Alliances

An alliance with a sleeping founder is a sinking ship with a dead helmsman.

TL;DR: Alliances are at the heart of the social experience.

- Found or join an alliance and cooperate with others

- Ranks and permissions control who can do what

- Treasury and buff systems reward collective investment

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Joining an Alliance #

Alliances consist of up to thirty players by default, united under the leadership of an admiral. The member cap can be raised through collective treasury investments. You can:

• Join an existing alliance -- Apply to an alliance. With a welcoming flag, it takes you in immediately; otherwise its leadership decides on your application.
• Found your own alliance -- You become the admiral automatically. If you leave or disband an alliance yourself, you cannot found a new one for 24 hours.

You can see your open applications on the Alliance page; you can withdraw them there, too.

The crew choice. New captains see the crew choice at the start or during their first build. There you can sign on instantly only with crews that actually sail — at least three members and not nearly abandoned; smaller open crews are listed below and take an application. Crews that already have members in your ocean appear higher up. The leadership of the crew decides on an application; if they accept or decline you, it arrives as a message in your inbox. If you closed the crew choice with "Later", the quest steps "Join an Alliance" and "Say hello in the crew" lead you back.

In the Alliance Directory, you can look for a suitable group. While you are in no alliance, the "Alliance" page offers the link "Browse all alliances" to it. You see alliances with their member count and a brief profile. The list is limited and sorted by points; use the search to look for a name or tag.

Each alliance can declare a preferred language -- one of the game's languages, or the globe symbol for general (open to all languages). You set it under "Edit Alliance Profile"; there is no language field yet when founding an alliance. In the directory you can filter by language to find alliances that match your preferred play language.

As a member you gain access to the alliance chat, see the Alliance Announcement (MOTD) and can participate in collective projects like the treasury.

Members of the same alliance are normally protected from attacks and colonization by one another. Rudderless captains, Old Empire Ruins and captains leaving voluntarily remain open targets, including for their own alliance.

The main island of a rudderless captain cannot be taken over as long as their account exists.

Slumbering comrades after seven days without action fall under their own exception (see "Sleeping comrades"). An open revenge claim allows a counterattack against the plunderer for a short time despite an alliance or treaty. This protection also does not apply between the two captains of a Feud pair. Scouting, trade and sending reinforcements between members are possible, but have their own limits, including the loyalty period, target status and room for reinforcements. The fleet form shows whether a trip is possible. Confirmed treaty allies can also send each other reinforcements -- no earlier than 24 hours after the treaty is concluded (see chapter "Fleet Dispatch").

Deliveries to members also count towards the receiving limit (see chapter "Trade").

Sleeping comrades. A comrade in the "slumbering" stage can be attacked by their own alliance after seven days without action if their beginner protection has ended. Secondary islands can be taken over; their main island can be plundered but not taken over. Before sending a fleet to such a comrade, the fleet form requires explicit confirmation naming them, their days without action and the kind of island. This special question applies only to slumbering comrades; it no longer appears for rudderless comrades. Active comrades normally remain protected, as does anyone in vacation mode. There is no return: what has been taken stays taken. After a takeover with this confirmation, the welcome message tells the returning captain which alliance member took the island; for other takeovers it only gives coordinates and a date.

Name and Tag #

You choose your alliance's name when you found it; after that it stays as it is. The tag is the short code in square brackets -- two to five letters or digits -- that everyone sees next to your names: in the rankings, in chat and on the alliance pages.

Only the admiral can change the tag, under "Edit Alliance Profile" -- once every three weeks. The first change is free, so a typo made when founding can be fixed right away; after that, the form shows from when the next change is possible. Saving only the motto or the texts and leaving the tag as it is uses nothing up. The reason for the pause: every alliance should be reliably recognizable to everyone.

Ranks and Permissions #

Every alliance has a rank hierarchy with different permissions:

• Admiral -- The alliance's leader: the founder at first, later possibly replaced by the Captains' Council. Holds all rights and manages ranks.
• Other default ranks -- General, Officer, Member and Recruit, each with different privileges.

Permissions govern who may accept or reject applications (the "Invite players" right in the rank editor), who can edit the Alliance Announcement, who may access the treasury, and much more. The admiral can rename ranks and adjust their rights.

Whoever may handle applications also hears about new applications: when someone applies to the alliance, the admiral and every rank with this right get a notice in the Harbor Messengers bell. If you would rather not, switch off the "Application to my alliance" row in the Dispatch Office of your settings.

