ok... I'm kinda lost on how this works. Does a higher research tech give you more information when you recon (espionage) someone? Or do you need to send more then one ship?... I never get information on the planet's defenses when I send a probe to their planet, and I'm wondering if it's simply because my espionage tech isn't high enough... Next... what is a good level to stop it at? doesn't every become unecessary to upgrade?

the higher the research, the more info you will recieve when compared to the person you are trying to probe, if his/her espionage is higher than yours, you will need to send more probes.

Basically, from what I have seen, 3 additional probes will give you one additional layer of info. so if you get only resources, 3 more will usually give you fleet, 6 more will give you defenses, 9 more will give you buildings, and 12 more will give you technologies. This is general and not verified, but it has worked for me. Each level of espionage you increase, you can basically reduce your probes by 3 as well

if theres no title box for the fleet, defenses, or technology, does that mean they don't have any? or... if theres the title but nothing under them, does that mean they were scanned, but didn't have any...

if there is no topic box it means you need to send 3 more probes, that will give you fleet, 6more gives you def...and so on, if there is nothing under the boxes that show, it means they have nothing in that category on that planet

Great, thank you!