Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-2142533-20141219081416/@comment-2142533-20141220080354

108.7.196.223 wrote: Whhat does affiliates mean?

Affiliates are castaways which joined the alliance after a switch or at the Merge. Usually, they are not part of the core alliance.

To tell the truth this term has been said to be debated and is now said to be obsolete as you really can't point out which are those not really solid members (which are usually blindsided) or just tagalongs (which are usually used as goats/extra votes by sub-alliances).