Send comments or corrections (only for the HTML version of this file) to Doug Massey ([email protected]).
You can receive a copy of this file via E-mail by sending your local Judge a message with "get rules.machiavelli" in the body.
Machiavelli is a board game by Hasbro which is quite similar to
Diplomacy, but quite a bit more complicated. The game is now out of
production so unless you've already got one it is not likely that you'll
find a copy of it. This description of the game should be enough to
teach you the rules if you're familiar with the rules to Diplomacy. You
will need a map, a PostScript version of which is available via the
adjudicator with the "get machiavelli.ps" command. The time frame of
Machiavelli is Renaissance Italy from 1385 to 1529.
The movement rules for true Machiavelli differ from Diplomacy in a number
of places. The major difference is in support. Rather than supporting
a particular unit to a province, you support a particular power's action
in a province. The rules are very vague about conflicts such as what
happens when a power orders two of his units to move to the same province.
This adjudicator ignores the Machiavelli movement rules and uses the
standard Diplomacy movement rules instead. Units are specified by their
type and source province as in Diplomacy rather than their unit number.
Convoys and supports specify the source and destination of the unit you
are convoying rather than just the destination province. If there are
Machiavelli purests out there who want to play with the Machiavelli
movement rules (and if you can describe them unambiguously) let me know
and I'll think about implementing them.
Unless explicitly contradicted herein, the rules to standard Diplomacy
apply to Machiavelli. One contradiction is that fleets may convoy armies
even if they are in coastal provinces.
A year in Machiavelli is comprised of three 'campaigns' which are
equivalent to the two seasons, Spring and Fall, of Diplomacy. They are
Spring, Summer and Fall. This adjudicator processes movement and
retreat phases for each of these seasons and an adjustment phase at
the end of the Fall season. Machiavelli lists the adjustment phase
at the beginning of Spring, but it's six of one or a half dozen of the
other. Things mesh better with the common representation.
Rather than getting one unit per supply center owned, in Machiavelli
units are paid for out of the treasury. Only those units that the player
chooses to maintain survive through the adjustments phase.
Machiavelli introduces a new unit type called a "garrison" which occupies
"fortified cities" or "fortresses". The fortified cities are filled in
squares on the map, fortresses are open squares and their use is optional.
Two units may be in the same province if one is garrisoned in the city
and another is outside the city. A city can be garrisoned by ordering an
army or a fleet in a province containing an unoccupied city to "convert"
during a movement phase. The garrison thus created can only hold, support
actions into its corresponding province, or convert back to a fleet or
army. An army could convert into a garrison in the spring and that
garrison could then convert into a fleet in the subsequent summer. It
could not, however, convert directly into a fleet in one season. An army
or fleet that is forced to retreat from a province with an unoccupied
fortified city or fortress can convert to a garrison if and only if it
has no other place to which to retreat. Of course it could not retreat
by converting into a garrison if the unit that displaced it was a garrison
converting into its location since you cannot retreat to the location your
attacker came from).
To displace a garrison it must be besieged. To besiege a garrison, an
army or fleet in the containing province must issue the besiege order for
two consecutive campaigns. After successfully issuing the first besiege
order, the besieging unit must either issue a second besiege order or a
"lift siege" order on the subsequent movement phase. It cannot choose to
move or support another action. A besieged garrison (one whose city's
siege started during the previous campaign) cannot convert, although it
can support another unit moving into its province to displace the besieging
unit. When the siege is complete, the garrisoned unit is eliminated. If
the garrison is eliminated before the siege is completed (eg: the siege
starts in the Fall and the owning power decides not to maintain the
garrison on the subsequent adjustment phase) the sieging unit is free to
issue other orders in what would be the second campaign of the siege.
Fleets can only convert to garrisons or besiege fortified cities or
fortresses that are also ports. The port cities are signified by an anchor
symbol on the map.
In the pure Machiavelli rules as written, an army or fleet converting into
a garrison will bounce another unit attempting to move into its province
and then convert. Also, a garrison converting to an army or fleet into
an unoccupied province will convert first and then the movement rules
would be applied. These rules complicate things. Using them, if you
had an army and a garrison in Genoa, you would have to move the army out
of Genoa on one turn and wait until the next movement phase before you
could convert the garrison. This adjudicator treats the city as if it
was a separate space on the map. Converting units are treated the same
as a unit moving into or out of the province. Thus, if a garrison in
Genoa attempts to convert into an army at the same time as an army moves
from Monferrat to Genoa (and neither one has support), they will both
bounce and stay where they were.
