The painful backstab!
This is designed to get you started quickly on The Judge, an automated Diplomacy™ adjudicator. I'm not going to teach you how to play The Game or discuss strategy; if you are interested in those topics, you might prefer the Long Version of this Guide. This Short Version just focuses on how to use some basic Judge commands and get started with a game.
If you are unfamiliar with Diplomacy, you may want to check out the Diplomacy Home Page (part of the Diplomatic Pouch Webzine.
If you prefer German, there is a very nice guide in German. And there are a couple of German language Judges to go with it. There are also a French language Judge, a Dutch judge, a Spanish Judge and a Portuguese judge. There was a Swedish Judge, but it now seems to be defunct.
Also, please note that games can be conducted in a language different than that of the country in which the Judge is hosted. For example, I have played in English-language games on the French Judge, and I have seen games in other languages hosted on U.S. Judges.
And it is very simple, too, because the guide walks you through, step by step.
The painful backstab!
Step 1 : What's
This "Judge" Anyway?
Step 2: Getting Judge
Files
Step 3: Registering with a
Judge
Step 4: Getting a List of
Openings
Step 5: Understanding a Game
Listing
Step 6: Observing a Game
(optional)
Step 7: Signing on to a
Forming Game
Step 8: Signing on to a Game
as a Replacement
Step 9: Sending Press
Step 10a: Submitting Moves
(for a movement phase)
Step 10b: Submitting Moves
(for a retreat phase)
Step 10c: Submitting Moves
(for a builds/removals phase)
Step 11: Understanding Error
Flags (optional)
Step 12: Understanding
Promptness (optional)
Step 13: Where's the Map?
Step 14: What If I Am Going Out Of
Town?
Since this is the short guide, I'll give a short answer: a "Judge" is a software program that manages Diplomacy games. It keeps track of the players, enforces deadlines, handles "press" or messages between players, accepts and adjudicates orders, and sends out the results. The basic Judge software was originally written by Ken Lowe, and has been modified by many others over the years. (Thus, you'll often see people refer to the "Ken Lowe Judges.")
This Guide only deals with the Ken Lowe Judges. There are other automated adjudicators on the Internet; for example, the DPJudge and BOUNCED, each of which has its own web-based interface. Because each of these systems is different, and has their own on-line instructions, I will not attempt to describe them here.
The Ken Lowe Judges communicate with players solely by e-mail. Don't ask "where is the web page for Judge So-and-So?" There isn't one! You send e-mails to the Judge, and the Judge sends e-mails to you. Since the Judge is a computer program, not a person, it only understands specific commands typed in a particular format.
If you're getting error messages from the Judge and you think you typed everything correctly, the most likely cause is your e-mail program. Make sure it is set to send "Plain Text" or ASCII, and not HTML or "Rich Text" or "formatted text." Here's a good guide showing you how to do this with many common e-mail programs.
For more about error messages, see Step 11.
Any time you send an e-mail to the Judge, you should receive a reply. If the Judge and your own e-mail service are both working right, this should come back within a matter of seconds or minutes, but if not, be a little patient. Incidentally, the Judges don't read the subject line of e-mails; you can put anything you want there. The Judge will include your original subject line in its reply, along with the name of the game and the current season; if you want, you can use this to help you keep your messages organized. Also, the Judges normally don't care whether you type in UPPER or lower case (there is one obscure exception you won't need to worry about unless you decide to start moderating games yourself).
Send an e-mail to a Judge such as ustx@spencersoft.com or usin@thekleimans.com, or any of the others listed below.
In the body of your message, type the words get package. You'll get a series of files that you should print and read later. You only need to do this once, since the "package" files are the same on all the Judges.
Nearly all of the information that is in the "package" files is now also available on-line in a single document, The Diplomacy Judge User's Manual, which I modestly recommend.
By the way, if the Judge you pick is unresponsive [they may be "down"]) try another one. Don't keep sending repeated e-mails to a Judge that is down; when it comes back up, it will flood your mailbox with replies!
