To me, mercing just seemed so fleeting, means it there is no room for relationship to build or to grow together, the hired help comes, do their hits, helped the alliance with a rare titan and possibly get the bonus mats, then he/she is gone, back to being another journeyman (or journeywoman), or the old alliance they left from (because they are chummier with people there than you).
That part of the mercing aspect is why I don’t like mercs, nor do we go out of our way to ask one to come help. We do our hits, if we can take a titan, we take it ourselves, if we can’t, we can’t. So hence the reason we stayed with the range of titan levels we’ve had. Our height was a 11* Onyx, but we had more members then, but that was pre-pandemic. Merc can come and help us take down tougher Titans, but it’s only temporary, after they leave, we are dialed back down and had to ask for help again, point is, the higher levels were not sustainable, and although being a casual alliance means people “should” be expected to come and go, but I’d like to believe there is can still be some structure in a casual environment, even if it is a loose one.
There is advantages like @princess1 with solo, small, compact alliances because you get to coordinate hits better, know the strengths and weaknesses of yours and your partner’s roster. As you grow stronger, your roster gets to take down tougher Titans to improve loots. But time is a resource that is always against you, and unless you have alt accounts, you are stuck with having your 5 hits a day (unless you level up, use Titan flasks), no matter, how much more of a potential hassle a new member could mean to coordinate, that member still bring his/her 5 hits to the alliance, and there is strength in numbers. How many times have we come across situations where everyone is out of hits, and the Titan is on the verge of running, but no one has flasks to spend (even if they would gladly quaff one for the team)? Of course, it is a moot point if that new player is relatively inactive, doesn’t coordinate well, and don’t follow directions well.
Although mats can still come via lower leveled Titans, but statistically, it should be lower than against higher leveled Titans, hence there are at some point, people felt “encouraged” to join larger alliances. My alliance is by no means a top tiered one, it was once full though. But the number dwindled and we’d be lucky to find another player willing to come who is not a hopper to try to finish POV or mass mailing his/her CV just to see who bites. We are not hitting major Titans nor are we really “chaining” anything, but we are currently in a fair spot with the Titans we are killing that we typically have no problems finishing the POV tasks, without the help of mercs.
So for me, my ideal alliance mate is someone who applies because he/she wants to be there, and would enjoy the environment and stay for the long term. My alliance mates are made up of long term members, and a good many of them have the roster and strength to go to higher and better alliances and potentially get better loot, but they all decided to stay because the alliance philosophy and pace agreed with them and fit their schedule, I am grateful for each and every one of them because this game offers absolutely no rewards for loyalty.