10 Reasons Why Noob Alliances Die

There are so many different reasons why new alliances often fail to function properly. But in general the founder underestimates their responsibilities or doesn’t really have a clear purpose for the alliance.

Having run an alliance myself, I can point out common pitfalls and show you how to avoid them.

Pitfall #1 : The leader is too low in the ranks
Let’s face it, if you’re bottom ranked and you start recruiting players that are well above or near your rank, it will be very difficult to maintain authority. Members will be inclined to think – ‘why should I listen to him? I’m higher ranked anyway’.

For this reason it’s important you are at least within the top 1000 ranks, this way you can recruit members well below your rank and maintain your authority. Being higher ranked than your recruits will also make supporting them a lot easier.

Pitfall #2 : The leader has no clear goals
Right from the alliance page you need to make it clear what your purpose is.

If you don’t make it clear, your new recruits will pull in their own directions.

By making your intentions clear you only get applicants who have already read your alliance page and are willing to join by your terms. Instead of wandering away from your objective, they will work to make it a reality.

Pitfall #3 : The leader fails to make good relations with his/her members
If you don’t make any effort to help and talk to recruits they’re very likely to leave.

Setup a forum. Talk to each member separately about their goals and what they should do to next to benefit the alliance as a whole. Further build relations by sending tributes often. Help your members get that next upgrade they wanted. Make sure to build strong bonds by talking about life outside of ogame.

For sure success it’s always a good idea to start your alliance with some real friends.

Pitfall #4 : The leader has no clear recruit selection criteria
Picking the wrong members leads to disaster. Make sure you know what you want from your members before allowing them to join. Here’s how I decide who to accept.

  • I instruct an applicant to join the alliance forum before accepting them
  • I then monitor the applicant for 2 weeks before making a decision
    • I look for applicants who take an active role on the forum
    • I look for applicants who listen to my advice
    • I look for applicants who speak my language
    • I look for applicants who don’t get themselves into stupid fights they cannot win
    • And most importantly everyone in my alliance, including myself, must like the applicant.

Pitfall #5 : The leader accepts too many members
Often, new alliance’s start by recruiting as many people as they can. “The more the merrier!” is their reasoning.

However this will inevitably lead to failure because there is no way one leader can support all the members.

Remember. The key to a successful alliance is having loyal members. To get loyal members, you must personally support each one of them.

To start with, don’t recruit more than 10 members. 10 members is an optimal amount. Enough to make your alliance one to reckon with and not so big that you are unable to manage it.

If later on you want to expand your alliance. Consider appointing your most loyal member as a ’squadron leader’. The ’squadron leader’ could then go out and personally look after another 10 recruits.

Pitfall #6 : The leader formed the alliance to protect him/herself
A lot of founders simply set up alliances to try and protect themselves, if this is your intention then you will never be passionate about helping your members out with their problems. Your alliance is like a plant, you have to constantly water it otherwise it won’t grow. To run an alliance successfully:

  • You’ll have to send plenty of resources to your members
  • You’ll have to support them in their battles
  • And you’ll have to give them tactical advice when they most need it.

If you’re not prepared for any of that….. it’s best you joined someone else’s alliance.

Pitfall #7 : The leader sends the alliance to war too early
Don’t go waging war on other alliances too early. Most of the time you want to avoid war. Wars can be exciting, but most of the time you will lose.

Always favour diplomacy over war, if you get into war now, the development of your members will be put on hold. Instead of doing valuable upgrades your members will build fleets which will simply be destroyed.

  • Only enter war when you know your members can handle it.
  • Only enter war if your alliance is of higher rank than the opposing alliance.
  • Should a more powerful alliance declare war upon you, try diplomacy first. If that doesn’t work, instruct your members to stay on high alert, fleet save 100% of the time and shut down mines when necessary to make attacks as unprofitable as possible.

Pitfall #8 : The leader does not collaborate with members properly and loses their loyalty
Again this is the whole nurturing thing, make sure you set up a forum for your members and make a habit of talking to everyone everyday or two. You can get a free forum at http://invisionfree.com/

Pitfall #9 : The leader does not keep his/her members interested
Yup, it’s boredom, if your members get bored, they’ll leave or just stop playing the game all together. Wars are great for excitement but can often be detrimental. Instead I would recommend the following activities to keep members interested.

  • On your forum set up a separate ‘current progress’ sticky for each member (e.g: mamba’s current progress, spacekid’s current progress) and ask them to write down the defense, fleets and research on all their planets. Review what they’ve written and give them some goals to achieve. For example if you think mamba’s defense is lacking a bit, say why you think so and recommend a course of action. Every week ask your members to update their progress. Constantly give them new goals, this gives them something to do and prevents boredom setting in.
  • Setup up mini raiding parties. Pick the bottom ranked alliance in the game and get your members to prepare for a war. Set out a strategy and get each member to attack. It’ll be like a dummy war, it’ll allow members to learn how to collaborate and it’ll give them some excitement.
    • If you’re uncomfortable attacking low ranked players, always give your victims some resources at the end of the attack to compensate and stop any bad feelings.

Pitfall #10 : Lack of new members joining
After a while, your members might feel that the alliance isn’t progressing enough. Once in a while make sure you recruit someone new. The new recruits will inject fresh enthusiasm and prevent things from stagnating.