Discipulus_Didicit

I am the version of DD from the year 2035 in the dark future where the pivotal moment in the title of this thread happened as described. I have this timeline's version of DD tied up in the basement until I can find a more permanent place to stay. Congrats on dodging the bullet that my timeline could not. Ask me anything.

Diplomacy is a World War I themed board game best played with exactly seven players that engage in plotting, back room deals, and backstabbing to come out on top. The game starts in Spring of the year 1900 and play proceeds through Spring, then Fall, then Winter, then back to Spring of 1901, and so on. 

The following video is the shortest I could find on YouTube and covers the basics fairly well:

Or if you prefer reading, the Wikipedia article:

The rules may seem complex at first but are surprisingly simple and intuitive once past the initial learning curve and unlike other military themed board games a relatively small amount of the focus of the game is on actual strategy but instead most of the focus is on the previously mentioned deal making and backstabbing as it is possible for a single player to win but also possible for a number of players to be eliminated and the rest to negotiate an end to the game between them.

I think the backstabbing and deal making aspect of the game would make it fun to try out among an established community such as DART. If there is  enough interest in this I will go into more details.

Yo, Underdog, I need you to talk to your nerd friends over at r/Libertarian. They banned me for being anti-statist. I know you got the connects dawg hook a brotha up.

Not sure if there is anything in particular this is 'to the tune of' but the melody is probably obvious enough if you just know there is one.

-----

So you like order over chaos?

Well Putin thinks you're full of shit.

You're an empath not a nihilist?

Putin thinks you're full of shit.

You're an anti-interventionist?

Putin thinks you're full of shit.

And if you think election fraud

is really really bad...

Well Putin disagrees with you

And I think that's quite sad.

The first U.S. amendment?

Putin thinks it's full of shit.

The second, fourth, and eighth?

Putin thinks they're full of shit.

Worst of all ol' twenty-two

You guessed it, full of shit.

And if you think that mass murder

Is really really cool?

I'm worried 'bout your mental health

But Putin might like you.

-----

Please describe step-by-step in as much detail as possible how you think the scientific community actually reaches consensus on topics, not 'in theory' but instead how it happens 'in practice'.

Mission Result: Success

Spy Score: 1/3

Resistance Victory!

A few weeks had passed since the successful mission to disrupt the Hegemony's reconstruction efforts in the NEMZ and the resistance cell that had been instrumental in pulling off the job was concluding its meeting just hours before the new year when the encrypted message came in. One of the rebels read over it briefly before simply shaking their head and showing the rest.

DATE: 08/52/889

TO: ALL RED CELLS

FROM: GREEN ACTUAL

SUBJECT: SUBJECT R

SUBJECT R HAS ESCAPED ALLIANCE CUSTODY. ASSISTED BY AGENT AT GREEN HQ. TRAITOR IDENTIFIED AND UNDER INTERROGATION. LIKELY ODIGOS INTELLIGENCE AGENCY ASSET. NOT SUSPECTED TO HAVE HAD ANY OTHER OUTSIDE HELP.

"Subject R, that's what HQ was calling Reeford isn't it? What was the point of us going out and snatching the asshole if they were just going to let him get away like that?"

"We still disrupted the conference, and just the fact that we were able to capture him in the first place hurts the Hegemony bad from a PR perspective no matter how they spin it. Still, even though we had nothing to do with it the thought that even green base had an OIA mole in it is damn disturbing. Going to put a damper on the new year for sure."

Mission Result: Success

Spy Score: 1/3

Resistance Score: 2/3

How many people used gift cards they were given last year to buy presents for people this year?

Anyone play this before? Not all that popular over here in America as far as I know,  not sure if that is the case elsewhere. I played a bit in my youth but started again recently after I found out a friend of mine was trying to design an AI for the game.

There are two apps of this game I have from the Google Play store. The first called "Strategy" has only one difficulty setting that is less than impressive. Playing almost at random yields about an 80% win rate and even the most modest amount of effort causes the AI to immediately implode. I keep it installed anyway though because of its great UI making it the superior option for planning initial setups and pass-and-play.

