Alliances are a bit different in DR9 compared to most other games in the genre, so let's take a closer look at how that works.

Obviously an alliance serves as way to warn enemies that you're part of a greater force, and it's a way to separate friends from enemies.

Beyond the simple signal value, the alliance structure also allow you to share resources and invest in various improvements that benefit all members of the alliance, but what really separates DR9 alliances from  most other games,  is how decisions are made. Rather than having a single all-powerful president, alliances in DR9 have a voting system where any member of the alliance can propose a change, invite a new member, or suggest an investment, but majority vote decides whether it's effectuated or not.

All votes, however, are not equal. Alliances have a built-in hierarchy of voting tiers that starts when an alliance is formed by two players. These two players are given the same rank in the alliance and an equal amount of votes (1 each). When a third member joins the alliance, the two original members rise a level in rank and gains an additional vote each. The new player and the next 3 players that joins end up on the same lower tier of the alliance with 1 vote each. When the 7th player joins, the ranks shift again, giving the two original players 4 votes each, the next tier gets 2 votes each and a new low-tier with one vote per player is introduced. The new low tier will hold 8 players until the ranks shift again, and so the pyramid keeps growing.

Obviously, if you join a large alliance late in the game, your single vote won't count for much, but it's entirely possible to rise in rank. Through shrewd negotiation and proper politics you can try to persuade other players to vote for your promotion and, consequently, for someone else to be demoted. Or you can simply put yourself up for promotion and hope less than half the votes are cast against you before the poll times out - passive voters are counted as being in favor.

In a way, it's an entire game of it's own...