Star Empires

I've previously played GMT's Space Empires as a solo game against Doomsday Machines; with Chris Rees and Josh visiting, we decided to try the three-player set up.  Josh and Chris quickly declared an alliance, with the dividing line between their territories going right through my homeworld...
They both pulled ahead in the economics race, which I think was partly due to them making better investment choices and partly due to the luck of the random planet setup. I discovered a warp point just outside my border; not much later, Chris discovered the other end of the warp point between his border and Josh's. Feeling secure against any attack from his ally, Chris sent a raiding force into my space, blockading a couple of planets (although not destroying them) and killing a few ships. Instead of confronting his fleet directly, I sent a few cruisers through the warp point (which turned out to be garrisoned only by a decoy) to blockade his planets.
Meanwhile, Josh sent a fleet down through my territory. I avoided contact, hoping that Chris and Josh's fleet would slug it out and the survivor would be too weak to take my capitol. In fact, Chris withdrew back through the warp point to lift the blockades I'd put in place. Josh ignored my homeworld and followed Chris, and I followed Josh. There was a little parade of fleets, each about two hexes from the next...
Josh mauled Chris's fleet, which retreated back to his homeworld; Josh attacked again and did some damage to the planet, but withdrew before finishing him off. Chris decided he'd rather be destroyed by me than by his treacherous "ally"; he said that if I moved a fleet into his homeworld, he'd retreat his fleet out. I did and he did and I successfully bombarded his homeworld, taking the victory.