My 130M+ guild won but it was close at the end.
Here is a suggestion for ties, avoiding collusion and maintaining the incentive to go all in:
There would be 3 possible reward tiers/encounter.
Top tier prize = first place win, with or without clearing the entire map. Include extra G12 salvage or an extra zeta mat to highly motivate maximum effort with a complete G12 piece etc., going to the winner who also cleared the map.
Second tier = ties. It doesn’t matter if the board was cleared or not. These prizes could be the current first place rewards.
Third tier = second place team. The rewards would be the same as they are now.
This structure would discourage guild collusion because an extra zeta or a complete g12 piece is an extravagant enough reward to encourage everyone to clear the map regardless of a possible tie. Currently, with second place rewards providing less than first of course, but not that much less, many guilds may cooperatively plan to hit a certain score or deploy very weak defensive teams to easily clear the map making the game mode stress free and without time/planning/strategizing commitments all while securing a tie. Sure it means less fun in what many are calling the most entertaining game mode, but time is the most precious resource we have, and a guaranteed tie is better than struggling to take first. I could see this happening with lower powered guilds but for the 100M or maybe 120M+, the likelihood of a tie is high yet these guilds are composed of very active players who want to win and would maintain the effort if the first place rewards were significantly better and lavishly superior for a guild who wins while clearing the map.