World Diplomacy

David Caldwell

1.0 World History

All organizations and governments such as NATO, OAS, Warsaw Pact, Communist governments, League of Arab States, NAFTA, EEC, and ASEAN, have broken down and the thirty-one strongest (economically and militarily) have risen from the rubble. However, pieces of the United Nations have survived, but only in the form of the World Bank, which operates in US dollars. Only Dictatorships rule the nations of Earth, and war between the nations is eminent. World Diplomacy starts in Winter 2000 as a movement phase only.

2.0 Units:

2.1 Three units are used in this variant: Armies, Fleets, and Militias.
2.2 Armies and Fleets act in exactly the same manner as those in standard Diplomacy.
2.3 Armies and Fleets cost US$3.00 to build. Militias cost US$6.00 to build. All units can only be built in home centers. If another player's home center(s) is captured, it automatically becomes the home center of the player who captured it, and can therefore build in it once it is not occupied during an adjustments phase.
2.4 Militias can only Hold, Support, and Move; they cannot attack. These are used to fortify provinces because they can support within a province (i.e. a Militia can sit inside the same province as a Fleet or Army and support it forcing the attacker to use double support to break it). Militias are primarily designed for home defense. No country starts out with Militias so they must be bought.
2.5 All units can be disbanded simply by not maintaining them during the adjustments. No units can be converted to another unit.
2.6 When building units, players must specify which unit is being built, what numbered province they are building it in as well as the continent abbreviation.
Example: You are the United Kingdom. You want to build a fleet in #23 in Europe. It should be written this way: build {EP} F 23. This tells the GM that a fleet is being built in Europe in number 23.

3.0 Special Territories:

Panama Canal - A province in Central America acting in the same manner as Kiel and Constantonople in standard Diplomacy. This province is the only way to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean without going over the top or bottom of the Americas.
Hamburg - A province in Germany acting in the same manner as Kiel in standard Diplomacy.
Istanbul - A province in Turkey acting in the same manner as Constantonople in standard Diplomacy.
Volga Canal - The canal in lower Russia near Rostov acting in the exact manner as that canal in the Modern variant.
New York - A province in the United States with a north and south coast. Players must indicate which coast a fleet will be moving to if one enters this province.
Great Lakes/St. Laurence Seaway - Fleets may travel through these inland lakes in North American as well as travel down the St. Laurence Seaway by moving along the adjacent provinces. Mississippi River - Fleets may travel up and down the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Michigan by moving along the adjacent provinces.
Israel - Although this appears to border on the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, Fleets may only access this province from the Eastern Mediterranean.

4.0 Phases:

4.1 In World Diplomacy, there are four phases: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
4.2 Spring and Fall are movement phases only. Winter and Summer are adjustments/movement phases only.
4.3 Adjustments/movement phases are when maintenance of units, building of units, and moving existing units.
4.4 At the end of the Spring and Fall turns, taxes are collected (see section 6.0).
4.5 At the start of the Winter turn, the GM announces that anything (sea zones/provinces) touching or above the Arctic circle freezes, so any units trapped in this area can move during the winter. Also, any home centers in this area cannot build units during the winter. Everything is frozen, nothing can happen in this area during the winter. At the start of the Summer turn, the GM announces that anything (sea zones/provinces) touching or below the Antarctic circle is frozen. Any units trapped in this area can move during the Summer. Also, any home centers in this area cannot build units during the Summer. Everything is frozen, nothing can happen in this area during the summer.
4.6 Phases proceed as follows:

5.0 Winning Conditions:

5.1 There are eight continents: North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Oceana.
5.2 There are a set number of countries occupying each continent. For a solo win, a country must conquer 7 continents for it to be considered to have conquered the world. There may be any combination of continents for a solo win. If a draw is to be considered, only surviving players at the time of the draw may vote.

6.0 Economics:

Building units does not hinge on how many supply centers a player owns. Instead, in the basic game, money (dollars) has been incorporated into the game.

