The Alliance seems to be an awkward third wheel in the ED that, aside from a single powerplay faction, offers nothing of any particular interest. Given the fact that they supposedly have the largest or most productive shipyard in the Elite universe, I'd think the Alliance would be developing some proprietary ship designs instead of relying on generic corporate entities to supply their military.
Are there any Alliance ships or military ranks on the horizon?
- Thread starter Soothsayer
- Start date
No.
The Alliance is over.
It has submittet to the propper Federal authorities!
The Alliance is over.
It has submittet to the propper Federal authorities!
We keep asking, but the answers are always vague.
There has been some hints that the Alliance will get "some" attention in the Horizons, but what that translates to is up to anyone's guess.
Alliance territory is much bigger than it was 1 year ago at release and it will keep on growing. And that's without taking Mahon's sphere of influence into account, which could translate to the Alliance being filthy rich and able to gather resources for any project they might wish for.
The only problem here is how often all those achievements are ignored by FD.
There has been some hints that the Alliance will get "some" attention in the Horizons, but what that translates to is up to anyone's guess.
Alliance territory is much bigger than it was 1 year ago at release and it will keep on growing. And that's without taking Mahon's sphere of influence into account, which could translate to the Alliance being filthy rich and able to gather resources for any project they might wish for.
The only problem here is how often all those achievements are ignored by FD.
I think part of the problem is that the Alliance is not really a single nation like the federation or empire. It's a coalition of small nations.
It's like the EU, but with a more influential and charismatic president, and less mindless bureaucracy. Member nations each have their own military, and some of them will have different requirements, which makes it hard to produce designs which all member states want.
The most likely thing would be several members working together to produce a ship which fits a role they all need, like IRL several nations worked together to produce the eurofighter Typhoon, but it would probably still only be used by some of the member nations, while others would use other ships for the same purpose.
It's like the EU, but with a more influential and charismatic president, and less mindless bureaucracy. Member nations each have their own military, and some of them will have different requirements, which makes it hard to produce designs which all member states want.
The most likely thing would be several members working together to produce a ship which fits a role they all need, like IRL several nations worked together to produce the eurofighter Typhoon, but it would probably still only be used by some of the member nations, while others would use other ships for the same purpose.
The EU does have a nation that produces weapons though. And weapon deals do exist in such a context, for example NATO.
And same goes here, we have several systems with notable shipyards. Alioth is admitted to have the single, #1 contender shipyards in the whole galaxy by lore. Lave also has renowned shipyards, with many ship types like the Cobra originating from there. And in recently developed lore, Wolf 406 also had its shipyards upgraded to fulfill en mass production of diamondbacks with a contract with Lakon.
What does it matter if the Federation and the Empire have much more authority over their systems? Some backwater 20.000 population system didn't contribute to the design of the FAS. Most of the work for these ships is done within 1-3 systems tops, which have the necessary amount of wealth to do the research and development. Then the blueprints are bought from the shipyards of other systems.
Having a ranking system similar to the Federation and the Empire wouldn't make sense, that I can agree with. But we can work out different distribution methods, that's not an issue. Research, development, creation and some form of distribution of ships is perfectly within the Alliance's abilities.
Last edited:
Yeah, and that means, not only do they not make Alliance-specific ships, there also isn't a unified Alliance navy to rank up in.
One idea that might be neat is to introduce some kind of Alliance intelligence agency or special forces, which have their own specialised gear (i.e. ships) and which sufficiently-trusted pilots can join up with. Effectively it'd be the same as Imperial or Federation ranks, but within a smaller, more subtle organisation.
One of each please!
What you are saying is absolutely true, but it misses part of my point. The Alliance certainly has the capability to develop it's own ships, that is not in question.
However, what I was getting at is that they do not have a unified navy, and the different navies of the member planets/systems are going to have different needs.Because they all need different things, there is no unified will to make any particular kind of ship. And navies aren't going to want to contribute to the development costs of a ship they don't need, but which their neighbor does need.
