If the Southern powers possess too few fleets or if those fleets are not positioned near Tunis, a Northern power can conquer Tunis and quickly incorporate that center into a defensible position. Therefore, Germanys solo win often depends on penetrating deep into the South, conquering Moscow and sometimes even Vienna or Sevastopol to offset Germanys inability to conquer Iberia. The AI is also capable of the unexpected (generally more so at the higher difficulty settings). Part of the equation is playing style. The placement of new units and elimination of "unsupplied" ones is a crucial element in the strategy of Diplomacy--almost a game within itself. Consider, for instance, the fact that England is surrounded by sea spaces; for England to prosper it must build quite a few fleets and, hence, supply centers in coastal spaces are the most at risk to the English fleets. 
Which means that an alliance between the two in the midgame, provided both survive, is quite possible and even advantageous. If you have too many of one and not enough of the other, you can be beaten by a numerically weaker enemy. Your decisions of when, who, and how to attack, and how best to defend your hard-won gains, are the stuff of strategy. 
Remember that in every case tactics must be subordinated to strategy. Whoever has the most supports wins the space. Some dual alliances are easy to maintain while offering equal opportunities to expand for each partner as well as the chance for tactical cooperation: England and Russia, England and Germany, France and Austria, France and Turkey, France and Russia, Italy and Russia. Think about where you intend to be two or three game years hence, and build units that will help at that time. Knowing when to attack and when to defend is crucial. Rambling conversations just to exchange hearsay must be sacrificed and discussions of tactical cooperation become ruthlessly specific. Many novice players can't resist an open center in the fall either, regardless of their promises or the tactical difficulties in holding onto it beyond that turn. The other sort of timing in Diplomacy concerns the imposition of time limits on such activities as negotiations, the crafting of orders, and decisions concerning what and where to build or disband units. Having enough units for this purpose is never easy. They are the most difficult powers to defeat once they have grown to a good size (about ten units). When attacking, especially in the spring, look not just to gain a supply center or position yourself to do so in the next turn. Some players will be aggressive or defensive simply because their personalities tend toward those traits. I am writing for a player who has played Gunboat Diplomacy before and is seeking to achieve more of those elusive solo wins.. But while the AI players have other limitations, human emotion is not one of them. Italy is a Southern power even when the Italian player attempts to ignore Austria and Turkey by heading West. Germanywill typically find that some portion of the Portugal-Spain-Marseilles area is beyond Germanys power to conquer by the time Germanforces reach that part of the map. Finally, beyond one's "home centers" (those supply centers upon which a player can place new units), each Great Power has one or more spaces that it must control--or at least ensure no one else controls--for its security. On the other hand, the player who scrupulously observes every agreement he makes is no better off. Pity the poor player who won't stab for the last two or three centers he needs to win the game and pity the poor player who stabs an otherwise excellent ally only so he can gain a single, isolated supply center. That's a strong temptation--an invitation, even--for a stab by an uninvolved neighbor. 
As in chess, don't neglect the middle of the board. Most players avoid the extremes. A Great Power can claim a supply center only if it is occupied by one of his or her units at the end of the fall turn or was held at the end of a previous fall. 
In order to help inexperienced players improve their chances of getting a solo win in Gunboat Diplomacy games, I have created a series of cheat sheets that offer quick summaries of the strategic goals that are usually necessary to achieve a solo win for each of the 7 powers. Whenever one Great Power seems too far ahead, his neighbors will gang up to stop him. If the sum of supports is equal, everything remains as before--a bounce. Likewise, if two units try to move into the same space at the same time, they will both remain where they started--a bounce. The builds you make now will have immense impact on your fortunes throughout the rest of the game, as they are the building blocks of your long-term strategy. Once in a while, France invades the Italian home centers, but that doesnt cause players to describe France as a Eastern/Southern power, right? 
Conversely, for any Great Power to even contemplate an assault on the British homeland it must have a number of fleets itself. For the most part, this also goes for Norway and Swedenand even Denmark and Kiel most of the time. Because Tunis is out of reach for Germany, Germanymust instead conquer Warsaw to reach 18 supply centers. Of all the supply centers located in the South, Tunis is the easiest for Franceor England to take and hold from the North. 
