by David Norman
One of the subjects that seems to come up repeatedly on rec.games.diplomacy, is whether there is a world variant available on the judges. There wasn’t, so I decided to put one together. This is the result.
In addition to the adjacencies displayed on the map, the following are also adjacent :
MBL – RIS, MBL – SPO, SEP – SPO, EPA – SPO, EPA – PIS, NEP – PIS, NEP – CPO, NPO – CPO, NPO – NWP, NPO – BRS, Ala – BRS, Ala – AOC, BFS – AOC, BAR – AOC.
In general, this means that it is possible to go from one side of the map to the other, and from any Northern edge province – AOC. This is due to the fact that the map should be drawn on a globe, with SOP and AOC at the two poles.
The following provinces contain canals : Turkey, Germany, Scandinavia, Egypt, Central America. These provinces do not have multiple coasts, and fleets can sail into them from one sea, and out into another. All other provinces with multiple coasts can not be passed through by fleets. They are : Yukon Territory, Quebec, Monterrey, Mexico, Colombia, British Antartica, France, Balkans, Saudi Arabia, Yakutsk.
There is one impassable province on the map. The Caspian Sea. This is not labelled on any map, or listed in the map file on the judge.
All powers abbreviate to their initial letter, with the exception of Oz which is Z (O is Observer). Be aware that some countries have double-barrelled names, and all of these use the initial of their first barrel – W for Western-Canada, F for Frozen-Antartica, etc.
Build rules are as in Standard. You may only build in home centres.
The following shows the adjacencies across the Pacific:
Ris | SPO | PIS | CPO | NWP | BRS | AOC —-+–+—–+–+–+–+–+–+—–+–+–+–+—–+ Mbl | SEP | EPA | NEP | NPO | Ala | BFS |
Experience from watching previous variant developments tell me that if this is going to be a good variant then it will probably go through at least half a dozen iterations before it is finalised.
The variant is loosely based on the world as we know it. The shape of the land is the same, as are the countries. However, there is no intent to provide historical accuracy, so please don’t ask questions like why particular provinces are supply centres when others aren’t. The aim is playability, not accuracy.
Changes from World1 to World2:
- North America has been significantly rearranged in order to balance it. USA now starts much further South. All adjacencies are the same, except that DSo is now next to Nev. Tex is not next to Mid.
- Pacific Russia now starts further inland, and the neutral centre in Oms has moved to WSi. This should weaken Pacific Russia, and therefore strengthen China, and to a lesser extent, Russia.
- Zam is now an SC, to strengthen South-Africa.The starting positions are : A-Argentina
A Santa Cruz
F Buenos Aires
F ChileB-Brazil
A Brasilia
A Rio de Janeiro
F RecifeC-China
A Beijing
A Shanghai
F GuangzhouE-Europe
A Germany
F France (north coast)
F ItalyF-Frozen-Antarctica
F Casey
F Leningradskaya
F MawsonG-Ghana
A Ghana
A Mali
F GuineaI-India
A Calcutta
A Delhi
F BombayK-Kenya
A Kenya
A Uganda
F TanzaniaL-Libya
A Libya
A Northern Sudan
F EgyptN-Near-East
A Iraq
A Saudi Arabia
A SyriaP-Pacific-Russia
A East Siberia
A Vladivostok
F Yakutsk (South Coast)Q-Quebec
A Quebec
F Newfoundland
F OntarioR-Russia
A Belorussia
A Moscow
A St PetersburgS-South-Africa
A Namibia
F Sanae
F South AfricaU-USA
A Texas
F California
F FloridaW-Western-Canada
A Yukon Territory
F British Columbia
F Northwest TerritoriesZ-Oz
F New South Wales
F Victoria
F Western Australia
There are 86 supply centres, so you need 44 to win