I think the gist of this idea is fairly obvious. I propose that a new, one-person rank be included in all alliances, if the game's code will allow it.

The Supreme Commander would have the ability to move all of an alliance's fleets during a war, soas to ensure a co-ordinated effort on the part of an alliance. It would make wars more interesting, as alliances could do far more damage, due to the better co-ordination of fleets.

The counterbalance to this would be two things. One, a rule would be established that the Commander power would only be used during the course of a war. Also, there would be another option under the main options menu titled 'Allow fleets to be commanded by alliance commander?' with the default setting being 'no'.

This new feature would add a new layer of strategy to wars, and help Zorg stand out against its competitors.


Thoughts, questions, improvements?

I dunno, this might get code heavy, and it could get really confusing for people that aren't used to strategy like that

Can you explain a little better?

Which section needs explaining? The actual features, or the balances?

As for making this too strategy-heavy, it is an optional feature. Although I concede that perhaps some disadvantage should be added to retain balance.

How this would work I'm reading it and not really understanding what this would do. AKA user interface how would this be seen.

Okay- I shall explain better.

How it would look and be implemented-
On the 'rights' page of the alliance menu, the Leader can transfer leadership of the alliance, if I am not mistaken. In this same way the leader would be the default Commander, but he could transfer this power to one alliance member.

How it would work-
The Commander would have a menu under the Alliance configure menu, similar to the member list, except each member's name would go to a link showing a page essentially like the "Empire" page in the overview menu, except it would show only fleet stats and research levels. Under each planet's column, there would be a link to both the fleet page, and that person's espionage reports. The fleet page would perform the same function as the regular one. Also, under any of the espionage reports there would be a menu for 'Allied Attack?' or 'Allied Simulation?' visible only to the commander, which would link to a drop menu showing Members, then Planets, followed by an attack/esp link.

This menu is admittedly cumbersome, so any tweaks to streamline it would be appreciated.

How to opt-out-
There would be a box under menu, similar to the 'Show on Scoreboard?' thing, except with 'Allow Allied Fleet Command?', with the setting defaulted to 'No'. Also, if alliances don't want the feature, they just don't use it.

I realize this could be hard to program, so feel free to post ideas on a simpler version of the idea, in case this version is infeasible.

This makes since, I'm all for it but it would only be able to read fleets not in air.

But the fleet screen shows fleets in air, doesn't it? Or were you referring to enemy fleets, in which case, yeah, those would have to be hunted down by either everyone lanxing or by somehow linking lanxes up with this too, although I'm not sure how that is possible.

Hm....i dunno ALK, it would actually make it easier for someone to (not criticizing) pull what IB/Apocalypse did a couple times and crash members before kicking them.

Make it optional for the members?