Ranking the Diplomacy Maps

I quite enjoy Imperial. It’s great fun, even if a bit (very) unbalanced. If you want to join some games of it, come on Floridaman’s server and ask for a link to the variant’s server. I agree with classic being first in this assessment definitely, it’s been the default for 60 years for a reason! (Thanks for the vid FM, the references make me smile 😊)

I don't think balance should be the ultimate thing to strive for in a diplomacy map. There should be enough of it to give every power a good chance of winning but beyond that I don't think it's useful to balance further. If players are experienced on the map then they adjust their strategies, becoming more weary of the stronger powers, naturally balancing out the game. For instance, in classic, Turkey is strongest on playdiplomacy but I've seen a world championship final board where it was picked last since people know it's potential and so know they will all block it in the corner if it gets too big. I think it's better to introduce more interesting gameplay potential and historical accuracy rather than to prioritise balance above all else. However, I do agree 2:1 win ratio is a sensible limit on imbalance.

I think the coolest variant I've seen (but never played) is about cowboys on the border between Mexico and Texas. Some centers are were ranches, which work like normal, but cattle herds are also centers and the whole gimmick was that herds can move like armies. I think that variant's called like ranchers but don't remember for sure.

I like the 1936 variant a lot. It's, as the title suggests, a map of Europe in 1936. This variant includes neutral powers with standing armies, which can be influenced by spending Diplomacy points. For example, Germany can move it's three starting armies, but it can also spend one or two DP's to write an order for a neutral power. It can write an order to support his army in Munich to Austria with the Neutral army in Bohemia. A neutral power that gets more than one order assigned, will follow the order which has the most DP's attached to it (almost every nation starts with 3 DP's, and you can spend 1 or 2 DP to influence a neutral power). This aspect can create an immense increase of options and diplomatic strategies. I have never played it, but it looks interesting. http://www.dipwiki.com/index.php?title=1936_v3.4

This makes me want to make my own map. If it didn't already exist, my map would be ancient Greece. Maybe a pre-Colombian Mesoamerican map would be good.

The variant I've played the most is the modern diplomacy map, in 1990 with 10 players

Hundred is great if you only have two friends; I think it's the best of three-player maps (which can actually be very interesting in public press). Imo 1900 is fine--the best part is Turkey having another neighbor (as Turkey in classic there's very little tangible leverage you have over the West--you certainly want the West to attack your assailants but there's really not too much you can offer), but it has major flaws (Germany +3 in '01 almost every time!) Classic also benefits from being well-known, although I won't deny that it's a very good variant regardless. Anyways, nice analysis; I'd hope to play some more variants soon :)

I played Colonial Diplomacy once as a teen in the 90's and enjoyed it. I'm curious if there is an online version of this anywhere. I don't know how well balanced it was, but I know it was a larger map, and needed more dots for victory. I played as France (French Indo-China) and got obliterated by Japan when I tried to muscle in on the Philippines, and China vultured my supply centers. Not sure who won, but it was pretty fun even though I didn't get very far.

Been waiting for this

Great video! I would be very interested in watching a ranking of the world map variants as there are quite a few. Particularly if you could compare maps like World War IV, World Diplomacy X, Imperial Diplomacy II, and Youngstown Redux along with a few others. They are not quick to play (making any review and ranking even more valuable) so perhaps enlist the help of one or two other players in feeding into your ranking, and/or make use of any stats you can get your hands on. Looking forward to watching a world diplomacy ranking in the near future hopefully! 🤞

Nice overview Florida man. After seeing this video I was wondering if you would be interested in including the variants from Web diplomacy [ Such as fall of the American Empire, known world, modern diplomacy, and world diplomacy]. This led me to the idea that you might Give your opinion of the major Diplomacy online platforms such as Web diplomacy and backstaber. I realise you may not play on these platforms very much but would value your opinion nonetheless. Or perhaps you could just tell us why you prefer play diplomacy website. Thanks again for your always interesting insights.

Hey! South American Supremacy made it. Cool! :)

The thing I don’t like about 1900 is no impassables. Switzerland and Ireland being neutral are important for balance.

All is best in the eye of the beholder... currently I am looking at around 20 different maps and rules...

Have you played the Cold War variant?

Comment for the algorithm

I haven't even played the game diplomacy yet, but I've been watching a lot of these videos. I'm surprised they didn't see Greece as a map on the list.

For yours truly, someone new to Diplomacy, could you elaborate upon the Minor Powers rules and how they enhance the traditional game?

Commento per l'algoritmo

1900 variant is one of my favourites, but an enjoyable game requires the players to understand that germany is strong and turkey weak. If the players are not aware of those imbalances, then they will not utilise them in the negotiations, leading to win bloat for germany. The opposite is true for the classic. With completely new players, none of who know anything about the "meta", Italy will almost never win, and Turkey is super strong. Those imbalances do not affect the stats on playdip or vdip because players are aware of them. I think imbalance is actually required for a good game. And for newbies it could actually be good to have a variant where there is one obviously overpowered country, with all the others weaker, like a video game boss. In that sense, 1900 falls short, as turkey does not SEEM weaker, and germany does not SEEM stronger. Balance issues are heightened if there are fewer players on the board, however, meaning that any imbalance in ancient med is worse than in chaos for example.