The Captains' Council #

When the admiral falls silent, the council raises its voice.

The Captains' Council is a voting system that lets the alliance decide diplomatic relations and -- in an emergency -- remove its admiral. Every member who is active -- that is, not slumbering (seven days without action), not banned and not scheduled for deletion -- and has been aboard for at least 7 days may vote. Each eligible member has one vote.

Diplomacy Votes #

The council can decide diplomatic relations with another alliance: forge or lift an alliance, enter a non-aggression pact, or declare war.

• Duration: Whoever opens a vote sets a duration between 24 hours and 7 days (default: 3 days). The vote resolves when the time runs out -- not earlier.
• Quorum: It is only valid if at least one third of eligible members cast a ballot. Abstentions count toward the quorum but not toward the outcome.
• Majority: It passes if more Yes than No ballots were cast. A tie or a missed quorum changes nothing -- the existing relation stands.
• Who may open one: The admiral sets, per vote type, the minimum rank allowed to open it. By default, only the admiral can open a diplomacy vote.

The council is an additional path, mainly for members without the diplomacy permission. The admiral -- and any rank with the diplomacy permission, including the default General rank from the start -- can also act without a vote, cancel an open vote, and dissolve an existing relation. Whether a treaty comes about at once, however, is not for one alliance to decide alone: where treaties are confirmed by both sides, a decision on an alliance or a non-aggression pact first becomes nothing more than a treaty proposal to the other alliance -- it only holds once they accept. How to tell: if the diplomacy page lists incoming and outgoing proposals and treaties carry the "Confirmed" mark, the mutual-consent rule applies. A declaration of war, by contrast, never needs the other side's consent.

Sharing distress calls with treaty allies -- Anyone with the diplomacy permission can use the diplomacy page to decide whether members of confirmed treaty allies may see and answer your distress calls. This setting can be changed at most once a day.

Mutiny #

A mutiny removes the admiral and names a successor. It is the only council vote that any member may start -- regardless of rank, but only after 7 days aboard. The proposed successor must have been aboard that long, too.

• Majority: It needs two-thirds of eligible members to vote Yes. The mutiny takes effect the moment that two-thirds mark is reached -- there is no deadline.
• Minimum backing: If a mutiny does not gather a minimum backing of at least one third of eligible members (but never fewer than 2 Yes votes) within 24 hours, it lapses.
• Cooldowns: After a failed mutiny, the starter must wait 24 hours and the alliance must wait 12 hours before another can begin. The starter's wait also applies if they withdraw their own mutiny; if they withdraw it before anyone has voted, the alliance's wait does not apply. Only one vote on the admiralty can be open at a time.
• No veto: The admiral can neither cancel nor override a mutiny against himself. His only defense is to rally members to vote No -- enough No votes end it.

While a vote on the admiralty is open, kicking members, disbanding the alliance, and transferring the admiralty are locked.

Helmsman Election #

If an alliance loses its admiral, the highest-ranked active member is installed at once as caretaker admiral, and an automatic successor election runs for 3 days. The candidate with the most votes wins; ties are broken by the higher score. If only one active member remains, that member is simply installed.

When the admiral is gone: If the admiral is away for 14 days, the only active member with at least 7 days aboard takes the helm. If there are several, the crew chooses a helmsman over 72 hours, and whoever gathers the most votes takes over. If the admiral returns first, the admiral keeps the helm. Vacation does not count as being away. The replaced admiral initially stays a member. Once their empire becomes an Old Empire, they leave the alliance. They can regain office through a handover or a successful mutiny if they meet the requirements.

When a Pact Breaks #

An alliance or a non-aggression pact can be dissolved at any time -- openly, honorably and without a stain on your name. Where treaties are confirmed by both sides, however, a cancellation is followed by a short mutual attack ban: both sides have to cool off before they may fall upon each other. It blocks new attacks. Whoever instead breaks an existing peace and declares war on their own treaty partner leaves a lasting, public trace. Stationed reinforcements from both sides then return home automatically.

The Diplomacy Chronicle on an alliance profile shows recent steps initiated by that alliance, such as a concluded treaty it had proposed, a cancellation or a declaration of war. It is not a full history of both sides. An alliance declaring war on a treaty partner may also carry the Oathbreaker Seal there for a while, visible to anyone viewing the profile. The seal fades again.

If a member of the treaty partner has really attacked a member of your alliance shortly before, your declaration of war may qualify as retaliation without an Oathbreaker Seal. Not every battle qualifies for this exception. Before you declare, the confirmation form shows whether it counts as retaliation or an oathbreak.

