a single person can have up to 16 countries in FFA, and can use a majority of them as farms for the larger countries. I think there's a lot of dynamics that won't translate to alliance, unless players are willing to act as farms for the rest of their tag.

If this: http://www.eestats.com/alliance/country/721, is the only sanctioned way to netgain then i think there's a problem with this game.