Waggling a Silver Tongue

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A Beginner's Guide to
Vanguard Diplomacy (Page 2)

By Ralsu

The full intent of this guide is
to give you a brief introduction of what Diplomacy is (Overview), an
explantion of Diplomacy mechanics (Basics and Advanced), a look at some
beginner Diplomacy quests (Competing Egos and Flesh to Stone), and a
hint of what might come after the entry-level quests (What Now?).



To help convey the complexities of the Diplomacy sphere, this guide
makes use of roughly 35 screen shots taken from Beta 4. The images will
appear small on this page, but you can click them to view the larger
version. Keep in mind that images taken from Beta 4 may not reflect
what the final product looks like.



To help you navigate this guide, use the links in the box below:
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Waggling
a Silver Tongue

A Beginner's Guide to Vanguard
Diplomacy

href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=490#I">Overview href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=490#II">Basics href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=491#III">Advanced
Training
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=492#IV">Competing
Egos href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=492#V">Flesh
to Stone href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=492#VI">What
Now?

III. Advanced Training

The first thing you'll notice as you begin advanced Diplomacy training
is that the trainer has given you some new cards. Use the methods
described in my Basics section to put the cards into your strategy hand
for the next parley with your trainer.



The trainer will explain that your new cards represent two new types of
Diplomacy techniques, Evaluations
and Assertions (image 16).
Evaluations build Expression so that you have enough points to play the
cards you want. Assertions use the Expression you've accrued to tip the
parley scale in your favor--usually by 3 or more points at a time
(images 17-18).

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style="text-align: center; width: 33%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy18&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="techniques"
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style="text-align: center; width: 33%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy19&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Expression"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Woody_Diplomacy19.jpg"
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style="text-align: center; width: 33%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy21&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Assertions"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Woody_Diplomacy21.jpg"
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- New techniques
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- Evaluations
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- Assertions

But you can't just go around using Assertions without repercussions.
Remember that the Expression produced by playing a card is shown just
below the picture on the card (dark green lines on image 6 again). As
your trainer will warn, most Assertions feed Expression to your
opponent, giving him or her the the Expression needed to play an
Assertion against you (image 19). This is why it is important to keep
in mind that you can win just as well with the parley scale tipped 1
point in your favor as you can with it tipped 9 points in your favor:
every time you use a card to gain influence, your opponent builds
dangerous Expression to use against you (image 20).

cellspacing="2">
style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; width: 33%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album10&id=Woody_Diplomacy10&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="features"
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style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; width: 33%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy22&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="2ways"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Woody_Diplomacy22.jpg"
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style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; width: 33%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy23&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="win"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Woody_Diplomacy23.jpg"
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- Card features
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- Double-edged sword
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- Just win

Part of the strategy of Diplomacy is know when you are better off using
an Assertion and when you are better off just listening. If the scale
is tipped 2 points in your favor, it is very possible that the opponent
could use an Assertion with 3 or more influence to move the scale in
his or her favor. But your opponent can't use Assertions if you never
feed any Expression to him or her (image 21).



As a final note on Advanced training, I want to fulfill my promise to
explain why you'd be willing to play a card that gives influence to
your opponent. Notice that the card Threats of Reprisal has an
influence value of -1 (image 22). This means the scale will move one
point in your opponent's favor. What gives? Look at the Expression;
Threats of Reprisal gives no Expression to your opponent but gives 2
Demand to you (image 22). Now check out the Aggressive Statement card
right next to Threats of Reprisal; Aggressive Statement costs two
Demand from your Expression pool and tips the parley scale in your
favor by 3 points (image 22)! In this case, you can definitely gain an
advantage by first letting your opponent gain some influence while you
accrue Expression.

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style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; width: 50%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy25&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="starve"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Woody_Diplomacy25.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 315px;" align="middle">
style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; width: 50%; vertical-align: middle;"> href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album11&id=Woody_Diplomacy17&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="-1"
src="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Woody_Diplomacy17.sized.jpg"
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- Starve your opponent
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- One step back, two steps forward