When you LIST a game, among other things you get a parameters listing which describes the settings for the game. A typical listing looks like this:
Moves clock 1410 min 12.00 next 72.00 grace 168.00 delay 0.50 days -MTWTF-
Retreat clock -1 min 0.00 next 24.00 grace 72.00 delay 0.50 days -MTWTF-
Adjust clock -1 min 0.00 next 24.00 grace 72.00 delay 0.50 days -MTWTF-
Access: Different-site, Level: Expert, Moderated, Unrated, Dedication: -10.
Variant: Standard, Gunboat.
Flags: NoNMR, NoProxy, DIAS, StrictGrace.
Press: White, Partial Allowed, No Fake.
Miller Number: 1995ALXrb32.
Winning Centers: 18.
Index: 12
Judge: USIN.
The first three lines list the parameters used for this particular game to set deadlines and grace periods. Briefly, the clock parameter lists the time (in minutes after midnight) that a deadline would be set to (e.g. 1410 = 11:30 p.m., or 23:30). The 'next' and 'grace' parameters control how much time before the next deadline, or the end of the grace period, respectively. The 'delay' parameter controls how long the Judge will wait before processing orders, once the last set of orders has been submitted (this assumes no 'wait' flag has been set, and that people are not still changing orders or sending press). All parameters are in hours, except the 'clock' field, which is in minutes. When 'clock' is set to -1, the deadline is determined entirely by the values of 'next' and 'days'.
After 'days' you see the list of when deadlines may be set. Capital letters mean that a deadline may be set any time of day, while a lower-case letter forces the deadline to be set after noon. This information is listed for the Move, Retreat, and Adjustment phase separately, as different types of phases may have different types of deadlines. For more information, look at the DEADLINES help file, available from http://devel.i go.org/DipPouch/Email/judge/deadlines.html or via sending the command "get deadlines" to the Judge.
Access: Different-site, Level: Expert, Moderated, Unrated, Dedication: -10.
The "Access" line indicates a number of things.
First, it tells if the game is Different-site, Same-site or Any-site.
Second, it indicates the Level of the game - Novice, Intermediate, Expert or Any (Diplomacy skill level, not Judge skill level). Also available are Amateur (Novice and Intermediate allowed) and Advanced (Intermediate and Expert allowed). If your level is inappropriate for a given game, the Judge will not allow you to signon as a player. You can change your level any time by re-REGISTERing and changing the entry in the Level field.
Third, it indicates if the game is moderated or not, i.e. if there is a Game Master (virtually all games have one and most judges require one). You should be very wary of joining games which are unmoderated, as it basically means there is nobody there to sort things out when something goes wrong.
Fourth, it tells if the game is rated or not. Virtually all games are rated and, thus, earn dedication points.
Fifth, it indicates the dedication level required to be able to signon to the game.
Variant: Standard, Gunboat:
This line indicates whether the Diplomacy game is standard or of some variant, such as Youngstown, Modern, Shift-Left, etc. The list of variants supported by most judges is in http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Email/JudgeFiles.html
This line also indicates whether the game is being played as a Gunboat game. "Gunboat" means that player identities are concealed until the end of the game. Gunboat games can be played with a variety of press settings.
Flags:
Judge games can be played with a variety of flags. For a complete listing of flags, and what they mean, look at the Judge help files. Look in the file INDEX and scroll down to the "set" command.
Press: The variety of press possibilities are covered in detail in the Judge help file PRESS, available from your judge via "get press" or from http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Email/judge/press.html.
The next line may contain the Boardman Number or the Miller Number, a hobby index of the game.
The next line lists the number of centers needed to win the game. While typically set to 18 for a standard game, this parameter can vary widely if players wish for quicker (or slower) games.
The next line gives the value of the game index. The index is the sum of squares of the number of supply centers divided by the number of players. It is intended to serve as a measure of how far the game has progressed.
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Last updated Thu 14 Sep 2006 |