The objective of Diplomacy is to be the first to get 18 supply centers.

Supply centers are recognized on the map as territories with a dot in them. Supply centers sustain military units. You get a new unit for each supply center you occupy, and lose a unit whenever a supply center you own gets occupied by someone else.

All units are equally strong. To move into an opponent's square, you must have support. Use one unit to attack, use the other unit to support the attack.

To give support, the supporting unit must be adjacent to the territory the attacking unit is trying to capture. Click the unit you want to give support with, click the area the attacking unit is coming from, click the area you want the attacking unit to move to. This unit is now supporting the attacking unit into the area.

Note that you have to give each unit seperate orders.
There are four phases in the game: Diplomacy, Order, Retreat, Build.
Diplomacy:
-In this phase, players talk to one another to determine alliances and generally plan out their moves. Communication for this phase can take place anywhere, including the thread, PMs, Skype, etc. (However, I ask that all communications be in some way relayed to me before the order phase) Note that you by no means have to keep any of the obligations you set forth during this phase. This phase is the longest, and will take one day.

Order:
-This is the gameplay phase. You give orders to your units and try to capture new supply centers. These orders will be made in secret, and PMed to me, where I will resolve all of them simultaneously. The types of moves one can make include:
--Hold basically means that you defend the area you're already in. This is the equivalent of telling the unit to stay where it is.
---Move is a combination of two possible actions. First, and most simple, you are moving from one territory to an unoccupied one. Second, and more complicated, you are moving into a territory that your opponent either has an army or navy in or will attempt to move into as well. If a unit moves into a space already occupied by another unit then it fails in moving and remains where it came from. If two units attempt to move into the same area they both fail. They remain in the same spot they started in. If two enemy units attempt to invade past each other (switch places) they both fail and remain where they started.
---Moving armies is pretty simple. They can move into any bordering territory or be convoyed across a body of water. However, there are a bunch of special scenarios that apply to navies.
---A navy can either be on a body of water or in a coastal country. If it is in a coastal country it covers the entire coast line. However, there are some special cases where they only cover part of the coast. For example, look at Spain on the map. As you can see, it has a North coast and a South coast. A unit that entered on the North coast can't, then, leave by the South coast. However, the unit is still considered to defend the entire country, even if attacked by a navy from the South.
---If a navy is on a coast, it can move to any other coastal country it borders. A navy can support land units and vice versa, but land units (obviously) can't help with a battle in open water and naval units can't help with an inland country.
---Sweden and Denmark are considered bordering coastal countries. You can move navies directly from one to the other other you can pass between them.
-Support is used to make a hold or move option stronger. If a holding unit is attacked, then the supporting unit can help defend. If a moving unit meets resistance, the supporting unit can help push them back. In order to support, the unit must border the objective area (the country that's either being moved into or defended).
--If a unit is attacked while it's supporting, its support is taken away and it attempts to defend. The attacker carries on with the attack minus the support.
Any nation can support any other nation. Support can not be refused, but it does not force the supported unit to do anything.
-Convoy is used by naval units on the water to transport armies to different areas. If you have a chain of naval units convoying over multiple spaces you can convoy the army through the chain in one turn. If you convoy into an occupied space then the battle is treated like any other one. Other nations can assist in a convoy. multiple convoys together to move an army unit large distances overseas in a single turn.

After the moves are resolved, I will submit a writeup as well as an updated map.

Retreat:
-In this phase any units which were attacked and forced to retreat are told where to retreat to.

Build:
-If any players have more supply centers than units they can place their units in this phase. For every 2 Order phases (Spring and Autumn), you get 1 Build phase (Winter). If any players have more units than supply centers, they have to choose which units to destroy.
-A country is allowed to have as many units as it has major cities. That is why all the countries start with 3 units (except for Russia which has 4). At the end of every Fall turn the number of cities each nation has is counted. If it has more units than it does cities then enough will need to be disbanded to make the numbers even.
-You are allowed to choose which units to disband. If you have more cities than units then are allowed to place new units on any of your unoccupied 3 (or 4 if you're Russia) starting cities. You are allowed to choose which of the two types of units you wish to create if you are placing them in a coastal area. If all your starting cities are occupied you will have to wait until the end of next Fall to place new units.
-If a country has taken some or all of your starting cities they can not be used to produce new units. In the -scenario that all of your starting cities are taken you will have to work with the units you have left. If you retake the starting cities they are treated like they normally would be.

And that is a typical turn.

Units
Army:
This unit can only move on land.
Fleet:
This unit can only move in the sea, and in coastal territories (land areas with a coast). It can also convoy armies across sea territories using the convoy move.