Imperial Diplomacy - 24 Player World Map Commentary

[@Salt-wf1tx]

As the ottoman player, I feel like I have to shed some light on what I was thinking throughout. I actually didn’t even realize I was playing next to Diplostrats until well into the game here, so I treated him as any other player. We started out great! Had some nice press trying to get some alliances going to either crush Poland or Ethiopia early on. I was genuine about wanting to work against Ethiopia, but in Polands case I wanted them fighting with bornu as much as possible. You can actually see we had a huge alliance all game, and that extended into Africa, so I tried to get Poland to commit as much as possible to fight Bornu even before our war. Then…. year 2 happened. I went a little insane stabbing 3 people on the same turn but on these global maps, tempo is everything. The ottomans are a power that really need to pretend to be strong early on, even if they’re not, or all their neighbors decide to coalition them. I wasn’t even planning to stab Spain, but after they built only 1 fleet near me I had to do it. I still stand by that these were good stabs, but my threat level went up way too quickly. So, of course, I have a strong neighbor with no clear commitments who likes to play balance of power. Lovely. I never thought he’d stab despise that, and I only covered Tripoli due to some random gut feeling at the end. And so, the never ending war began. Africa was just awful for me. I was winning in Europe, winning in Asia, and just getting pushed out everywhere in Africa. I had the option of peacing out with Spain or bornu, and I chose to make peace with Spain because I viewed Bornu as a more long term threat whereas Spain could be left alone. I tried to get a coalition together. Only Poland really came through for me. And over time…. I just saw bornu as someone I could stalemate but never win against. So I didn’t mind making moves like declaring war on France/Spain, or attacking my only ally Ethiopia because there would be little to no progress against Bornu anyways. It just wasn’t worth it, no matter how much I wanted to take back Tunis and Tripoli. So many zero dot stabs were made, and we just got to this point where we’re essentially playing gunboat because despite the fact I’m still begging for peace every turn, he’s still attacking and I just have to defend as best I can. Throughout all of this, I am still making huge gains in other theaters. I’m trying to leverage anything I can to get Dutch or Kongo to stab, but it never worked out. And alas, we finally have a turn where I can work with him against Ethiopia (who I’ve also made terrible guesses with and ended up in a stalemate), and I stab Bornu. My thinking there was that I needed 10 centers to reach 100% VSCC that year, and that was the only way I was going to do it. It was mostly a last ditch effort to stop an inuit pax. In the final few years, I kept telling Bornu I was using all of my fleets to attack France and convoy into Spain, but I guess he never believed me? Fair enough, not like we’ve had the best relationship throughout. And in the final year I decided to finally retake my lost cores, because I wanted some measure of pride back. This game was so fun to play. Africa was so frustrating, but in a good way. I think if I hadn’t been stopped after those stabs in year 2, a solo would’ve been possible for me, so credit there for seeing that. I was really relying on delaying getting armies into Africa to fight bornu later, something I was planning to do. Anyways. I want Ezio as a neighbor next time. I have a feeling Ezio would’ve helped me in Ethiopia a lot sooner! Really fun game! I had a lot of fun with Captain Meme, even if he was by far my most annoying neighbor.

[@DiploStrats]

It was an honour to cross swords (again... and again... and again) with you! Very well played throughout, and sorry for how much of a nuisance I ended up being to you :D

[@timothymclean]

The latefame Ottoman/Bornu relationship is a highlight of the video. It felt like a constant cycle of trying to find the minimum quantum of trust where an act of aggression still feels like betrayal.

[@Valefisk]

hmmmm...

[@DiploStrats]

👀

[@YetAnotherInv]

it's so over

[@poohssmartbrother1146]

OH NO.

[@thegeneralissimo6172]

its so cooked bros

[@ryanheywood3165]

Time to get the patreon supporters into a game!

[@LinusRapTips]

Diplomacy: The Campaign for Africa

[@AJ1770s]

The global war 1642-(when ever it ends)

[@timothymclean]

@@AJ1770s 1642-TBD

[@deeznoots6241]

A nice short video of diplomacy commentary before I go to bed

[@douglashudson4706]

😂😂

[@XanderHerman-y8j]

Un ironically just clicked on it to do that and then saw the channel and length

[@jaspermooren5883]

I just realised how long this video is after I read this comment. I guess I'll have to finish it another time.

