Simultaneous Risk Questions

[Richard Rognlie <rrognlie@gamerz.net>]

I have recently been working on creating a version of R. Wayne
Schmittberger's _Simultaneous Risk_ as an addition to my email
game server, pbmserv@gamerz.net.  It looks to play like a cross
between Risk and Diplomacy.  However, I have a couple questions
for the Risk and Diplomacy afficionados of the USENET world...
*ANY* discussion would be welcome.

1.  Notation for the board.  In the silence of last week, I got
    exactly no response.  So, I've taken it on myself to create
    one.  Each territory gets a 3 letter code.

        NA => ala nwt gre alb ont que wus eus cam
        SA => ven per bra arg
        EU => ice sca gbr neu weu seu ukr
        AF => naf egy eaf con saf mad
        AS => ura sib yak irk kam mon jap chi afg mid ind sia
        AU => mal ngu wau eau

    The only oddity is Indonesia.  Its name is too close to India
    so I renamed it to Malaysia (mal) [I hope no one is offended].

2.  There are two kinds of movement:  Deployment, and Movement.
    Deployment consists of trading in sets of cards (as applicable)
    for 4, 6, 8 or 10 armies (+2 bonus per territory if you happen
    to currently hold that territory).  And also the allocation of
    the new armies to territories you hold.  A typical deployment
    move might look something like (assume player is due 5 armies):

        CARDS  sib mid jok        (for the one of each 10 trade in)
        mid 5
        seu 3
        weu 3
        naf 2
        con 2

    This would cause 7 to be added to the Middle East (5 +2 bonus),
    the other 10 in weu seu naf and con as listed.

    The other kind of move is Movement.  This is where players beat
    up on each other.  It would be something like this:

        mid 4 -> egy
        mid 4 -> eaf
        naf 2 -> egy
        con 2 -> eaf

    In this example, the player is moving 6 armies into Egypt (4 from
    the Middle east, and 2 from North Africa) and 6 armies into East     
    Africa (4 form mid, 2 from con).  

3.  Schmittberger's rules do not include reinforcements, etc.  But I
    think they're necessary for a full blown Risk game.  How often
    should they occur?  I'm leaning to every 4 turns.  So the game
    would progress as follows:

        Assign territories
        Deploy remaining pieces
        Move Move Move Deploy
        Move Move Move Deploy
        etc.

4.  Unlike Risk, we will not force a territory to have an army.  You
    may choose to vacate a territory on a move.  However, you *lose*
    the right to count that territory as one of yours for reinforcement
    and control of a continent purposes.

5.  The final sticking point is...  Schmittberger's combat system
    seems flawed for more than 2 players.  I can't seem to make it
    work unambiguously for more than 2 combatants.  Therefore, I'm
    looking for a replacement.  One that came to mind last evening
    was:

        Largest force wins
        All other forces are removed
        Winning force loses as many pieces are the next largest force.
        In case of a tie for largest force, *ALL* units are lost with
            the exception of one defending unit (if it happens to be
            the same strength as the largest force, and there *is* a
            defending group).

    Some examples:

        A defends with 4.  B attacks with 5 and C attacks with 6.
        Result: C wins, but loses 5.

        A defends with 3.  A reinforces with 3 from an adjacent
        territory.  B attacks with 5.
        Result: A win but loses 5.

        Similar to above, but in addition C attacks with 6.
        Result: A still wins and loses 5 (due to the defender rule).

        A defends with 3.  B attacks with 5.  C attacks with 5.   
        Result: Mutual annihilation.

    This seems to work, but I'll certainly entertain alternate attack
    mechanisms.  But be warned...

        IT MUST RESULT IN UNAMBIGUOUS RESULTS FOR ANY NUMBER OF PLAYERS!

Comments, or Suggestions are welcome and encouraged.

Richard

--
 /  \__  | Richard Rognlie / Sendmail Consultant / Sendmail, Inc.
 \__/  \ | URL:    http://www.gamerz.net/rrognlie/
 /  \__/ | Give a man a fish, and he'll be hungry tomorrow.  Teach a
 \__/    | man to fish, and he'll be at the river all day drinking beer.