PlanetsCentral

I do not think it is such a big deal. Right now I am part of a three party alliance which came together quite spontaneously, as FireAge wrote. In other games I have been clobbered or held my own against such an alliance. For me, this is part of the game. (And the large alliance which started quite early in this game does not appear to be doing so well) And 99% of the things our current alliance does would not be hindered by addons such as POneAlly.

Of course there are those people who stick together right from the start, and I find this annoying too. But only that. The only solution in my opinion are Blutmagie style anonymous games, but this server is set up more public, which is ok. (Stefan: Why do you say Blutmagie "used to" offer these games? Is it inactive for good?)

Concerning "winning" alliances: I do not think that an alliance needs to win as one.