[@nathankurtz8045]

I do watch this to sleep

[@tobiasburke9495]

One of the most interesting things about these larger maps is the butterfly effect that everyone's decisions has on everyone. Meme's eternal war with the Ottomans and interactions with the Poles hindered them enough to buy time for Intuit's plan to succeed. While it might still have happened, Meme's decisions definitely significantly helped the Inuits, without even speaking. Really interesting.

[@astrolonim2032]

Finally, my 3000 hours of eu4 come in handy!

[@DaRealKakarroto]

I think nobody can deny, that in this game, CaptainMeme was _the_ Chad player.

[@DiploStrats]

badum tss

[@thegeneralissimo6172]

found you through valefisk video(although you been popping in my recommended for a while now) and seeing this monster of a map, man, valefisk would probably kill a man to get this

[@DiploStrats]

Nobody tell him about this map, I don't want to delay the CNA video by another 5 years

[@YetAnotherInv]

@@DiploStrats Ahh, well, what's 5 more years to the eons we have to wait?

[@EGO-SUM-VICTOR]

Considering the video I saw saying it would take 20 years to complete a game playing three hours a day, I'd say they're still playing ​@@DiploStrats

[@lancebrown998]

@@DiploStrats what does cna stand for in this context?

[@Leo_pardo1313]

​@@lancebrown998campain for north africa

[@shinyguiltforest3281]

I’m not super knowledgeable in Diplomacy, but I feel like there doesn’t need to be such a big difference in the supply center win conditions between small and large powers, since large powers mostly have the weakness of have to defend a widely spread empire and small powers are naturally incentivized to gang up on the larger powers to even the playing field. The map is very interesting though, and I’m very interested to see this project go further.

[@DiploStrats]

I think you're absolutely correct, and the variant designer mentioned reducing the victory conditions for larger powers after the playtest. Portugal in particular in this game did about as well as you could expect a colonial power to do, and ran into exactly that issue in that they were fighting on so many fronts they couldn't pass 40.

[@rylanleung7524]

I'm only 1 hour in but them saying Assyria instead of Abyssinia is killing me hopefully they realize and stop Edit: They fixed it

[@VirgoShelter]

It is funny ngl

[@AJ1770s]

Also I believe they are mispronouncing Iran's name

[@mountelbert4214]

@@AJ1770sthey did for a bit

[@daffquess7006]

Also kept calling Poland Prussia and Netherlands Holland

[@pclone5019]

Thank goodness. Now I can keep watching without anxiety.

[@Imperial_Squid]

"I could build a fleet on lake Chad", and that fellas, on multiple levels, is an absolute chad move

[@spilledpizza]

Truly one of the diplomacy variants of all time

[@dymaxion3988]

Can you really consider yourself a historian if you don’t know about the Borneo-Assyrian rivalry in 17th century Africa?

[@bigprovola]

Vassalizing all the other nations at once feels like the religious victory in Civ or something.

[@stupidflandrs4856]

As someone who's been trying to get into variants lately, this looks like the perfect video to stare at in amazement and confusion for its full duration! Or I could study for finals... hmmmm

[@q-tuber7034]

I would play more Diplomacy myself, but I just don’t have the time. You know, between work, family, and watching five-hour KZbin videos

[@bigyihsuan2]

4:20:00 That sneaky Spanish fleet is hilarious, just releasing half of South America out of nowhere lmao

[@douglashudson4706]

It's not a DiploStrats video without a random siren in the background

[@DiploStrats]

The hospital weren't very receptive to the idea of not sending any ambulances out for 5 hours, even when I explained how important DiploStrats is :(

[@douglashudson4706]

The first time I heard it in one of your previous videos I didn't realize at the time it was coming from the video and asked my wife if she'd seen any police or emergency vehicles go by... 😂

[@audiosurfarchive]

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

[@wademarshall2364]

its how we know its not AI generated

[@sharpieman2035]

I’d like to see a similar video of Ezio playing a variant to swap the roles of player and commentator, would be interesting.

