Just thought i'd write a little on this strat since i have a bit of spare time.  Everyone has an idea of how this works but i don't think it's executed the way it was designed. 

Speaking of design it was back in the old times when IC was bustling with players, big families and a real buzz and excitement from alot of different characters.  Whereas now it's a little more laid back and lazy.  However.  It was PP who first introduced this new style of play if you must know, although some may say different.. to those i say fo.  This new idea was to combine the efforts of a family into a more organised unit, so resources were sent where they needed to go, and not just refilling pointless objectives and horrible overbuilding. 

It made a family more even, more constructive and far more effective in wars, jumps and really sped up rounds, whereas you could have 1 to 3 big wars a round, with this new style you could battle constantly while still operating a economic advantage, even if it was only using 50 to 70% of funds to econ and the rest to warfunds or fleets. 

The problems emerged when people started copying the strat and ofcourse very few people did it right, and soon enough many players were complaining it was a dictatorship, which was never the intention.  What PP created was a way to work as a single unit, but by keeping the individual side of it still intact.  I blame the new style on laziness. 

A family bank is a place where spare deposits of cash and resources is kept, but its not an oil well, it shouldnt keep filling and it shouldnt remain static, the stuff should be constantly being used, being put away into savings, switching between players and pumping around a family like blood in a body. 

What people should not do is log on and just send to the bank.  thats not the system.  You cater for yourself as a player with what is necessary, and pp made some excellent posts updating players on what he would reccommend and how players should be growing individually before the bank could be used to boost them say 300-700% 

So players would have to cater for their own defence, opp defence, keep building daily pushing their planets up to the required stage.  And all the leaders had to do was check from time to time, but not say oh, build this this and that, then do this.  But say, do you feel happy with what you have, do you think you need more.  and more importantly they would learn when action got heated and they maybe got opped, or lost a few planets then we would not give them sympathy as much but say, ok how can you prevent this.  and we'd guide them along. 

But the jumps where perfect, PP would get players jumping, 80 to 120k infra at a time and that would be relayed to the family and spirits would be lifted by the huge successful jumps along with the war efforts.  It was always important to involve family interaction with the fam bank, not just between leader and player, but between player and player.  To compare defences, to discuss present experiences and learn off each other, it was a fantastic atmosphere within those families.

The most important part of a family bank is to let the players know what is being done with the funds they are sending, make sure its visible to them and not out of reach and ultra important is to give the players a purpose, give them some responsibility.

As leader of a family bank it's difficult not to get carried away and want everything your way, but it's much more skillful to get things your way without enforcing it upon them, as PP would make encouraging posts directing them.  A leader of a family bank has to be a bit hard and rugged for anyone to do as they do, but that was why PP/Kagar worked well, kagar was the nasty bastard and PP was the brains, so if they didnt listen and learn from the brains, they'd get a good old bollocking from the guy who gives half the galaxy the sweats. 

Its not a dictatorship, its a family who all pull together, teach each other and grow a strong bond.  and i still admire and talk greatly about those who made my learning experience so great, i looked up to them and still do.  So don't confuse the system!