The only way you would see any lasting alliance is in the case of major power/population imbalances on a level capable of completely killing the game. I.e. if the current trend in SM popularity continues, all factions will have to constantly be on top of them as a priority. This is a case I fear though. It's easy to say that Tyranids will fix everything but I doubt that will always be practical. That, and power imbalance because practice tells us that making radically different factions comparable in overall strength is a massive hurdle. We can already see the team faltering on making the Orks and Eldar and just keeping SM/CSM in all their demos.
How is making different factions comparable in overall strength a massive hurdle? Do you mean a method of balancing a smaller factions hp/dam/RP systems etc to allow them to take on a numericaly superior foe? Or a means to ensure that all factions have roughly the same numbers? And while the orks and eldar havnt been seen in the demos thats more a matter of graphics rendering factions in any particular order, the devs have said that the eldar will be the last player faction to be worked on for release
No. I mean assigning stats in a way that a faction is equal in ability to another faction provided that they have the same numbers. There are a ton of problems in this when the factions have different mechanics and capabilities, and these difficulties feed into all aspects of the game like map design and capture mechanics. Consider this: let's say we have Eldar as the less durable but faster faction. They are also capable of moving around in ways others can't via jumping and climbing. Meanwhile Space Marines are durable and strong, but have more conventional movement. Already you have a problem because you need to consider how valuable speed is relative to durability. Your Eldar can have all the speed in the world, but if they have no way to reasonably engage, it's all moot. Same goes the other way and your SM can be godly tanks but if they can't fight the Eldar because they can kite them too easily, you're still in trouble. There is no way to predict how these aspects need to work against one another and what proportions are optimal without intensive testing. Then you start designing your base and it gets even worse because a base with too much open ground would force direct engagements and favor the SM. a base with too much cover and parkour would let the Eldar ambush too much and would favor them. So let's say you got all that done through some warp magic. Suddenly you still have people crying OP pls nerf! all over your forum. Turns out your players thought of a new creative way to use their ability to be OP. how do you react? Do you nerf so that they are at an inherent disadvantage because they can be unbalanced with certain tricks? Do you keep it in and risk the ire of everyone else? Do you patch in restrictions? How do those restrictions affect everything else? If we're talking about Orks, your problem expands because balance is no longer calculated based on even populations. How many Orks is proportionate to Space Marines for the purposes of balance? We know we need more and we know we will have more, but how much is "more" before they Zerg the other factions into submission? What if the more isn't as much as expected?
Well thats what the beta's are for I suppose, Many of those questions/problems will be answered/discovered during beta testing/play, Those that arnt, and there will be those that arnt, will surface during the first 6months of actual gameplay as players get their feet under them and find how to maximise their characters potential ingame, Every game that is not a pure faction mirror, that has different classes/races/weapons/abilities, go through the OP/nerf/buff cycles and EC will be no different, and like most games that endure the cycle it will emerge in a more or less balanced stable state in around a year after release, at least until something new is added and then we have the cycle once more