[@DiploStrats]

We'll absolutely do this on the next playtest!

[@changrcaterham5784]

23:24 historical inaccuracies have precedent in diplomacy; Albania does not exist in 1900 but serves an important role as to buffer Austria from Greece for an extra move

[@easytiger6570]

I always imagined Albania as being the 6th territory of the Turks same as all the other powers having 3 supply centers and 3 additional territories (with Russia having 1 additional center). But that would still make the borders of Serbia Greece and Bulgaria wrong

[@jaspermooren5883]

@@easytiger6570 Yeah Ottoman Albania was a thing. Albania was understood as a region in the world, it just wasn't an independant nation. The far more aggregious historical inaccuracy in the main game, is that it's called Turkey, which didn't exist until 1923, rather than the Ottoman empire. Most of the regions on the map are not nation states, but territories (otherwise you could also claim that Bohemia is inaccurate as well, since that wasn't independant at the time as well, and isn't nowadays either, as well as many other examples).

[@hannah42069]

Maybe the draw voting could be scaled by the number of supply centres each country owns

[@DiploStrats]

I think that would be a step in the right direction, making sure that stronger powers have more of a say than weaker ones - but I also think the leading player should just be able to veto it even if their SC count isn't enough to hit the 20%. I think it's pretty important that people can't just vote to end the game because someone else is in the lead :D

[@geomine7295]

I'm glad to see diplostrats back in action! I thoroughly enjoyed every hour

[@DiploStrats]

Geo you're alive! Glad you enjoyed :D

[@DraconicWarlocke]

This version of diplomacy is great but I feel that the vassalization system is more toxic to the game as it incentivizes throwing rather than actually attempting a unified resistance. I think that it also contributes to the snowballing of both smaller and larger powers as larger powers gain more vassals (as the vassals desperately try to hold land and align themselves with a higher ranking player) while the smaller powers gain a more defensible and intractable position (defended and aided by their vassals to reach a lower victory condition). In this game, it seemed to make the entire game less competitive near the end. I think that the version could use tweaks to the balance of power between larger and smaller powers as many players are relatively powerless over the state of the game. Only select few large powers can exercise the global control necessary to prevent the smaller win condition (especially in disparate or defensible regions) and these larger powers often select not to attack out of the prioritization of concerns over even larger powers that are more relevant to their homefront or critical colonies. Ultimately, I think that some of the smaller positions suffer from an inability to break out from their own region while larger positions are overwhelmed with their presence in almost every region of the board.

[@DiploStrats]

Agreed completely on vassalisation - you can really see exactly that happening at the end of the game. There's been a lot of discussion about it with the players and variant designer - that mechanic is definitely changing in the next playtest, but we're not exactly sure how yet. On smaller players being stuck in their region, I think that's just a side effect of a massive map like this - it doesn't feel to me like there's a great solution to that that wouldn't compromise the designer's vision of the variant being quite assymetrical. I think also most regionals can break out, Bornu is just quite an extreme case with being landlocked.

[@sharpieman2035]

I think it’s fine that the smaller powers are stuck in their region and the larger powers are overwhelmed. That’s sort of the point of the variant. As long as both still have good winning chances and can have fun the variant can still be successful imo.

[@AM-we1es]

Surprisingly, we've seen a decent number of small powers break out of their region! We've seen Ajuuran Indonesia, Mapuche Australia, Athapascan Siberia, and of course, in this game Inuit Everything.

[@Pystro]

@@DiploStrats "[...] but we're not exactly sure how yet." (Feel free to ignore me, as I have never played a single game of Diplomacy, but:) One solution to the snowballing vassalization problem would be to tie the ranking of vassalized powers to how long they've been vassalized. That way someone like Safavid and Ajuuran who were vassalized for 90% of the game could get 90% of their puppeteer's supply center count as a bonus to their score board position (while obviously being capped to ranking below their pupeteer). In contrast someone like Qing/Ming who just convoy the leading player into their own capital at the last turn would be getting exactly zero benefits to their scoreboard position (for being a vassal for effectively 0% of the game duration). That would keep the "alignment of interests" factor going for those early vassals, while for later vassalizations the puppeteering player is more likely to have their units nearby - or at least it's less punishing to do so once you have just plain more units. The "1/4th of the unit cap being transferred" rule can probably stay, because that benefits the puppeteer state while hurting the new vassal, and thus creates an incentive to get yourself un-vassalized. Even though on the other hand it also contributes to the leading state attracting _all of_ the voluntary vassalizations.

