the orders very liberally, and make reasonable assumptions when it comes to misspelling, abbreviations, or other uncertainty. Normally I will send you an e-mail telling you how I will interpret the order, and request confirmation of my interpretation. If I don't hear back before the deadline, I will use my interpretation. This has the downside of basically eliminating a player's ability to "intentionally misorder", but overall this is better than the alternative of repeated unintentional misorders, which can be a major problem in variants.
10) The victory condition is 15 of the 44 SCs. The game can also end in a concession, DIAS, or a draw (excluding some survivors). Any player can make an endgame proposal, and then that proposal must be accepted by all surviving players.
11) If you have any upcoming vacations that will require a game delay, please let me know. I will put together a schedule and send it to the group. In the past, I have found that a "known" vacation causes little disruption to a game, while "unknown" or "sudden" vacations are more likely to lead to declining player interest and stagnation.
12) I cannot access personal e-mail accounts during the day while at work (10am-7pm US eastern time). If there is something urgent during that time period, please send me an e-mail at my work address: nicholas.higgins@sentry.com. Generally speaking though, please send all e-mail to this Yahoo account.
Happy Stabbing! GM Nick |
