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I'm doing a little bit of research and I'm hoping you can help me track down any games, other than Diplomacy (online version here), that employ all or some of the mechanics in Diplomacy (rules, short form). Examples I'm looking for:

  • Simultaneous orders given prior to execution of orders
    • In Diplomacy, players "write down" their moves and execute them "at the same time"
  • Support, in terms of supporting an attacker or defender "take" a territory.
    • In Diplomacy, no one unit is stronger than another you need to combine the strength of multiple units to attack other territories.
  • Rules for how move conflicts are resolved
    • Example, 2 units move into a space, but only one is allowed, what happens.

I may add to this list later, but these are the primary things I'm looking for. If you need clarification on anything just let me know.

Note: I tried asking this on GamingSE, but it was shot down. So, I am unsure where else I could post this. Since I am researching this for game development purposes, I assume this post is on topic. Please let me know if this is not the case. Please also feel free to re-categorize this. Thanks!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Funny how there is not actual Diplomacy involved in the game? \$\endgroup\$
    – Jonathan Connell
    Jun 20, 2011 at 9:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @3nixios, Diplomacy was the best example suggested to me at the time that implemented a ruleset similar to what I had already envisioned and explained to a friend. That's not to say that the game I'm thinking up couldn't have a diplomatic aspect to it by virtue of the players. Risk comes to mind as a game where diplomacy happens, but there is no ruleset for it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    Jun 20, 2011 at 17:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ I didn't know of the game Diplomacy, hence my initial confusion. I do believe that diplomacy can be cool in a game, I would strangely think of Civilization as having an amusing view on Diplomacy ^^ \$\endgroup\$
    – Jonathan Connell
    Jun 21, 2011 at 10:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @3nixios, I gocha. Sorry for the confusion! \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    Jun 21, 2011 at 20:50

7 Answers 7

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Judging from the gameplay you've suggested Frozen Synapse might be one to watch.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Thanks! \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    May 12, 2011 at 16:13
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First, Diplomacy is a board game. The question might have more chance getting great answers on http://boardgames.stackexchange.com

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the links! As far as your first comment, are you saying that GameDevSE excludes developing board or table top games? We are, after all, just talking about game mechanics, which would be more or less universal regardless of the game medium. I assume that since this was shot down on GamersSE that BoardGamesSE would also be off limits. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    May 12, 2011 at 15:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Kevin: no I was just saying that users on B&C games might know more games of this type (thus more chance to find what you're looking for) For example you could look in this post: boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/1039/… \$\endgroup\$
    – user3956
    May 12, 2011 at 15:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ thanks for the reply and clarification! I'll probably cross-post later given your example. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    May 12, 2011 at 16:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ thanks for the links. I really like that site. I was able to find a HUGE list of board games fitting my criteria because of their mechanics categorization. For example, here's a list of games that use "Simultaneous Action Selection" (as they call it). \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    May 12, 2011 at 16:53
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There's a neat little two-player board game called "2 De Mayo" which has some of these features.

  • Simultaneous orders (both French and Spanish side write down orders and reveal at the same time)
  • Simple rules for resolving conflicts.

It does not, however, have supporting actions. You can only move (attack an area) and not stay and support.

Apart from that, it's an asymmetrical game in that the French army (which is much stronger has only few troops) and needs to hunt down a highly mobile Spanish rebel mob comprised of many small units. Check it out.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ interesting twist on similar concepts. Thanks for sharing! \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    Jun 20, 2011 at 17:24
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Medieval Total War has all three of those. Unless multiplayer in this strategic portion is required.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ thanks for the post. Multiplayer is not important so long as it meets at least one of the requirements. I'll look into it. Thanks! \$\endgroup\$
    – Kevin Peno
    May 12, 2011 at 16:02
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Total war games all really good for this and you could also try the Civilization games I think Civ 5 was released recently.

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This isn't a perfect match, but Dominions 3 is the first thing I thought of. It's got the simultaneous movement and heavy use of diplomacy in order to win games. There's no official way to "support" units, besides having them form larger armies, and there's no way two players can assist each other in combat. But from what little I played of Diplomacy, Dominions 3 has the same basic feel, only with, you know, hordes of monsters and worldshattering spells added.

In a more general sense you might want to look into the Play-By-Mail genre, now frequently referred to as Play-By-Email or PBEM. There are many, many examples of this genre, but besides Dominions 3 it may also be worth looking at the venerable VGA Planets and Stars! games.

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Game review blog Rock Paper Shotgun reviewed a team-work board game somewhat unimaginatively named Space Alert. The review however is a great read and the game seems ridiculously fun.

The game takes the Diplomacy concept to the extreme in that the whole game is played to the end before everyone finds out if they won or lost.

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