Freedip is developed under an Artistic License similar to the Realpolitik License Agreement. It is free and open source software but you must own a copy of Diplomacy™ to use it as described in the Freedip License Agreement.
The game is based on the popular board game Diplomacy™ although in the future variants me become available. Freedip is not only an Adjudicator or a map generator or both. It is a complete game system with a game server, a messaging system, an adjudicator, map generator, administration interface and a several other features, all work together to help players concentrate on the game and its politics rather than the technicalities of the game.
You can find the rules of the game Diplomacy™ in the booklet that came with your copy of Diplomacy™ or if you haven't bought it yet you can find a guideline here
Other rules that pertain to FreeDip include:
On the right hand side of the screen there's a textarea
for you to type orders. The order language is case insensitive, and has many abbreviations. Every territory
has a unique three letter abbreviation (TLA) that it is known by. The TLA is the
first three letters of the territory's name unless denoted otherwise on the
board.
* note that words in the language MUST be separated by white space.
the syntax is simple and intuitive:
army PAR to PIC
is an order to the army unit in Paris to try to move into Picardy.
the order:
fleet BRE support army PAR to PIC
tells the fleet at Brest to support the army at Paris to move into Picardy.
A convoy is achieved by giving an army the order to move from one land territory
to the next (for example 'army PIC to LON') but also, all the required
fleets should be given the order to convoy that army on its way. The engine will figure out a
viable path for the army. More than one path can be set up. In case one of them is broken
(if a required fleet is dislodged) another path will be used automatically.
fleet ENG convoy army PIC to LON
To hold an army in Paris, give it the order:
Army PAR holds
and the order:
Army MAR support army PAR
will make the army in Marseille support the hold. This would mean that even
if the unit in Paris is attacked by a combined force of two units it will not be
dislodged.
During a resolution turn a retreat order can be given as:
retreat army LON to WAL
to reatreat the army from London to Wales.
or to disband the unit all together:
deconstruct army LON
During an Adjustment turn
a build order can create a new unit:
build army PAR
or a disband order be given:
deconstruct fleet ENG
shorthand for all the keywords is also available,
army = a
fleet = f
build = b
retreat = r
convoy = c
support = s
deconstruct = d
to = ->
so the following commands are valid
a mun -> ruh
a mun -> ruh
Communicating with Other Players
Communication with other players is done via email or dip-mail. You can use your regular email to compose and send messages and you may use any other method of communicating with the other players, including instant messaging, phone calls or carrier pigeon. Messages you send via dip-mail will also be forwarded to the recipient's e-mail automatically by the server.
You may communicate with the other players at any time during the game EXCEPT during the resolution and adjustment turns. The resolution turns occur when one or more units are forced to retreat. During this time, players usually write retreat or disband orders. There is no way for the software to enforce this, since the email is separate from the client, so this rule is enforced via the honor system.
The UI contains a map pane, and a control pane see the screenshot.
The control pane contains information about your orders, your units, your supply
centers etc. As you can see in this screenshot white arrows
show what the orders the player gave are going to do if
all goes well in the next turn. You can also note that a typo in the orders
language is highlighted in red and is not marked by a white arrow. The Order
Feedback pane gives the reason for the order being marked as wrong.
The "Submit orders" button stores the orders on
the server while "retrieve orders" gets them from the server again in
case you made changes that you regret. The "clear
orders" button merely removes the arrows from the screen, it doesn't delete the
orders.
To login to the server go to Game menu and select Login. You will get the login dialog box. Type the server name and press the load button. You will be given the option to login to a particular game, as a particular player. select the correct game and player, provide the password and press OK.
You can view the orders that the players wrote on the previous turn by looking at the lower-left hand corner of the screen. It is a good idea to review these moves after each turn, since the intentions of other players might not be apparent by looking at the resulting board.
The past orders will show the country who wrote the order, the order, and the result of the order. The result of a move order might say 'move succeeded' if the unit was able to move to its intended territory. The result of a move might say 'move cancelled' followed by a reason for the move to be cancelled. For example, if France writes:
A PAR -> BUR
and Germany writes:
A MUN -> BUR
Then the result of the French order will be:
Move from PAR to BUR cancelled due to move from MUN to BUR.
and the result of the German order will be:
Move from MUN to BUR cancelled due to move from PAR to BUR.
Other orders such as convoys and supports will have similar language for their results.
Freedip is currently in beta stage. That means it is available for everyone.
