Maybe one option would be a sort of galactic trench warfare.
Or, we all hit the same planet at the same time with multiple large fleets (3/4 fleets each). Once we've wiped out his fleet stationed there, we then send in lots of fleets of single Cruisers. Since he only gets 16k Steel a day, which means 17 Frigates a day, we don't have to send in that many fleets. If he goes for Scouts (which he may or may not realise also works) then that's 66 fleets a day. Between the three of us I'm sure we can get up enough ships to counteract 66 fleets a day, whilst still keeping a large enough force on the planet to attack any large fleets he sends. It'll take some work (and a lot of co-ordination), but he can definitely be beaten. Once we get the first planet down, the rest should follow more swiftly because we'll have access to another source of Steel.
I think I may just try it. Send an arc and 50 subspacers (most efficient means of population transfer, for anyone who is curious)
Actually, on total resource count, Arcs are cheaper. It's just on Steel that Subspacers are cheaper, but then you rapidly start to run out of Quatloos. So in the beginning it's a great idea to use Subspacers because you start with a large reserve of Quatloos, but later on your reserves dwindle and you need them for fleets, meaning they're probably not the best thing to use.
