Overview
This is a proposal for a new system that would allow clans to forge alliances with each other. The following is a short overview of the features this system would have, the details are discussed in their own sections further below:
- Invite Based: Similar to the invitation to join a clan, the leaders of the clan would have to physically get together and perform a “handshake” by which one clan invites the other into an alliance and the other accepts.
- Pairwise: An alliance is a relationship between two clans only. You cannot form an alliance of three or more clans. That doesn’t mean you can’t have multiple alliances, just that every alliance involves only two clans.
- Capped: You can have a maximum of N allied clans, where N would have to be determined by the devs.
- Non-Transitive: If clans A and B are allied, and clans B and C are allied, that does not make clans A and C allies.
- Differing Degrees: Not all alliances are the same. One pair of clans might want to give each other more permissions and access than another clan. However, these permissions are always symmetrical; if clan A has certain permissions for clan B, then clan B also has those permissions for clan A.
- Hard to Upgrade, Easy to Downgrade: Downgrading the degree of alliance or breaking an alliance should be unilateral. Upgrading the degree should be approved by both clans.
As with every other system, server admins should be able to configure aspects of this system or opt out of it completely.
Forging an Alliance
Forging an alliance is similar to inviting someone into your clan. Your clan leader has to meet the other clan leader, open the radial menu and select an option “Forge Alliance”. The other clan leader then gets a pop-up invitation to accept or decline the alliance. Upon accepting, your two clans become allies of the lowest degree. The degree can then be adjusted as desired.
Degrees of Alliance
There are 3 degrees of alliance. From most restrictive to most permissive, they are:
- Friendship: The clans that agree to friendship are basically declaring a pact of non-aggression. This means that their followers won’t be aggressive to each other and that any PVP damage will be handled as friendly fire. Players from either clan can see their allies on the map, just like they can see their clanmates.
- Open Borders: When two clans agree to open their borders, they are granting each other permission to open doors and gates, to place followers and set them to guard their position, to place bedrolls inside each other’s territory, and to operate each other’s trebuchets and siege cauldrons. Additionally, when one of the clans is getting purged, the other clan will receive a notification and be able to see the purge location on the map.
- Blood Brotherhood: If two clans agree to blood brotherhood, they are granting each other access to their storage containers, such as chests, crates and cupboards. This permission is granted only to those clan members who have been promoted from recruits in their respective clans. In other words, recruits cannot access allied containers. The permission is not granted for vaults. Only a clan member (with high enough rank) can access a clan’s vault – allies can’t.
The following will remain forbidden, regardless of the degree of alliance:
- building inside another clan’s claim
- placing anything inside another clan’s claim, other than a bedroll
- picking up a placeable, including bedrolls
- demolishing buildings or placeables
- accessing the inventory of another clan’s follower
- accessing the inventory or operating another clan’s crafting stations
- breaking the bonds of another clan’s follower
The alliances will have no effect on the follower cap or purge meter.
Adjusting the Degree
Only the clan leaders can adjust the degree of an alliance. To upgrade the degree of alliance to a higher level, the clan leaders must meet in person and select the appropriate option from the radial menu. To downgrade the degree or break an alliance, the leader of either clan can select an option from the “Clan” tab in the UI. Upon selecting the option, the clan leader is presented with a pop-up asking them to confirm their choice.
When an alliance is forged, broken or adjusted, all online clan members will receive a notification on their HUD.
Motivation
Why would players want this change?
On PVP servers, it would lead to interesting shifts in power dynamics. Smaller or less powerful clans might forge alliances to defend or even overthrow more powerful clans. Clans whose members have less time to play can forge alliances to help each other overcome difficulties arising from lack of time to play. A new social aspect to the game would emerge, involving diplomacy and intrigue, as opposed to pure raw power.
On PVE and PVE-C servers, the rationale boils down to strengthening the community. There are many diverse facets of community interactions that would be aided by different degrees of alliances.
Feasibility
I am aware that Alliance System has been proposed several times in the past, by different people with different ideas. I am also aware that this is a lot of work. My hope is that if we propose it enough times, Funcom might take interest and decide to implement something. I have tried to structure this proposal in a way that would offer the devs some clear ideas that they can cherry pick if they ever decide to implement any form of Alliance System. I have also tried to structure the proposal in such a way that it can be implemented partially or gradually.
All feedback and constructive criticism is more than welcome. I hope we can start a discussion and make this even better and, who knows, maybe the devs (and more importantly, the producers) will like it.
I’m pretty sure the suggestions forum is there for people to post their suggestions, other people to offer feedback and/or support, and Funcom to look at it and decide if there’s anything interesting there they would be willing to implement.
The fact that I suck at fighting and like pretty bases may also be a small factor 