At the start of some scenarios fortresses and/or garrisons contain
"autonomous garrisons" which are ones that are not owned by any player.
They act as obstacles and must be besieged or bribed to be removed.
Special mapboard features and rules:
1) Piombino: This province includes the offshore island of Elba. A
fleet in this province controls the straits between the mainland
and the island. An army unit in this province does not control
the straits. The straits are not a separate sea, but are part
of the Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea. If they are not controlled by
a Fleet unit in Piombino, a hostile Fleet could move directly
from Pisa to the Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea or vice versa, or
transport an army from one to the other.
2) Sicily: A fleet in Messina similarly controls the straits between
Messina and Otranto. As long as there is a fleet in Messina, no
hostile fleet could move directly from the Gulf of Naples to the
Ionian Sea or vice versa.
If a fleet successfully advances into Piombino or Messina in the same
turn as a hostile fleet attempts to use the straits, the movement
through the straits is blocked. As long as a fleet unit is in the
controlling province, no other player's units may use the straits
without the controlling player's permission. If a player wishes to
allow another player to use the straits, he must include an "alliance
power" command with his movement orders.
3) Croatia and Provence: These provinces have a north and south coast
which are treated just like the dual coast provinces in other variants
of Diplomacy.
4) Venice Lagoon: Although small, the lagoon surrounding Venice is treated
like an ordinary sea space.
5) Venice: Only one unit may be in Venice at a time. Thus if there is
a garrison there, there cannot also be a fleet or army and vice versa.
Because of this, it is impossible to besiege a garrison in Venice.
6) All land spaces can be abbreviated uniquely to their first 5 letters.
Where there are no conflicts, they can also be abbreviated to their
first 3 letters. For conflicting names, the longer of the names can
usually be abbreviated to the 3 letters and the shorter to some other
3 letter combination. Sea spaces can be abbreviated to the first letter
of each word in their name. There are additional abbreviations which
can be determined by examining the "map.machiavelli" file.
The sequence of play for Adjustment phases:
1) Famine phase (optional). A certain number of provinces may be struck
by famine. First a 2d6 die roll determines the type of year:
2,3 No disaster
4,6 Good year, row only
5,7 Good year, column only
8-12 Bad year, row and column
Then the list of provinces hit by famine is selected with one or two
2d6 die rolls on the "Famine Table":
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2: ----- ----- Prove Patri Moden ----- Corsi Ancon ----- ----- -----
3: ----- Piomb ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Tunis ----- ----- Paler
4: Tivol ----- Otran Padua Swiss Cremo Pontr ----- Herze ----- -----
5: Friul ----- Bolog Saler Veron Austr Milan Sienn ----- ----- Duraz
6: Marse Ragus Vicen Carin Berga Pisto Spole ----- Pianc Hunga -----
7: ----- Bari Slavo Montf Urbin Forno ----- Como Trent ----- -----
8: Ferra ----- Rome Pavia ----- ----- Arezz Bresc Saluz Alban Genoa
9: ----- ----- Croat ----- Flore Turin Mantu Capua Trevi ----- -----
10: Savoy ----- Sardi ----- Parma Bosni Tyrol ----- Naple Romag Dalma
11: ----- ----- Venic ----- ----- ----- ----- Carni ----- Messi -----
12: ----- ----- ----- Pisa Aquil Avign Lucca ----- Istri ----- -----
The effect of famine is:
a) Any unit in a famined province at the end of the spring movement
is eliminated. This includes garrison units.
b) New units may not be built in famined provinces.
c) Famine has no effect on control.
d) A famined province without a garrisoned city will not produce income.
A garrisoned city will produce income, but the province will not.
2) Income phase. Each player receives income in the form of "ducats".
The income comes from four sources:
a) 1 ducat for each sea space that contains one of your fleets.
b) 1 ducat for each controlled province.
c) 1 ducat for each normal city controlled. For major cities
that contain a number, that is the number of ducats received.
d) Variable income based on the home country and a 1d6 die roll.
If one player gains control of another player's home country,
the variable income of that home country is also gained.
