lol someone de-repped me for this idea....and of course didn't sign it.
There were a few questions raised, so I will pose potential solutions or responses to them, but again, I just start the idea, the community builds it so I expect that my answers won't always be the only answers, just one potential one.
Q1. If the alliance you join is dependant on the direction you start in... Then who is the leader of said alliance? You will need a leader to organize things. A random leader would be disasterous and an elected one will mean more work...
A1. It would not be any more work then it is to start on a server without being part of a pre-made, we do it all the time, A leader will rise - possibly several, and there may be infighting before one gets selected, or the 'point' may determine very early that it's in their best interest to work as one as fast as possible, the strategy will be up to the collective group. Whether your 'point' determines your alliance, or just your color is debatable, my initial reaction would be just your color. There would be no restriction on conquering a player of your wown color, however if their were server milestones added, it's likely the team tha twent after oppoosing colors first would get some of the new milestones added specifically for a server of this type)
Q2. If alliances are fixed then you won't be able to kick players or inactives... If someone joins this world and all his friends are in one direction and hes in another, then its possible that he will try and help his friends more then his alliance. In other words, how do you stop spies?
A2. Good question. You have a color, it determines your team, but not your alliane, there are no shared forums, so you would only be in a forum wiht your alliance, a spy would be no more of apain then he is currently, since its possible to have an alliance cap of 1000 you could have all the team colors in one alliance, or the 20 or so people you trust working towards a common goal as the rest of your team color.
Q3. Leaders will also be unable to stop selfish players, or even to stop people from taking over alliance members... But you can't give leaders the power to kick
A3. Leaders would stop selfish players the same way they do now, rim them. (which = removal from the server or reset to a different point to replenish players lost due to various other reasons if they shose ot restart, (up for debate and fine tuning obviously) And yes, leaders can of course be given the ability to kick a player they don't want in their alliance, just not from their color.
Q4. And of course... during the first few months a lot of people will drop out, and the alliances will have no way to replenish those losses, a lot of people will be unhappy with how things are progressing, but are helpless to change their situation. So they quit.
A4. Replenish losses? do you have any way to replenish losses now? People could continue to join the server, as I said there is a pop limit of 6k, so if some leave, otheres can join. Just randomly. The key point to all this though ,is that by the time people would be unhappy with how things are going, or unable to compete, they are either thinking of teaming up with another color to dominate the number one position (albeit with limited ability to communicate as there would be no merges and no shared forums - similar to how two countries had to work together before communication advancements) or (and more importantly) the end game of the server is about to be reached.
Q5. What happens if you are right at the outside point of the star?
This would mean you cant go for a direct route to the core oceans.
This would not be the case if there were 150 cities per unit/direction .
A5. It is a very small world, and if you happened to be on the outside of the point, my initial reaction would be that it is only 48 hours to a point in the core by CS, so there is no problem, or perhaps the 48 hour limit is raised to 60? Either way that problem seems minor and easily remedied with some testing.
Q6. white and black have a disadvantage over the other colours who already have footholds in the core oceans and can take that one. Black and white don't have this foothold in the core ocean and have to take two core oceans at a time instead of one...
A7. Are you certain this is a disadvantage? Is your entire team of 1000 potential alliance mates all going to go for the same core ocean at the same time? or could you have 2 squads? Is having one core in front of you better than having 2 and dominating the border? I don;t think you know the answer to that as I can see different advantages for both, and a variable style of play depending on the starting position.
Just my thoughts on the questions raised, others may have differnt ones, and as I said, thats ok, the main goal is simple, a small map with an end game and a clear 'winner' be it your alliance, or your color/team
i never got to participate in the first one.