A Confederate State utilizes Diplomacy, Alliances, and Trade to bolster both itself and its allies.

+1 Alliance slot per category
8-Hour Foreign Aid Cooldown to and from Trade Allies
+20% Military boosts to and by Offensive and Defensive Allies
-30% Industrial Production
-30% Explore Rate and Ghost Acres

I certainly welcome the more seasoned Math Whizzes here to tweak this idea and/or provide general feedback.

well it's a start but having only 1 def ally could make it quite unplayable on soloservers.

I like the idea of a lower CD on trade allies (to make trade alliance slot worth it beyond the mediocre and underwhelming benefit there is now). As for the idea, the problem is who would it appeal to? Neither wardogs or netters will be choosing this strat as is.

No, it's +1 Alliance slot per category.

+1

As in 3 Trade Allies, 3 Defense Allies, 4 Research Allies, etc.

That's part of the point. This could open avenues for different types of strategies amd playstyles when playing with groups, tags, and alliances. Think of it like the "Support" class.

"Hey, need to build back up after getting the blow-up? Have some more frequent Foreign Aid!"

"Not looking to invest my turns in war, but more guys on my team can get boosted benefits from my military!"

"I'm Teching, which 4 of you fart-knockers wanna mooch off my teching?"

This is kond of how I initially pictured it.

I'm sure it could be made useful to someone for some reason. Maybe in ffa. But i don't see how it would make sense in solo servers.
Also don't think it would create good gameplay in team or alliance. Seems like it would promote aiding to 1st rank.

FFA: 1 farmer/casher/techer/oiler and 15 confederates.

You say that as though people in FFA don't ALREADY abuse the fact they have 16 countries to work with.

some do, some won't and its not as bad it used to be (pre-bots).

Abuse?

I guess he means that 15 countries send all what they can to 1 country when jumping starts.

Yeah, "Abuse" was a strong word. But they sure as hell know how to take advantage of it.

With 200% food production because of slaves...