[@Pystro]

And while we're on suggestions, I would find it kind of sad to see Brneo eliminated from the game. That seems like it would leave quite a gap in the northern part of Africa; even more than a Europe without Germany. The Brneo home center defensibility could easily be nerfed by eliminating the "Chad" province and by that the _fifth_ unit position that can support _every_ home province (who even thought that was a balanced idea?) and re-cutting the home provinces so that Lake Chad is in the way of all "diagonal" support moves between opposing home centers. Wouldn't change the fact that it's a hopelessly landlocked turtler's paradise, though. As you mentioned, coring a contested coastal supply center takes 3 units 2 turns. (6 unit-turns of momentum lost). And then you have to move the army out of that center to build (+1 unit-turn=7) And you have to self-bounce once with 2 armies in the fall to protect the center for building (+2 unit-turns=9) I'm going to assume that you either manage to core the middle province (even though the enemy fleet is in control of that), or that you happen to have a 4th army nearby for that bounce. (Which will likely take _extra turns_ to move in). And then you find out that you can't force the enemy fleet out as long as you only have a single one; so you rotate the fleet to a different center/province in the spring, which might involve 3 units _or more_ (+3 unit-turns=12). Then you build your second fleet (by pulling out one army and self-bouncing with 2 units in the fall). (+1+2 unit-turns=15) And then you can finally force one of your fleets out with support from the other one, but the army in the third center still has to hold it against the retreating enemy fleet (but it can at least support hold or core something, so I won't count it as a forced move) (+2 unit-turns=17) So you're looking at 17 (absolute minimum) or more realistically 22-ish unit-turns just to break out of being landlocked. Maybe the land-locking can be fixed with a selection of some coastal centers pre-cored for Brneo... Although coming upon a pre-cored supply center eliminates only the first 6 unit-turns. And it took you until 4:28:30 to do so, at which point the pre-cored centers wouldn't be there any more. Maybe there should instead just be a bonus rule that Brneo can transform the first one or two of its armies that capture a coastal supply center into fleets. That would eliminate 11 of those unit-turns; and it makes it much more likely that you can core the centers way more easily after that. It would also be more easy to convince Holland to agree to let you do that, since you only have to _go into_ the centers and don't have to core something into a spot from where you can get sneaky builds right next to their home centers. Or Brneo could just start out with 2 fleets somewhere out in the ocean instead of 2 of its armies. That would also have the side effect of hampering it's growth in the very beginning, where Ajuuran and Abyssinia inevitably hamper each other, and Kongo has a "Dutch road block" in the way.

[@oliviapg]

Great video! I'm definitely more of an Ezio-style player, I was tearing my hair out a bit at a few decisions you made but I think you ended up making a solid game out of it. Kind of makes me want to get back into variant diplomacy but not sure I have the time right now unfortunately. I also noticed Ezio's audio issues seem to be fixed, really improves the listening experience so good job with that

[@DiploStrats]

In future the Eras of DiploStrats will be defined by Ezio's audio quality

[@unyosalvaje3493]

First playtest Weird variant FIVE HOURS Yup im watching this before sleeping

[@Superstition1980]

As an ottoman observer. I'm like wtf we agreed to only fleet builds in Africa. Seemed like a sweet deal. Land centers touched too many things in Africa. It was near impossible to hold a line so not worth a war of raiders behind both our lines.

[@thecanadian9105]

If there's any more games of this kind. Please make more videos on it! This is so cool!

[@DiploStrats]

Next playtest isn't for a couple of months, but Ezio will play in that one (hopefully!) so we'll be able to do another commentary on this map after that!