The second is called "Heroic Battle" and has several difficulty settings and aggressiveness settings. Playing the hardest difficulty I lose about 50% of the time even if I put in a moderate amount of effort. Not that great either considering I am a beginner myself, but I have never adjusted the aggressiveness. Might be more challenging if I make it more or less likely to take risks (probably will make it less, poor bastard hit my bomb with his general last time I played. Oof).

When I really want a challenge though I play against the "Master of the Flag" browser-based Stratego AI. That one makes me really think through every move and agonize over my strategy in detail and still beats me probably about 95% of the time (even those few wins I do get on MotF often feel like they were lucky). Not sure how it would compare to a more skillful human player but it would certainly crush any other AI I have played against.

If anyone here has played please post some tips. I have a few favorite opening setups, some newly made by me and some partly borrowed from other people. If it turns out there are actually some Stratego fans here on DART I may post them.

I don't know any sites to play against other people but if anyone here does let me know.

Starting board is a bit different here. We have an odd number of zones to hopefully make ties less likely (obviously still possible to tie) and more blank starting zones.

All other rules are standard for 1 v 1's we have had so far. Ten rounds, diminishing reinforcements per round, etc.

The Board:

Rules of the 1v1v1 game:

1) "Diplomacy" in PM or in thread is not permitted. Feel free to play in a way that helps one of your opponents over another if you wish, but never in any officially agreed on way.

2) There will be five rounds. You are given 5 shapes to deploy on the first round and as with previous games that number is reduced in each round.

3) To help keep the board clear whenever all three players have a presence in a zone one of each of their shapes will be deleted until two or less players remain in the zone. This has no effect on the game, just helps keep the board easier to read.

4) Scoring rules are detailed in the imgur post.

The game begins:

We will make RM blue again for this one. Pie, you will be red.

Anyone interested in playing some variation of this against another person moderated by myself? Less people required than mafia makes it less viable during site slowdown periods but smaller player count requirements of alternate games fill a kind of niche that is opened.

A minimum of two would be needed but I have some interesting ideas I could pursue if there are at least four interested.

It is apparently the case that determinism is closely associated by a lot of people with the ability to make predictions about human choices. I am curious what people that actually think determinism is probably correct think about this.

I win.

Just realized that Wylted was not the only case of this, chris cleaned house with mesmer on his way out as well.

Are there any other cases of this that have gone unnoticed? Is it coincidence that these bans happened right before an administration change?

For example If I put tan(4) into a calculator then what am I actually asking the calculator to do? I know tan is short for tangent and tangent is a way of referring to the y/x function but the actual button of the calculator is a mystery to me.

Someone help me understand please.

Two mafioso remain.

This DP will last until Sept. 15 11:59 EST

DP 1 begin ls now and will last until Sept. 11 11:59 PM EST or a lynch decision is reached.

There are two mafioso in the game

The players are:

Good luck

It has the word "white" in it.

I am so TRIGGERED.

Boys and girls... please don't drink cleaning chemicals.

#justsaynotodrinkingbleach

Time to make history.

A very controversial subject that has come up many times on this forum. What are everyone's thoughts?

Asking for a friend.

I have been debating between getting a huge aquarium or a cat for quite some time and after months of consideration have decided to go with the many times more expensive and less useful option where everything going horribly wring is much more likely, the aquarium.

The problem (well, the main problem anyway) is that II have no experience whatsoever in the purchase or care of fish outside of what I remember from a few guppies my family had in a small fishbowl as a child. Any advice or links to useful websites for such a project would be appreciated. If this topic garners interest from a number of users I'll even upload a few pics/video clips of the work in progress.

Option 1) Corona virus is going to lead to human extinction if we don't all camp in our bunkers and stockpile TP immediately.

Option 2) Corona virus social distancing measures are just another part of a communist conspiracy to take over the world.

Option 3) Wearing a mask is kind of annoying.

So here is the mystery... why does it seem pretty much everyone is going with option one or two?

Let's do something like this again

Any takers?

