Kaner's work has him under the pump, so this episode is just a short intro from Amby and then an interview with Ajax about Diplomacy Nexus: a community bringing players together from the various online platforms to battle it out in cross-platform Dip tournaments.
Intro
Amby introduces the show. Kaner is busy with real life stuff so no pub recorded episodes for a couple more weeks. Amby then introduces this episodes' interviewee: Ajax from the Diplomacy Nexus tournament (0 mins 10 secs)
Interview with Ajax from the Diplomacy Nexus
Ajax founder of Diplomacy Nexus describes what its all about and how it supports chat across multiple players from different Diplomacy platforms. It currently has 600 players enrolled from webDip, vDip, playDip, Conspiracy, Duplicity and Backstabbr (2 mins)
He discussed the current tournaments being played on Nexus - Cold War 1v1 and a seasonal classic tournament (2 seasons a year) (3 mins 45 secs)
Kaner asks how countries are assigned. Ajax describes the basics behind players joining. Players can choose whether they use their normal Dip sites' handle or can create their own if they are worried others will pre-judge them (4 mins 30 secs)
Tournament games are based on the sum-of-squares scoring system. Games automatically conclude after 10 game years. Amby asks about the proportion of games that end in solos (6 mins)
Kaner asks about the cross-platform nature of tournaments, especially how moves are made and communication is done. Ajax digresses, discussing Australian "smooth" accents (8 mins)
Amby asks about which stage players across platforms meet and battle it out, and how that works using Backstabbr (12 mins)
Kaner asks Ajax why he set up this community. He discusses his early negative experiences with Droidippy and Conspiracy - see Kaner's discussion about Conspiracy in episode 26 (14 mins 30 secs)
Amby describes the behavior in one of the classic tournament's finals, and how it is more similar to face-to-face gameplay, and asks Ajax's thoughts on this (21 mins)
Kaner asks Ajax about the differences between face-to-face and online (23 mins 15 secs)
Ajax discusses the challenges of various online platforms and the challenges of CD's or NMRs (26 mins)
Kaner talks about jumping on the Nexus Discord server and the nature of players changing their handles (27 mins 30 secs)
Amby discusses the nature of multi-player conversations in the Nexus and asks Ajax about it (29 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks Ajax about extending tournaments beyond Cold War and Classic (31 mins 45 secs)
Amby asks about the "Diplomacy for Popes" channel on the Nexus Discord and how it works (34 mins 15 secs)
Ajax describes how the nature of the Discord server works for the Nexus (36 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks about how to play and get involved in the Diplomacy Nexus (40 mins 30 secs)
Ajax talks about how new players usually get involved in Diplomacy and plans to better support this (42 mins)
Apologies again on the shorter than normal episode. Kaner should be over his hump at work in about 2 weeks, so normal service should be resumed then.
Venue: No pub this episode
Drinks of choice:
Amby - Regaleali Nero D'Avola from Sicily
Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon. Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone!
Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.