[@thecanadian9105]

@@DiploStrats nice! Can't wait

[@__dane__]

Diplomacy: Europa Universalis Edition

[@oliviapg]

One of the biggest variants on vdip is actually directly based on EU4, it's called Europa Renovatio and has 36 players

[@encapsulatedslime]

Call the Ottomans Julius Caesar the way they got stabbed so many times

[@pixel_painter7658]

You two controlling the same country sounds like a great idea. Would love to see that pls do it :) great Video very interesting game

[@wistlov9248]

Damn, I didn't realize any of you were in one of the playtests. Looking forward to watching the video!

[@TheRedNaxelaYouTube]

Video uploaded 8 hours ago I just watched this whole video, start to finish, which having a chill day revising for upcoming exams. Just wanted to say I found it very entertaining and hope to see more analysis videos of games either/both of you have played in. I wouldn't normally feel compelled to write a comment, especially when I have nothing particular to say. But considering I just spent my entire afternoon listening to you talk about diplomacy, it seemed only fitting to thank you for the entertainment while I'm slogging through work.

[@DiploStrats]

That's awesome :D Glad you enjoyed, and good luck in the exams!

[@TheRedNaxelaYouTube]

​@@DiploStrats thank you!

[@TheH3LLP3R]

I think ezio really likes this map from the standpoint of big map= more deception and more stab opportunity lol

[@hitmongg]

The Inuit vassalizing the world is the timeline we were robbed of. I love it. Also, I didn't realize Captain meme is an ice cold killer! Can't wait for the next one.

[@Sock-qv9wr]

I'm formarky requesting more non-standard diplomacy. This was so fun to watch.

[@fanstar141]

Its faciniating just how utterly complex this is! Would love to get a chance to play this at some point

[@chickenspaceprogram]

I can _feel_ the pain of Ezio in this one.

[@yurigagarin9765]

"I know me backstabbing you 5 times sucks, but trust me, it hurts me more than it does you."

[@belisarius6949]

Okay this rules, I hope it gets refined and more people play it ^^

[@nighthawk3045]

This was a fun and crazy video. Also a great video to have on the side while playing Minecraft. No breaks 5 hours video, nice. I am so hungry.

[@Tyler.CanoeHorde]

Great commentary. Looks like im waking up at 11:00 on Sunday!

[@connorbrooks7501]

Great video. Love the commentary and the interesting variant! Been binging so many of your old videos over the past couple weeks, it’s nice to watch a new one that just got released!

[@yiannchrst]

I discovered you channel and world map diplomacy within two days, and now I see that you recently played it! Let's go! I feel so lucky!

[@SolarFlareAmerica]

59:00 that bike scared the absolute shit out of me at 11:00 pm lmaoooo. Thought I left the TV on XD Also, straight up Diplostrats, if anyone runs this again, I'm a little new to the game but I LOVE the idea of playing that Somalia. SO much potential.

[@Xcyiterr]

gotta love Diplomacy games like this where the first turn doesn't even start being commented on until 48mins into the video lmao

[@Derlen]

First video that I watched from you guys just the entirety of 5 hours

[@muffinman4811]

Great video! Really enjoyed this map, would love to see more of it.

[@RoyalFusilier]

Genuinely awesome variant, I love huge Earth maps in games that don't normally feature them such as Civ, this really felt like mashing EU4 and Diplomacy together and watching the antics that then ensued. From this playtest, I agree with your guys' analysis that the two main issues were that smaller nations had a much easier time winning, and the big one, being able to vote to draw while the victory countdown was already starting for a while. Even with that and some wacky moves in there, the five hours of this video genuinely just flew by.

[@Bankosek]

Cant wait to see Ezio's game commented, it sounds like your playstyles couldn't be further apart haha.

[@lythd]

man this looks like fun! really enjoyed watching this, hope to see other commentaries of this variant in future

[@jago2503]

Always love your videos, but it definitely adds something when you know for certain what negotiations were going on! Also I love this variant *so very much*. Might have to try to get into future playtests...

[@noahfischer3088]

3:01:36 at least it's not real life with our 200 ish diplomacy game. And with so many of the players seem to have split personalities too.

