In Supremacy League, I believe this was the name, there was option to buy GM free game/limited GM use games. Not sure exactly how it worked but I heard of it being used.
Is it possible to copy this part of game code into superchan's tournament? They should have it somewhere in 2014-15 backups
// From what I have seen in a last 8 years:
1. in general alliance do not like to play each other in comparison to 2010-2014 as you loose a lot of ELO and there is small amount to gain. That is why I sometimes saw GMs and exploits used by better alliances just to make sure they will not lose ELO against weaker opponent. ELO is based on ranking but better aloiance have nothing to gain playing weaker ones but they have a lot to lose in weaker alliance is better/uses gms/ sits longer/knows betetr exploits.
2. other problem is ofc GM ( golden rush / golden fortress/ checking enemy troops every hour). No GMs games or limited use of them can fix the problem.
3. activity based gameplay related to Shoot & Scoot (S&S) or reactive form of playing that is basically based on waiting for opponent to go afk and catching her/his troops in the middle of move. There were initiatives to make it fair and square for everyone ie. creating sitter accounts who can play for you with limited number of option: moving troops, no gms, maybe attacking and building units/building as it was successfully used in other games but it stays the way it is and alliance games turned into butchery shops where account ( not person) with more time for S&S wins.
4. coming from the number 3 - remote control of other alliance players by one Sentry Player who has access to all account in this alliance game. It is ofc forbidden but never the less a lot of teams within alliances do that. Sometimes alliance leaders do not even know about that and deny use of remote control. technology went way ahead of security measures and we cannot do anything about that. I believe solving issue nr 3 with ie. Sitter Account can make a change.
5. Less known but also practiced - account run 24h/day by group of players. If you have such an account in your team all you need to do is to give him arts, resources for arts and , yes you got it, everything that is required to fight with arts. Then it ( the account) take all of this and shoots opponents 24h/day all the time winning alliance games alone. I saw weak alliance without any skills of experience, without GMs or activity, donating everything to 1 player. Pure example straight from 2012: Small Europe 5 vs 5. Weak alliance lost everything except Spain when they produce infantry and arts. Last man standing gather everything and started campaign- first ofc Morocco to take hold of oil fields. Then the rest of the map. It shot down all 5 enemy players holding 9 countries . It was close to loosing on points but eventually managed to do that.
6. Bugs, exploits,errors - in general it is known that team with better knowledge of game mechanic and its faults is better suited for winning. Long ago I saw guy who shot down enemy alliance as he was able to shot enemy troops 3 minutes in advance. They did not need anything else to win games - just this one trick. In another game friend told me someone was using teleportation to patch up holes in defense and make quick raids. Possibility to shot RG cannon from the sea ... battleships swimming to Moscow to destroy enemy stack, landing of troops in 22 minutes instead of 4,5 hours. Troops passing through my army unharmed and taking undefended provinces behind. or the worst - seeing how you gather 3 armies of 120 in allied fort and they are beaten by 60 men of enemy.
Now sir- if you see such a things and alliance from place 9715 below taking 40 ELO points from you - will you be still willing to fight? All this things happens mostly in higher ranks like top 30 but you never know if a wise guy hasn't not started a new alliance.
My idea would be to play non-ELO games , non-GM games and solving somehow limited activity problem of less active players ( in contrast of trying to limit overactive accounts).
I believe I covered all topics related to alliance games but feel free to comment.