ACID

http://users.evtek.fi/~jussiava/pa/wiki/acid.jpg

ACID is known to have atleast participateed in R4.

This small, and semi-dysfunctional alliance was started in rd 3 by a group of 25 people who migrated en masse to PA from an MSN web community. Led by Grimmelgod, ACID was centered in 2 galaxies (at a time when a galaxy could be all private), and was designed as a diversion for their members, and not as a dominant PA force. All of ACID's original players came from USA or New Zealand/Australia, giving them a unique position vis a vis the then prevalent time scheme used by most of PA's player base. This was NOT intentional though, and just arose from chance.

In rd 4, ACID's founder and officers became more obsessed with PA "Success", and sought a merger with another small start up alliance (Dark). This merger transformed into [DA] (Dark Acid). By round's end though, when the desired successes were not forthcoming, only the ACID-supplied officers remained active. As a result, the somewhat expanded member base carried over, but the alliance name reverted to ACID for rd 5.

Rd 5 saw ACID's claimed member base swell greatly, at one point reaching 250- although it should be noted that ACID's open recruitment policies surely resulted in well over half these members being "spies" from opposing alliances. Still and all, ACID's hallmark evolved during this round: The "Grimmel Charge". The characteristics of a "Grimmel Charge" were 1) A somewhat cryptic post on PA forums by Grimmelgod, exhorting his members to prepare for a MASSIVE action 2) Wild speculation, and frenzied questions in IRC about this "action" (mainly by spies trying to find out what was up) 3) a crazed and suicidal launch by about 10 or so planets against someone located in the mid-top 100 4) a last minute recall, which was usually missed by aobut 2 or 3 planets, who would end up crashing horribly. This was called "fun" in ACID.

Rd 6 started with great hopes for ACID, as for once they started with some sort of attack tools, and multiple planets for all the more active players. Alas, it was not to be though, As Grimmelgod developed on line access issues, and a newly promoted HC from rd 5 grew a head too large for her body. A schism occured 2/3rds through rd 6, and a great portion of ACID's member base either split away, or grew tired of in fighting and went inactive.

Rd 7 began for ACID, but this alliance did not live through the round. Grimmelgod disappeared completely from the 'net, and other officers, too fed up with crap moved on. While it lived though, ACID was great fun, and a good place for people to integrate into the PA universe. Sure, the players in this alliance were not "elite", but they were friendly and open to anyone who wanted to join, thus giving any new player a chance to join in at least some of the team aspects of PA. Even if their scores never showed it, this open entry policy ensures that ACID deserves to be remembered as a "successful" alliance.