For the most up-to-date list of active Judges, check out the Diplomatic Pouch's Openings List. The list below was compiled in January 2005:
CLDR = cldr@daga.cl (Spanish-language games
only, Felipe Sanchez)
DEAC = deac@lepanto.de (Aachen-Germany, Dietmar Kulsch)
DEDO = dedo@faztek.org (ex-Germany, Millis Miller)
DEMA = dema@faztek.org (Machiavelli games
only; ex-Germany, Millis
Miller)
DEUS = deus@lepanto.de (DEUS, Germany, Dietmar Kulsch)
FROG = juge@frog.born2play.org
(France, Philippe
Lalande)
ILGT = judge@diplomacy.org.il
(Ganey-Tikva, Israel, Shlomi
Yaakobovich)
NLDN = judge@nldn.dyndns.org
(Dutch-language Judge, Max Loewenthal)
NZMB = judge@gem.win.co.nz (Code
testing judge, Mario
Becroft and Tim Miller)
PTLX = ptlx@faztek.org (Portugese Language
Judge, Millis
Miller)
USAL = judge@usal.game-host.org
(Norfolk, Massachusetts, Alan Lange)
USIN = usin@thekleimans.com (Indiana,
Dave Kleiman)
USOS = usos@onesite.org (US,
"OneSite.org", Nightshade)
USTR = ustr@diplom.org (USA, David Norman)
USTT = ustt@chloe.webjudge.net (Tim's Test
Judge, Tim Miller)
USTV = ustv@faztek.org (Variant Test Judge,
Millis
Miller)
USTX = judge@spencersoft.com (Dallas,
Texas, Gregory A
Greenman)
Each Judge is effectively an island unto itself. While they all do basically the same things, each is running a slightly different version of the Judge software so there is a little variation among them (some of the later versions support more variants and have a few bugs ironed out). They are just different places to play the same game. Since Diplomacy players are a fairly addictive type, many people play games on several Judges just in case one needs to go down for an extended period of time. By playing on multiple Judges, you can hedge your risk of losing a lot of games with one freak electrical storm. Plus, by not being limited to one or two Judges, you get more options when you're looking for a new game by searching the entire list of open games (I will explain this below, in Step 4: Getting a List of Openings).
The easiest way to register is to use the Diplomacy Pouch registration page. This allows players with web access to register for any Judge desired (one Judge at a time) in one convenient step. Be sure to come back here when you're done, though, because there is more to learn!
If you want to play games on multiple Judges you will have to register with each one. The Judges do not share registration information. This includes dedication rating (I will briefly explain dedication below, in Step 12: Understanding Promptness) which attempts to measure how consistently prompt you are on all games on an individual Judge.
The other way to register is by e-mail. Many people find it convenient to register with all the Judges at once by sending out a blanket e-mail (the registration form is identical). So, if you wish to do this, simply include more than one address in the TO: field when you register in the step we're about to undertake. If you are unsure if you want to register with many Judges, just pick one for now, and you can always register at the others later.
Copy the registration form below (either cut and paste it or retype it). Do not change the first and last lines (REGISTER and END), or the first word on each line (up to and including the : symbol). Do change everything else to reflect your personal information.
If you register as Charles V. Habsburg or put other phony information in your registration, or leave out basic information like your name and address, you very likely will not be permitted to play on that Judge. The Judge Keepers are sick and tired of phony registrations. The Judge Keepers are volunteers, and it's not nice to make their lives more complicated than they already are.
Send it to the Judge you chose in Step 2, or to as many as you wish if you are registering at more than one Judge.
REGISTER Name: Charles V. Habsburg (CHANGE THIS OR FACE CONSEQUENCES) Phone: (510) 555-1212 (CHANGE THIS) Site: Holy Roman Empire Address: Monastery of San Geronimo de Yuste, Estremadura Country: Spain E-mail: charles.v.habsburg@holy.roman.empire Level: Novice, Intermediate or Expert (PICK ONLY ONE!!!) Birthdate: February 24, 1500 Sex: Male END
Don't put "Site: Home"; your best bet is to put the name of your school, employer, or some organization you are affiliated with.
Your "Level" should reflect your diplomacy skills, not your Judge skills. Don't submit this without picking one and only one level. We are sick of seeing people who claim to be Charles the Fifth and "Novice, Intermediate or Expert." Your registration will eventually be deleted (and you may have problems) unless you submit accurate info.
Take a look at the Openings List on the Diplomacy Pouch site. If for some reason, the www.diplom.org system is down, each individual Judge can always give you a list of all its public games (with or without openings). Send an e-mail to the Judge, and in the body type list. The long file you get back will list all the public games on the Judge that you have chosen.
Another way to find a game to join is to put your name on the Diplomacy Pouch Game Queue. You can sign up to join a standard game for "newbies," or a no-press game, or to standby for a replacement position. Be prepared to wait anywhere from a few days to a few weeks once your name is on the queue before you get e-mailed to join a game.
Look at this sample game listing:
andy S1901M Standard, Gunboat, 48 hrs, Moderated (andyhre),Press:W-P-. Judge newcomer game! Forming: 1 more players needed.
The game name is "andy." The season is Spring 1901 (movement phase). The Variant is standard Diplomacy (Standard) but the names of the actual people playing each country are kept secret (Gunboat). Deadlines occur every 48 hours. Andyhre is the moderator who assists the Judge's automated processes. The press settings determine how letters to other players are sent and can take a little time to understand. Just recognize that this game is White/Partial, which means the country of origin of each letter is revealed (white), so that letters from, say, Turkey cannot be forged to look like letters from Russia, and you may send letters to one or more players without sending the letter to everyone (partial).
This is optional. Some newcomers find observing a game to be a good way to get their feet wet. Others wish to dive right in. If you prefer total immersion, please skip to Step 7. Otherwise, read on.
Pick a game (I'll use andy). Pick a password (I'll use password, but you should use some other word). Send the equivalent of this message to your favorite Judge:
signon oandy password signoff
The first word is always signon (not singon or sign on). The second is the letter "o" for observer and then the game name combined. The third should be your password. The Judge will reply saying you are accepted (if you typed it right) and from now on you'll receive all broadcast press and game results.
Note: Instead of saying signon ogamename password you can also say observe gamename. I mention this because the DEAC Judge, which uses German translations, allows you to use the second format but not the first [it uses "Z" instead of "O" (Zuschauer rather than Observer) so the command is signon zgamename password] and thus it may be safer to learn this second format if you ever have to interact with a non-English Judge. The other option is to learn the word for observe in any language for which there is a Judge!
HINT FOR OBSERVING: Try to find a game without partial press (the third character of the press code is a dash, not a P). These games are more fun to observe because the players must broadcast to communicate.
So you want to join the game andy as a player and start the ball rolling. You need to sign on and give the Judge your list of preferences, as follows:
signon ?andy password standard gunboat set preference AEFGIRT signoff
The command is similar to joining as an observer except:
It is more common to find a stalled game than a new game forming, so be prepared to take over a power whose player has quit. Look at this sample listing:
jenifer S1903R Standard, Gunboat, 48 hrs, Moderated (andyhre), Press:W-P-. Openings: Austria (3/3)
You decide to learn the Judge by helping these players finish their game (by taking over the 3-unit Austria). You should get a detailed listing of the game (send list jenifer to the Judge) to make sure the game is not for Albanians-only or some such restriction, and you should consider sending an e-mail to the person listed as the GM to make sure the power is really abandoned. Assuming you qualify, type:
signon ajenifer password standard gunboat signoff
In the 2nd word, you now replace "?" with "a" since you know for a fact which country (a=Austria) is available.
If the game accepts you (it might reject you if it has a flag that prevents new players from joining, or if someone else grabbed the position before you did), you'll be told that you've been allowed to take over the position, and you'll be given a deadline for moves. Now you just need to send some press and enter your moves!
There are two basic types of press, partials (sent to one or more individual players) and broadcasts (sent to everyone in the game at once).