This is because the number of armies needed to permanently control these centers is very high, and Northern powers usually build fleets to gain mastery over the North. In every phase, the shorter the imposed time limit, the more difficult the challenge. Northern powers might not possess enough armies to defend or retake Munich from a horde of Southern armies. Munichs inland position makes that center an obvious target for Southern powers (who must build mostly armies to dominate the South) and an obvious weak point for Northern powers (who must build many fleets to dominate the North). Consider, for instance, the importance of the North Sea for England. Let me explain: in classic (a.k.a. Reaching 18 supply centers requires a power to cross through one sphere into the other. A western power (England or France) must get through and past St. Petersburg as quickly as possible if it is to attack an eastern or central power from the flank or rear. It is not unusual for all of your pieces to remain stationary for a turn. Any alliance of players attempting to block an Austrian or Turkish solo win effort can easily foresee the attack on Marseilles and will line up the small number of units needed to form a stalemate position. May your wit be as sharp as your sword, because diplomacy has captured the true spirit of the legendary board game. If, as Germany or Russia, you push a fleet into the North Sea, expect a violent reaction from the British. When a Southern power sets up a fleet at Gulf of Lyons and another unit at Piedmont, any attack made by those units can be defended by an army at Burgundy or Gascony issuing a support-hold on a defending unit at Marseilles. This battle strongly favors the defending player(s) because the area around Mid-Atlantic Ocean is a bottleneck that cannot be out-flanked or overpowered by the attackers committing additional units. 
At the end of the fall season, the number of pieces on the map will be adjusted to match the number of supply centers that each Great Power can lay claim to. Guest Post: How to Fix Russias Gunboat Metagame, Guest Post: Gunboat Diplomacy Stalemate Lines, Why Players Prefer Draw-Size Scoring in Diplomacy, Guest Post: Draw-Size vs. Sum-of-Squares Scoring, Online Diplomacy Championship R1: Aftermath, The Top 5 Reasons You Get Backstabbed, #4: Loose Lips, A Winning Strategy for Russia in Gunboat Diplomacy, Part 2, Diplomacy Dojo Episode What Are Alliances Good For? with Brandon Fogel (vWDC Masterclass), Diplomacy Dojo Episode 7: Soloing as Italy, Diplomacy Dojo Episode 20: A Temporary Alliance, Diplomacy Dojo Episode 6: Stabbing in the West, Diplomacy Dojo Episode Rallying the Board with Chris Brand (vWDC Masterclass), Solo Win Tip #2: Theres No Such Thing As Luck. The cookies that are categorized as "necessary" are always stored on your browser. Overly hasty reactions have proved more than one player's undoing. Always consider all possibilities and project developments more than a single turn ahead. The middle ground that leads to victory is difficult to see. With a line of fleets, the move from Syria to Norway (or even to St. Petersburg) can be accomplished in a single season. As with chess, the ability to think beyond the short-term (in this case, further than two or three turns) is a skill that comes with practice. If you are interested in the basics, try the help page on webDiplomacy. It contains many more strategies as well as tactics to use during a game. Loyalty is often a virtue, even in Diplomacy. In this manner, the player can be trustworthy to some degree and treacherous to some degree. It is rare to win with one of these two centers because Berlin is very difficult to conquer by land from the South (and easy to retake from the North), and St. Petersburg even more so (discussed in a later section). The difficulty is that a Northern power can defend Marseilles with relative ease against an encroaching Southern power. 
One of the best rear defenses is the dynamic defense. For more information which will help you master this great game, check out Diplomacy: Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Keep your eye on the corners of the map. Germanyhas an immense logistical advantage in this regard: Germanycan suddenly and easily strike at Russiabecause Germanycan build new armies at Munich and Berlin. Adjustments take the form of the placement of new pieces in unoccupied home centers or the removal of units from the map until each remaining piece is supported by a supply center. These maps are modified from the ones used on webDiplomacy.net to make them easier to look at and for me to color them. To teach newer players how to get a solo win in Gunboat Diplomacy games, I have created this primer and a series of strategy cheat sheets.. Rarely, a Southern power can win with Berlin or St. Petersburg. It is theoretically possible to set up a stalemate line that holds Scandinavia from the northeast against a southwestern invasion, but that configuration is difficult to pull off in any variant of Diplomacy and almost never happens in Gunboat. Many spaces border directly on three or four centers, but Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Black Sea each border on five, while the North Sea borders six. 
It is usually unnecessary to attack another player immediately. It also includes a walkthrough of a sample game, multiplayer tips, and the scoop. The northeast corner (around St. Petersburg) and the southwest corner (around the Mid-Atlantic) represent important flanking positions. There are too many territories bordering St. Petersburg to the north. England has the advantage over Francein this regard because England can easily convoy armies into Norway/St. Germany often struggles to completely conquer the North. Russias ability to put fleets in the north from St. Petersburg makes Russiaa part of the northern area of the board from the start ofevery match (Russiahas one fleet to start and can build an additional fleet on the first build in 1901).
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