I haven't heard or seen any definitive answer if there was going to be closed boarders implemented.
I would like to see closed boarders added mostly for the extra passive strategy layer it adds.
Lets say the Space Bobs are smack talking the Space Toms arts of war and the Space Toms have had just about enough and want to declare war. Between them are the Space Joes.
Tom declares war on Bob. Bob being the wise leader he is calls his buddy Joe and says, "Hey Toms pretty mad at me and I know your pretty much neutral with him so lets say I give you this item here if ya close your boarders to Tom and give me open boarders.". Joe agrees and now has declared his closed boarders to Tom while keeping his open to Bob.
Tom Now has a problem, he cannot go threw Joes space without enticing war with Joe. His ships would have to travel 10 turns around Joes boarders to get at Bob to were bob can just go threw Joes space and arrive in 3 turns.
Tom cant afford to fight both Bob and Joe and it would take too long to go around and attack when Bob can just make the trip in a couple turns.
Tom must ether buddy up to Joe, sweeten the deal to get the boarders open or just sit in a stale mate till you can get peace again.
A few turns later one of Toms ships captains fell asleep with the cruise control on and is drifting towards Joes space,,, he hits the boarder, "Do you want to enter Joes space? This will be considered an act of war." says the message. Click no , captain fired.
Maybe the Space Toms should have cooled there tempers and planned ahead and became buddies with the Spaces Joes to ensure there boarders stay open when the Bobs try to use Joe as a buffer shield persay.
Also, if your a xenophobic race, your not gonna want to have all these ships running around in your space, they all could be spies, terrorists, oh crap, colonists!
Going threw someones zone of control as a privilege rather than a right can really can add a nice layer of strategy.
Thoughts?