Broadcast press
To send a broadcast in the game jenifer, type:
signon ajenifer password broadcast Hey, the New Austria will conquer you all
(or whatever message you wish)
endpress signoff
Two notes: (1) Once you've joined the game, you no longer need to enter the variant information when you sign on. (2) Be careful typing endpress as one word all by itself on a line or else you may end up sending more information than you wish. You have been warned.
Partial press
Now say you want to write to Russia and Turkey and tell them how
great you are:
signon ajenifer password press to RT Austria will conquer you both endpress signoff
They key is line 2. RT: means Russia and Turkey. Had you wanted just Italy, you'd type press to I. Also, anything between the press line and endpress line will be sent, so please remember to type endpress (not end press or endpres)!
By the way, the above are not examples of good press! The game is called "Diplomacy," after all, and you may want to be a little more diplomatic in your own writings.
This is also a good time to write to the master and tell her/him you are a newbie:
signon ajenifer password press to M Austria is a clueless newbie. endpress signoff
(The M in Press to M stands for Master. Typing Press to GM (don't do this) will send a copy to both Germany and the Master.)
Here is a sample of how you'd enter moves for Austria:
signon ajenifer password A Vie-Gal A Bud S A Vie-Gal F Tri-Alb signoff
Note how the moves follow standard Diplomacy syntax. Vienna is moving to Galicia with support from Budapest and Trieste is taking Albania. If this syntax does not make sense to you, you need to learn how to play Diplomacy, which is not the purpose of this document. The Judge uses 3-letter abbreviations for provinces where possible, but you can always enter the full name. For some provinces, like Liverpool and Livonia, you need to use other abbreviations (Lpl and Lvn, respectively). You can learn the legal abbreviations by requesting get map from the Judge. You can also use a variety of other symbols for move commands, like −> or the word "moves" or the letter "m", and you can omit the "army" and "fleet" designations if you want; the Judge will fill them in for you (at least in standard games).
If you ever are uncertain where the units are, simply list the game (send list jenifer to the Judge) and you'll get the scoop on each piece's location.
There's one order that is different from ordinary Diplomacy syntax, and that's the convoy. You write the fleet convoy order the same way you would in a face-to-face game, but the Judge requires a special syntax for the army. You have to order the army to move through each sea space that will convoy it, thereby eliminating all ambiguity in convoy orders. Rather than try to explain, here's a common example:
signon ajenifer password f adr c a alb-ven a tri s a alb-ven a alb-adr-ven signoff
If you left out "-adr-" in the middle, the Judge would reject the order with a fairly cryptic error message!
Sadly, everyone must retreat at some time or other. Retreat syntax mirrors moves, so a Fleet retreating from Greece to Albania would be ordered like this:
signon ajenifer password F Gre - Alb signoff
If you'd rather disband the unit for strategic reasons, you'd say:
signon ajenifer password F Gre Disband signoff
The syntax for adjustments varies somewhat from that used for moves and retreats. You have to list the action (build or remove) before the province, so to build an army in Vienna, type:
signon ajenifer password Build A Vie signoff
If faced with the need to remove a unit, say in Bohemia, you'd type:
signon ajenifer password Remove A Boh signoff
Note that the syntax for a disbandment during a retreat (A Boh Disband) differs from a removal during the adjustment phase (Remove A Boh). This can cause some confusion at first.
When the Judge replies to your e-mails, especially when you
submit your moves, always check to see if it has found any
errors. A typical error comes from confusing a fleet with an
army. A stray word can also cause this (like typing
singoff). If you make any sort of error when you submit
moves, even if all of your moves are accepted, you will get an
error message from the Judge saying an error was (or several
errors were) encountered. Do not ignore this, even if your
moves look 100% correct. If the Judge says there is an error,
you must clear the error flag or your moves will not be
processed.
To clear a flag, just signon on and signoff, like this:
signon ajenifer password signoff
This sounds basic, but every new player I know has been late (and one was kicked out) simply from having an uncorrected error flag. Of course, if the error caused an order to be ignored, you should resubmit the order correctly in addition to merely clearing the error flag.