War, Armistice and War Chronicle #

Not every declaration of war opens a scored War Arc. The War Arc shows whether and under which rule a war is scored. Its rule is fixed at the declaration and stays the same until the end -- the rules are explained below.

The two alliances involved see the immediate standing of an ongoing war in its War Arc.

The War Board in the war chronicles shows all logged-in players ongoing alliance wars with delayed totals per side, without naming individual fighters. Depending on the scoring rule, it shows "Counted value" or "War points". The standing and conquered islands appear every four hours, no earlier than four hours after a four-hour block ends. Battles won and losses appear once a day from the following morning and are at least eight hours old. For very uneven wars, only the standing and conquests appear until the end. Without logging in, you see an example.

A war ends in four ways: by a clear lead held long enough; by exhaustion when the war deadline expires -- then a side wins only with a clear lead, and only if enough battles were fought, otherwise it ends in a draw; by an armistice both sides want; or when one of the alliances disbands. Either side may offer an armistice, but the war only ends once the other accepts. Afterwards an attack ban binds the members of both sides for a while, so the peace does not break again within the hour. The ban covers the members of both alliances at the time of acceptance: whoever joins later is free, and whoever left before is not protected. An open revenge claim allows a counterattack against the plunderer for a short time despite the armistice. Rudderless captains, Old Empire Ruins and captains leaving voluntarily remain open targets.

Once a war is over it receives a War Chronicle: a public closing record naming both alliances, the outcome and the best fighters of each side. Anyone may read it, and it remains as a closing record.

How a war is counted #

For wars declared since these rules started: each side earns points for everything it destroys on the enemy side. The side that has clearly destroyed more when the deadline runs out wins; against clearly weaker foes a battle counts only in part.

• Points: Each side counts the resource value of what it destroys on the enemy side: ships and troops, in attack as in defense.
• Equal footing: Against clearly weaker foes a battle counts only in part, against far weaker ones not at all.
• End: After 21 days, the side that has destroyed at least a third more wins. A side that has destroyed at least twice as much as the enemy for three days wins at once. Without enough battles (the minimum), the war ends with no result.
• Reward: 5 percent of the counted value flows into your own alliance's treasury as wreckage. If troops and warships cost half, the wreckage is worked out from that half price; the counted value stays the full one.

In detail. What counts is the full price (gold, stone and wood) of the ships and troops the enemy loses in battles between the two warring alliances — including troops that fall in a conquest and ships lost in an orderly retreat. This holds even where the barracks and the harbor only ask half the price. Only members who were in the two alliances when the war was declared count, and only their own ships and troops. Equal footing compares the combat weight of the two fighters, for each side separately: if your opponent is at least 90 percent as strong as you, the battle counts in full for you; at 70 percent a little under half counts, at 60 percent just under a third, below roughly 42 percent nothing. What the weaker side destroys on the stronger side always counts in full. For these wars, the War Board and the War Arc show the counted value of both sides instead of war points. The minimum is currently 300,000 resource value for the leading side; the War Board only shows "Minimum reached" or "Minimum not reached yet". The early win also needs the minimum and three days in a row: the lead is checked once an hour, and if the leading side is below double at a check, the clock starts over; while at least half of the leading side is on vacation, it pauses. If no side is a third ahead when the war deadline (currently 21 days) runs out, the war ends in a draw. A war also ends with an armistice both sides want, or when an alliance disbands. Wars declared before these rules started end under the rule that applied when they were declared — it is explained below under "How war points are made". If your Captains' Council declares a war, the rules it will be counted by are shown right on the vote. Battles against inactive defenders and battles for Corsair Fortresses give neither side war value.

War Pays Off #

Whoever destroys enemy ships or troops in a war brings five percent of their build cost into the treasury of their alliance — whether they win or lose the battle. At the end the winners carry a banner, their best captains a title.

Wreckage. The share goes tax-free, in the resource mix of the build cost, into the treasury; withdrawing costs the ocean tax as always. Against clearly weaker foes there is only a part, against far weaker foes nothing at all — but what the weaker side destroys on the stronger side always counts in full. Only ships and troops of captains who were in one of the two alliances when war was declared count, no garrisons of other alliances; troops that fall in a conquest and ships lost in an orderly retreat count too. A battle pays once, in a Combined Attack each wave pays once, and war battles yield no drift timber in return — not even for the stronger side in a battle that does not count for it. The War Board shows per day what each side has brought into its treasury. Battles against inactive defenders and battles for Corsair Fortresses yield no wreckage.

