Q&A: Diplomacy 101

[Lord Nightstripe]

*Enters classroom.* Greetings, students. My name is Lord Nightstripe, Ruler of Brockhall. I am going to teach Diplomacy 101. Are there any questions?

[Fresh Water Fighters]

Yes. What is Diplomacy 101??

[Lord Nightstripe]

Diplomacy 101 is a class to study ways of communicating respectfully, effectively, and politely.

[Urran Voh]

Mind if I say something?

Diplomacy is just as important as a good strat. In fact, it should be a big part of it. You should pick your allies and enemies carefully. Ally with those you know you can not beat, and only become enemies with someone if you absolutely know you can win.

[Lord Nightstripe]

Thank you, Urran. That leads into my lesson for today: Allies and Enemies.

The day after I started playing, I went over to my friend's house. (I wasn't playing FaF, but an older edition of it.) My friend, who introduced me to this game, told me that he had been attacked a couple times by a member of the AA. The AA was the most powerful clan in the game. Now I, full of all my newbie wisdom, decided that I must crush the AA. So I created a clan with this tag: Anti-AA, and this name: Brockhall. I sent out a few invitations, then my friend and I went out to play. When I returned, I had been repeatedly attacked by the AA's leader, The Enforcer. I had no troops left and was in a bad state of affairs. The Enforcer had messaged me. "You have some nerve making an Anti-AA clan. Why did you do it?" I believe those were his exact words. I immedeatly replied with a message full of repentance. I promised to disband the clan as soon as I could.

This is an example of my former diplomacy and wisdom. Here are some tips for Allies and Enemies.

-Have more allies than enemies.
-Cordiality is often a way to gain allies.
-Be generous with allies. Don't be allied because you agreed to do so. Be allied because you help each other willingly.
-Retaliate if they have given you one bout of attacking
-Over retaliate for the second bout.
-Offer truces when the land is even again.
-Don't attack enemies while they're online.

Any questions or comments?

[The Beatles]

On RWL, round 2, I played an interesting game. I was called Warhammer, and I was the leader of the clan RR. Before anyone had got out of protection, I had sent messages to the leader of every single clan with members in the top 20. I finally allied with all of them. I was not attacked for about two weeks at all and easily made the top spot. In fact, the RR clan had the top three spots (there were three of us only!) while the other clans fought each other. I was able to make land by attacking unallied people, and occasionally breaking treaties with clans so low they couldn't hope to compete with us. It went brilliantly.
Later on, there was a clan that didn't want to ally with anyone, they also had multis, but anyway, they coordinated well. They took out all top 10-ers with horrenduous rat massing, not making rank or networth, having players killed, but really destroying us. I still held the top spot, then later attacked the rank 2 player for all his land, and... deleted!

The point of the lesson is, be friendly, and make allies like rabbits make bunnies.

[Devari]

Any questions or comments?

From my Loren experience:

- Try to make allies from the very beginning of your clan. Preferably, in the beginning of the whole game. (As Beatles said)
- If you see a new clan with good players, make sure to offer an alliance straight off. Often the earlier you have an alliance, the longer it will stand.
- Enforce your truces and/or attack limits. Breaking a truce can get your clan pummeled.

For me, wars have always been to a high level of destruction. However, you generally will not want to do this until such time as you have solid alliances with strong players.

[The Beatles]

It is also very important, if you want to get across as diplomatic, to do the following:
1. Politeness
2. Spell-checking
3. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization
4. Avoid "IM style" (l<span style='color:black'>o</span>l, jk, rofl, 111, etc...)

If you don't do these things, you will come across as a disgusting n00b not worth allying with. And trust me, because there are hundreds of letters of alliance/clan invitation that I've rejected, merely because they were written without the above precautions.

[Urran Voh]

Heehee. AA was great...The Enforcer was I, as most of you know. But I had no idea Nightstipe was the Anti-AA...Since then Brock and I have been on usual good terms.

I was called Warhammer, and I was the leader of the clan RR

Aye, and you let me into RR when I was still a newbie!

4. Avoid "IM style" (*laughs*, jk, rofl, 111, etc...)

True, unless you know this person well (for me, Alcaline would be the only one I would use this with, because he uses it as well). But I hardly ever use incorrect grammer when talking with other gamers.

Using the four rules Beatles has listed, you will most likely get an alliance with /anyone/ in game.

[Lord Nightstripe]

Which leads into my next lesson, the messages.

As Principal Beatles said, politeness, spelling, and grammar are important. It is most tacky. For example, people would rather read this:

Dear Sir,
            My name is Lord Nightstripe and I have created a clan called Brockhall. The password is 9430. Please join. Thank you.

-Lord Nightstripe

Than:

plz joine brockhall te passwor is 9430 plz plz plz plz plz plz

Threating is not wise. I admit I have done a bit of flaming when I get into Bloodwrath, but I try not to threaten or flame.

Apologies are sometimes necessary. If you're taking a pounding for attacking someone too much, then admit you were wrong. It often works. Humility is the way to go.

If you attack someone because you need land, but don't want to get into a fight, send them a message offering to make it up with aid. If they send you a ridiculous bill, then don't them push you around.

Questions or comments?