Every player has a dedication rating. Every turn has a deadline and a grace period. Get moves in on-time, and your dedication rating goes up. Miss the deadline and your dedication rating goes down. Some games require players to meet a dedication minimum, thus by being on-time you get access to games played by more experienced people (and hopefully, you get better as a result). Furthermore, if you are so late that you exceed the grace period of a game, you will be kicked out of the game, be stripped of LOTS of dedication points, and you will find it very difficult to join another game. So ALWAYS be on-time. Note also, that even if you are on-time, but you have an error flag as mentioned above, you will still be considered late and you still risk being kicked out at the end of the grace period, so always check your Judge replies carefully.
For more details on reading a game listing and understanding when the deadlines will fall, you should send get deadline to the Judge. However, I've also written a quick explanation, as an introduction.
If there is one web address that every Judge player should know (besides the address of this Guide, of course), it's www.floc.net. This is a great site, created by Alain Tésio, that takes all the drudgery out of making maps, keeping track of deadlines, and managing multiple games. If you are only in one game, you can just click on the "Game form" link to view maps, review past turn results, and so forth. However, if you are in more than one game, you would be crazy not to register for a personalized page. It takes a few extra minutes to set up your page with all your games, your local time zone, and other info, but once you do you will be able to see all your games at a glance, with the deadlines converted into your local time. Nothing could be easier or more convenient! Thanks, Alain!!
Yes, you try to be prompt and you pay attention to the deadlines, but stuff happens, and sometimes you've got other priorities, like your job, your family, and your non-refundable holiday tickets. You don't have to go crazy looking for Internet cafes in exotic vacation destinations or tap your orders into your Blackberry in the middle of that big sales presentation. Instead, the makers of the Judge have kindly provided you with a way to get automatic deadline extensions for these events!
The command is called "Set Absence", and it tells the Judge that you are going to be absent certain days, so don't set any deadlines during that time. This command doesn't change the current deadline, so if you have a real last-minute emergency you'll need to send press to the Master asking for a deadline change. But if you plan to travel or be otherwise unavailable, use Set Absence as soon as you are sure of the dates.
To do this, first make sure the Judge you are using supports this command! Most of them do, but a few of the foreign-language judges use customized software that hasn't got all the more recent features like Set Absence. Next, figure out what the dates of your absence should be. The starting date will usually be the day after the last day on which you expect to be around to send in orders. After all, as a responsible player, you will be sure to send in orders for the current season before you leave! The ending date should be a day when you are sure you will be back, and able to play. In a no-press game, this might even be the day of your scheduled return, but in a press game you will want to add at least a day or two after that, because you'll need to negotiate upon your return. The Judge usually will set the next deadline exactly on the date you schedule your absence to end, so when in doubt leave yourself an extra day in case of travel difficulties.
Now you're ready to send the command to the Judge. You'll start with SIGNON and end with SIGNOFF, as always. In between, you write the Set Absence command followed by the start date, the word "to", and the end date. Here's the tricky part -- you have to write the month as a three-letter (English) abbreviation; the Judge doesn't recognize formats like "09/03" or "12-21-05" or "January 3." You can use either month-first or month-last, but you must use only the first three letters of the month's name. So either "Jan 15" or "15 Jan" will work. Here's a full example:
signon ajenifer password set absence feb 16 to feb 25 signoff
If your absence is more than the maximum allowed in the game, usually 15 days, the Judge will send a message to the Master asking for approval; otherwise, approval is automatic and you don't need to ask the Master.
You should be set for basic Judge play now. For more detail, see the Long Version of this Guide, and read the Judge files you got in Step 2 (you printed them out like I told you, yes?). Experiment a little as well. The worst that can happen is you can be eliminated by the end of 1902 (hey, it's happened to me), but you will learn a lot and you will have cool stories to tell afterwards. Have fun and good luck!
Originally written by Andy Schwarz, with input from many, esp. Magnus Selhammer. Special thanks to Eric N. Coffey.
Updated January, 2005, with permission, by Russ Blau.