So, here I am thirteen parsecs (or whatever we're calling the hexes) away from an alien planet, with a sensor range of twelve... I'm doing my best to survey the area without being discovered by my distant neighbors; but when I close to twelve... Lo and behold... I get an incoming transmission... My planets don't have a range of twelve; but granted, I do have Sector scanners out there with a range of fourteen... I seriously doubt, however, that the AI is that intelligent. I think, if he had, I'd have been contacted before I stumbled across the planet.
That having been said, it reminds me of a similar subject I've been meaning to bring up: Ship recognition. Why is it we are able to immediately identify to which race a ship belongs? In truth, I shouldn't even be seeing that border line: that should be something I have to send my spies in to reveal or discover through diplomacy.
It may just be me; but I think the game becomes more interesting when one doesn't know who to be friends with and who will ultimately be your enemy. This game has such great potential for some really great role playing, intrigue and such.
These anomalies I come across that are drifting remains of ships and other technology... They can be a real boon to providing all kinds of clues to what has or even still is transpiring out there. Imagine being a distant potential enemy who knows that my borders are closer to another of his(/her) enemies and also knows that I have yet to meet either of them... (can't happen as the game stands now; but imagine it anyway!)
If I were that sneaky foe: I would build a small fleet of ships based on the designs of that other race and use them to stage attacks along that other border...
That is the problem with imagination, though: It's always able to do more...