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 -- Submit an application and wait for approval
• Found your own alliance -- You become the admiral automatically and can invite others. If you leave or disband an alliance yourself, you cannot found a new one for 24 hours.

The crew choice. New captains see the crew choice right at the start. 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.

You can browse all active alliances in the Alliance Directory -- accessible via the "Community" section of the navigation. Each alliance shows its member count and a brief profile, so you can find a group that matches your playstyle before you apply.

Each alliance can declare a preferred language -- German, English, or the globe symbol for general (open to all languages). When creating or editing an alliance you choose one of these three options. 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 message of the day (MOTD) and can participate in collective projects like the treasury.

Among yourselves you are safe: members of the same alliance can neither attack nor colonize one another -- the same protection a treaty grants towards an allied alliance. Only rudderless and abandoned islands stay free -- they are open to the whole world, your own alliance included. Scouting, trade and dispatching reinforcements between members remain fully possible. Fleets already sent are no longer stopped by the rule, and whoever truly means to turn on a member must first leave the alliance or be thrown out of it. With a confirmed alliance treaty, you can also send each other reinforcements -- no earlier than 24 hours after the treaty is concluded (see chapter "Dispatch").

Sleeping comrades. There is one exception: whoever has taken no action for longer than a week and no longer stands under newbie protection is as open to their own comrades as to outsiders -- attacks are possible, secondary islands can be taken over. The main island cannot be taken over; it can very well be plundered, though. So that this never happens by accident, the fleet form demands an explicit confirmation before every such departure, naming the comrade, their days without action and the kind of island. Active comrades stay protected, and so does anyone on holiday. And what has been taken stays taken: there is no return -- whoever comes back only learns from their welcome message who took which island.

Ranks and Permissions #

Every alliance has a rank hierarchy with different permissions:

• Admiral -- The founder. Holds all rights and manages ranks.
• Additional ranks -- Diplomats, administrators and members with varying privileges.

Permissions govern who may invite members, who can edit the MOTD, who may access the treasury, and much more. The admiral can rename ranks and adjust their rights.

Whoever may invite members also hears about new applications: when someone applies to the alliance, the admiral and every rank with the invite right get a notice in the Harbour 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 -- neither banned nor 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 he grants the diplomacy permission -- 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 defence 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 a Pact Breaks #

An alliance or a non-aggression pact can be dissolved at any time -- openly, honourably 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. Fleets already dispatched are no longer stopped by it. 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.

Every alliance profile keeps a Diplomacy Chronicle: who was allied with whom, which pacts ended, and how a war began. Whoever breaks a peace of their own accord also wears the Oathbreaker Seal there for a while -- plainly visible to anyone who opens the profile. The seal fades again; the chronicle stays.

A war of retaliation against someone who struck first does not count as a breach -- only the side that broke the peace itself is marked. So if you mean to part ways with a partner, cancel the treaty before you draw your swords.

War, Armistice and War Chronicle #

If your diplomacy page lists ongoing wars, a declaration of war is more than a line in a profile: it draws a War Arc. From the declaration on, the battles between the two alliances are scored and condensed into war points. 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. How exactly it is calculated is explained below under How war points are made.

Only the two alliances involved see the current standing of a running war -- from the outside it cannot be viewed.

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.

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 stays -- the current standing belongs to those who fight, the ending belongs to the world.

How war points are made #

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. Conquered islands count as a battle won, not extra.

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 without interruption and at least 20 battles have been scored in the war as a whole. 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 Message of the Day #

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

• Alliance chat -- Communicate with your comrades. Messages are displayed in real time.
• MOTD (Message of the Day) -- A single announcement line from the leadership, shown at the top of the alliance hall. Can be set and cleared by ranks with the appropriate permission.

The Pinboard #

Unlike the message of the day, which carries a single line, 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 alliance MOTD" permission — the same right that sets the message of the day, 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.

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 are restricted to ranks with withdrawal permission -- and the ocean keeps a share as tax
• Raising the member cap -- Through collective investment, the member limit can be increased beyond the standard cap

All transactions are transparent and visible to all members in the audit log.

Care Packages #

What the detour through the treasury cannot do goes straight from quay to quay: you pack a care package from the warehouse of one of your islands and send it to a member of your alliance. The package travels as a real trade run — it binds your trade ships and takes its time — and both sides need a harbor for it. It waits on the recipient's quay until they open it; only then do they see what is inside, and on opening a little extra is added, so more arrives than you packed. If a package sits unopened for too long, its contents return to you — the extra is forfeited. How much fits into one package is bounded above and below. You will find the packages in the alliance.

Support. After a heavy defeat at sea 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 members of your alliance have each raised a statue (level 1 or higher) on their main island, the first buff level unlocks. 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 stays unblessed -- no matter how high the individual statues reach.

What lies beyond that, no archive has ever recorded. 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 remains a riddle of the sea. Some pacts claim to have fathomed it. 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.