Honors. The alliance profile shows a war record (wars ended, won and drawn) and, after a victory, a victory banner for 30 days. After a victory, an armistice or a scored draw, the best captain of each side carries the title "Hero of the War" for 30 days. It is not awarded after an inconclusive war or a dissolution.

How war points are made #

This calculation applies to every war that is not counted under "How a war is counted" — the War Arc shows which calculation a war uses.

Victories earn war points, defeats cost some -- a side's score can fall below zero. Whichever side counted as stronger when war was declared gains little per victory and loses a lot per defeat; victories against far weaker foes earn almost nothing, and each further battle by the same captain weighs less.

What counts. Battles between the two alliances are scored when something was actually lost -- at least one unit on either side. A walkover without losses does not count. Only captains who were already members of their alliance when war was declared win or lose points.

The expectation. When war is declared, each side's chance of winning a battle is fixed -- on the Elo principle, from the combat weight of its 15 strongest members. The expectation always lies between 15% and 85%, the two sides add up to 100%, and it no longer changes until the war ends.

Every scored battle moves both scores:

• The winner's side gains 40 × (1 − own expectation) × opponent factor × weight points.
• The loser's side loses 40 × own expectation × weight points. There is no opponent factor here: a defeat always costs, no matter against whom.
• The opponent factor is 1 when the victory comes against an equal or stronger opponent; against far weaker ones it drops almost to zero.
• The weight belongs to the individual captain: their first scored battle in this war counts in full, each further one less, and after 40 battles they count for nothing at all.

A side's score is the sum of the 15 highest positive contributions of its captains plus all negative contributions -- that is why it can fall below zero. A conquest earns no extra points: the battle in which the island falls counts like any other -- only if something was lost in it. A conquest without any losses does not count at all.

An example: With very unequal sides (85% to 15%), the stronger side loses 34 points per defeat and gains at most 6 per victory against an equal opponent -- almost nothing against a far weaker one. For the weaker side it is the reverse: 6 per defeat, up to 34 per victory. (Both figures apply to a captain's first battle; each further one weighs less.)

The endings in numbers:

• Clear lead: A side wins when it stays at least 250 points ahead for 60 hours and at least 20 battles have been scored in the war as a whole. The lead is checked once an hour: if it is below 250 points at a check, the clock starts over. While at least half of the leading side is in vacation mode, this clock pauses.
• Exhaustion: After 21 days the war ends. A side wins only if it is at least 125 points ahead, and even then only with at least 20 scored battles -- otherwise it ends in a draw. With fewer than 20 scored battles it stays inconclusive, without a winner.
• Armistice and disbanding end the war without a winner.

Chat and Alliance Announcement #

The alliance hall is the central meeting place. Here you find:

• Alliance chat -- Communicate with your comrades. In the browser, new messages appear when you reload the hall.
• Alliance Announcement (MOTD) -- An announcement from the leadership at the top of the alliance hall. It may span several lines. Ranks with the appropriate permission can set and clear it.
• Circular: Whoever holds the permission "Send circular" can send one message to all members at once from the alliance hall. An alliance can send at most one circular every 24 hours. Members receive it as a message from the sender "[Tag] Circular". The leadership sets the permission on the ranks.

The Pinboard #

Alongside the Alliance Announcement, the pinboard holds up to ten lasting notes — agreements, rules, target lists: everything that would otherwise scroll out of sight in the chat after a few days. Every note has a title and a body; simple emphasis and links are allowed inside.

Every member may read it. Pinning, editing, reordering and removing notes belongs to whoever holds the "Write MOTD" permission — the same right that sets the Alliance Announcement, not an extra one. When the pinboard is full, an old note has to give way before a new one fits.

The alliance hall shows a short version with the topmost titles and a link to the full pinboard. So that nobody misses a fresh announcement, every newly pinned note also leaves a system line in the alliance chat; later edits to a note stay silent.

Alliance polls #

The alliance page has a box called "Alliance polls". Any member can start a question with several answers there, and every member votes; you only see how many votes each answer has, never who voted for what. At most two polls are open at the same time. A poll can be closed by whoever started it or by anyone with the "Moderate forum" permission.

The Alliance Alarm Board #

Ten pairs of eyes see more than one — when they look at the same board.

The Alliance Alarm Board gathers every incoming attack and colonization fleet against your members' islands onto one shared board — the soonest arrival first. That way a single person can keep an eye on the situation and assess it, instead of ten members going through the same warnings one by one. You reach the board via the alliance.