Using watch2gether.com

Any interest in this? I used to do this every week with some other groups of internet people I hung out with. We would just take turns picking a song to play in the background while talking about random stuff. Was pretty good fun getting to know people by what kind of music they listened to and being introduced to new artists I had not heard of before. If enough people express interest here we can set a date and I can host it. Obviously everyone reading this is welcome if they are interested.

Mafia wins. Kinda. Actually no, town loses. That's more accurate.

If I knew that people had stopped playing mafia I never would have started this game. I incorrectly assumed people were still playing because I was promoted by multiple people within a short span of time when my turn to mod came up and the signups signups filled relatively quick.

Speedrace - You are the Supox and your ship class is the Blade. Your species is the only known species of sentient plants, though scientists from all races (including your own) generally agree that it is impossible for plants to develop sentience naturally. Your species has good relations with the Utwig and along with them join the New Alliance of Free Stars during the Second Doctrinal Conflict. Your tendency to imitate other races as part of your diplomatic strategy makes you the Role Copy. Once per night you may choose a player to imitate. You gain that players role, though they do not lose their role as a result. During any subsequent night you may choose a player to target with the role you copied (though you will not be told what that role is until after you use it) or you may choose a different player to copy (and subsequently lose the previous role you copied). In addition to this you may communicate via PM with your partner SupaDudz and choose for one of you to target a player with a kill action each night. You and your partner SupaDudz win with the Mafia.

SupaDudz - You are the Zoq-Fot-Pik and your ship class is the Stinger. Your culture consists of three species that developed sentience on the same planet at around the same time. Your low technology level and remote location relative to the conflict prevented you from taking part in that war, though during the Second Doctrinal Conflict you joined the New Alliance of Free Stars formed by the Humans and provided valuable intelligence in exchange for military protection. Your intel gathering skill makes you the Role Cop. Once per night you may select a target. If your action is successful your targets role will be revealed to you, though not their character. In addition to this you may communicate via PM with your partner speedrace and choose for one of you to target a player with a kill action each night. You and your partner speedrace win with the Mafia.

oromagi - You are the Umgah and your ship class is the Drone. You were among the first races to submit to joining the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. You are generally best known for your tendency to play 'pranks' upon alien races, especially the Spathi. These practical jokes, however, often have severe negative consequences for your victims. Because of this you are the Roleblocker. Once per night you may choose a player to target. If your action is successful that player will be unable to perform any action that night. You win with the Town.

LittleCookie08 - You are the Humans and your ship class is the Cruiser. Your unusually strong industrial base played a useful role in fight the Ur-Quan Slave War when first enlisted into the Alliance of Free Stars by Chenjesu diplomats. Despite this your overall average biology and low tech level make you the Vanilla. You have no special ability. You win with the Town.

Ragnar - You are the Arilou and your ship class is the Skiff. Not much is known to outsiders about your race other than the fact that you revealed yourselves to the Alliance of Free Stars and insisted on being granted membership shortly after the Humans joined during the Ur-Quan Slave War. It is later revealed that you have had a special interest and possibly a guiding hand in the development of the Humans as a species for many centuries. Because of this you are the Watcher. Once per night you may choose a player to target. If your action is successful you will be given a list of players that visited your target that night. You win with the Town.

Warren42 - You are the Spathi and your ship class is the Discriminator. You were forced to join the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls as the result of an Umgah prank during the Ur-Quan Slave War. Thouth your race posseses huge potential (having developed from the equivalent of the bronze age to an early space age level of technology in around 100 years) you are largely held back in many fields such as exploration, military, and diplomacy by your extreme natural cowardice (the aforementioned technological leap made possible only by a desire to leave their homeworld and colonize the moon to escape the 'Evil Ones'). Because of this you are the Hider. Once per night you may choose a target. If your action is successful you become untargetable by any kill for the night. However, if your target dies you will die as well. You win with the Town.

PressF4Respect - You are the Shofixti and your ship class is the Scout. Your strong militaristic culture can be attributed to being uplifted by the militaristic Yehat, and naturally you joined the Alliance of Free Stars with them during the Ur-Quan Slave War. Though your ships are unimpressive on their own they each carry a Glory Device for use in combat. The nature of this device makes you the Suicide Bomber. Once per game you may choose a player to target in the night. If your action is successful you and your target will die. This kill is considered a strongman kill. You win with the Town.

