I have put together this Alliance Overview for my random galaxy.
Despite what many think there are still noobies in PA and also people returning. I have created this to give them some relatively impartial advice on the coming round based on my study of AD.
I know there are mistakes particularly on some of the details as I am not an expert.
However, I hope that this can be viewed as generally correct information which can give either a noobie or someone returning after 2 or 3 rounds away from PA a good grounding in the basic alliance positions.
I will break the post up into sections to try and make it more readable. It is a bit long!
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A brief history
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R7
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Started out as a big match up between FLVTT (+ Others) vs NEWX (+ Others)
FFLVTT = Fury, FAnG, Legion, Virus, ToT & Titans
NEWX = NoS, Elysium, Wolfpack & Xanadu
In an extremely one-sided war FLVTT and friends crushed NEWX reasonably quickly. There then followed a period of stagnation although the end of the round became a bit more interesting as FLVTT started to break up and fight itself.
Fury/Legion were generally acknowledged as winners of the round. With Kileman of Fury the winning planet!
At the end of the round two of the traditional powerhouses of PA Legion (VTS) and Xanadu disbanded!
R8
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FAnG / Adelante / ToT joined together (with Fury later) in a war against the other main grouping which was Titans and LDK (who also brought Virus brought on board later).
It was a long war but by the end the Titans/LDK/Virus grouping had the vast majority of top players (like 80 out of the Top 100 when the round ended)
During the course of the war Adelante became so heavily targetted that it fell to bits and the remnants fell into Fury.
FaNG was then also heavily smashed and also fell into chaos with half the HC trying to disband the alliance. Many players from FAnG also went into Fury at that time (altho some members remained together to keep what was left of FAnG alive).
Towards the end of the war WP (Wolfpack) and Ely (Elysium), two of the older more respectable alliances in the game, who had stayed out of the war to some extent, started to side with Fury against Titans/LDK/Virus - but this was too late and had little impact.
Titans/LDK were generally acknowledged as the round winners and LDK's Servus had the largest planet
At the end of the round Titans, LDK and Fury disbanded - which has left no clear claimant to the 'elite' throne in R9
Alliance explanation
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For those who have missed a few rounds:
Titans were a splinter from R5 Legion - Quite small - very elite and well led. Disbanded end R8
LDK were an extremely powerful Lithuanian attack group that had been part of Xanadu (who disbanded R7) - Considered by many on both sides to be the best attacking force in PA (EVER) they fought R8 as an independent alliance. Disbanded R8
Adelante was a split off from Elysium who also claimed many of the former Legion players when Legion disbanded at the end of R7 + some other Battle Groups. They fell to pieces in R8 with most going into Fury and DTA battle group to Titans.
I wont explain Fury, Legion, Virus, Elysium, Wolfpack's, NoS history as they have gone back so many rounds that most people know them.
R9 - My take
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From what I can gather there are three main blocks - altho imho only two really have a chance to win the game - the third may just be a 'kingmaker'
The blocks are as follows (this may change)
VVOMM
SWEET
NaR
VVOMM
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VOMM consists of the following allies atm:
Vision - TBH I don't know much about these guys - think they are middling in skill and numbers.
Virus - historic alliance going back mant rounds. Generally on the winning side but people do question how elite and well led they are!
Olympians - Olympians have been formed from former members of Titans and therefore have some of the leetest players in the game. They also took in many members from the former LDK and members of the Plush battle group. Arguably the best alliance in the game on paper but untried as a new alliance and a well known but untested leadership!
Madcows - A former battle group which has become an alliance. Some very good players also. Not sure how well led and 'tested' they are tho they have also taken in some former LDK members/HC and may therefore pack some punch.
Ministry - Another former battle group of one of the leet alliances (cant remember which one...think it was Xanadu - please feel free to correct me). Again meant to be very good but still have to be tested fighting as an alliance rather than a battle group.
The VVOMM group have allowed 0 people from outside VVOMM into their galaxies. So all their galaxies will be 100% VVOMM members (apart from a few peeps with no allies).
They claim this means they will not be caught up with constant NAPS and deals to win the game. In effect every galaxy that is not a VVOMM private galaxy could be a target to them (even galaxies with 1 or 2 VVOMM member will not get gal protections).
They have a good chance of winning the game - but they will be targets for every alliance/galaxy not in VVOMM and is not the largest (number wise) of the blocks!