The Alliance does have a unified navy and member systems are obligated to provide an amount of ships to it based on their GDP actually. Said navy is under jurisdiction of the Council of Admirals, who can make initiatives without having to ask permission from other authorities within the Alliance. This is the reason why ranks don't exist.
How many times do we have to remind people of that? If we didn't have a naval structure, what difference does it make for systems to join in? That's literally the selling point of providing extra safety to them through unison without delving too deep into their sociopolitical affairs other than requesting that the human bill of rights is upheld.
Plus, if there is not specific need, then the Alioth shipyards could focus on developing even better multi-purpose ships. That means that all systems can use them according to their needs. Noone said that we want purely combat ships. In fact, most Alliance commanders would be happy if the Alliance was given exceptional trading and mining ships. But an exceptional mining ship would be combat capable by default, because mining needs a good power distributor and module distribution, so we're talking about multi-purpose once again.
Our navies already operate on pythons and annies, so I don't see how systems wouldn't enjoy other good multi-purpose ships.
Additionally, the Alliance does not need to coerce smaller systems to take part in the research and development budget. Due to Mahon's influence, the Alliance should currently be considered filthy rich.
There are no arguments that haven't been dealt with when it comes to why the Alliance has no ships. Those might have worked back when the game started, but the commanders and groups who loved the Alliance for what it is have worked their butts off to change it, there are no excuses left after all the achievements the Alliance has made.
Last edited:
That's not a unified navy, that's more like nations contributing part of their forces to NATO. The point is that each member has it's own Navy, even though part of that navy serves under the flag of the Alliance as a whole. The differing requirments of different forces still applies.
Hopefully there will be an Alliance equivalent to the Condor and imperial fighter at some point (and at least one non faction specific one), since small fighters are probably one thing that nearly every Navy would have a need for.
This is a much better point. Alliance military ships wouldn't make sense, but non-military ships would make some sense.
The only problem here is that there would be no reason for the Alliance to reserve these ships for it's own people, in fact the Alliance would benefit most from selling them as widely as possible. After all, governments don't stop companies selling ordinary commercial vehicles, they only try to hold back stuff like military tech. So from that perspective we could say that there are a number of Alliance ships already in the game, they just sell them freely because they aren't military or otherwise neccesary to keep exclusive.
I like the idea of a some form of special forces or militia group within the Alliance to allow for ranking and ships.
The Alliance is my favorite faction by far, I should really start doing more for them...
The Alliance is my favorite faction by far, I should really start doing more for them...
I've always wondered why the Alliance, as in of the biggest Powers, never received any love regards any kind of "Alliance" ships like the Empire and Federation have. There is no point ranking with the Alliance, even if you're gonna lame your way through the game. Progression is merely a title.
One thing that does stand out is the Alliance's standing with the Thargoids from the lore.
I would love it if they started getting ships with maybe some alternative tech which would add a lot to the game. Kinda like old Elite ships on steroids. There are a few classic ships that are missing.
They should have something though no matter where it comes from, even if variations of current ships but I would really want their ships to add another dimension to the game. Doesn't seem right as things currently stand.
It may just be a matter of time though.
I really don't know.
One thing that does stand out is the Alliance's standing with the Thargoids from the lore.
I would love it if they started getting ships with maybe some alternative tech which would add a lot to the game. Kinda like old Elite ships on steroids. There are a few classic ships that are missing.
They should have something though no matter where it comes from, even if variations of current ships but I would really want their ships to add another dimension to the game. Doesn't seem right as things currently stand.
It may just be a matter of time though.
I really don't know.
Last edited:
There would be one.
It would be another selling point for independent systems to join.
Maybe, but then so is raw wealth and thriving shipbuilding industries.
Ignoring lore, the Alliance certainly needs some love. Personally I'm hoping that FD are delaying because they want to find a way to work in Alliance ranks and goodies in a way that makes sense, rather than just jamming it in.