Pie - You are the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za and your ship class is the Dreadnaught. Your philosophy which you call The Path of Now and Forever requires that you attempt to enslave all races in the galaxy. For this purpose you created the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls in order to wipe out the stiff resistance offered by the Chenjesu and their allies in their sector of the galaxy. Your ability to create impenetrable Slave Shields makes you the Jailkeeper. Once per night you may target a player of your choice. If your action is successful your target will be protected that night, though they will also be unable to perform any night actions. You win with the Town.

User_2006 - You are the Yehat and your ship class is the Terminator. Your species was the first among the Alliance of Free Stars to encounter the VUX some time prior to the Ur-Quan Slave War, though due to their xenophobic culture you never developed close diplomatic ties with them. Your Terminator warship is well known for its ability to deploy an impenetrable but energy hungry shield, making you a 1x Bulletproof. Once per game if you are targeted by a killing role you will be automatically protected. You win with the Town.

Races that appeared in the first Star Control were town. Mafia was made up of races that were only introduced in the second game. This left seven races open for mafia to fake claim (there were 14 races in the original) but since town didn't even bother to play mafia decided to not even bother fake claiming.

Before DP 1 my opinion was that the balance was slightly scum-sided though not as much as their lopsided "victory" would suggest. Since no game actually occurred this opinion of mine remains untested. When laying out the rules in DP 1 OP I originally meant to inform the players that no two players had the same role, including vanillas. I forgot to include this information. Had the players played the game this oversight would have made me feel guilty. Since no game in fact occurred I feel no guilt.

Supa - Cop cookie kill pie

Speed - Copy press

oro - block pie

Pie - jail cookie (failed)

Warren - hide behind pie

Ragnar - watch cookie

Supa - Cop oro kill ragnar

Speed - copy oro

oro - block ragnar

Ragnar - watch oro

Lynched last DP:

Nobody

Died in the night:

Ragnar: You are the Arilou and your ship class is the Skiff. Not much is known to outsiders about your race other than the fact that you revealed yourselves to the Alliance of Free Stars and insisted on being granted membership shortly after the Humans joined during the Ur-Quan Slave War. It is later revealed that you have had a special interest and possibly a guiding hand in the development of the Humans as a species for many centuries. Because of this you are the Watcher. Once per night you may choose a player to target. If your action is successful you will be given a list of players that visited your target that night. You win with the Town.

Graveyard:

User - Yehat - 1x Bulletproof - Town

Pie - Ur-Quan Kzer-Za - Jailkeeper - Town

Warren42 - Spathi - Hider - Town

Lynched last DP:

User_2006: You are the Yehat and your ship class is the Terminator. Your species was the first among the Alliance of Free Stars to encounter the VUX some time prior to the Ur-Quan Slave War, though due to their xenophobic culture you never developed close diplomatic ties with them. Your Terminator warship is well known for its ability to deploy an impenetrable but energy hungry shield, making you a 1x Bulletproof. Once per game if you are targeted by a killing role you will be automatically protected. You win with the Town.

Died in the night:

iLikePie5: You are the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za and your ship class is the Dreadnaught. Your philosophy which you call The Path of Now and Forever requires that you attempt to enslave all races in the galaxy. For this purpose you created the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls in order to wipe out the stiff resistance offered by the Chenjesu and their allies in their sector of the galaxy. Your ability to create impenetrable Slave Shields makes you the Jailkeeper. Once per night you may target a player of your choice. If your action is successful your target will be protected that night, though they will also be unable to perform any night actions. You win with the Town.

Warren42: You are the Spathi and your ship class is the Discriminator. You were forced to join the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls as the result of an Umgah prank during the Ur-Quan Slave War. Thouth your race posseses huge potential (having developed from the equivalent of the bronze age to an early space age level of technology in around 100 years) you are largely held back in many fields such as exploration, military, and diplomacy by your extreme natural cowardice (the aforementioned technological leap made possible only by a desire to leave their homeworld and colonize the moon to escape the 'Evil Ones'). Because of this you are the Hider. Once per night you may choose a target. If your action os successful you become untargetable by any kill for the night. However, if your target dies you will die as well. You win with the Town.

