🤝 R5 diplomacy
The alliance merger playbook
There's no merge button in Kingshot — a merger is a negotiation, a mass move and a culture problem, run entirely by the R5s. Here's the playbook that keeps both rosters intact.
Mergers in one breath: agree terms leader-to-leader first (tag, R4 seats, rules), then move the people — applications opened, arrivals welcomed by name, hive consolidated — and only then optimize. Most failed mergers lose a third of the smaller roster in week one because the people-part was treated as an afterthought.
When merging is the right call
- You can't fill event rosters. Championship lanes going out short, bear rallies half-empty, Vikings stack cities unmanned — roster math is the honest signal, and the roster tracker makes it undeniable.
- Your active core is under ~half your seats and recruitment (even with good posts) is replacing churn, not growing.
- The kingdom has consolidated. When two or three big alliances run the map, mid-size tags become farm targets. Joining strength beats being eaten separately.
Merge from position, not desperation. The alliance that proposes while still healthy negotiates R4 seats, kept traditions and a real say. The alliance that collapses first just gets absorbed on whatever terms are offered.
The negotiation — settle these five before anyone moves
- Which tag survives? Usually the stronger alliance's; a genuinely equal merger can take a fresh name (the name generator exists for exactly this diplomatic escape hatch).
- R4 seats, in writing. The smaller alliance's R5 and best officers get named R4 roles — recruitment, events, war — not vague promises. This single term predicts merger survival better than anything else.
- Whose rules apply? Adopt one written rule set on day one (templates here) so "how we did it in [old tag]" arguments have an answer.
- Who gets cut? If the combined roster exceeds the cap, agree the inactivity bar before the merge — cutting the smaller alliance's actives to keep the larger one's sleepers is the classic betrayal.
- Event roles. Rally leads and lane anchors keep their jobs where earned — status carries over, or resentment does.
Open the conversation with the merger invitation template on the message templates page — a professional first contact sets the tone for everything after.
Moving day — the step-by-step
1Announce simultaneously in both alliances — same message, same hour, questions answered live. Rumor-first mergers bleed members before day one.
2Open applications & pre-approve the list. The receiving R4s work from the agreed roster so nobody sits in the application queue feeling unwanted.
3Seat the officers first. Their R4 badges go on before the rank-and-file arrive — arriving members should see their own leaders already in place.
4Consolidate the hive. Teleport arrivals into the alliance territory block by block; an arrival stranded across the map is halfway out the door already. (Cross-kingdom mergers ride a transfer window — that's its own checklist.)
5Welcome arrivals by name and re-pin everything — rules, event times, the leader hub link — so the new normal is one screen away for everyone.
6Fight something together within the week. A bear rally or Vikings run is the fastest culture-glue there is — shared loot beats a hundred welcome messages.
The failure modes (learn them cheap)
- The refugee effect — arrivals treated as recruits-on-probation instead of teammates. Fix: names, roles, hive placement, day one.
- The silent R5 — the absorbed leader given a title but no job goes quiet, and their loyalists follow them out. Give them a real portfolio.
- The rules vacuum — two cultures, no written baseline, first dispute becomes a faction fight. One pinned rule set, day one.
- The stealth downgrade — promised seats quietly reshuffled a month later. Whatever you'd renegotiate, renegotiate openly; the kingdom is watching how you treat merged partners, and it decides whether the next alliance ever says yes to you.