Playing as part of an AI alliance is incredibly messed up.  And the more in your alliance the more messed up it is.  Why?  Because they go back and forth almost every other turn declaring war on empires and turning around and declaring truce on them.  Granted if I have enough influence I can do the same thing.  But multiply that by however may in the alliance (up to 5 in my last game), and think of the insanity.  Whatever AI feels the urge to do war or truce, he does it and nobody can stop him, even the player.  So what happens to my game?  I can't plan anything.  I start heading toward a system to attack and somebody declares truce, then declares war on another, etc....  The design is completely broken and unplayable.

I love so many aspects of this game but this has got to be fixed.

Alliances with AI are a trap.  They're still trying to make you lose, even when allied with you.  They just do it by undermining your war/peace efforts in the way that costs you the most inconvenience.  Make no mistake; the AI is -NEVER- actually your ally.  Allying with an AI just gives it ways to screw you that you can't directly answer.  Don't do it.

Hi,

We are aware of the issue. You should already have the option to opt out of the alliance if you're dragged in a war you don't want, but we're looking into ways to improve the overall experience (sadly voting is not an option due to technical reasons).

jhell wrote:

Hi,

We are aware of the issue. You should already have the option to opt out of the alliance if you're dragged in a war you don't want, but we're looking into ways to improve the overall experience (sadly voting is not an option due to technical reasons).

An opt out of the alliance option would be great.

Personnally I'm fine if it's less manageable to be in alliance with many empires, that's how I would expect things to go in a too large coalition (conflicting interests).

jhell wrote:

Hi,

We are aware of the issue. You should already have the option to opt out of the alliance if you're dragged in a war you don't want, but we're looking into ways to improve the overall experience (sadly voting is not an option due to technical reasons).

I did see the opt out of war option, though I thought it meant I leave alliance.  I will try it next time.  However, the other half of the coin, the more annoying half is when they declare truces.  Can you at least add a similar option for me to stay at war?  Its so annoying to keep moving my fleets across the map every other turn when the AIs keep changing their minds.

Maybe another option is slow down how often they can change their mind about war/truce.

I know a big patch is coming.  WIll anything be improved with it?

Thanks.

It does mean you'll be leaving the alliance. The patch mainly adresses issues related to the latest expansion, if there are any changes to the alliances it will be in a later update.

jhell wrote:

It does mean you'll be leaving the alliance. The patch mainly adresses issues related to the latest expansion, if there are any changes to the alliances it will be in a later update.

That is very dissappointing.  I don't think I can play the game like it is then.  I've played 3 games so far, all three had alliances that I had to join (or lose).  So I can't avoid this behavior...

It would be great if an alliance member talks with you first on major issues like declaring war rather than having the power to do it themselves. If they want to go to war, then a diplomacy message pops up asking you if your alliance wants to war. You can use influence  points as well as how larger your score is compared to them to decline the war. Same goes for human player. Human  asks AI if they want to go to war and AI can decide if they want to or not. Human player can force alliance to go to war with influence points and score difference.

I allied with Empire against the Craver threat. I donated the Craver infested systems I conquered to the Empire and they were happy to accept them. Even though the Empire had a pretty sizeable empire, I felt they were pretty much deadweight in the fight against the Craver menace as I was doing all the work conquering systems by myself. When the Craver empire disintegrated, the Empire then decided in a couple turns to make war on my best trading partner and they were in an alliance too. My profits from trading routes plummeted and I was pissed off that I can’t tell my trading partners that we should get back to trading because the Empire was being dumb and I left the alliance. I just loaded from a previous save and went about exterminating the Craver threat on my own and donating the planets to different AIs.

It  seems it is better to go about your business on your own than be in an alliance, what with the current alliance and diplomacy mechanics is right now.

MiyaNarisse wrote:

It would be great if an alliance member talks with you first on major issues like declaring war rather than having the power to do it themselves. If they want to go to war, then a diplomacy message pops up asking you if your alliance wants to war. You can use influence  points as well as how larger your score is compared to them to decline the war. Same goes for human player. Human  asks AI if they want to go to war and AI can decide if they want to or not. Human player can force alliance to go to war with influence points and score difference.

I allied with Empire against the Craver threat. I donated the Craver infested systems I conquered to the Empire and they were happy to accept them. Even though the Empire had a pretty sizeable empire, I felt they were pretty much deadweight in the fight against the Craver menace as I was doing all the work conquering systems by myself. When the Craver empire disintegrated, the Empire then decided in a couple turns to make war on my best trading partner and they were in an alliance too. My profits from trading routes plummeted and I was pissed off that I can’t tell my trading partners that we should get back to trading because the Empire was being dumb and I left the alliance. I just loaded from a previous save and went about exterminating the Craver threat on my own and donating the planets to different AIs.

It  seems it is better to go about your business on your own than be in an alliance, what with the current alliance and diplomacy mechanics is right now.

The problem with not joining an alliance is that the AI almost always allies up.  And all of the victory conditions apply to the alliance, not the individial members.  So if you don't ally up and they do, chances are you will lose.  Alliances are a core mechanic of the game and sadly quite broken right now.

I was playing Lumeris on Normal difficulty and had no problems being on my own. I am a strong, independent Lumeris lady mmmhmm. lol. But seriously I feel much happier by myself because I like to make peace with everyone to entice them to make trade routes. I don’t like being dragged into stupid wars that I had no say in whatsoever. I already had a powerful military and was able to wipe out the Craver menace all by myself. Eventually I was making over 30k fust per turn and won an economic victory! :D