Surviving The Aftermath can be a tough game. Between space junk falling out of the sky, bandit attacks, and constant catastrophes, your settlement can often find itself teetering on the brink of collapse. With the addition of the New Alliances DLC, you don't need to go it alone anymore.

Related: Surviving The Aftermath: Best Specialists To Recruit

The first major expansion for Surviving The Aftermath brings a host of new diplomatic options, as well as new buildings, technology, and dangers. Here's everything you need to know about the updated diplomacy system and how you can use it to help your post-apocalyptic colony thrive.

Society Requests

new alliances society requests

Once you've encountered a Society on the world map, they will periodically issue requests. Completing a request within the time limit will increase your reputation with the issuing Society, as well as earn the listed resources as a reward. Each Society can only have one active request at a time; you can decline a request and hope for a better one, but doing so incurs the same reputation penalty as if you had let the timer run out.

Requests typically fall into three broad categories. Combat requests task you with eliminating an enemy on the map that is threatening the Society. Whether it's a pack of wild animals or organized raiders, sending one or more Specialists to defeat the threat within the time limit is all it takes to earn your reward.

A Society might ask you to loan a Specialist to them for a few days. They're usually not picky about which Specialist you send, and all you have to do is move your chosen character to the Society in question and choose the "Loan" option. The Specialist is safe from danger while they're helping the neighbors, so if an injured character is passing by on their way home they can easily fulfill the request.

Lastly, a Society may request that you send them the parts for a specific building. This is done from the Society Outpost, an Exploration building that becomes available upon meeting your first neighbor. Before a prefab building can be sent from the Society Outpost, you'll need to research it from the New Alliances tech tree (see below).

Each Society Outpost can construct one prefab at a time, and once it's done they will send it to the client. The shipment can be intercepted by wandering enemies, so you may want to consider sending a Specialist to escort the shipment.

Once you've completed a request, you need to claim the reward from the Societies screen before it is considered resolved.

Related: Surviving The Aftermath: Best Crops

New Alliances Tech Tree

society and espionage tech

This additional tech tree is necessary to construct prefab buildings and complete requests. It also allows you to unlock buildings for your own colony that will help to resist covert operations.

Technology

Prerequisite

Science Cost

Time To Research

Unlocks

Schools And Greenhouses

None

100

10 hours

  • Prefab Schools
    • Slowly increases your reputation with the receiving Society.
  • Prefab Greenhouses
    • Increases the population of the receiving Society.

Surveillance Van

Schools And Greenhouses

300

10 hours

  • Surveillance Van building
    • Requires electricity.
    • Prevents enemy agents from stealing Silver.

Taverns And Kitchens

Surveillance Van

150

10 hours

  • Prefab Taverns
    • Provides a small amount of Silver daily when sent to a Society.
  • Prefab Kitchens
    • Increase the population of the receiving Society.
    • Allows you to purchase Mixed Meals from the receiving Society.

Secure Lab

Schools And Greenhouses

300

10 hours

  • Secure Lab building
    • Requires electricity.
    • Prevents enemy agents from disrupting your research.

Trenches And Trading Posts

Secure Lab

150

10 hours

  • Prefab Trenches
    • Increases the time it takes for bandits to besiege the receiving Society, giving you longer to rescue them.
  • Prefab Trading Posts
    • Trade convoys to and from the receiving Society move faster across the world map.

Basements And Research

Surveillance Van OR Secure Lab

200

10 hours

  • Prefab Basements
    • Increases the population of the receiving Society.
  • Research Exchange
    • Provides a small amount of Science daily when sent to a Society.

Bomb Bunker

Basements And Research

400

10 hours

  • Bomb Bunker building
    • Requires electricity.
    • Prevents enemy agents from sabotaging your buildings.

Housing And Hotlines

Bomb Bunker

250

10 hours

  • Prefab Nice Housing
    • Increases the population of the receiving Society.
  • Hotline
    • Reduces the penalty for failing or declining a request from the receiving Society.

Anti-Propaganda Tower

Basements And Research

400

10 hours

  • Anti-Propaganda Tower building
    • Requires electricity.
    • Prevents enemy agents from spreading propaganda in your colony.

Rentals And Gates

Anti-Propaganda Tower

250

10 hours

  • Prefab Rental Housing
    • Increases the population of the receiving Society.
    • Provides a small amount of Silver daily.
  • Reinforced Gate
    • Makes the receiving Society more resistant to bandit attacks.

Hospitals

Bomb Bunker OR Anti-Propaganda Tower

300

15 hours

  • Prefab Hospital
    • Reduces population loss from all sources in the receiving Society.

Regardless of your position on the tech tree, you can always create Modest Tents at the Society Outpost, ensuring that you can fulfill the most basic resource request.

Related: Surviving The Aftermath: Best Technologies To Research

The Federation And The Rival Faction

enemy faction new alliances

Once you've reached a high level of reputation with a Society, they may ask to join your Federation. Federation members are permanent allies that will allow you to construct an Embassy in your colony. Doing so will unlock powerful bonuses, from free buildings to daily income to combat bonuses. Each Society has a unique Embassy benefit, so having a large Federation can be an incredible boon.

Conversely, if your reputation with a Society falls too far due to failed requests or covert operations you've taken against them, they will join the Rival Faction. This mysterious enemy wants nothing more than to eliminate your colony and secure their own hegemony over the region. Societies who join your rival will be considered enemies for the rest of the game and will perform covert operations against you.

To drive out the Rival Faction, your Federation must consist of more than half of the region's total population. The population of Societies, like that of your colony, will change with its fortunes. By sending resources to your allies and taking action against your enemies, you can ensure that the Federation has strong population growth while convincing rival colonists to defect... or simply eliminating them.

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Covert Operations

wasteland view new alliances

You can send any Specialist to a Society to perform a covert operation there. Each of the four possible operations has a sixty percent chance of success by default, but a Specialist of the correct class for the job will increase this chance to seventy-five percent. Failing a covert operation will harm your reuptation with the Society, so in most cases they're best taken against neighbors who have already declared themselves for your rival.

Your rival will also conduct operations against your colony. All can have a profound negative effect, so be sure to research and construct counterintelligence buildings to prevent such attacks. They'll only prevent an operation while they're actively staffed, so beware of spies while your guards are off-duty!

Operation

Time To Complete

Best Class

Effect Against Societies

Effect Against You

Espionage

25 hours

Scientist

Gain a random amount of Science, usually about 300.

Halts research progress temporarily.

Propaganda

37 hours

Scout

The Society loses ten population.

Temporarily inflicts a severe happiness penalty.

Sabotage

37 hours

Fighter

The Rival Faction loses 200 reputation with the Society.

Buildings in a small radius are severely damaged.

Theft

25 hours

Scavenger

Gain resources based on the Society's current trade offers.

Some of your Silver is lost.

Next: Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting Surviving The Aftermath