# Diplomacy: SDMB's entry in the WorldMasters 2002 Tourney **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323 "2002-11-05T05:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/61 "2002-11-14T23:12:14Z")
That’s just what I mean. Three countries played to lose, and the result? A DIAS between the four remaining countries. Although I guess it’s true that if the third wasted position was Russia instead of England, I’d have benefited more than you as France **RT** , but then again so would have Chris Richards as Germany, which would have balanced my extra growth. Thanks for explicating the scoring system, **RT**. However, I don’t see any reason for you to dismiss out of hand the possibility that we might rank among the top ten teams at the conclusion of the first round. We are the faithful of the Millions, after all! And you guys are some darn crafty players. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/62 "2002-11-15T00:20:46Z")
Excuse me, assholes, but I was Turkey in that game. What’s all this about inept play again??? 😛 😛 ;);)😉 Just for that I should make you all Italy in the tourney, every one of you! Italy! You! You! and YOU! You’re all Italy! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/63 "2002-11-15T02:05:34Z")
Ummm, **Dave** , weren’t you the _replacement_ Turkey in that game? Or have my ancient brain cells finally started to give out? 😉 Happy to sort out the scoring system, **WL**. Figured that if it wasn’t making sense to me as written, I might not be the only one. ---
**Author:** ![ppg\_shg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@ppg\_shg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ppg_shg)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/64 "2002-11-15T18:01:21Z")
My understanding of the scoring is as follows – 1. More centers, more points. 2. Less centers, less points. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/65 "2002-11-15T18:10:00Z")
Hard to argue with the man. Gotta admit. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/66 "2002-11-16T01:47:14Z")
I’m beginning to like the Fighting Ignorance name. We aren’t just a couple of unorganized ignorant rabble. We are a tide of ignorance, sweeping all knowledge before us like . . . something small and weak before something big and strong. WE ARE IGNORANCE, HEAR US ROAR!!! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/67 "2002-11-16T01:56:39Z")
Yeah, I’ll show you ‘big and strong’, lawyer-boy. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/68 "2002-11-19T21:57:32Z")
I’ve added Steve to the “Fighting Ignorance” team as a reserve. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/69 "2002-11-25T16:38:30Z")
Some reserves have been added to our team, according to the WM02 page. Anybody know these guys? Unassigned: Luiz de Azevedo Unassigned: Jeff Samborski Unassigned: Jason Finn Unassigned: John Cabranes Unassigned: Patrick Weeks ---
**Author:** ![ppg\_shg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@ppg\_shg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ppg_shg)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/70 "2002-11-25T22:57:43Z")
We’ve got a lot of reserves. Is somebody trying to tell us something? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/71 "2002-11-25T23:04:32Z")
I think that the experienced teams line up moles to infilitrate the other teams. Be careful about a team member you don’t know. It could be Nate’s sock puppet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/72 "2002-11-25T23:57:13Z")
No, I believe they get assigned by the organizers. But I’ll ask. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/73 "2002-11-25T23:59:31Z")
On the other hand…none have been added to my team. Maybe it IS a sign ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/74 "2002-11-26T00:57:46Z")
Well, they’re gone now. Say, did anyone notice that right now, we’ve got _three_ Dip threads on the front page of MPSIMS? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/75 "2002-11-26T01:15:47Z")
DIP NERDS RULE!! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/76 "2002-11-26T03:32:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\* > Say, did anyone notice that right now, we’ve got _three_ Dip threads on the front page of MPSIMS? 🙂 \*\* This has got to be another sign of the coming Apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/77 "2002-11-26T13:39:05Z")
Nah, that’s if you guys **win**. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/78 "2002-11-26T14:18:40Z")
According to the WM site, they’ve got 67 teams in this shindig. Since signup is closed, I guess that’s final, unless they have some dropouts, or sweep some of the 25 individual signers-up together into teams. Besides not having two people from the same team in one game, I know they want to avoid players from Team A and Team B encountering each other in multiple games, to avoid inter-board diplomacy. (“I’ll help you into Belgium here, if your teammate supports mine into Greece in the other game.”) I wonder if they’ve got a combinatorial algorithm that they use to do this - some Latin Square thing is what I would expect - or whether they just get a bunch of color-coded index cards and thrash it out by hand. Professional interest, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/79 "2002-11-26T14:44:37Z")
Under “Tournament Structure”, the rules say: > [@](#): > > All players in the Tournament will be required to be members of a team. People may either register as teams, or may register individually and be assigned to teams by the organising committee. Such groupings will be random and a captain will be appointed. All teams will be accepted up to the deadline. Individuals will be accepted to the deadline only in multiples of seven, the remainder automatically forming the start of an official reserve list. So it looks like 21 of the 26 unaffiliated individuals will be grouped into teams 68, 69, and 70, and the remaining five will be available as reserves. Since 28 teams will be included in Round 2, that’s a 40% survival rate. Who knows, we might have a chance. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323/80 "2002-11-26T15:04:52Z")
You’re good, Kim. You’re good. As a GM I’ve been told there’s 70 teams in the tourney. I will be GMing one and possibly two games in round one. After that it’s as fate would allow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diplomacy-sdmbs-entry-in-the-worldmasters-2002-tourney/135323.md?page=5)