Suggestions on how to deal with griefers

So i deal with griefers very harshly, something along the lines of "an eye for an eye with interest". but of course i see the alliance as being a last resort and should be significantly more kind/magnanimous than myself.

Usually its like this. unnanounced captures against me lead to an annoyed message or a general "???" trying to talk to the guy. negotiated captures are dealt with individually. responded to accordingly.

Raids against me, i immediately retaliate either capturing several of their tiles or raiding back in a greater number. (since raids are purely an act of hostility with no gain on their part) at this point it's their prerogative to either negotiate or retaliate back. if they retaliate i go into a unspoken war in which i use every garrison they raid to raid them back.

If this last point is reached and they try to recapture their tiles, i'll keep them clear for as long as i feel like it until i get bored.

Usually griefers will let all their tiles be raided and not recapture them. theres basically nothing we can do against them except maybe taunt them a little and defend the tiles (with artillery). and force them to either use artillery to clear them or take heavy losses per friendly unit death.

So now you know my MO.

As for the alliance, my first suggestion is simply don't "invite them to the alliance" in reward for their hostlile actions.

How to deal with them? i'd say the member comes to the alliance with a complaint/request and a little proof as to what is going on. then we vote on options as to what we do.

the lowest option would be a collective warning. stating to them from all our different participating empires that they have gotten our attention and that continuing would provoke collective response. to demand they stop

If applicable the next escalation would be collective raids. all participating empires take turns clearing all their tiles in order to impress how outnumbered he is and incent him to stop for a number of days. we would not negotiate with him until this is over.

Last would be collective war. where we all work together to keep all his tiles cleared until he agrees to stop.

If they are full-on griefers that don't care about their garrisons on that particular empire, we should vote to see if what they've done warrants a X-server effort to carry out the above. including someone who wouldnt reveal they're in the alliance to friend him and find out his other empires.

the overall goal is to get them to stop or negotiate and requests should only be sent if they can't get them to stop on their own, as well as the victim should immediately alert the alliance if a negotiation attempt is made. also being a greater force, we shouldn't have to concede or make negotiations that aren't to our benefit. participation in carrying out these actions for the alliance should have some sort of reward for the participants.

And of course there is room for discussion and democratic votes in almost every part of dealing with an enemy. we should always vote about actions as much as possible. What we want though is that members can solve their problems on their own. we should only have to step in to teach someone some manners.

Great suggestion Oudaaarns, gotta say I like that idea. Although an invitation should be sent to those who surrenders. It's like what the Spartans did, back during their wars. Captured slaves called Helots we're to join their army. I mean if they were strong enough to summon the whole alliance for help, I say they could be a great asset to our alliance.

In terms of Private war, I definitely do agree with that. If you could take care of the griefer yourself, then go crazy. But if it's a war against someone an age ahead of you and has a significantly stronger army, then yes you may request for an Operation. Good post Oudaaarns, +Rep and 20 Forum Points. The topic will be editted, moved and stickied.

If anyone has got another suggestion please post here as well.

Thanks. (: