I'm sure a number of you are familiar with the old philosophy of a "balance of power" being used to keep large scale war to a minimum. Of course, attempts at such "balances of power" have lead to large wars because of the pent up tension and large advances in technology relative to tactics (I bring you WWI as a glowing example of this, the Franco-Prussian War serves as one as well).
Looking at the Alliance Ranking page, there is already a set up for a WWI type scenario; though as those of us who have seen this set up before know, it wouldn't end up being much of a competition if such a fight actually broke out. I'm not going to rant about futility or any such nonsense, I'm just saying that in this case the Central Powers win through superior armaments and superior execution (and the Ottoman Empire breaking through the Caucasus, pushing Russia out of the war in 1915). Kindly ignore the fact that "wars" in this game don't serve any real purpose nor would a "balance of power" have even the vaguest hope of preventing one
Fluff aside, I want to bring into question the need for alliances. Alliances have the potential to be quite useful, circular messages save a lot of time and energy and allow for great coordination. However, in alliances which have many similarities to Sons of Anarchy (either branch) it has been seen that communication often breaks down rendering the greatest strength of an alliance moot.
Rather than creating a large alliance and striving for the #1 alliance rank that way (if that's even your goal to begin with) I submit that it would be preferable to form a tightly-knit group of friends rather than a sprawling alliance. I further submit that the creation of an alliance simply for the sake of being the #1 alliance is rather pointless, it's just a number and a misleading one at that.
Make use of the Friend List feature, coordinate defenses, trades, rec support via PM. Establish a personal relationship with people, earn their trust and respect and in time these people will have rendered you greater service than most alliance mates would have; some will have made great sacrifices on your behalf, sacrifices which wouldn't have necessarily been in the interest of the alliance (whether for political or practical reasons).
I'll remind you of the attempted ninja Istalris pulled on SOC, I remember that night rather vividly. It was impressive to see such an attempt come together, it was something which I would have gladly been an active part of (if I'd had a moon, I would have been only too happy to sacrifice my fleet for the chance to knock out a chunk of SOC's fleet and help out a friend).
It's been said many times and in many ways, I'm just choosing to hope that some of you will stop and listen this time. I'll encourage those of you who think I'm just blowing smoke to look up the ~V~ vs Azguard war in Xtreme. Some things to remember:
1: Agreements with those who are stronger than you are often not to be trusted, they have little reason to keep their end of the bargain when they can take what they please from you. So either prove yourself indispensable or be too nebulous to hit.
2: Lines of communication are vital. If communication breaks down, or if intelligence is incompletely passed on then only disaster awaits.
3: If your in an alliance, authority can only take you so far. If you're a sergeant, then those under you will fight on your order. If you're a sergeant who is respected by his men, they will fight in your interest. If you're a sergeant who is beloved by his men, then they will sacrifice everything on your behalf; even if the situation is futile.
4 (perhaps the most important one to remember): Never fight a land war in Asia. They have the numbers and the terrain to make it too hellish for the spoils to be worth it.
