I have long been a fan of this genre of games start way back to Masters of Orion. Every new iteration in this genre has always lifted the bar sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.
Every game in my experience has failed in Military Intelligence. I cant even think of any examples that have come close... perhaps Homeworld and its probe that would warn you when an enemy was near...
I am assuming there will be some sort of spying in this game. Chances are it will feature a means of stealing enemy technology, engaging in sabotage, and gathering economic information. What I would like to see is having a spy keeping an eye on their military activities. Report to me what the specifications of their warships, numbers, locations, destinations... you know, the things an Admiral would want to know in order to effectively fight his foe.
I hate sitting in my empire just doing my thing not being a bother to anyone. Out of the blue a fleet suddenly appears in orbit above one of my planets and begins laying waste to all of my hard work. Now if I had any say I would start lining people up against a wall and blasting them for failing to warn me of that huge armada that somehow walked right into orbit un-noticed.
In other games the only options available to you were sending out scout ships that had a large sight range and spot the enemy fleets ASAP. Or you could take the hint when the other empire starts demanding cash for nothing. Both scenarios are not terribly acceptable. In the prior case you may be able to spot them ahead of time but there will be no way for you to react in time and build a sufficient defense... so you have to have a comparable fleet ready and what if I want to focus on my economy first? The later scenario may leave no doubt on the intent of the other empire but what it does is lead to many questions... are these empty threats? How many ships do they have? where are they?... and so on.
So, to the cream of my point. Sins being a real time game of such a massive scale it is going to be impossible for the player to constantly scan the heavens in the hope of spotting that enemy fleet in time. The reputed automation and AI assistance will help greatly but I think there needs to be an active way to keep an eye on your enemy's military.
Where does Sins stand with espionage?
