"SuiSilos"- The European Blitz Attack

[Ace Rimmer]

Don't get me wrong, I used SuiSilo many times and consider it valid and if I were playing right now, I'd use it. My point was that once everybody figured out that Defcon can become a race for the biggest cities, Default Defcon became boring. It was no longer a game of skill where naval battles and gambling a silo launch mattered.

In short, once you get 6-player default (anything less than 6 is just not the same) out of your system, 3v3, 2v2, 1v1 and Diplomacy (Premium, cause normal sucks) is where it's at. A few games of Suicide Diplomacy are fun too. (lowest score wins)

[Barbarossa]

Don't get me wrong, I used SuiSilo many times and consider it valid and if I were playing right now, I'd use it. My point was that once everybody figured out that Defcon can become a race for the biggest cities, Default Defcon became boring. It was no longer a game of skill where naval battles and gambling a silo launch mattered.

In short, once you get 6-player default (anything less than 6 is just not the same) out of your system, 3v3, 2v2, 1v1 and Diplomacy (Premium, cause normal sucks) is where it's at. A few games of Suicide Diplomacy are fun too. (lowest score wins)

Chess is a game of skill. Defcon isn't as "pure" as that. Anything more than 1vs1 (especially say in 6 player diplomacy mode) it often becomes a game of political backstabbing.. a game of who can manipulate the chat box. If for whatever reason all players suddenly decide to turn on the greatest player of defcon, he will get beat.. so skill only goes so far..

So yes I agree, 1v1 is largely a game of skill. But diplomacy is a game of knowing the right people or finding the right friends to play alongside with you. Many people disclosed that they "won" because they played with friends in real life.. To me that's no more skillful than SuiSilo..

In games of six players invariably Defcon gets reduced down to a zero-sum game.. more astute players (not necessarily also more skilled at Defcon itself) will be able to observe and easily predict which player or players will most likely end up "on top" and they will form alliances to gain up on the top dog.. then the top dog becomes the underdog the strategy yet again changes to reflect the dynamic situation.. so basically diplo gameplay is reduced down to who happens to be on top by the time the victory timer ends.. and its largely irrespective of individual skill because any player that was significant most skillful than the rest will get turned on by the pack.. So this mitigates any "advantage" in displaying playing skill unless one is both skillful with the mouth as with the actual mechanics of gameplay.

[Ace Rimmer]

There is more skill to winning in Diplomacy than you think then, friends or no friends in the game.

Winning in diplomacy is knowing when to deploy units, where to deploy units, and how to use said units during the game. It's also a test of being flexible enough to change your plans at least once.