Living players:

1) PressF

2) Cookie

3) Oromagi

4) Ragnar

5) Speed

6) Supa

DP 2 will last 72 hours or until a lynch decision is reached.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Star Control, a video game that none of you are likely to have heard of due to it being older than most of you but which is still quite a good game.

Basic setup:

1) There will be a theme dividing town andafia characters.

2) There will be no bastard mechanics (as defined by mafiascum wiki). This includes third party wincons.

3) Basic etiquette rules apply, though I think that the last site update made it impossible to tell whether a post has been edited rendering that rule unenforceable. If there is a way to tell whether a post has been edited on the mobile version please tell me.

4) Day phase lasts 72 hours (subject to possible extension by mod upon request) while night phase lasts until all living players have poked me via PM during the night (this should make night phases shorter in general).

5) The number of mafia will be revealed on DP 1.

I think the ability to upvote ones one forum post should be eliminated if possible. I never put the first upvote on any of my posts but whenever I am reviewing a thread and I see that someone liked one of my posts I feel a weird compulsion to bring it to 2 likes just so nobody thinks the first like was mine. Like, I assume that anyone who sees one of my posts with a single like will assume I liked my own post so I bring it to 2 just to show "yes actually someone did like my post, even if you assume one was from me if it is at 2 you know I was liked by someone else at least once. Validation!"

So, if you ever see a post of mine with 1 like it was not me but if there are multiple likes chances are high (though less than 100%) that at least one was mine.

This would not really change much so if it would be a pain feel free to leave it but if it doesn't require much coding effort it would be worth it to help with my psychological conditioning to leave a second like on all my liked posts. Thanks.

No, I am not ever going to make an "AMA" thread. I am not stupid enough to convince myself that people give a fuck about what I think about random stupid shit and not arrogant enough to pretend that they do.

- DD 2017

Okay fine this coronavirus shit has me bored out of my fucking skull. I have the night off work but none of my friends are willing to do anything because "wahhh coronavirus and the government will get mad if I leave my house". Fucking pussies. All I can do to pass the time is stay at home and drink so I guess to relieve the boredom I will do something gay like make an AMA or something.

- DD 2020

Lay it on me fuck-O's.

Covid-19 is not like the flu. It is actually a form of coronavirus - Basically super-SARS - Yet in my experience people are comparing it with the flu more often than they are comparing it with anything else. Apples and oranges. Is it just because this outbreak happened to occur around flu season?

Because... Wow. Spam...

Even a lot of hardcore anti-socialists have at some point uttered the phrase "well yeah sure communism looks great on paper buuut..."

I never really got that.

Even 'on paper' communism never really appealed to me.

"From each according to what he chooses to put in" sounds a lot less tyrannical than "From each everything he is able".

I have been meaning to do this poll for well over two years now but the poll section of DDO has always been shit and it looks like this site will not have one any time soon so I'll just make it in the forums. There will be three yes-or-no questions asked, please answer all or none of them. The originally planned version would have had eight options representing the eight possible answer combinations. The questions are as follows:

1) Were you raised in the United States?

2) If yes to question 1 have you ever spent a significant (three consecutive months or more) period of time living outside the United States? If no to question 1 have you ever spent a significant (three consecutive months or more) living inside the United States?

3) Do you believe that American society is - on average - more racist than the rest of the world?

An example of a well formatted answer would be the following:

Premise one: The Ontalogical Argument requires a maximum being to necissarily exist in every possible reality in order to be sound.

Premise two: It is possible to imagine a possible reality where no beings of any kind exist

Conclusion: The Ontalogical Argument is not sound.

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

You be dead:

Grey - Lynced DP1. Role: mafia goon

Press - Murdered NP 1. Role: town JOAT

Zaradi - Murdered NP 1. Role: mafia goon

Speedrace - Murdered NP1. Role: mafia goon

Living players:

1. Virtuoso

2. ILikePie

3. Drafterman

4. Supadudz

5. Oromagi