Alliances

Introduction
An alliance is a group of players which are allied to each other. Players in an alliance are able to donate minerals to the alliance, purchase items and ships from the alliance workshop with alliance credits, help speed up the processes of other players (0.5% or 15 seconds of the process, depending on which one is larger), participate in legions and defend each other's stations with fleets. Fleets which are owned by members of the same alliance will also defend each other when attacked if they are close enough. They will also defend each other if the fleets are garrisoned in an alliance building and the friendly fleet is attacked nearby. There are 4 ranks in an alliance; Rank 1 (Recruit/Member), Rank 2 (Sergeant), Rank 3 (General), and Rank 4 ( Leader). There is only one leader per Alliance.

Alliance Credits
Alliance credits are can be procured by multiple means. Methods include attacking pirates (3 pirate fleet power destroyed = 1 alliance credit), attacking players in alliance war, donating resources (100 minerals = 1 alliance credit), helping the processes of other players, participating in legions.

Alliance credits are earned at 100% efficiency for the first 50000 alliance credits and at 15% efficiency until you reach 200000 alliance credits (50001-200000). The efficiency then goes down to 1% until the end of the day, where it is reset. These alliance credits can be spent by all alliance members in the alliance workshop, with different items costing different amounts of alliance credits. Sometimes there are special items which can only be purchased in the alliance workshop (e.g. Scan chances) which cannot be purchased with GEC. The items available for purchase in the alliance workshop randomly (the alliance level determines what kind of items can be produced) after a period of time used to produce it and consume minerals (donated from alliance members/from completed legions). Alliance experience is gained in a similar way to alliance credits but alliance experience cannot be spent and is used automatically to increase the total experience of the alliance in order to get it to level up.

How to earn Alliance Credits How to earn Alliance EXP

Alliance Ships
Alliance members can also purchase Alliance ships in the Alliance Workshop. These alliance ships are produced automatically, consuming alliance minerals. The rate at which they build, and the different varieties of ships which are built, increases as your alliance levels up. These ships have inferior weapons compared to normal ships and have less health than their upgraded version (e.g. Eagle II has less health than a Falcon frigate) but have vastly improved shields, having more than double the amount which can be possibly gained on the ship in question. Frigates will stop being produced automatically when there are 3000 in the workshop and destroyers will stop being produced automatically when there are 1000 in the workshop. You cannot force the game to produce more if you have more than the limit. Other ships have no limit. For more details on Alliance ships, go to Items -> Fragments -> Blueprints (bottom right) -> Scroll down.

Alliance Structures
An alliance can also control territory in the galaxy by exerting influence over systems by building alliance outposts or an alliance headquarters in their own territory or in uncontested territory but not in another alliance's territory. Alliances can also construct defensive buildings in their own territory. Alliance structures are started by a Rank 3 or Rank 4 player starting the construction with a drone workship (consuming alliance minerals), and all other players can contribute one workship to speed up the construction of the structure. Incomplete structures cannot be attacked by fleets although the workships participating in the construction can be attacked. Incomplete outposts or headquarters will be destroyed if another alliance claims the system in which it is present in. If multiple alliances are exerting influence over a system the alliance which exerts the most influence over the system will control it. Systems which are controlled by an alliance can only be warped into by a member of that alliance or a player who is not in any alliance. Controlling a system also provides additional benefits depending on what celestial body is in the middle of the system. Some systems provide a bonus to energy generation, some provide a bonus to mineral production... etc. Some even give alliance members GEC every day!

Different alliance structures have different effects. An alliance headquarters is the first building which can be constructed and allows an alliance to control territory. It has a very high HP and shields and is also equipped with weapons (which are not very strong), They act as a very strong meat shield when attacked if fleets are garrisoned inside as the HQ will take all the damage (for a significant period of time) and allow garrisoned fleets to fire back without taking damage. They also provide a reduction in jump cooldowns nearby. Outposts are identical to alliance headquarters except for the fact that they are smaller, weaker and can only be built when the alliance has an alliance headquarters and is sufficiently high leveled. There are 4 types of alliance defense: Tomahawk (Missile), Gauss (Beam), Phalanx (Kinetic), and Gravity trap. As an alliance increases in levels, more structures can be built and outposts/HQ can be upgraded to higher levels. It is important to note that alliance structures require a Rank 3 or Rank 4 player to start the construction first and that they take time as well as alliance minerals to construct. The time taken to construct the alliance structure can be reduced by having more workships assist in the construction (everyone can contribute a workship) or by using an alliance construction boost.

Alliance Limits Alliance Structure Influences  Data in bold is interpolated 

Influence/Day on a system = (Base Influence/Day)/10^(Distance-2). Influence/Day does not decrease for distances of 2 or less.

^^ Contribution would be greatly appreciated.

Generic Alliance Defensive Structure Info

Alliance War
Alliances can also declare war on each other. After a declaration of war, there is a 12 hour preparation period then a one day war, starting from the period the preparation period ends. During this war, opposing alliance members can scan, attack and destroy the structures of the opposing alliance, which could cause the alliance to lose territory (if an outpost or headquarters is destroyed). Enemy fleets/stations will turn red when in system view and will show on the galaxy map as red fleets/stations when battle view is active. After a war ends, there is a 3 day treaty period where war cannot be declared either alliance on each other, although another alliance can declare war on them. Multiple alliances can also declare war on a single alliance. Attacking players in an alliance war will give the alliance members alliance credits.

During the preparation time before the war starts, fleets (and workships) are not allowed to enter enemy alliance territory and fleets cannot be sent to a position within enemy alliance territory. However, it is possible to send fleets into enemy territory by sending the fleet to a location which causes it to travel through enemy territory due to the pathfinding algorithm. When this happens, the fleet does not reach its destination but instead is sent back to the player's station as soon as it enters enemy territory, no matter where the player's station is and if it has relocated after the fleet was sent out.

* Only tested when opposing player is in an alliance which the player's current alliance is at war with