Alliances

Alliances are pacts between Governors for mutual protection, resource sharing, and coordinated campaigns. Choosing an alliance is among the most consequential decisions in the archipelago.

Fleet & Garrison

How to dispatch troops and reinforce allied settlements.

Combat

Coordinated assaults and defensive strategy.

Why Form an Alliance?

• Protection — Allied Governors can garrison troops on each other's islands, dramatically strengthening defence.
• Resource sharing — Dispatch resources to allies using fleet convoys.
• Coordinated assaults — Time attacks from multiple Governors to overwhelm a defender's fortifications.
• Intelligence — Share reconnaissance reports and incoming threat warnings across the alliance.
• Deterrence — Rival Governors are less likely to attack members of a large, active alliance.

Founding an Alliance

Any Governor who does not already belong to an alliance may found one. Founding requires choosing a name for the alliance, a shorttag that appears beside each member's name on the chart, and an optional description visible to those browsing the roster.

The founder assumes the role of Leader with full authority over alliance affairs. An alliance chat is established automatically for all members.

Alliance Ranks

Each member holds one of three ranks. Higher ranks may manage those below them:

• Leader — Full authority over the alliance: invite Governors, remove any member, promote or demote, transfer leadership, edit alliance details, and review petitions.
• Officer — Invite Governors, remove regular members, accept or decline petitions, and edit alliance details.
• Member — Access the alliance chat, view the roster, send and receive garrison support, and view alliance standing.

Promotion & Demotion

Only the Leader may alter member ranks:

• Member → Officer — Grants management authority.
• Officer → Member — Revokes management authority.
• Transfer Leadership — Promoting a member to Leader automatically demotes the current Leader to Officer. There is always exactly one Leader.

Envoy Vale notes

Transferring leadership cannot be reversed alone. The new Leader would need to restore the former. Choose with care.

Joining an Alliance

There are two paths to membership:

1. Invitation

An alliance Leader or Officer may extend an invitation. Pending invitations appear in the Alliance ledger. Each may be accepted or declined.

• Alliances are limited to 5 invitations per day.
• Only one pending invitation per Governor per alliance at a time.
• A Governor already belonging to an alliance must depart before accepting a new invitation.

2. Petition

Governors may browse the alliance roster and submit a petition to any alliance. A short message (up to 200 characters) may accompany the request. The alliance leadership will review and accept or decline the petition.

• Only one pending petition per Governor per alliance at a time.
• Petitions cannot be submitted while already belonging to an alliance.

Member Management

Removing Members

Leaders and Officers may remove members from the alliance:

• Officers may remove regular Members.
• Leaders may remove both Officers and Members.
• The Leader cannot be removed — leadership must be transferred first.

Removed members lose access to the alliance chat and are struck from the roster immediately. An activity notice is posted to the chat.

Member Limit

Each alliance may hold a maximum of 20 members. When the alliance is at capacity, new invitations and petitions cannot be accepted until a seat opens.

Alliance Correspondence

Every alliance maintains a shared chat, established when the alliance is founded. All members are added upon joining, and activity notices — arrivals, departures, removals — are posted automatically.

Joining an alliance also grants mutual discovery: every existing member appears in the new Governor's contacts, and the new arrival appears in theirs. This keeps the contact ledger orderly when a banner grows quickly.

Envoy Vale notes

Alliances reveal contacts both ways. A Governor who joins will be known to every existing member at once.

Alliance Standing

Alliances are ranked by their total score, the sum of all members' individual scores. The alliance's rank and combined score are displayed on the alliance ledger.

A Governor's score reflects total investment in structures, units, and research, plus achievement honours. A strong alliance recruits active Governors who build, research, and train — every contribution raises the alliance's standing.

Departing an Alliance

A Governor may leave an alliance at any time from the Alliance ledger. Consequences of departure:

• Access to the alliance chat is revoked.
• An activity notice is posted informing remaining members.
• Membership and rank are removed immediately.

Marshal Voss notes

Departing an alliance does not recall existing garrisons. Manage stationed forces from the Fleet ledger before leaving.

Alliance Strategy

Garrison Defence

One of the most powerful alliance capabilities is garrisoning. Alliance members can dispatch troops to defend each other's islands. These forces fight alongside the island's own garrison during attacks.

Marshal Voss notes

Station garrisons on frontier islands facing hostile waters. A well-fortified position can deter attack entirely.

Coordinated Assaults

The most effective campaigns are coordinated between multiple alliance members. Timing attacks to arrive simultaneously overwhelms the defender. Key doctrine includes:

• Timed strikes — Calculate voyage times so multiple fleets make landfall together.
• Feint attacks — Send small probing forces to drain defender resources and reveal strength.
• Follow-up waves — Send catapults behind the main force to destroy structures once defences are broken.

Territory Control

Strong alliances control regions of the chart. By colonising islands in proximity, alliance members create a defensive cluster that is costly for rivals to penetrate. Use espionage to monitor the borders and fleet convoys to keep frontier islands well-supplied.

Resource Coordination

Alliance members can move resources to one another by convoy through the Fleet ledger. Coordinated economies offer significant advantage:

• Supply new members — Help new recruits establish foundations faster by dispatching surplus resources.
• Fund campaigns — Pool resources on frontier islands that are mustering troops for an offensive.
• Specialise islands — Some islands focus on lumber, others on gold. Trade within the alliance to balance the economy.