First thing to do is drop alliance cap down to 15 members from 30. Then turn on alliance treaties. Limit the amount of treaties an alliance can have to something like one Affiliate Alliance or MOP (Mutual Offense Pact) (You can land on allies planets, you attack together when IS together, you can add forces to and refresh their stacks. Basically like you are in the same alliance.) , two PNAPs (Planetary Non-Aggression Pact) (PNAPs would prevent you from attacking their planets, but you would be allowed to attack their members. You do have the option of having a PNAP and a regular NAP with the same alliance if you chose.) , and unlimited NAPS (Non-Aggression Pacts) (NAPS should not protect against NAP'ed forces to prevent large minefields that have been known to plague the universe when there are treaties), and unlimited declarations of WAR (self explanatory).
So basically the alliance cap would still be 30, just with two 15 man alliances working together. You may be asking whats the point if the alliance cap is the same. Well adding politics would add a lot to the game. We would have twice as many different alliances which is a good thing. Now the whole diplomatic aspect is added to SMR. It will make things much more interesting. Alliances can form their MOPs secretly or publicly. So lets say Alliance B declares war on Alliance A, but Alliance A secretly has a MOP with Alliance C. So Alliance A just got more than they bargained for. So Alliance B signs an MOP with Alliance D to help in the war effort. It would be just like one alliance fighting one alliance under the current system. But two 15 man alliances fighting another two 15 man alliances is much more fun and challenging than one 30 man alliance fighting another 30 man alliance, IMO. The two alliance leaders will have to co-operate and communicate in order to win the war. Ops will have to be joint ops.
Also it will give us more options and add change to the game. When it comes to galaxy and route building. Alliance A and allied Alliance C have two choices. They can either work together to build one galaxy to share. Or they can each build up a galaxy by each other so they have two galaxies and two routes to use (since you are allowed a couple PNAPs it wouldn't be impossible for a 15 man alliance to build up a galaxy by themselves.). Half way through game we could see teams switch up, alliances broke, enemies becoming allies. Alliance A and Alliance C aren't quite seeing eye to eye, they just have different goals, so half way through the game they cancel they MOP. Alliance A allies with Alliance F, and Alliance C aligns with Alliance D. Now we have a whole new war on our hands. Politics will add much more flavor to the game instead of Crusaders vs. other top alliance, that it is now has been for years.
Since the cap will really still be 30 our current player base can support this. It will add so much more flavor to SMR. I think this could create a lot of fun for us all. We will all have to work on our diplomacy skills. This adds a whole new aspect to the game, but it won't turn it into The Rebels vs. The Empire, like it used to in the past. I don't really see any cons to this, and there are tons of pros (probably even more than I listed, but I am pretty tired). So guys please discuss this objectivly. In fact lets not even look at the names of the people that are posting, just read what they have to say not whos saying it
. Alright, discuss.
