Hi everyone,
I have recently been speculating the idea of smaller diplomacy games. Nearly all diplomacy games today are over 24 players, with some rarely having ~20 players. I want to hear the diplo-playing community's thoughts on diplos with less players, maybe in the range of 8-16 players.

Some obvious downfalls that I can see are:
1. When players are booted, the game gets messed up. (1 boot = ~10% of players)
2. Less room on the map for diplomacy; chances are, the game is played on a smaller map, and you don't border as many people (Similar to Portugal in many European Diplo games), which can lead to less trust with your neighbors.

These could be fixed easily however:
1. 5 day direct boot, maximum 10% boot rate for a prerequisite, vacations ON
2. In the scenario, make sure everyone borders 2+ players, and # of territories is greater than 15x(# of players)

Some possible benefits to having smaller diplos:
1. The game goes quicker (imagine diplomacies that are completed in less than 50 turns)
2. Can easily be Invite Only; with only 10-15 slots to fill, you do not need to risk having a level 1 noob join and immediately go PE, you can make the game invite only, and invite only experienced diplo players.

Basically, I would like to hear the Diplomacy-playing community's thought on these types of games.
Thanks, Nanaimo

sounds great

Thanks Lawlz

I already play this kind of games, I call them FFA, with PM on.

The only difference being that you don't have to declare war etc. Less people get angry if you call it an FFA, because then backstabbing and stuff is obviously allowed.

I understand your point TBest, but if a smaller group of serious diplomacy players wanted a game, with all the standard diplo rules, could it work? Also this game would have a custom scenario, unlike most FFA.

Well, I've taken a crack at strategic scenarios before. Problem is in general distrust of the idea "strategic scenario".

I think you may have misunderstood me. This is not a "Strategic Scenario", this is a full on diplomacy, same rules and everything, just with a smaller amount of players.
This is an example of a scenario for a smaller diplomacy: https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TemplateID=635729
Nine players only, yet it would function as a regular diplo game.

This was basically what old style roleplayer/diplomacy was like back when max games were 20 players. I'm sure the RP guild have quite a lot of small scale diplomacy templates. I have many buried somewhere myself.

I have a bunch of buried 20-24 player templates someplace, and so does most of the guild, whereas mine are my own from that time period, the rest of guild has some clan sourced ones that are probably better than mine.
but if you would like I have the old SoI template and my old popular solar System SoI template I'd be happy to give you, as long as you give the guild credit, or use them in a way to benefit yourself, they are always to be set as practice and never set up for ultimate domination by one person.

At that point, there just aren't enough players. There's a reason most diplos end when there are only a few players left. Its because there are too many entangling alliances, and people just wait for boots.

^That's why open games diplomacy should utilize "no need to declare"rule.

+1 the idea. Invite me if you make this a game, I am an active diplomacy enthusiast who would love to try.

I'll join any diplomacy. Count me in.

Ok, I think I will try scenario above. I still need a few more people that are interested.

I'm willing to try it, just to see how it goes.

I'll join if you want, but be warned that I have already set up a few like this myself.

As a huge diplomacy fan, I'd love to see how this pans out. I mean, super-mega massive diplomatic games are only fun for so long, but your idea with inviting known players is slightly flawed. Playing diplomatic games with people you know sort of ruins it in a way, as I'm sure all of you with diplomatic friends know: you either ally to kill everyone or you fight each other, no matter what.

Right now I am in a rather successful 10 player diplo, the only problem I experienced was the attack on Vietnam for no reason, but other than that it's going along smoothly. Here's the diplo link:

https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=8351173

^ Vote at Uservoice: https://warlight.uservoice.com/forums/77051-warlight-features/suggestions/1095383-anonymous-games