Formatting Unit Orders At the DPjudge

[Note: this explanation assumes a completely standard Diplomacy game. For games that are of a non-standard variant (such as Payola or Crystal Ball), or games that are set up to use any of the many different non-standard rules, some additional restrictions may apply, and some of the restrictions listed here may not apply. For the complete litany of formatting rules for such games, simply enter some random garbage for your orders in the game, and the entire formatting rules for your game will be displayed.]

How do I start to write a movement phase order?

Well, in a standard Diplomacy game, the DPjudge is kind enough to start all your orders out for you (at the Website) by listing all your units (their type -- army or fleet -- and location). All you have to do is add the order to the end of each line. But in case you really want to know how to specify the unit being ordered (which is, in fact the first thing any order needs), here goes....

Although this is optional, you might want to specify the unit type. The unit type should be either "ARMY" or "FLEET" (or more succinctly, "A" or "F"). As I say, this is optional, if you omit a unit's type, it will be added for you.

The unit type (if given) must be followed by at least one space. Then after the space, the location of the unit must be specified. A large number of aliases are recognized for each place-name on the map, but whatever you input (if understood) will be automatically changed to the three-letter DPjudge abbreviation of the location. (If you are unfamiliar with the DPJudge abbreviation of any location, simply pull up the current game map and check.)

That's pretty easy (especially since that much is even done automatically for me). What comes after the unit type and location?

Well, the next thing you specify is the order type (move, hold, support, or convoy). These may be abbreviated, if you wish, using "M" or a dash ("-" ) or "->" for move, "S" for support, "C" for convoy, and "H" for hold.

Then what?

Well, for simple hold orders, you are done. Otherwise, the order type must be followed by some more text.

For move orders, specify the destination location of the attempted movement. (See the next question for how to specify the move of a convoying army.)

For support orders, specify the unit being supported (you can omit the unit's type -- army or fleet -- if you wish, and it will be provided for you).

• If writing an order to support a unit's attempt to remain in its position, you may optionally specify HOLD (or H) after the supported unit.
• If the unit is being supported in an attempt to move, you just specify a "move" symbol ("M", "-", or "->") and the final destination of the unit.

A convoy order is formatted just like an order that offers support for a moving unit (except with "CONVOY" or "C" in place of "SUPPORT" or "S" of course!)

And that's it. Here are some examples of valid orders:

Order as Input	As Seen by DPjudge
Army London Holds	A LON H
paris H	A PAR H
fleet nwg sea C norway - edi	F NWG C A NWY - EDI
Fleet Liverpool support army edinburgh	F LVP S A EDI
fleet irish sea-mao	F IRI - MAO
F mao -> iri	F MAO - IRI
f wal s mao - iri	F WAL S F MAO - IRI
army yonkers move london	A YOR - LON

(Yes, "Yonkers" is one of the many abbreviations for "Yorkshire." See what I mean? It's going to be hard to screw up.)

Hey wait, what about dual-coast provinces like Spain and Bulgaria? What does the DPjudge need and what abbreviations will it accept?

You can always specify a coast when one is involved (and I'll tell you how to do so here in a minute), but you usually don't really need to do so. The DPjudge is smart enough to figure out which coast you mean in all but two cases (on the standard map): a move from Constantinople to Bulgaria, and a move from the Mid-Atlantic Ocean to Spain. In those cases, the coast must be specified. (Yes, it must -- the DPjudge will yell at you if you don't specify it.)

To specify a coast, simply list the coast (in any of a number of different formats) right after the place-name. For example: "spa/sc", "Bulgaria(east)", "Spain (north coast)." Again, you can't really go wrong, because if you do, the DPjudge will call you on it, offer you some long-winded help, and make you try again.

Oh, come on. There must be some catches.

Okay, you're right. But only two of them. Here's one: If you are writing an order to support a fleet in its move to a multi-coast province, the coast to which it is moving must not be specified.

For example, although the order for a fleet moving from Constantinople to Bulgaria must include the destination coast:
      F CON - BUL/SC
a support for that same order cannot specify the coast. That is, the order
      A GRE S F CON - BUL/SC
will be rejected as invalid. The order must be written without the coast:
      A GRE S F CON - BUL

This is because support is always to a space not to a coast.

Okay, that's not too bad. What's the other catch?

This catch (which will throw you if you have only played face-to-face Diplomacy, and never in any automated e-mail games) is that a convoying army must (in its order) specify its full path to its destination.

That is, if writing a convoy order, the location of all fleets to be used must appear (in order of use), and a move order, with optional space on either side, must separate these locations from each other and from the army's origin and destination provinces.

Here are a couple examples:
       A BUL-AEG - ION -> TUN
       A EDI-NTH-NWY
Note that if you fail to list the path of an army that cannot reach its destination except by convoy (for example, with an order like A EDI-NWY), the DPjudge will yell at you, so once again, you usually cannot go wrong.

How do I write proxy orders if they are in use in my game?

If writing a proxy order, you must give (after the word "PROXY" or "P") only the full name of the power to whom the proxy is given. For example:

A LON PROXY FRANCE

What about retreat and adjustment (build and remove) phase orders? Anything I need to know about those?

Not really. Because orders for those phases are done by selecting (using a pulldown box on the Webpage) from all the valid orders you could possibly issue. There's nothing to type, so there's no way you could mess those orders up.

Okay, now I know everything (or at least everything you are going to tell me). Any last words?

Just a caution. Remember that everything you just learned applies only to the most standard of Diplomacy games. If your game allows you to give orders to units that do not exist (for example, the Crystal Ball variant allows this), or if it is in any way non-standard, you might have a bit more to learn. But only a bit. And it's easy to learn. Just enter some total garbage for your orders and take a look at the long complaint you get. It will list all the rules for writing orders in your game.