Exchange Diplomacy (ys11)

by Bruce Duewer

Summary

Each player is an investor; each major power is a corporation. The Investors each try to position themselves to be richest power at the end of the game, where wealth is a measure of their total % control of the winning corporation or drawing corporations.

Note:
In all cases when voting is mentioned below, each share is worth 1 vote.
 

I. Corporate Nations

1.1 Each great power is a publicly traded corporation. Corporations may act in all the ways outlined in the Payola rules as if they were players in a payola game, except that corporations may not freely transfer money.
1.2 The leader of each corporation is determined by plurality vote by the stockholders at the beginning of each game year. In the event of a tie, the former president breaks the tie.
1.3 The leader of each corporation has access to the full records of the corporation’s activities in past years.
1.4 All shareholders learn each year learn how much money is in the corporate treasury, and the identities of the other shareholders, in the annual report.
1.5 The leader of a corporation may choose to issue a dividend to the shareholders. Such a dividend must be some multiple of the number of shares of that corporation. The dividend is divided among the shareholders based on their stock ownership.
[Example: 10 shares of a corporation exist; Player A owns 6 shares,  Player B owns 4 shares. A 20AgP dividend is issued. Player A receives 12AgP, Player B receives 8 AgP]
1.6 A corporation may issue additional stocks with the agreement of 80% of the shareholders. No more than 1/3 a corporations stock may be owned by itself at any given time. Proceeds from the stock sale go to the corporation.
 

II. Players

2.1 Each player begins the game with the same amount of AgP, determined by the GM.
2.2 Players may own stock in as many or few corporations as they wish.
2.3 Players may run for leader of as many or few corporations as they wish, provided they own at least one share of each of these corporations. If so elected, they may serve as leader of multiple corporations.
2.4 Players may spend their money to influence units in the same ways as corporations can, but may also directly transfer money to other players or to corporations.
 

III. Trading

3.1 Player owned stocks may be sold at any time. The owner sets the cost of  the stock publicly, and any other player may buy the stock at that value on a first-come first-serve basis.
3.2 The owner of a stock may remove it from the market at any time before sale.
3.3 Newly issued stocks are sold along with new float stock as described in 4.

IV. Starting a Corporation

4.1 The GM at the start of the game sets a minimum bid to start up a country.
4.2 Each year each player may bid for the opportunity to start up a country; bidding style chosen by GM. Players may bid for as many or few corporations as they wish.
4.3 The winner of each bid determines how much stock a country starts with. They then receive 1/5 of this stock rounded down to the nearest share. They then determine price the rest of the stock will sell for. The amount bid becomes the entire starting corporation treasury.
4.4 Each player creates a list of which corporate issued stock shares they  wish to purchase, from most to least wanted. They also determine a  spending cap. These lists are used to determine which stocks they purchase in the following manner:
4.4.1 The players are ordered randomly
4.4.2 In order, each player buys the first still available stock share still  on their list. Once an entry on the list has been used, it is deleted.
4.4.3 If a purchase would cause a player to exceed their spending cap, that purchase is not made, and that entry is deleted. This does not count as the player’s purchase for the round; the scanning of their list resumes.
4.4.4 Once everyone reaches the end of their lists, the process ends. Any unsold stock is available again the next year.
4.5 A company for which 2/3 or more of the stock is player owned is considered  to have been floated; it is now a corporate nation. See section 7 for what happens when a company floats.
4.6 Any company which is not yet floated may take no action. It does not send out yearly reports, may not spend any money, may not elect a leader, and may not issue additional stock or any dividends.
 

V. Victory Conditions

5.1 A corporation may defeat all other corporations in the same way as a solo victory is normally achieved.  If this occurs, the value of all other corporations goes to zero.
5.2 If a draw is achieved, the value of all corporations not a part of the draw goes to zero. All corporations that are in the draw are set to equal total value.
5.2.1 No draw may occur until all nations have floated.
5.2.2 The president of each corporation has the power to vote for or against draws
5.3 At the end of the game, cash is of no value.
5.4 The player whose portfolio has the greatest value at the end of the game is the winner. If multiple players have portfolios of this value, they share a draw.
5.5 The total of supply centers (active + inactive) is used for determining the solo corporate victory conditions.
5.6 Unless the GM announces otherwise at game start, corporations are allowed to approve non-DIAS draws.
 

VI. Year Order

6.1 Annual reports issued, Country startup bids process
6.2 Starting offering prices are set. (advertising may occur, assuming press)
6.3 Initial float and extra issue purchasing
6.4 Elections
6.5 Dividend distributions & Units builds
6.6 Normal payola play year, not including build & income.
6.7 Territory trades hands, and corporation income is distributed.

Note: This ordering means that when a country first starts up, its only cash is that it received from startup bid. 

VII. Floating Companies

When a company floats:
7.1 All of it’s starting units appear. Any other units sitting on it’s  home SCs are replaced with units of the same type owned by the floating corporation, and ownership of these SCs is transferred to the corporate nation.
7.2 The total income of these SCs is now set to the total value of  all stock in the corporation divided by 5, rounded down. The person who  won the bid to start the company distributes these values between the SCs such that no SC worth more than twice the value of the smallest SC.
7.3 Supply centers of unstarted corporations are inactive- they cannot be captured.
 

VIII. NMR Effects

8.1 If a power does not enter orders in an election they vote their shares as the year before; if they have never voted with the a share before they vote for themselves with it.
8.2 NMR in a startup or IOP(Initial Offer Purchase) phase is equivalent to no purchasing.
8.3 NMR is not valid for any other phase.
 

IX. Exchange Variants

9.1 Payola SC values. Company income is determined by standard payola rules rather than financing.
9.2 Zerosum Exchange. A fixed quantity of money exists in the game, and all money spent to start and float a corporation goes into the corporate treasury. Money changes hands with SCs as per Zerosum Payola rules.
9.3 Invention Exchange. Variant under construction. Kevin Ames invention variant replaces Payola as the variant the stock market sits on top of.