Foreign Affairs - Alliances
I have always viewed foreign policy as one of my personal areas of expertise. I could sit here and type about this for days and not cover everything I have to share, but I have better things to do, and I am sure you guys won’t read it even if I did. With that said, to make this easier, I will dedicate each addition to this series to a particular area of foreign affairs and international policy. This particular edition will cover alliances.
To be honest, I have always viewed alliances as over valued in the community. In a perfect world they would mean a lot, but at the time I am currently writing this, I know of few alliances that were of any true value. Call me cynical, but from my personal viewpoint I have seen them as unneeded from an aggressive (war time) military perspective. In this article I will discuss the problems with alliances that have existed in the past, and what could be done to fix them in the future.
My view on alliances come from past experiences in the community, and watching other clans deal with foreign affairs. For most clans, alliances are nothing more than verbal agreements. Clans are either unwilling to, or don’t care enough to create a text document. This means that when push comes to shove, clans often make up terms of the alliance as they see fit. In turn, this leads to many “he said she said” situations. They are never, fun, and are a general waste of time.
Current Problems:
1. Unclear Terms.
Historically speaking, alliances in this community are verbal agreements. Clan leaders get together, say they agree to an alliance, and call it a day. Only in rare cases are actual terms ever discussed, and in even few cases are this terms written down. Because of the lack of documentation, problems arise.
If Clan A gets into a war and tries to call on their ally, Clan B, could easily deny an alliance even exist, or say it does not require them to act. Without text to back up the claim, how could the Clan A ever prove the alliance existed? They can’t. It turns into a “he said she said” situation, and by the time anything is resolved the war in question is likely ended.
2. Not Publicly Known/Acknowledged.
This, while not absolutely required, is a matter of good conduct. It is a gesture to make the exact terms of an alliance available to the general public, including people not involved in either clan. Why is this? Two main examples come to mind.
- Clan A and Clan B have an alliance, but the alliance existence, or the terms are not public. Clan C makes an alliance with Clan A. This alliance is also secret in nature. A few weeks pass, and Clan C declares are on Clan B. What does Clan A do? They have alliances with both clans involved? There is no clear solution. If clan A does get involved, they lose an ally. If they don’t they risk losing two ally’s or at least angering two clans.
- If a clan is planning to go to war with another clan, it is beneficial to know exactly who you will be fighting. If secret alliances exist, clans run the possibility of having to fight multiple clans, even though they only intended to fight one. This might not seem like a big issue if you are the clan being attacked. It may even appear beneficial. However, imagine being the attacking clan; its not fun.
4. Relatively Useless.
-This is more or less a result of game mechanics. A lobby fits 16 people. Assuming a raid or battle is of even numbers, your clan can field a maximum of 8 people. Most clans can sustain 8 people for hours at a time by cycling members. Why do you need allies if you can’t use them in a battle?
Those are the problems that alliances currently face. Here are the ways I believe we could fix those:
1. Clear terms in Text.
Make the terms of alliance easily visible and publicly available. I believe The Mantle Project could greatly aid this cause. By providing a central point to find current alliance list, many problems are sold. If needed or requested, we could easily make a section dedicated to storing the exact terms of alliance, and making them visible to the public. The one exception would be terms about secret (covert operations, intel, etc) cooperation. Alliance details regarding espionage are normally kept off the publicly viewable copy of an alliance to ensure secrecy. This is reasonable. If need be, we could establish a password protected section for these documents if the demand is high enough.
2. Usefulness.
While the issue of game mechanics still exist, there is still a clear benefit alliances can offer: practice.
Joint war exercise are a clear potential use for alliances. You can test your maps, personnel, and strategies against people outside your clan, and get another perspective. They aren’t in your clans chain of command, so have no reason to fear (politely) telling you that your maps are unfair, your members are subpar etc.
3. Covert Ops.
This is the field in which game mechanics don’t play a role. Sharing intelligence has always been a major part of alliances. By having more personnel focused at a objective, you increase your chances of success.
