Espionage
From Starfleet Commander
Espionage is when you use a Hermes Class Probe to see another player's resources, fleet, defenses, buildings, and research levels on a particular planet. When you conduct espionage of someone, how much information you receive is based on your Espionage Tech level and how many probes you send.
Towards the upper level of the games, it becomes increasingly important to probe before you attack, as otherwise you may be attacking an opponent with superior forces to your own.
The details for espionage reports can be found in the page for Espionage Tech
Conducting Espionage cannot be done while in Diplomacy mode.