[@OldeManMinguiz]

oh jeez, this is gonna be fun! thanks as always Captain & Ezio

[@PaperDoopliss]

While the numbers are currently kind of screwy, I do really like the relationship that winds up developing between regionals who have to fear colonials dumping armies on them from elsewhere and colonials who have to balance their various fronts. I wonder if the vassalage system is inherently a mess right now or if more advanced play would involve more competing vassal piles among nations who can't participate in the winning vassal pile.

[@TashaKoenig]

My brain is far too smooth for this game but love your videos

[@Aiden-og6ty]

great video as always! would love to join the next playthrough if there are open spots

[@PattPlays]

4:21:10 wow, all six of the same ocean tiles being used

[@ucrtyfiytugvblkuyhb]

Good chemistry between you two.

[@McMxxCiV]

Living in Ghent, I'm pleased to see it given its historic importance on this map. Forget Bruges, Ghent is where it was (and is) at.

[@pimme043]

i just wanted a quick vid before bed but i am so urged to completely watch it

[@Arkangel630]

This is a very fun if extremely chaotic variant, hope to see more of it

[@iambicpentakill971]

I really dislike the gm's decision to just award territories for no reason, but I'm enjoying the video so far Edit to say that props to the GM for putting in all the work though

[@TheAngryTrapezoid]

Somewhat new to Diplomacy, could someone explain why Portugal's attack from Bunyoro into Bambuti worked around 3:16:00? I would have thought Bambuti attacking Burundi would cut the support there, so it ends up being a 1v1, and I don't think the commentator's addressed it

[@half55-qo1tq]

Because a unit that is being attacked with support can't cut support against itself. Since otherwise a unit could defend against 2 attackers by cutting support

[@dutch1641]

this is a greatly fun video and project. might consider joining it myself.

[@flare2209]

Do it! Server link in the description!

[@HaydenMussi]

It would be awesome if you commentated the other Imperial Diplomacy games too, now that they're also starting to end

[@flare2209]

There will be AARs of all games! They’ll be linked in the discord server ^^

[@deut]

Dude this is really fun to watch! :D Havent played Diplomacy in years. But this is just really entertaining. Please do more World maps or other fun bigger maps than the standard one!

[@DiploStrats]

We're planning to cover more variants in future! But they probably won't be more often than once every couple months, they take a while to play :D

[@deut]

@@DiploStrats haha yeah for sure!! :D Super awesome.

[@mrcopycat2355]

4:14:50 Wholesome moment alert

[@t395delta]

would have been nice to see a bit more of the rest of the map, looked like an epic game, might be worth taking a few notes next time :-)

[@DiploStrats]

The problem with that is just time - it took us 5 hours just focusing on Africa! But notes are certainly not a bad idea :D And for the next one, Ezio and I will likely both play, so we'll have two different areas to focus on (potentially more if one of us picks up a colonial)

[@t395delta]

@@DiploStrats just a couple of min overview would have been good, i was just pausing it for a min when you showed the full map, you were butting with powers who had other interests 2 points of view (and attitudes :-) sounds cool, i hope there's a good gap between you and the same countries on your borders lol

[@thefacethatstares]

RE your thesis, have you considered the condition of "group of connected nodes on a planar graph with at least X supply centres which have bordering them at most X provinces"? e.g. if a province had a supply centre province enclosed in it, that inner province would be untakeable, how does that generalise?

[@DiploStrats]

I haven't worked on that for a good while, but I do think something similar to this is the answer. There are certain patterns that are really easy to stalemate (e.g. a large province with a lot of adjacent provinces on one side that can support hold it, and very few on the other that can attack it) which could be searched for. It's not really about SC adjacency though, because the SCs just need to be behind the line, not next to it. Looking for SCs with very few provinces adjacent would definitely find some of the ones located around Portugal in standard, for example, but probably wouldn't find the Major Stalemate Line because a good portion of that is across non-SC territories.

[@solsystem1342]

In general that's not true. It's possible that the outside territories are spaced out in such a way where there are enough attacks to cut support and force a center. Or, alternatively there can be provinces which don't have space within the center to get the supports they would need to stay on the board. Tldr: you would more complex way to find the stalemate/staling lines. Also, I think your proposed situation (Bonu with Chad as an SC vs the 5 centers around them) is a stalling line not an actual stalemate. Given it's unlikely to come up in a game but if Chad doesn't support hold the right province then the surrounding player can break in. And a tapping defense can only hit 4/5 centers anyways so no way that works for long.