The last player to have a unit in a province is the one who controls
it. Regardless of the season. Thus if a unit starts out in Genoa in
the spring and moves to Fornova and then to Parma in the summer and to
Mantua in the fall, at the beginning of the following adjustment phase
that player would count the income for all four provinces if no one
else moved into them. If a province has an ungarrisoned city, the
last player in the province gains control of the city. If one player
has a unit in a province and another has a garrison in the city, the
province income will go to the one player while the city income goes
to the other. If the unit in the province leaves or is eliminated
while the garrison remains, control of the province will revert to the
player with the garrison. This applies to autonomous garrisons as
well. A besieged city produces no income.
To gain control of another player's home country, you must control all
of his original provinces and cities. A player who controls no cities
in his home country (or countries if he has taken over another's home
country) at the end of a campaign is eliminated from the game and all
of his military units are immediately removed from the mapboard.
The variable income in ducats for the major powers is:
Power 1 2 3 4 5 6 die roll
------- ------------------
Austria: 1 2 3 3 4 4
Florence: 1 2 3 3 4 5
France: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Genoa: 1 2 2 3 3 4 (some scenarios only)
Milan: 2 3 3 4 4 5
Naples: 1 2 2 3 3 4
Papacy: 2 3 3 4 5 6
Turkey: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Venice: 2 3 3 4 4 5
3) Military unit payment. The adjudicator waits for adjustment orders at
this point. Each player must choose which units he wishes to maintain
or build. Three (3) ducats must be paid for each unit that is to
remain on the map at the end of this phase.
a) New units may be placed only in controlled provinces that contain
a city and are located in the player's home countries. They may be
placed either in the province or within a fortified city.
b) Only one unit may be placed in a particular province. If another
unit is in a city one may be placed in the province or vice versa,
but a unit cannot be placed both in the city and another in the
province during the same adjustment phase.
c) Old units may not be traded for new ones in the same province.
However, a player could remove a unit from one province or city
(ie: not pay for it), and then place another unit in another
province or city.
d) It is possible that a player will not be able to place all the
new units desired. The maximum number of units that any player
can have on the map are: 12 armies, 8 fleets and 6 garrisons.
e) Once units are paid for, they are paid for the entire year. No
further ducats need be paid for the units for the rest of the
year, but also, no "refunds" of ducats can be made for units that
may be eliminated or disbanded during the year.
Each existing unit must be explicitly "maintain"ed or "disband"ed
before the adjudicator will consider your orders complete. If you
submit a "maintain" order and change your mind, a subsequent "disband"
order can be submitted anytime before the phase is processed. If you
change your mind about a previously submitted "build" order, it can
be rescinded with a subsequent "disband" order or an order to build
a different type of unit in the same province or within the city.
Movement phases:
1) Plague phase (optional). This is only done during the summer campaign.
Plague is determined in an identical fashion as the famine. The effect
of plague is that all units in the plagued provinces are eliminated. A
separate plague table is used to select the set of provinces hit:
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2: Vicen Swiss ----- ----- Carni ----- ----- ----- ----- Montf Capua
3: Pontr Bosni Slavo ----- ----- ----- Croat ----- Tivol Bari Tyrol
4: Savoy ----- ----- Fruil ----- Rome ----- Marse Pavia ----- -----
5: ----- Saler Veron ----- Dalma Lucca Bolog Carin Prove ----- -----
6: ----- ----- Turin Sienn Messi Padua Austr Ferra ----- ----- -----
7: Paler ----- Genoa Alban Pisa Tunis Avign Milan ----- ----- Sardi
8: Duraz ----- Naple Moden Perug Cermo Venic Flore ----- ----- -----
9: ----- Berga Ancon Parma ----- ----- ----- ----- Mantu Istri -----
10: Romag Hunga ----- Urbin ----- ----- ----- ----- Trevi ----- Como
11: Pianc Forno ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Otran ----- Aquil Spole
12: Trent Herze ----- Bresc ----- ----- ----- Corsi ----- Patri Saluz
2) The adjudicator waits for expenditure and movement orders.
