What do you guys thinks makes an alliance succussful in terms of recruitment drive, i think that by getting more allies and doing tech trades which then can result in getting more money which is use to help new members is a good way of boasting recruitment also it boost ur alliance existence and sercurity. Do you guys agree? or do you think heavy recruitment is the best effective of them lot? or do you think recruitment even matters that much at all? Live long and prosper everyone

Heavy recruitment is definitely a must if your trying to increase your alliances numbers. However a mistake that many alliances will make is to make a large push in recruiting then have no idea what to do with the members once they show up. You need to first develop systems for teaching and developing your new nations then begin a strong push.

It all depends on what sort of environment you desire.

The best way to start is to dream of the alliance you wish to be a part of. Then, work backwards from that to figure out what you need to do in order to produce that environment.

The answers to your questions will vary dramatically depending on your goals.

get a relatively small strong base and use them to make the money and establish relations with other alliances. Once your foundation is good then make a big recruitment push.

EDIT

Something to avoid is trying to woo nations that are already in an alliance. This I've only seen in discussions that consider it to be, at best, dishonourable. It seems to invite scorn, ridicule, disrespect, and (potentially) armed reprisal.