[@MaxIsEast]

my friend and i spent the entire 1st year of college trying to organise an irl game of this, im just happy to see it's been done

[@acatwithwiskers9273]

This is what I want from diplomacy

[@oscaro3977]

I found this video hilarious! I never expect to make it throught these whole videos but somehow over a few days I always do! Very fun! If ezio does play this variant can we have a commentary again? I loved this, thanks very much!

[@DiploStrats]

We're both planning to play in the next round, so there will be more commentaries on this variant in future! It's not clear how exactly the games are getting assigned yet, but it's feasible we'll both be in the same one, which should lead to an interesting commentary :D

[@jafsrob]

i dont know if theyll talk about it later, but coring is like charging a shadow ball in smash bros, it forces the enemy to engage you, here, now, or give you more power.

[@tasnica2438]

Fun game, fun map, fun commentary. A great watch!

[@TheInsatiableDrBoom]

This looks amazing. Id love to play in one of these games soon. Looks wild.

[@TheInsatiableDrBoom]

Im so fascinated by the interplay between Colonial powers finely balancing which extra territories to gamble with and which territorial powers to crush and aide.

[@half55-qo1tq]

3:40:23 you could have used Bunyoro to cut support from Mwanza and used the other unit to support backfilling Bambuti. But it relies on Somalia not attacking

[@DiploStrats]

You're absolutely correct :D I was pretty convinced Ajuuran would be attacking Bunyoro there though (although I guess there was some chance he went for Burundi instead).

[@jafsrob]

canada being the friendly one and doing well because of it? lore accurate.

[@BigMackWitSauce]

I'm playing the Inuit in another game that's still ongoing, I um, have not had the same success. I skimmed through the video, but there are some wonky parts of the map around there in North America, most notably the island of nova scotia has two centers that if held by two units, can never be captured

[@sigithesauropod3340]

Love these alternate map variant vids

[@oliviaaaaaah1002]

Looking at the starting position for Portugal and the Netherlands, where they're both big colonial powers that are one sneeze away from losing their capital, I wonder if there isn't grounds for an alliance or insta vassalisation agreement between them, so that they can coordinate leveraging their SCs to defend their capitals.

[@DiploStrats]

I think it's probably a good idea for them to work together, but they're so far apart in Europe that they can't really help defend one another's capitals unless they both gain a significant foothold - which would then mean they probably wouldn't need the help anyway. We have seen Portugal instantly ally with Spain in basically every game for exactly this reason though, that it keeps their capital safe.

[@mbeebe10]

I really want to play more of this game this variant or the normal one.

[@alextolon4482]

It's very funny to move your mouse along the bar and just watch the frame shake

[@gazeboist4535]

It feels like befriending Poland makes a ton of sense for Bornu. Take Ezio's argument as a starting point, and note that Poland is the weakest colonial in Africa and one of the most Euro-focused colonials in general, and that Bornu has natural expansions to the southwest that put them in tension with the Dutch even before any intra-African tensions start to become relevant. You get to 10-ish supply centers in west/central Africa, and then start drifting south and/or east while Poland makes trouble in Europe, with the option to stab Poland if you need to later on.

[@hardcorelace7565]

Why does that one inuit army have a smiley face?

[@DiploStrats]

It was having great fun visiting Europe (Real answer is Inuit asked the GM to draw it on)

[@Oliver-ld3ei]

This feels like something Valefisk would make his friends play.

[@logansmith2703]

This looks like it'd be fun. Probably crazy tedious in person though

[@isaacdavid765]

3:15:20 I’m not a fan of the gm coloring both cut support and supports of a failed attack red. The backstabbr display where supports only get colored red if they were cut seems obviously superior and less ambiguous.

[@DiploStrats]

I think this was probably done to make adjudication faster, but I'd agree and it's something I'll bring up for the next playtest!