6.1 At the beginning of the game, every country starts out with US$0.00 money. They cannot do anything except move their units until the first tax dollars are collected at the end of the Spring turn.
6.2 Income (in the form of taxes) is collected from your provinces at the end of the Spring, and Fall turn. Taxes can be collected from three different sources. For every sea zone a country controls at the end of the Spring or Fall turn, they receive US$1.00. For every province without a city a country controls at the end of the Spring or Fall turn, they receive US$2.00. For every province with a city a country controls at the end of the Spring or Fall turn, they receive US$3.00.
6.3 There are three ways in which to spend your tax money. The first thing a player is to do is maintain his/her existing units. However, if a player wishes to disband a unit, they should not maintain it, and it will magically disappear. Maintenance of units costs US$3.00 for Armies and Fleets, and US$6.00 for Militias. Players can also build units. These two options are only available during the adjustments/movement phase. Units can only be built in home centers. However if you capture another player's home center, it then becomes your own. Only one unit can be built in a home center at one time.
6.4 Another use is for bribery. Players have the option to bribe enemy units. First, the briber notifies the GM of which unit of which country they want to bribe and for how much money. Bribing starts at US$8.00. The player whose unit(s) are being bribed are not told by the GM which unit(s) are being bribed, nor the price. That player must guess which unit(s) as well as what the price is, then make, if they choose, to counterbid. They have only one guess. If the guess is unsuccessful, the bribed unit becomes apart of the briber's military and the money it was being bribed for is deposited into the original owner's account. If the bribe is unsuccessful, then the briber has the choice of making another, higher bid, or to give up. If they choose not to give up, then this method continues until the briber wins or gives up.
6.5 Another use is to start a rebellion or pacify one. It costs US$9.00 to start a rebellion in a province without a city, and US$12.00 to start a rebellion in a province with a city. Rebellions last indefinitely and the province in which a rebellion is happenings does not send tax (i.e. if one of Zaire's provinces is having a rebellion, that player cannot collect tax from that province until it is pacified). Pacifying a rebellion costs US$15.00.
6.6 If players do not have enough money to support themselves, and cannot get money from other players, they can borrow money from the World Bank. The GM, in US dollars controls the World Bank. Players may borrow up to a maximum of US$25.00 at one time. This money is loaned to the player for their choice of a 1-year loan at 20%, or a 2-year loan at 50%. Nevertheless, the money loaned must be paid back. The World Bank never goes broke.
6.7 Players may trade money between themselves, but not military units. This is a personal transaction, not an official one. Therefore, it will not be listed under official transactions in a player's finances sheet with the results, but the deposit(s) and/or withdrawal(s) will show up under the player's Savings section. The GM must know about these transactions.
6.8 The Basic Game:
6.9 The basic game is less complicated than the advanced in that only one currency is used worldwide. This currency is the United States dollar. There is not need to convert currency or calculate rising or falling values of currencies. 6.10 The Advanced Game:
6.11 In the advanced game, each country has their own respected currency. For inter-player transactions, currency conversion is required. Also, as countries grow and shrink, the value of their currency goes up and down, making conversion of currency a little more difficult.
6.12 Below is a list of the 31 currencies and their values at the beginning of the game. At the beginning of the game, all currencies are all absolutely equal is value.

7.0 Writing Orders:

7.1 The way the players hand in their orders to the GM, and the way the GM presents the results of the turn are slightly different. Players should disregard the abbreviations on the board and stick with the numbers. In doing this, any unit on a province must specify, in the orders, which continent it is on. An abbreviation is used in brackets for this: {NA} North America, {SA} South America, {EP} Europe, {AF} Africa, {ME} Middle East, {AS} Asia, {OC} Oceana, {AA} Antarctic. These are to be posted in front of every unit that sits in a land province. Any fleet occupying a sea zone does not have to do this because the sea zones are marked separately.
7.2 Player's orders should be written in the following manner to make things easier for the GM
Example: You are playing the United Kingdom. It is Spring 2001. Players should write all orders, regardless of the country, in this format.

United Kingdom - Spring 2001 - 

UNITS: {EP} F 3 - NWG, {EP} F 6 - IRS, {EP} F 7 - NTH, {EP} F 23 - SoG, {SA}
F 99 - CoA
FINANCES: tax tot=$0.00/A=0/F=5/M=0/offt.=$0.00/total=$0.00
|Maintenance:    none   |
|Builds:         none   |
|Bribes:	 none   |This part is to be included and filled out by players only.
|Rebellions S/P: none   |
|Savings:       $0.00   |

8.0 Starting Positions: