<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=324835.msg15598575#msg15598575">Quote from: Geeklet on 19-09-2020, 04:51:15</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">4 person alliance? That is... concerning.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Honestly, Im a teeny bit worried too. I adore these factional / intrigue games, and I always leap at the chance to play them, but I have noticed a definite pattern to how they always seem to end:<br/><ul class="bbc_list" style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>30-40% of the characters team up early on to form a good-aligned mega alliance.</li><li>Within a few rounds of posting, the hero alliance establishes itself as an unopposed superpower that’s completely free of internal conflict.</li><li>Other than a slightly sour obligation to meta game, theres not much incentive for outsiders to form a rival alliance of equal size.</li><li>The hero alliance eclipses every other aspect of the game. This is only fun for the in-crowd, and player dropouts causes the game to stall. </li></ul>I don’t want anyone to think this is bitterness or anything, because I’m more than willing to admit that Valerians slow progress is the result of poor strategic planning. More importantly, Id also add that I’m<span class="bbc_u">absolutely</span>enjoying the game nonetheless, and there’s still a little buzz of excitement every time I see a new post. I am, however, a bit worried because Ive now seen the exact same super-alliance scenario play out in 4 or 5 other political-faction RP games Ive been in... which is to say, all of them. It’s actually getting a bit eerie at this point, and while I’m probably just being paranoid, I don’t want to see things go down that hauntingly familiar road.<br/><br/>Edit: Again, I really don't want this to come off as aimless bitterness. Here are a few references:<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body"><span class="bbc_u">Game of Thrones: Ascension (freeform):</span> A bunch of super active players (and oddly enough, myself) formed a super alliance that unwittingly turned into a bandwagon. It colonised every story arc, and everybody else left. <br/><span class="bbc_u">Shindo Supremacy: (systems)</span> The game quickly turned into a 4v2v1v1 due to a mega alliance. <br/><span class="bbc_u">Empire of the Indigo Star: (freeform)</span> Most of the factions immediately agreed to coexist in peace. The outsiders got frustrated and left, so it was basically just turned into a co-op adventure against GM events, which petered out quickly.   <br/><span class="bbc_u">The Right to Rule(?) (systems-lite):</span> Not to be confused with the 2020 reboot of the same name; I think the original thread(s) got deleted. A white-hat bandwagon formed, and just lynched any evil or morally characters that disagreed with them. <br/><span class="bbc_u">Others?:</span> I’m pretty sure I’m missing one or two. Again, I love these sorts of games, so I tend to join whenever they appear... but the super-alliance scenario has haunted all of them.<br/></div></div><br/>Edit 2: strange mobile formatting, hopefully corrected now.