These instructions are provided in case the Battle Tracker is unavailable and for those who wish a deeper understanding of the process.
Right at the count time, a count of all member for each alliance is done. Each side counts how many players they have plus merc groups they have working for them, as long as they have the points to buy mechs for them. After adding all players together, a number for each side is taken. The group with the most is now the maximum. Using the number for the larger force determines how many drops there are in the following steps:
If the larger number is odd, there is a 1 on 1 match. Subtract one from larger number if it was odd. Now divide the number by two and you have the final number of drops, not including the 1on1 drop, if any.
Take the number of available starships for each side, divide that by players and round up. This is the stop point. You can add one or two to it if it's close to the other groups stop point or dispense with the calculation altogether and pick an arbitrary stop point. Higher is better, since you want to exceed the stop points so that each battle is one round.