We have a 30 member cap in SMR, but this cap is easy to work around, especially for the large and organized major alliances. This has been discussed before, and the general consensus has been that we do need a cap where it is, but we also need a little flexibility to allow things like joint op's. I am open to new suggestions, but as of right now there are 3 main ways to penalize the way alliance switching can be used to get around that cap:
1) A turn cost (for example 100 turns) for joining an alliance. I personally don't like this one, since it penalizes everyone, including players joining their primary alliance at the start of a game, as well as minor alliances choosing to op together. We cannot implement a turn cost for leaving an alliance since this causes problems with removing members, and we cannot have negative turns.
2) A time limit for joining an alliance after leaving one. This delay would need to be something like 48 hours/game speed in order to be effective and once again also penalizes legitimate alliance switching. Anything longer than this delay starts to become detrimental to the game IMO.
3) A limit to the number of times a player can join any given alliance. This is my favourite. I can think of absolutely no valid reason for needing to join an alliance more than (for example) 3 times during a game. This does not hurt anyone except the players abusing alliance switching, and very effectively puts a stop to the use of rotating roster spots. Obviously, disbanding an alliance and re-forming with the same membership to get around this would be against the rules.
Alliance cap
Moderators: JettJackson, Holti, jouldax
Alliance cap
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Could work, See im all for stopping rotation cuz it makes the game go much easier for us 
. In reality though, if somebody can organize that sort of maneuvering during an op Im all for it. Because the last game lotus tried it with The King and a couple others who ended up dieing to friendly fire. I think it takes alot of work to pull that off sucessfully on the op side. The problem is that lately its just been used to have one slot used for all the traders in the alliance, I.E. the trader logs in, joins the alliance, banks, parks and leaves. Next trader repeats process. That takes no real skill or anything and is downright shady. I think what might be more sucessfull to block this and other forms of roster boosting would be to put a timer on when the alliance forces will recognize you as a friend. I.E. for the first 48 hours after joining, while you will have the alliance name on you, you are not actually a member when it comes to mines and planets. This would still allow for joint offensive ops but would utterly smash the trading part of it. It would also have the effect of not bothering forming alliances in the beginning of the game. The 3 times and your out rule has merit too but it can cause havoc with alliances like mine that share maps to smaller ones. Anyway, just my 2 cents on the matter.
. In reality though, if somebody can organize that sort of maneuvering during an op Im all for it. Because the last game lotus tried it with The King and a couple others who ended up dieing to friendly fire. I think it takes alot of work to pull that off sucessfully on the op side. The problem is that lately its just been used to have one slot used for all the traders in the alliance, I.E. the trader logs in, joins the alliance, banks, parks and leaves. Next trader repeats process. That takes no real skill or anything and is downright shady. I think what might be more sucessfull to block this and other forms of roster boosting would be to put a timer on when the alliance forces will recognize you as a friend. I.E. for the first 48 hours after joining, while you will have the alliance name on you, you are not actually a member when it comes to mines and planets. This would still allow for joint offensive ops but would utterly smash the trading part of it. It would also have the effect of not bothering forming alliances in the beginning of the game. The 3 times and your out rule has merit too but it can cause havoc with alliances like mine that share maps to smaller ones. Anyway, just my 2 cents on the matter.I can't really see the problem with switching alliances... If you don't have enough active players and you need to recruit a few from another alliance in order to make an OP I think you should be able to without being threated as a criminal, I think the main thing about the game is that it should be enjoyable, not controlled to every step.
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I would not see this till they add Naps again... all this does is let the big alliances be safe... and the little ones have no way to fight back...
Not enough alliances can get enough people to op all the time.... so getting help from frends is the only way small not all vet alliances can hit lvl 70's or high end alliances....Till naps come back you need the option for team work between small alliances or less exp alliances..
Not enough alliances can get enough people to op all the time.... so getting help from frends is the only way small not all vet alliances can hit lvl 70's or high end alliances....Till naps come back you need the option for team work between small alliances or less exp alliances..
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Baalzamon
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I completely agree...even for larger alliances who arent all vets, its hard to get people to be able to OP...and things like that are useful. So until NAPs are brought into it (i know they are coded in, just need to hit an "on" switch) then I don't think we can screw with much of anything. But should NAPs come, I would be all for the 24hr ideacanff wrote:I would not see this till they add Naps again... all this does is let the big alliances be safe... and the little ones have no way to fight back...
Not enough alliances can get enough people to op all the time.... so getting help from frends is the only way small not all vet alliances can hit lvl 70's or high end alliances....Till naps come back you need the option for team work between small alliances or less exp alliances..
Personally, I like the 100 turns idea the best, for a variety of reasons....
First, its easy to code.... everytime you click that join alliance button it costs you 100 turns.. done...
Second, it effects everyone equally... everyone, no matter what alliance they join will cost them 100 turns..... Newbies get put into NHA automatically??? so no cost to them i assume.. only if they move....
Thirdly it adds one more way to get a little boost of XP at the start of the game.... (I'm sure smor and friends would enjoy that)... Do you join right away? or do you wait to join an alliance... use all your turns in a PSF then switch to a fast ship to join???.. never join an alliance?
Finally, it still allows people to rotate into an alliance not adding any 'control' as Mar likes to put it..... just they get 100 fewer turns when they join... and when they pull out if they join another alliance again 100 fewer turns.... Joint ops can still be done as well (even though have been rare in recent games)... just people have 100 fewer turns...
Adding cost to things that give teams an advantage is what this game is about.... and people have been leaving/joining alliances for free for too long!!... Its time to pay a price....
First, its easy to code.... everytime you click that join alliance button it costs you 100 turns.. done...
Second, it effects everyone equally... everyone, no matter what alliance they join will cost them 100 turns..... Newbies get put into NHA automatically??? so no cost to them i assume.. only if they move....
Thirdly it adds one more way to get a little boost of XP at the start of the game.... (I'm sure smor and friends would enjoy that)... Do you join right away? or do you wait to join an alliance... use all your turns in a PSF then switch to a fast ship to join???.. never join an alliance?
Finally, it still allows people to rotate into an alliance not adding any 'control' as Mar likes to put it..... just they get 100 fewer turns when they join... and when they pull out if they join another alliance again 100 fewer turns.... Joint ops can still be done as well (even though have been rare in recent games)... just people have 100 fewer turns...
Adding cost to things that give teams an advantage is what this game is about.... and people have been leaving/joining alliances for free for too long!!... Its time to pay a price....