Way to see other empire’s military strength using spies

[gravyten]

I can see their map I don’t think there is a way to see their military strength except maybe deep cover. Should be an easier way just to get a rough estimate

I get reports on their gdp on the victory screen

[Nightskies]

I think that stealing territory or map data does not include current ship locations, thus not revealing military strength. Can anyone confirm off the top of their head?

If that's true, the only way to do it is with ships and looking range scanners. (I'll let autospell have its way there.) Doing a broad sweep of their empire with a single ship with said scanner does a pretty good job at identifying their strength. Having a handful of exploration ships like that running around the galaxy is my usual way of doing things, and otherwise have long range scanners scattered like bird feed in my empire.

[AKicebear]

If that's true, the only way to do it is with ships and looking range scanners. (I'll let autospell have its way there.) Doing a broad sweep of their empire with a single ship with said scanner does a pretty good job at identifying their strength. Having a handful of exploration ships like that running around the galaxy is my usual way of doing things, and otherwise have long range scanners scattered like bird feed in my empire.

It would be nice if explorer's auto scout enemy setting worked - I've only see them go idle under that config. Ideally I could design/build a few explorers specifically for that, which would then just autoscout endlessly to assess strength/latest bases/fleets/tech level of components.

[Nightskies]

Much agreed. As it is, I manually control them, and do sometimes forget they exist.

[StormingKiwi]

I think that stealing territory or map data does not include current ship locations, thus not revealing military strength. Can anyone confirm off the top of their head?

Only the operations map does. Territory and Galaxy do not.