TWIMC:

It used to be that you could have allies that are also friends or friends that become allies, too. This is no longer the case. I used to be part of Radioactive Zombies but joined a different clan to be an active decision-maker. This "can't be both" phenomenon exists in both clans so it is not clan specific. When I joined the new clan I became allies with most of the players in that clan, but nobody has seen my friend requests. Ugh. The reason it is nice to be both friend and ally is because the benefits are different. For example. I think cargo speed is enhanced in one and not the other. It used to be that if you were both friend and ally your icon turned green. Now the only people who are green are those who became both before this glitch occurred. I think an easy solution would be to make the benefits the same for friends and for allies. Or, perhaps best would be to eliminate the "friends" category altogether and tell people to form alliances with their clanmates as well as their friends who play the game but belong to other clans. This problem doesn't have a huge impact on game play, but what used to be logical and explainable has become an annoyance ...

~Beovulfe (a.k.a. Danny C.)