Dolchstoss Diplomacy Rating System

by Richard Sharp

Basic System 

1. The game rating is the sum of the player ratings at the time the rating is calculated. 

2. Every new player is considered to have played one previous game, in which he scored 100 points. 

3. For finished games, the game rating points are divided up as follows: 1st 30%, 2nd 20%? 3rd 15%, 4th 10%, others 5 %. The remaining 10% is shared among the survivors pro rata, based on their supply centre counts. Draws are treated as you would expect: a 4-way draw scores (30+20+15 + 10+10)14=21.25, etc. 

4. In unfinished games, eliminees and dropouts get their final shares immediately. Survivors share the remainder: half equally and half pro rata based on s.c. counts. 

5. A player's rating is his total score divided by his number of games. 

Modifiers 

1. Experienced player bonus: Players with 5 or more finishes (a finish being completion of a player's part in a game without dropping out) discard their worst 20% of scores and the notional first game. 

2. Dropouts:  Resigning counts as dropping out, the only difference being that a p layer who resigns finishes ahead of a player who drops out in the same season. Drop outs are treated as having been eliminated in the season in which they drop. They are scored as usual, but: a) dropout scores cannot be discarded under the experienced player rule; b) dropout scores are not counted if they would improve a player's rating. 

3. Dropout ratings: Players who have dropped out of at least one third of their games have a penalty applied to their rating for ranking purposes only as follows: if they have dropped out of 33-50%, the calculated rating is divided by n+1, where n is the number of dropouts. Above 50% the divisor is n+2. 

4. Abandoned Games: A game is treated as abandoned if Spring 1901 was not played (or is not known). Other games are treated as draws between survivors. 

5. Standby players: These are disregarded. if a standby shares in a draw, the number of participants in the draw is reduced by one; a 2-way draw involving a standby becomes a win. 

6. Player of record: The player who submits Spring 01 orders is the player of record.