You have the power of mass.

With Macron always ally with someone when they offer because you will only send 1 ship and it will count as a total of 4 therefore you won’t be losing much if your ally loses the encounter.
 

For the best result when using Macron try to keep as many ships at your home planets as possible because this will greatly increase your chances of winning an encounter where you’re the defensive player, this will not be hard as when sending ships off you only send one ship at a time.
 

Try not to use N pods because with Macrons power although your pod acts like 4 pods you only get the compensation for one.
 

When choosing allies go with the attacking player unless they will win the round if they win the encounter because if you ally with the defensive the maximum defensive bonus you will get is 1.
 

Don’t waste your high pods when defending because you will usually have a higher starting total therefore if you have 4 ships on your home planets you will have the defensive power of 16 and even with allies the maximum they could have is an attacking power of 12.
 

When being defensive try to get the other players on your side to maximize your power and stop your opponent catching up on your starting total.
 

If you are feeling particularly mean and have no high attack pods then invite all other players for an alliance then use a negotiate because if your lucky they will both lose 4 ships and you will only lose 1.
 

When Macron is defensive ally with him!
 

Always do the math before zapping macron and only zap him if you really need the colony.
 

If you are Philanthropist or trader or any other alien that can alter the pods other players have try to make sure Macron never has any good pods.
 

If you know he only has bad pods do not ally with him when he is offensive because he will just negotiate and kill off your ships.
 

Make sure that Macron doesn’t have loads of ships on his home planet because otherwise it’ll be hard to attack him.