Post by Mal_Arky on Aug 27, 2023 7:48:42 GMT
The Rules of Diplomacy v6 (2023) contains an aide memoire for the rules of the game. I've added these here (with an example where I think it necessary). I've also added four of my own because the two scenarios seem to cause a lot of confusion.
- All units (armies and fleets) have the same strength.
- There can only be one unit in a space at a time. Renegade use the term 'province' but this is inaccurate and possibly confusing as it could be seen to refer to land areas; I've never heard of an area of water being referred to as a 'province'!
- Units of equal strength trying to occupy the same space cause all those units to remain in their original spaces. This is what we colloquially refer to as a 'bounce' (although the official term is 'standoff'). It applies to single units bouncing or units with equal support.
- A bounce doesn't dislodge a unit already in the space where the bounce occurred. This is known as the "Beleaguered Garrison" rule.
- One unit not moving can cause a series of units to not move.
- Units can't trade places without the use of a convoy. On its own, this can be a little confusing. What it means is that, if I'm trying to move from Belgium to Holland, and you're trying to move from Holland to Belgium, neither unit moves. However, if I have a fleet in the North Sea and it convoys the army in Belgium to Holland, the moves succeed. (See 19 below.)
- Three of more units can rotate spaces in a turn as long as none of them directly switch places. Another example. An army in Belgium is ordered to Holland, an army in Holland is moved to Ruhr, and the army in Ruhr is ordered to Belgium - this succeeds!
- A unit not ordered to move can be supported by a support order that only mentions its space. If an army in London is ordered to hold, then a fleet in the English Channel can be ordered to support it to hold by simply being ordered to support London. This isn't always the case in online and app play, be warned! (There are reasons for that.)
- A unit ordered to move can only be supported by a support order that matches the move the unit is trying to make. So if I'm moving from Burgundy to Ruhr, the support order has to match the move order exactly; in this case ordering to support Burgundy doesn't work.
- A dislodged unit can still cause a bounce in a space different from the space from which the successful invader came. If my army in Burgundy was dislodged by an attack from Munich, but I tried to move from Burgundy to Belgium, I will still try to move to Belgium and might prevent an otherwise successful move from another unit to Belgium.
- A dislodged unit has no impact on the space from which the successful invader came. If, in the example above, I'd tried to move from Burgundy to Munich, my army wouldn't have any effect on a unit moving from, say, Tyrolia to Munich.
- A player can't dislodge, or support the dislodgement, of one of their own units.
- Support is cut (cancelled) if the unit ordered to support is attacked from any space except the space where support is being given. If my army in Vienna is supporting an army in Budapest to Galicia, the army in Galicia can't cut that support by attacking Vienna; however, another army in, say, Tyrolia can cut Vienna's support by attacking Vienna. Also, see number 21 below.
- Support is cut if the supporting unit is dislodged.
- A unit being dislodged by an attack from one space can still cut support if attacking another space.
- A player trying to move into a space occupied by one of their own units doesn't cause support of the attacked unit to be cut.
- The dislodgement of a fleet necessary to a convoy causes that convoy to fail. However, simply attacking a fleet, when the fleet isn't dislodged doesn't cause the convoy to fail.
- A convoy that causes the convoyed army to bounce in its destination space, causes the convoyed army to remain in its original space. So, if I'm convoying Tunis to Naples, but the army bounces on Naples, the army stays in Tunis.
- Two units can exchange spaces if either or both are convoyed.
- If an army is convoyed by one or more convoyed routes it successfully moves if at least one convoy route succeeds. If I try to convoy Tunis to Naples, and fleets in both the Ionian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea are ordered to convoy the army, it will succeed (assuming it isn't prevented by an action in Naples) even if one of the fleets is successfully dislodged as long as one fleet can carry out the convoy order.
- A convoyed army doesn't cut the support of a unit supporting an attack on a fleet that is convoying the army. If I am moving my army in London to Denmark, using a fleet in the North Sea, and your fleet in Denmark is supporting a fleet in Norway to the North Sea, I can't cut that support. This rule supersedes number 13 above.
- A convoyed army with at least one successful convoy route (see 20 above) can cut the support of a unit in the destination space supporting an attack on an alternative convoy route. If my army in London is moving to Belgium, and is being convoyed by a fleet in the English Channel and by a fleet in the North Sea, your fleet in Belgium, supporting an attack from Brest to the Channel, has that support cut if the convoy through the North Sea is successful. This supersedes number 21 above.
- A fleet in a land space cannot convoy.
- An army can be convoyed over multiple sea spaces as long as each fleet is ordered to convoy the army from its original space to its destination. A fleet in London can be convoyed to Spain if there is a fleet in the English Channel and the Mid-Atlantic Ocean, as long as both fleets are ordered to convoy the army from London to Spain.
- As per number 2 above, there can only be one unit in a space with two coasts. Spain, for instance, can't have an army in Spain and a fleet at it's south (or north) coast at the same time, or even a fleet on one coast and a second fleet on the other.
- A fleet moving to a space with more than one coast cannot move to one coast if a fleet on the other coast in the same space attempts to move to the first fleet's original space. If I have a fleet in Portugal, and I try to move it to Spain's north coast, but a fleet in Spain's south coast attempts to move to Portugal, both orders will fail. This is still a bounce because, regardless of coasts, this is still an example of units trying to switch places. It's known as 'Coastal Creep'.