The leadership — the admiral and ranks with permission — can mark each incoming fleet with a note: "Suspected fake" for a presumed feint, or "Real attack" for a serious threat. These notes are the leadership's assessment and change nothing about a member's own attack warning — they only help the alliance prioritize together.

The board shows only what is current: incoming attacks, no history and no other fleet movements. When nothing is inbound, it stays empty.

If you would rather not share your incoming attacks with the alliance, you quietly opt out of the board in your settings — by default you share them. You can opt out at any time, and it is visible to no one.

The Treasury #

The alliance treasury is a shared resource pool:

• Deposits can be made by any member
• Withdrawals require the appropriate rank permission, and the ocean keeps a share as tax. Payment goes to the recipient's main island. If only part fits in its warehouse, the undelivered net amount returns to the treasury; the tax on the entire withdrawal stays spent. If nothing fits, the entire withdrawal including tax is refunded.
• Raising the member cap -- Through collective investment, the member limit can be increased beyond the standard cap

The Transaction Log shows recent entries to all members. Older entries are no longer visible there.

For a withdrawal, you first enter the desired amount to receive; the ocean tax is then added on top and paid from the treasury. If you'd rather withdraw by the amount that leaves the treasury, that form is right below. When depositing, you choose which of your islands pays.

If a member brings a treasure home, the treasury also receives resources, and whoever has room in their colony account receives a colonization permit as a gift. Who gets what is in the chapter The Treasure Hunt.

Care Packages #

You pack a care package from the warehouse of one of your islands and send it to a member of your alliance. It travels as a real trade run -- it uses your trade ships and takes time -- and both sides need a harbor. The recipient can see its base contents in transit and in the inbox. Opening adds a small extra. The resources go into the warehouse on their main island; anything that does not fit is forfeited, including base contents. If there is no room for any resource, the package stays unopened. If it stays unopened too long, its base contents return to you; the extra is forfeited. Package size has an upper and lower limit. You will find the packages in the alliance.

Support. After a heavy defeat at sea against an active player you may allow your alliance to learn of it with a single click: the battle report then carries a short question, and only if you say yes does your name appear in the alliance under "Support wanted". Say no, or say nothing, and nobody learns anything; you are asked only once per report, and an entry stays up for 72 hours. Comrades see there where a package can go — a package sent to such an entry is marked as a support package. What is weighed are the ships sunk: a purely land defeat does not trigger support.

Alliance Buff #

Every alliance can activate a buff that grants all members a bonus. There are three categories:

• Beacon -- Reduces travel time for your fleets
• Granary -- Increases resource production
• Watchfire -- Extends watchtower visibility range

The buff strength depends on the collective statue levels across member islands. The higher the statues, the stronger the bonus for everyone. The category can only be changed after a cooldown period.

How to awaken the first blessing: Once five active members of your alliance have each raised a statue (level 1 or higher) on their main island, the first buff level becomes available. For it to work, a rank with the "Manage Buff" permission must choose a category. Slumbering, banned and deletion-pending members and their statues do not count. Important: this means five members each with their own statue -- not five statues on a single island. The buff does not apply instantly but with the next recalculation; usually you will feel it within a day, in large alliances it can take a few days until every island carries the new level. And: an alliance with fewer than five members counted this way stays unblessed -- no matter how high the individual statues reach.

As long as your alliance has enough established members, new members can only raise the statue bonus during their first 30 days in the alliance, never lower it. From which day each new member counts, and how many more statues you still need for the next level, is shown by the alliance page, at the Statue Buff.

Five raised statues are enough for the Ancients to send a first sign; which deeper favor of the star-reader awakens the levels that follow, they do not say. Build, observe, exchange word with other alliances -- and find out for yourselves what else the Watchers of the Ocean reward.

Strategy #

• Join early -- An active alliance accelerates your progress enormously
• Communicate -- Use the chat actively and coordinate attacks
• Feed the treasury -- Shared resources strengthen the whole pact
• Do not forget the statue -- It determines the alliance buff level for everyone

Loyalty Timer and Reinforcements #

Players who join an alliance cannot immediately exchange reinforcements with the new members -- a loyalty timer applies (default: 24h). When a player leaves or is kicked, their stationed reinforcements are automatically recalled. Details on the Dispatch mission: chapter "Fleet Dispatch".

The timer applies on every way of joining, directly or by application. Accounts in their first 14 days are exempt: new captains can help their crew right away.