Since no one in the world of PHI does not declare wars publicly, nor discuss their alliance anymore, I have taken the liberty to judge the top ranked alliances based solely on statistics and wild assumptions. I will say to start out, there seems to be a good chance that there are not any wars going on outside individual wars on ghosts/inactives.
Any disagreements are welcome and encouraged, as our world forum is absolutely anemic.
1). -Project Core-
I have a biased opinion so I won't say much. Essentially, some of the best players banded together to take control of the four core oceans. The combined ABP (as everyone knows, the only score that matters much at all) of active Core players is 2,556,576. Quite overwhelming on paper, and have run into very little problematic hostilities up to this point. I don't see this alliance going anywhere anytime soon.
2). Armageddon
Much less than stellar APB rankings for a top 5 alliance, weighing in well under 1.5 million, made up largely of former members of the Patria conglomerates, Sanity, Sense and Sensibility. Have seemingly already crafted an academy (who at one time was atop the world as well, before the name change), immediately went to war with Patria Corp. and have been brutalizing them.
Adding to Armageddon's mix of good city counts, area control and success so far are some very good and experienced players in this alliance. However, rumors of less than honorable tactics, hostile internal conquests, and general membership discontent are already running rampant. Time will tell if this newly formed alliance has the leadership to keep this ship afloat while having to contend with most of the world's largest and most of experienced players in the same area.
Patria Corp.
After receiving an unwanted facelift that by and large changed the world of PHI, this one time giant has come under fire from numerous long time enemies, smaller alliances, as well as former members. Their previous Borg mentality (assimilate or die) philosophy has seeming come back to bite them hard, and are on the ropes as a whole. Patria Corp. still has some excellent members, and still carry nearly 2 million ABP, but their past leadership and miserable diplomatic relations have left this alliance flying a new banner:
Ex-leadership vacating looks to have exasperated Patria's remaining members who are now hemorrhaging cities to a large number of sharks in the ocean 45/55 tank:
The biggest question to answer regarding this alliance's future is how will the remaining members decide to carry on from here. It is my estimation that the Patria name is now finished as a world power and the only question is if the members decide to disband the name and attempt to start anew, or try to keep the name alive and go down with a ship that is rapidly sinking.
4). Vanguard of Justice
Miserable allliance ABP, that are around 25% of that of the world's leaders. Initial glances indicate a very strong alliance that are in control of a solid area right outside the core oceans, who completely dismantled rival alliance Order of the Temple. However looking at the fight OOT put up, as well as seeing how Vanguard is taking cities and taking into consideration their complete lack of ABP, it would appear they are at the moment the overlords of sim builiding and inactive conquests:
Either Order of the Temple put up absolutely ZERO fight, or the Vanguards are the best city defenders in the history of Grepolis... I will have to assume the former:
Overall assessment: Vanguard of Judgement is an almost entirely untested and unchallenged alliance and the inexperience of attacking/defending will destroy them if and when they find themselves in any sort of territory war. They currently control Ocean 33 in it's entirety, but they are still a rim alliance and are about out of growth room. They only have two directions to expand; in the south awaits -Project Core-/GODZz, and to the East lies the consolidated Order of the Temple and more importantly Varvaroi (in my opinion the most underrated alliance in the world and easily within the top 4).
The only options for them at this point is to be content on the rim, or attempt to push into western territory and prove me wrong.
5). The Others.
I have little knowledge of this alliance on a personal level, so I don't have much to say about them (and what I do say may very well be inaccurate)
Comprised of a group of members from smaller area alliances along with the remnants of Area 51, who like Patria Corp. suffered and unwelcome reorganization, look to be another alliance primarily focusing on clearing ghost cities and conquering cities internally:
Stellar ABP considering their size and starting locations at over 1.5 million and they have nearly complete control of ocean 65. Things look to be heating up to their south with K.G.B. (allies, willing city transfer perhaps), but they have ample room to expand north into ocean 64 which is inhabited my numerous smaller alliances which should provide little resistance.
However, they have Arzawa directly to their east and although they appear content to spread throughout the rim, The Others could very easily find themselves fighting on all four fronts very easily.
They have some heavy hitters within their ranks, to be sure, but their overall city size may play a factor if tensions along the Eastern/Southeastern rim heat up. Even still, looking at the stats, I believe they could hold their own against any such scenario.
My assessment is that of a powerful alliance who likely has a lot of loyalty to their fellow members and will be around for quite some time to come, provided they can find a way to fend off K.G.B.
6). Varvaroi.
As mentioned before, a very underrated alliance. This alliance has quietly yet surgically racked up an impressive ABP and took complete control of their area while not being satisfied to settle for inactives:
This alliance wages wars successfully, displays excellent diplomacy and leadership and controls two oceans north of the core and has room to expand almost anywhere.
Great looking alliance, would be shocked if these guys don't continue to control the area north of the core for a long time to come.
7). Arzawa.
I know nothing of this alliance, nor it's players outside they seem to be intending on spreading around the rim and the name is a pain in the neck to spell.
They seem to have done a number on the smurfs, but look to have been met with little or no resistance. Little or no ABP to speak of and a very small collective city count spread over three oceans, making their internal supply line difficult at best. My assumption is they only make the top 10 list due to the fact they control area nobody else wants.
8). -X-
Right now, just a typical rim alliance. Look to have some excellent players in their ranks, some with a fantastic ABP count, but again, too early to tell if they are as good as the stats suggest.
Mostly busy with internal conquests, but have so far taken more cities from Armageddon and Armageddon II than they have lost, which is fairly impressive in and of itself.
Overall assessment: It would not surprise me to see this alliance stick around among the top alliances, but there is really no way to know if they are deserving of their ranking until they make a serious push closer to the core.
9). K.G.B
Ex Area 51 players. Seem to have had a falling out with old alliance mates who are now in The Others, trading cities here and there. Overall, it looks to be a fairly volatile atmosphere in the eastern oceans, as many of the players who inhabit the area have been playing musical alliances since the world's start.
Have been keeping busy cleaning ghosts (very effectively I might add) as well as having to deal with some internal conquests. As previously mentioned, seem to have shifted focus to The Others more recently, although as far as I know, they could be allies, trading cities willingly.
This alliance has some of the world's top ranked players, fantastic ABP, as well as a very concentrated area of influence, with growth opportunity nearly anywhere they want to go.
Generally speaking, when a few very good players band together to form alliances 15-30% of the alliance cap, they are very loyal, well organized and dangerous, and I suspect that is the case with K.G.B.
Assessment: Numbers usually don't lie (provided the right numbers are looked at). K.G.B. has everything on paper to make a very successful run, and I would be very interested to get some details and facts on their relationship with The Others.
10). Ira Deorum
Nothing to impress me. Looks to be a basic rim alliance. Anemic ABP, little resistance, too few cities spread way to far apart to support each other adequately.
Plenty of expansion room, but impossible to assess until a push to the core is attempted.
As little inside knowledge I have of 6 or 7 of these alliances, I have even less of the 11-15 rankings, so I am not even going to bother showing my ignorance and stopping at the top ten.
ro: