Exchange Diplomacy version 1.0
by Bruce Duewer
Distribute only for no cost and if nothing is changed.
Exchange Diplomacy combines Payola Diplomacy with concepts taken from
Bourse style variants to create a realm where nations are the tools of
the market. This variant provides equal starting postions for all
players, but can be easily applied to any Diplomacy variant map.
Summary
Corporate Nations
Players
Trading
Starting a Corporation
Victory Conditions
Year Order
Floating Companies
NMR Effects
Variants
Summary
Each player is an investor; each major power is a corporation. The Investors
each try to position themselves to be the richest power at the end of the game,
where wealth is a measure of their total % control of the winning corporation
or drawing corporations.
Note:
In all cases when voting is mentioned below, each share is worth 1
vote.
I. Corporate Nations
1.1 Each great power is a publicly traded corporation. Corporations may
act in all the ways outlined in the Payola rules as if they were players
in a payola game, except that corporations may not freely transfer money.
1.2 The leader of each corporation is determined by plurality vote
by the stockholders at the beginning of each game year. In the event of
a tie, the former president breaks the tie.
1.3 The leader of each corporation has access to the full records of
the corporation's activities in past years.
1.4 All shareholders learn each year learn how much money is in the
corporate treasury, and the identities of the other shareholders, in the
annual report.
1.5 The leader of a corporation may choose to issue a dividend to the
shareholders. Such a dividend must be some multiple of the number of shares
of that corporation. The dividend is divided among the shareholders based
on their stock ownership.
[Example: 10 shares of a corporation exist; Player A owns 6 shares,
Player B owns 4 shares. A 20AgP dividend is issued. Player A receives 12AgP,
Player B receives 8 AgP]
1.6 A corporation may issue additional stocks with the agreement of
80% of the shareholders. No more than 1/3 of a corporation's stock may be owned
by itself at any given time. Proceeds from the stock sale go to the corporation.
II. Players
2.1 Each player begins the game with the same amount of AgP, determined
by the GM.
2.2 Players may own stock in as many or few corporations as they wish.
2.3 Players may run for leader of as many or few corporations as they
wish, provided they own at least one share of each of these corporations.
If so elected, they may serve as leader of multiple corporations.
2.4 Players may spend their money to influence units in the same ways
as corporations can, but may also directly transfer money to other players
or to corporations.
III. Trading
3.1 Player owned stocks may be sold at any time. The owner sets the cost
of the stock publicly, and any other player may buy the stock at
that value on a first-come first-serve basis.
3.2 The owner of a stock may remove it from the market at any time
before sale.
3.3 Newly issued stocks are sold along with new float stock as described
in 4.
IV. Starting a Corporation
4.1 The GM at the start of the game sets a minimum bid to start up a country.
4.2 Each year each player may bid for the opportunity to start up a
country; bidding style chosen by GM. Players may bid for as many or few
corporations as they wish.
4.3 The winner of each bid determines how much stock a country starts
with. They then receive 1/5 of this stock rounded down to the nearest share.
They then determine the price the rest of the stock will sell for. The amount
bid becomes the starting corporation's entire treasury.
4.4 Each player creates a list of which corporate issued stock shares
they wish to purchase, from most to least wanted. They also determine
a spending cap. These lists are used to determine which stocks they
purchase in the following manner:
4.4.1 The players are ordered randomly.
4.4.2 In order, each player buys the first still available stock share
still on their list. Once an entry on the list has been used, it
is deleted.
4.4.3 If a purchase would cause a player to exceed their spending cap,
that purchase is not made, and that entry is deleted. This does not count
as the player's purchase for the round; the scanning of their list resumes.
4.4.4 Once everyone reaches the end of their lists, the process ends.
Any unsold stock is available again the next year.
4.5 A company for which 2/3 or more of the stock is player owned is
considered to have been floated; it is now a corporate nation. See
section 7 for what happens when a company floats.
4.6 Any company which is not yet floated may take no action. It does
not send out yearly reports, may not spend any money, may not elect a leader,
and may not issue additional stock or any dividends.
V. Victory Conditions
5.1 A corporation may defeat all other corporations in the same way as
a solo victory is normally achieved. If this occurs, the value of
all other corporations goes to zero.
5.2 If a draw is achieved, the value of all corporations not a part
of the draw goes to zero. All corporations that are in the draw are set
to equal total value.
5.2.1 No draw may occur until all nations have floated.
5.2.2 The president of each corporation has the power to vote for or
against draws.
5.3 At the end of the game, cash is of no value.
5.4 The player whose portfolio has the greatest value at the end of
the game is the winner. If multiple players have portfolios of this value,
they share a draw.
5.5 The total of supply centers (active+inactive) is used for determining
the solo corporate victory conditions.
5.6 Unless the GM announces otherwise at game start, corporations are
allowed to approve non-DIAS draws.
VI. Year Order
6.1 Annual reports issued, Country startup bids process.
6.2 Starting offering prices are set. (Advertising may occur, assuming
press.)
6.3 Initial float and extra issue purchasing
6.4 Elections
6.5 Dividend distributions & Unit builds
6.6 Normal payola play year, not including build & income
6.7 Territory trades hands, and corporation income is distributed.
Note: This ordering means that when a country first starts up, its only
cash is that which it received from startup bid.
VII. Floating Companies
When a company floats:
7.1 All of its starting units appear. Any other units sitting on its
home SCs are replaced with units of the same type owned by the floating
corporation, and ownership of these SCs is transferred to the corporate
nation.
7.2 The total income of these SCs is now set to the total value of
all stock in the corporation divided by 5, rounded down. The person who
won the bid to start the company distributes these values between the SCs
such that no SC is worth more than twice the value of the smallest SC.
7.3 Supply centers of unstarted corporations are inactive- they cannot
be captured.
VIII. NMR Effects
8.1 If a power does not enter orders in an election they vote their shares
as the year before; if they have never voted with the a share before they
vote for themselves with it.
8.2 NMR in a startup or IOP (Initial Offer Purchase) phase is equivalent
to no purchasing.
8.3 NMR is not valid for any other phase.
IX. Exchange Variants
9.1 Payola SC values. Company income is determined by standard payola rules
rather than financing.
9.2 Zerosum Exchange. A fixed quantity of money exists in the game,
and all money spent to start and float a corporation goes into the corporate
treasury. Money changes hands with SCs as per Zerosum Payola rules.
9.3 Invention Exchange. Variant under construction. Kevin Ames invention
variant replaces Payola as the variant the stock market sits on top of.