3) Borrowing phase. The first option during the expenditures phase is
the borrowing of ducats. Players may borrow up to 25 ducats from
"the bank". The loan can either be for 1 year at 20% interest or
for 2 years at 50% interest. At the *end* of the borrowing
phase of the indicated season of the indicated year, the full amount
including interest must be paid. Another loan can be taken out to
pay off the first loan as long as the outstanding principal at any
time is not greater than 25 ducats. Loans can be paid back early
during any borrowing phase, interest first. For example, you can
take out a loan of 15 ducats in Summer of 1492 for two years. By
Summer of 1494 you must pay 23 ducats (interest is always rounded
up), but if you only had 13 ducats in your treasury at the beginning
of the Summer 1494 borrowing phase you could take out another loan
of 10 ducats during that phase so that you had sufficient funds to
pay off the loan.
Careful planning must be executed to ensure that you don't default on
the loan. If you are unable to pay off a loan, you suffer the same
effects as assassination below and you will not be allowed to borrow
from the bank for the rest of the game. In addition to borrowing
ducats from the bank, players may loan ducats to other players.
Loaning ducats to another player can be done during any borrowing
phase and happens before the bank collects any outstanding loans
due during that phase. The receiving player (and any third party)
will not know whether he really received the loan until the phase is
actually processed. Whether or not the player pays back these
nonbinding loans is up to the individual player. A player who is in
debt to the bank cannot loan money to another player before paying
off that loan. Thus you cannot, as your last dying gasp, borrow 25
ducats and give them to your ally.
The judge processes the pay/borrow commands in the following sequence:
a) "Pay to bank" commands.
b) "Pay to other player" commands (must be no outstanding loans).
c) "Borrow" commands. Total principal cannot exceed 25d.
d) Bank collects any due loans.
Example: If you have 20d and a 25+13=38d loan due, you *cannot* borrow
18d to pay off that loan because you would be over your credit limit
temporarily, eventhough you would immediately drop back down below it.
In this case you would need to get other players to help you out. You
could pay the 20d toward the loan, changing it to 18+0d, and borrow 7d
more, so you would need 11d from other players to avoid the penalty
Paying to the bank comes first so you couldn't use the money received
from other players to lower your loan in order to increase the amount
you could borrow. However, if they gave you the money on the previous
season it would only have to be 6d. With 26d and a 25+13=38d loan, you
can pay it off to 12+0d, allowing you to borrow up to 13d to pay off the
remaining 12d due.
4) Expenditures phase. Each player can make up to four expenditures
during each campaign. The ducats for the expenditure are subtracted
from the player's treasury. If the expenditure is invalid the cost
of the expenditure is nevertheless subtracted from the treasury.
Expenditures will be executed in their numerical order. If the
treasury is insufficient to support all the expenditures (eg: an
expected loan from another player didn't come through) the remaining
treasury will be used anyway.
a) Famine relief. 3 ducats. This order is given to end the effects of
famine in a province. The name of the province is noted.
b) Pacify Rebellion. 12 ducats. This order is given to end the effects
of a rebellion in a province.
c) Counter-bribe. 3n ducats. Used to nullify a suspected bribe attempt.
Bribes are items 'd' through 'i' below. The unit must be specified.
Any multiple of 3 ducats can be spent.
1) If a unit has a bribe and a counter-bribe the number of the
counter-bribe ducats is subtracted from the bribe ducats. If
the remaining number of bribe ducats are too few to carry out
the ordered bribe, it fails.
2) Counter-bribes are only effective against bribes (d-i below),
they cannot be used to against rebellions or assassination
attempts.
3) Counter-bribes can be ordered for another player's units or
autonomous garrisons as well as for your own units.
4) If several bribes are directed at the same unit during the same
campaign, only the largest one is considered. All smaller ones
are ignored and wasted. If there is a tie for the largest bribe,
all bribes to that unit fail and are wasted.
5) Bribes can be larger than the minimum costs listed in multiples
of three ducats. Larger bribes are common to offset suspected
counter-bribes. The minimum cost for all bribes for garrisons
in major cities (those with a number imprinted) are doubled.
6) A player who orders a bribe to buy another unit may also submit
orders for that unit in the same campaign.
7) The size of the bribe must be large enough to carry out the
specified bribe order. Even if the amount of the bribe is large
enough to carry out another, cheaper, bribe, if there are not
enough ducats for the ordered bribe, it fails.
d) Disband autonomous garrison. 6+3n ducats. If successful the specified
autonomous garrison is removed from play.
e) Buy autonomous garrison. 9+3n ducats. If successful the specified
autonomous garrison will become one of your own units.
f) Committed garrison to autonomous. 9+3n ducats. If successful the
specified garrison owned by another player will become autonomous.
