[hAl]

In round 9 you could probably describe most alliances not allied or napped to either VOM, SWEET or NAR as being neutral.

This does not nescisarily mean thay are completly neutral as described in earlier posts but it means they have not yet decided (or at least not told anyone) who are their allies or hostiles for next round. Most of these alliances would probably prefer to stay neutral in that way for the entire round as they generally have no reason to join either of the parties who are already shaping up fora war. But often it will be inevitable to join a side in a war as not joining leaves your gals open for targetting by both sides.

When forced to pick a side to join choosing for the winning side is easy and can keep your alliance in decent shape, where chosing the losing side to counter stagnation is the more noble option mayby.

But either way I think most alliance you can currently call 'neutral' are not inclined to join any powerblock unless there is a real need to do so. They like playing as an alliance with pride of their own and not as flak for some allianceblock even though that is easier. That PA alliance politics and game mechanics often make is nescesary to join a block does not make such a move any fun.

hAl