Just a short suggestion, following the admin article.

I think in preserving the health of the game and relations of countries in it, we need to get a change in alliances.
One such suggestion that Ive thought of is changing how the alliance damage bonus works. 
1. Either remove it completely, so countries are not tempted to create 3 alliances in 1 (the DO only serves as a prio then).
2. add 5% to every 3 countries that are in the alliance, up to 9 countries. so 15% max bonus dmg if 9 countries are in the alliance. 
3. add some other effects other than 5% bonus dmg for every third country in the alliance (maybe a second DO when there are 6 countries in it)

Alliance aspect hasnt been touched in too long, and maybe some changes are needed. Currently all we have is a cluster of random alliances and there is no real use for them other than milking out the dmg bonus.

if you have anything to add/change on this aspect, please do. 
EDIT
Good suggestion for Alliances : https://www.edominations.com/en/article/23676