The term "committed" refers to a unit owned by another player as
opposed to "autonomous" which is an unowned unit.
g) Disband committed garrison. 12+3n ducats. If successful the
specified garrison is removed from play.
h) Disband army or fleet. 12+3n ducats. If successful the specified
unit is removed from play.
i) Buy army or fleet. 18+3n ducats. If successful the specified unit
becomes one of your own. An army remains an army and a fleet will
remain a fleet.
j) Conquered province to rebel. 9 ducats. This order is given to start
a rebellion in an enemy-controlled province that is not part of his
home country.
k) Home province to rebel. 15 ducats. This order is given to start
a rebellion in an enemy-controlled province that is part of his home
country.
Notes on rebellions:
1) If the province contains a fortified city or a fortress when
fortresses are in play, the rebellion affects the city. If there
is a garrison, the rebellion only affects the province, even if
the garrison leaves or is eliminated.
2) Rebellions are directed at a particular power. They will remain
in the province and/or city until they are pacified, put down or
liberated.
3) Income cannot be collected from a province and/or city that is
in rebellion, although income can be collected for a city within
a rebelling province if the city is not in rebellion itself.
4) A rebellion may be pacified using the pacify rebellion expenditure.
5) A rebellion in a province may be put down by the controlling player
by issuing a hold order for an army or fleet or garrison in the
province.
6) To put down a rebellion in a fortified city or fortress, the
normal besiege sequence must be carried out.
7) A rebellion may be liberated by a unit of another player moving
into the province. The rebellion is liberated immediately whether
or not it is in a city. The rebellion is also liberated if another
power buys a unit in the rebelling province.
8) Any player other than the one to which the rebellion is directed
gets an automatic support in moving into a rebelling province.
If two other players attempt to move into a rebelling province at
the same time, neither can take advantage of this support.
9) No rebellion may be placed in Venice if there is a unit there,
either in the city or in the province.
l) Assassination (optional). 12n ducats. At the start of the game
each player is given one 'assassination chit' for each of the other
players. You must have such a chit to attempt an assassination on
another player. Once an attempt is made, the corresponding chit is
destroyed. Chits can be traded amongst the players. When an
assassination is executed, a 1d6 die roll is made. For every 12
ducats paid in the attempt, the chances of the attempt being
successful increase by one number. 36 is the maximum, yielding a
50% success rate. More that one assassination attempt may be made
on the same player, but the effects are the same if one or both of
them succeed.
1) All the units of the victim of a successful assassination attempt
are paralyzed for the campaign. All orders are converted to hold
orders although they may still be supported by other players'
units. The hold orders cannot be used to put down rebellions and
all sieges that the player is attempting are broken.
2) Any of the victim's garrisons that are under siege are immediately
eliminated.
3) Some number of the victim's controlled provinces will take advantage
of the assassination to rebel. Based on a 1d6 die roll:
Type of province die
-------------------------- ---
A home province with a unit 1
Home province with no unit 1-2
Conquered province with unit 1-3
Conquered province, no unit 1-5
4) The assassinated player is not out of the game. He continues,
representing his own successor as ruler of the major power. The
effects of assassination merely show the often chaotic effects
of a sudden shift in power at the top.
The military units in the game are all assumed to be of the standard
composition of the times; that is, they are mainly composed of mercenaries
who fought (usually no harder than necessary) for money, and are highly
susceptible to bribes, as their allegiance went to the highest bidder.
Some military units of different composition did appear during this time,
and the following three unit types represent them. Each power may only
have one special unit in play at any one time. They can be armies, fleets
or garrisons.
a) Citizen's Militia:
1) Costs 6 ducats rather than 3.
2) Has a strength of 1.
3) Costs twice the normal amount to bribe.
b) Elite Mercenaries:
1) Costs 6 ducats rather than 3.
2) Has a strength of 2.
3) May be bribed for the normal amount.
c) Elite Professionals:
1) Costs 9 ducats rather than 3.
2) Has a strength of 2.
3) Costs twice the normal amount to bribe.