I admit this article was not as much about teaching how alliances work, and more about the problems they have, but I feel we need to fix a few problem before we can view alliances as a thing of importance. With that said, should improvements be made, I will revisit this topic and lay out information regarding when to ally, why, and with whom.
- II Power III
To be honest, I have always viewed alliances as over valued in the community. In a perfect world they would mean a lot, but at the time I am currently writing this, I know of few alliances that were of any true value. Call me cynical, but from my personal viewpoint I have seen them as unneeded from an aggressive (war time) military perspective. In this article I will discuss the problems with alliances that have existed in the past, and what could be done to fix them in the future.
My view on alliances come from past experiences in the community, and watching other clans deal with foreign affairs. For most clans, alliances are nothing more than verbal agreements. Clans are either unwilling to, or don’t care enough to create a text document. This means that when push comes to shove, clans often make up terms of the alliance as they see fit. In turn, this leads to many “he said she said” situations. They are never, fun, and are a general waste of time.
Current Problems:
1. Unclear Terms.
Historically speaking, alliances in this community are verbal agreements. Clan leaders get together, say they agree to an alliance, and call it a day. Only in rare cases are actual terms ever discussed, and in even few cases are this terms written down. Because of the lack of documentation, problems arise.
If Clan A gets into a war and tries to call on their ally, Clan B, could easily deny an alliance even exist, or say it does not require them to act. Without text to back up the claim, how could the Clan A ever prove the alliance existed? They can’t. It turns into a “he said she said” situation, and by the time anything is resolved the war in question is likely ended.
2. Not Publicly Known/Acknowledged.
This, while not absolutely required, is a matter of good conduct. It is a gesture to make the exact terms of an alliance available to the general public, including people not involved in either clan. Why is this? Two main examples come to mind.
- Clan A and Clan B have an alliance, but the alliance existence, or the terms are not public. Clan C makes an alliance with Clan A. This alliance is also secret in nature. A few weeks pass, and Clan C declares are on Clan B. What does Clan A do? They have alliances with both clans involved? There is no clear solution. If clan A does get involved, they lose an ally. If they don’t they risk losing two ally’s or at least angering two clans.
- If a clan is planning to go to war with another clan, it is beneficial to know exactly who you will be fighting. If secret alliances exist, clans run the possibility of having to fight multiple clans, even though they only intended to fight one. This might not seem like a big issue if you are the clan being attacked. It may even appear beneficial. However, imagine being the attacking clan; its not fun.
4. Relatively Useless.
-This is more or less a result of game mechanics. A lobby fits 16 people. Assuming a raid or battle is of even numbers, your clan can field a maximum of 8 people. Most clans can sustain 8 people for hours at a time by cycling members. Why do you need allies if you can’t use them in a battle?
Those are the problems that alliances currently face. Here are the ways I believe we could fix those:
1. Clear terms in Text.
Make the terms of alliance easily visible and publicly available. I believe The Mantle Project could greatly aid this cause. By providing a central point to find current alliance list, many problems are sold. If needed or requested, we could easily make a section dedicated to storing the exact terms of alliance, and making them visible to the public. The one exception would be terms about secret (covert operations, intel, etc) cooperation. Alliance details regarding espionage are normally kept off the publicly viewable copy of an alliance to ensure secrecy. This is reasonable. If need be, we could establish a password protected section for these documents if the demand is high enough.
2. Usefulness.
While the issue of game mechanics still exist, there is still a clear benefit alliances can offer: practice.
Joint war exercise are a clear potential use for alliances. You can test your maps, personnel, and strategies against people outside your clan, and get another perspective. They aren’t in your clans chain of command, so have no reason to fear (politely) telling you that your maps are unfair, your members are subpar etc.
3. Covert Ops.
This is the field in which game mechanics don’t play a role. Sharing intelligence has always been a major part of alliances. By having more personnel focused at a objective, you increase your chances of success.
I admit this article was not as much about teaching how alliances work, and more about the problems they have, but I feel we need to fix a few problem before we can view alliances as a thing of importance. With that said, should improvements be made, I will revisit this topic and lay out information regarding when to ally, why, and with whom.
- II Power III