Diplomacy, or Else!

Every word is a move.

Diplomacy, or Else! is a turn-based hex strategy game where you negotiate by composing phrases. Territory, armies, gold and science are the stakes. Pacts, standing and broken oaths shape the fight for a generated hex map.

You do not type at your rivals. You compose each sentence word by word from a shared lexicon: offer, demand, ask, swear, or break. Truces, non-aggression, safe passage, shared vision, gold, tribute, even a gifted technology, for three turns, five, ten, or forever. An accepted phrase becomes a pact the game itself enforces. Keep your word and your standing grows. Break it and everyone at the table remembers.

Letters under seal

Diplomacy arrives as sealed envelopes at your door. Keep a separate conversation with each rival, address the whole table in the public channel, and punctuate your promises with emotes. Research the espionage line and the mail starts talking: the Courier Network tells you who is writing, Postal Intelligence tells you to whom, and the Cabinet Noir opens the letters themselves.

A war worth negotiating over

• Generated hex maps with configurable size and water coverage, fog of war, and optional contested control points
• Soldiers, Guards, Archers and Builders on land; warships and transports at sea
• Forts, farms, training grounds, shipyards, gold mines and science sites, placed tile by tile
• Research army, civilian, naval and diplomacy technologies, including an espionage line
• Deterministic combat: no hit rolls, no crits, with counterattacks from surviving enemies in range

Choose your road to victory

Hold the control points, capture an enemy headquarters, or be the last player standing. You can also win through the peace you build:

• Diplomacy: every surviving player swears everlasting peace with every other survivor. Keep it for 10 turns and share the victory.
• Dominion: after 50 turns without a battle, the largest realm wins. Tied leaders share the crown.

The paths-to-victory ledger tracks each route and shows how close the table is to winning.

Six seats, five languages, one table

• 2-6 seats in any mix of humans and bots: play solo against bots, in local hotseat, or online through direct IP or Steam invites
• Online human players take their turns at the same time. Mark yourself ready when finished, or cancel readiness while another human is still playing
• Bots at three difficulties that negotiate through the same diplomacy system
• Save and resume matches through the lobby, with player seats, pacts and conversation history preserved
• Pacts travel as meaning, not text: you write in your language, your rival reads in theirs, and the same oath binds you both