This episode is the first in a series of conversations between BrotherBored and Chris (aka ottoploy) about using psychology and negotiation to succeed in Diplomacy, regardless of board positioning.
Topic(s) of Discussion:
4:21 Make conversation with every other player on the board
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The last bit about operations is very interesting. But as someone who doesn’t have a military background, I’m not sure how to distinguish between a Diplomacy strategy and a Diplomacy operation, which seems to fall somewhere between strategy and the minutia of specific tactics.
I think we might have talked about the definition of “operations” in a part that got edited out due to having an audio issue. If I recall correctly, Chris defined “operations” as a particular theater of the board. So it does fall between “strategy” (how to end the game) and “tactics” (moving pieces). So for example, England and France could form an alliance against Germany as an “operational” goal, without necessarily having a plan for how the whole match will end. I think Chris was saying that he has seen success in getting cooperation from his neighbors in the early game by connecting his specific tactical asks to an operational (rather than strategic) objective. The idea is that an operations-level objective is more credible at the start of the match.