I'm currently playing an Arcolian Sector game with 5 locked teams of 2. My ally (TEC) and I started in the same system with a bunch of other factions, and we eventually took it all over. I attacked and established a foothold in the other starting system, and my ally colonized everything in the other four systems. But... he keeps running out of money (down to 0). Does the AI develop their planets at all? It looks like he's being massively drained by planet upkeep. I'll give him 30,000 (which is slow going 100 at a time), and it lasts about 5 minutes before he's at 0 again. He's got tons of metal and crystal, so he's not spending it all (or selling resources, for that matter). It looks like most of is just rapidly drained away. He's got trade stations and trade ships going, but it doesn't seem to offset the drain much. I'd figure controlling the credit bleed would be a priority use for the money I've given him.

I know you guys are currently revamping the AI, this might be something to look at in that process. I have some saved games if you want them.