The alliances are merchants gathering together in a consortium to improve their chances of survival and dominance over a territory.

When in an alliance:

• you cannot attack each other
• you may share ships with other members at bases
• members pay tax to the alliance
• members are not affected by alliance members forces
• you may land on alliance members bases
• you can cooperate in joint attack/defense actions

To join an alliance, use the "list" option, found under the INF/Alliance Status menu. There you select the alliance you wish to join, and enter the password provided to you by a member of that alliance.

When in an alliance you have several new options under the menu INF/Alliance Status:

You can either form an alliance or join one. If you form one of your own you become alliance leader. This gives you several options:

• Set alliance password. New members need it to join
• Set alliance banner. Show the world a cool image. You need to upload the image to an external server and copy/paste the URL.
• Set alliance description. Here you can explain the views and goals of your alliance. Can be seen by everyone
• Set the log. Here you can give your members good advice and things to do. Can only be seen by alliance members
• Change leadership. You can here give the leadership to another alliance member. After that you lose all leader options.
• Remove member. If an member needs to be removed it will be done from here. The member will automatically be expelled from any alliance base he is resting on.
• Register account. Here you can set the alliance account. You will need to create one first at the bank and then insert account number and password. Both account types can be used
• Register Tax account. This account will automatically recieve the alliance tax your members pay you when they trade. You can use the same account as the alliance account, although that may not be very wise, because it can cover the tracks of a thief.
• Taxes:(1-50%) .Set the tax for your alliance. The amount will be taken from every trade your members do.

There can be several statuses existing between two alliances:

• Neutral. Alliances have no diplomatic relations. Members of one alliance can be killed by the other, but it affects alignment. Minefields from one will also attack the other's ships.
• Non-aggression Pact - NAP. A verbal agreement between alliances that they won't attack eachother. As it is verbal, forces are not affected.
• Free Movement Treaty - FMT. A formal agreement, basically a NAP with the right of free passage in teritorries held by the two alliances. Members can still kill eachother, at a cost to alignment. Forces will ignore the other alliance's ships, except if targetted at them.
• Mutual Protection Pact - MPP. A verbal agreement. One alliance is honor-bound to declare war on the attacker of the other.
• Mutual assistance Pact - MAP. Highest form of cooperation between two alliances. Members from both alliances attack and defend as if they were in the same alliance. Note: not implemented yet

Limitations:
The maximum number of people in an alliance is 50. Note that when trading, an alliance member pays 1% extra tax for every merchant over a limit of 25 in that alliance. Example: if there are 41 members in an alliance, every trader from that alliance pays 1% extra tax, if there are 50, everyone pays 10% extra tax.