You guys didn't learn the tricks of the trade. Allegiance is all about teamwork..playing Rambo will get you nowhere.
Assuming you have a competent commander, if he tells you to guard that constructor or miner - you do it.
No $$$ = no research.
No research = no new weapons and ships.
Expanding and holding territory is important.
A match lasts from 30 minutes to (rarely) 3 hours
There's a couple of things that you have to know when playing this thing:
If enemy has stealth bombers - patrol around your most critical stations with scouts, dropping sensor and pulse drones. Clog the jump points with them.
Stealth bombers have armor made of tissue paper and far weaker torpedoes than regular bombers, but if you're not careful, several of them will slip in one of your important system, position themselves outside your sensor range (usually above and below the plane...approx 6000-7000 meters from the target), wait for the others to make a diversion and then make a run for your station, decloaking at around 2300 meters.
If enemy is making a standard bomber run - TARGET THE NANNIES (scouts with nano-guns) as they constantly repair the bombers, making them 10X harder to take out. Once the nannies are out it's easier to take out the bombers.
Podkill only if enemy has more than 20 kill points. Each kill points means extra % damage the guy does to you. Killing someone in a pod with less than that is seen as cowardly.
And above all - listen to your commander. Don't fly alone - work in groups.
IMHO, it's a excellent team game.