The syntax for the orders are:
Movement/Expenditure orders:
<type> <s_prov> <holds>
<type> <s-prov> <moves> <d-prov>
<type> <s-prov> <moves> <c-prov> <moves> <c-prov> ... <moves> <d-prov>
<type> <s-prov> <support> <type> <s-prov>
<type> <s-prov> <support> <type> <s-prov> <moves> <d-prov>
<type> <s-prov> <convoy> <type> <s-prov> <moves> <d-prov>
<type> <s-prov> <convert> <type>
<type> <s-prov> <besiege>
<type> <s-prov> <lift>
<borrow> <amount> <duration>
<give> <amount> to <power> | "bank" (money)
<give> <power> to <power> (assassination chits)
<expense> <amount> <etype> <type> <s-prov>
<ally> <power>
Retreat orders:
<type> <s-prov> <moves> <d-prov>
<type> <s-prov> <disband>
Adjustment orders:
<build> <stype> <s-prov>
<remove> <type> <s-prov>
<maintain> <type> <s-prov>
Where:
<stype> = Special type (eg: "militia") or <empty> followed by <type>.
<type> = "army", "a", "fleet", "f", "garrison", "g", or <empty>.
<s-prov> = Source province.
<d-prov> = Destination province.
<c-prov> = Intermediate water province in a convoy route.
<holds> = "h", "hold", "holds", "stand", "stands".
<moves> = "-", "->", "m", "move", "moves", "move to", "moves to".
<support> = "s", "support", "supports".
<convoy> = "t", "transport", "transports", "convoy", "convoys"
<convert> = "c", "convert", "convert to".
<besiege> = "b", "besiege", "siege".
<lift> = "l", "lift", "lift siege".
<disband> = "d", "disband".
<build> = "b", "build".
<remove> = "r", "remove", "d", "disband".
<maintain> = "m", "maintain".
<borrow> = quotborrowquot.
<duration> = quotfor 1 yearquot, quotfor 2 yearsquot
<give> = quotloanquot, quotgivequot, quotpayquot
<amount> = <number> quotducatsquot, <number> quotdquot
<power> = Power name or abbreviation of 2 or more letters.
<ally> = quotallowquot, quotalliancequot, quotally withquot, quotallyquot
<expense> = "expense" <number 1-4> ":"
<etype> = "famine relief", "pacify rebellion", "counter-bribe", "disband",
"buy", "garrison to autonomous", "cause rebellion", "assassinate",
"none"
Example movement phase orders for Florence:
Signon Lname <password>
Pay 14 ducats to bank All loans from bank must be paid...
Pay 6 ducats to Milan before giving to another power...
Borrow 25 ducats for 2 years but then more could be borrowed.
Expense 1: 12 ducats Disband Army Bologna
Expense 2: 3 ducats Counter-bribe Army Arezzo
Expense 3: 24 ducats Assassinate Papacy
Army Arezzo -> Sienna; Army Florence -> Arezzo
Fleet Pisa Convert to Garrison
If you then changed your mind and decided not to pay the 6 ducats to Milan
or spend the money to counter-bribe Arezzo but instead use it to attempt to
buy the unit in Bologna anticipating a counter-bribe, you could submit a
revision containing:
Signon Lname <password>
Pay 0 ducats to Milan
Expense 1: 21 ducats buy Army Bologna
Expense 2: none
Army Bologna -> Ferrara
Optional rules:
The "set" command can be used by the moderater/master of a game to enable
or disable the following optional rules:
set [no]famine
To disable/enable the famine rules.
set [no]plague
To disable/enable the plague rules.
set [no]loans
To disable/enable the borrowing of ducats from the bank. This does not
affect whether one player can give money to another player (or the bank).
set [no]assassinations
To disable/enable the use of the assassination expenditure. The effects
of assassinations can still be realized by non-payment of loans if they
are in play even with assassinations disabled.
set [no]dice
To disable/enable random events. Setting nodice automatically disables
the above four options. Enabling any of the above options automatically
enables the dice option. In addition to the four items above, when the
nodice option is selected rolls for variable income will always come up
as 4s on odd years and 3s on even years.
set [no]special
To disable/enable the special unit types.
set [no]adjacency
To disable/enable the restriction that bribes can only be made to
units to which you have an adjacent unit. When adjacency is selected
you must have a unit adjacent to another unit in order to bribe or
counter-bribe that unit. Note that a fleet in Sienna is considered
adjacent to a garrison in Florence for the purposes of bribery. You
can always counter-bribe your own unit as it will suffice as its own
adjacent unit.
The status of these options are listed in the "full" listing of the games
under the heading "flags". By default they are all enabled except for the
"plague" option which is disabled (that rule's just too nasty).