Their main opposition will be:
SWEET
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Their main opposition will be the SWEET alliance.
SWEET consists of:
Sapienta - New alliance. Could be good. TBH know very little about them or their capabilities...Not even sure they are still going our are part of the block
But SWEET sure sounds better that WEET!
Wolfpack - One of the longststanding alliances in the game. Always a solid rock but the quality may not be that high. Have apparently been recruiting heavily b4 this round which means they may have numbers but quality cud be suspect. Either way they have some experienced HC and always fight to the end.
Elysium - Exactly the same as WP - Longstanding alliance...Slighty smaller...May have better HC and members but the difference is fractional. (Wolfpack/Elysium have been allies for the last three round - some suggest that they may as well merge )
Eclipse - These may well be the main opposition to Olympians for the title of best individual alliance in the game. It has been formed from mainly former Fury members after Fury disbanded. It has some excellent ex-Fury HC as its HC and it also took in some of the best former players of Adelante and FaNG. Anyone who was scared of Fury shud be scared of Eclipse. Like Olympians they are new tho...so we will only tell how good they are at the end of the round.
ToT - German speaking alliance. Good players but fairly small. Have had a knack of being on winning side (until last round)
The SWEET priv galaxies have been open to all allied and neutral alliances. So they may well have quite a few members from the third block in their gals. People believe this will make the third block (NaR) more ready to side with SWEET against VVOMM.
NaR
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NaR is the third block. It consists of:
NoS - another longstanding alliance similar to Ely and WP and like them they have never truly been given elite status altho they can undoubtedely have an impact in a war. They have fought independently in R8 and no one can truly say how well they did!
AULD - is a group of smaller alliances that work together. I am not sure of its current membership but I think it includes Hirr, Rock, Newdawn and Entity + others (Please don't quote me on this as I am not 100%)
RaH - is a small ally with some very elite players and a few good HC. I am not sure what impact they have on the wider scene as they are so small and I believe there have been internal problems!
Most people believe that altho NaR doesn't have the quality to win the round alone it could act as a 'Kingmaker' by siding with one of the other more powerful blocks. NaR board posters and even SWEET deny they have any arrangement together and this is probably true...however as NaR members will be in SWEET galaxies targetted buy VVOMM it is more likely that NaR will end up fighting on SWEET's side.
Other playas?
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The only other grouping worth mentioning is Zenith/FaNG.
FaNg were considered elite at one stage but many of their best members left when they collapsed under Titan/LDK pressure last round.
I am not sure how they have recovered.
Zenith is a new ally (I think) under the leadership of a guy called Aneu. I am not sure how good they are but if his posts on AD are anything to go by I wudn't put too much faith in them.
A potential outcome
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Please bear in mind that this is pure speculation as you can never really predict who will win around until it has started and this round is particularly difficult because of the demise the 'leet' alliances and the creation of Eclipse and Olympians who are both potential superpowers in the vein of Fury and Legion but who have not been tested in battle.
Despite this I will put my neck on the line and state that I believe the SWEET block will win the round.
I have two many reasons for thinking this:
1) SWEET will have the support from the bulk of the unallied alliances and galaxies whether officially or not. VVOMM's policy of creating pure VVOMM gals means that their gals will be limited in number and identified quickly.
Every non-VVOMM gal will be a target for VVOMM and every non-VVOMM gal will know that they can attack VVOMM gals without the chance of hitting any of their allies and friends. With SWEET targetting VVOMM gals from day one all the random and non-aligned gals may jump on the bandwagon.
2) Eclipse, which I believe is at the core of SWEET is made up of a very strong, very elite, group of players who are out for revenge.
Many of the best players of Eclipse came from Fury/Adelante/FAnG and they had their noses pushed in the **** last round by Titans/LDK who are now Olympians.
If there is one thing I know is that they will be out for revenge and old Fury never lost two rounds in a row (I don't think)
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Anyway - I know this is probably full of mistakes but I think it could be useful for some people wanting a reasonably objective understanding of the relative position going into R9. So if you have some noobs in ur gal and they need a crash course in alliance politics then give 'em this link.
I am sure this will be flamed like mad...but honestly I am just trying to be helpful
Hehe and it might liven AD up a bit too...
we can still be found at #ipc-alliance and 
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