[@griffinhunter3206]

I really want to play this tbh

[@JohnStrain-eu6eu]

Been watching anything Imperial World (this variant) everywhere I could for past half yr (2034). Any info is gold for me. Planning to play this sometime, hopefully soon.

[@logansmith2703]

If Y'all do get world class players to play this variant in the future I'd love to see a super detailed analysis.

[@DiploStrats]

I feel like that would end up with another 30 hour series on a single game :D

[@xanderalaniz2298]

It is a tragedy that, due to Soviet ecological mismanagement, the Aral Sea, east of the Caspian Sea, is a shadow of its former self.

[@KingoftheWelsh]

Holy Diplo Batman!

[@aliksanon6491]

Not gonna lie, looking at the map and seeing Azerbaijan being the name of a province that has basically specifically avoided all the lands that are called Azerbaijan (both the country and the region in Iran) was painful. 100% of that province was in Armenia and Georgia(I guess except nachkivan)

[@DiploStrats]

There's a lot of discussion going on in the discord about things like this, and this specifically has been raised - so hopefully will be fixed for the next playtest!

[@flare2209]

Hey there, designer of Imperial Diplomacy here! Thanks for alerting me, it will be uppdated for the next playtest!

[@aliksanon6491]

@@flare2209 good luck my man, cant wait to see more of this gamemode

[@flare2209]

@@aliksanon6491 Thank you! Feel free to join the server if you haven’t if you’re interested ^^

[@jairajbasur6389]

My god I really watched all that

[@Shelb-qb2zb]

Bornu, having a pretty chill and average existence while just a little farther south Kongo is fighting for their fucking life against two colonial powers

[@alicestolze8327]

Geography nerd game! Slam your head into your desk every time they say Borneo instead of Bornu or Assyria instead of Abyssinia!

[@DiploStrats]

We accept no responsibility for the likely concussion caused by playing this game

[@falpsdsqglthnsac]

and every time they pronounce qing as king

[@zactothefuture9335]

5D imperial diplomacy with multiverse time travel

[@DiploStrats]

no. Please no... -ezio

[@Spamlett]

Just some ideas off the top of my that i think would make this variant more unique than just 'big diplomacy' 1. Board needs more 'white space' like Switzerland in the base game. Places like the sahara, amazon and himalayas should pose their own unique puzzles rather than just being traversable negative space. 2. Theres probably too many sea and ocean tiles in all honesty, apart from the med it seemed like there could have been more tension at sea 3. Bounces in the unique ocean slots should result in both fleets sinking (disbanding) 4. Cores should be inheritable. Having to recore doesnt really have a balancing element and making them inherited instead makes actually creating a core more of a risk/reward because any advantage you could get from coring could then be used against you.

[@syncradar]

The KZbin algorithm blesses you

[@isaacshultz8128]

2:25:29 foreshadowing with ezio admiring the swedish war machine

[@DiploStrats]

Swedish Pride and all that -Ezio

[@RisingChaosWriting]

still early in the video, but had thoughts on the discussion of working with your fellow regionals vs working with the colonisers as an african power: I think Bornu is uniquely poorly suited for Ezio's strategy, in that it is a good ways off from the other african powers and is much closer to several colonial powers. To turn entirely south would leave you open to poland, the dutch, and the ottomans, which would make you a very appetising target for them to snap up some easy SCs. Meanwhile, in an african alliance situation you are uniquely positioned to grow faster than your allies, because of the high density of SCs in west africa that nobody else is close to. If I were to go with an alliance with the colonisers, I'd want to be Ajuuran. They are much better positioned to not only get allies, but profit from those allies in a way that makes sense with their natural growth path. Also, unlike Ethiopia, they aren't immediately on the chopping block for another power.

[@DiploStrats]

I think Ezio's position here is that Bornu will have enough units to go after other African nations while still having enough of a defence to dissuade the colonial powers. It's a kind of reasonable position given how defensible Bornu's homes are, but I'd definitely lean towards what you're saying here - if you do go all in anti-Kongo you'll definitely need at least Poland/Ottoman not to be working together imo, or they can just overwhelm your north/west. Definitely agree that Ajuuran is best placed to work with colonials. I'm really hoping Ezio ends up in Bornu in the next game so we can see whether his approach works for him!