Trivial and Simple Diplomacy Bots

Before I get stuck in to building the next world Diplomacy champion, it seems like a good idea to have a think about some of the more trivial bots that can be written to play diplomacy. The following notes cover the basic bots listed on the DIADE Clients page.

From there I couldn't resist extrapolating to variants on these bots that should be easy to knock out. Probably once I start coding on this project, my first goal will be to write a bot that can copy all the behaviours in this article.

Basic Negotiation

Diplomacy is a game of negotiation; agreements, alliances, strategic plans and trade-offs. In this post I want to describe and consider the more common types of agreements made during play. Some of these will be honest offers made with the full intent of being honoured. Others will be clever lies crafted to gain some kind of advantage.

As all the players are your opponents, you might think that the game could be played going it alone. Avoiding the snakes and ladders of international politics might sound simple, the game system encourages players to work together for mutual benefit. Although Diplomacy as a whole is a zero-sum game (more on Game Theory in another post) there are many scenarios within the game where discussing a move with the opponent will allow you to ensure that both of you are better off. The negotiations below should benefit all participants - if they are adhered to.