For my latest conventional start, I decided to dump some ruins on LUNA to get my race thinking about aliens. Then my first jump point found is inside the orbit of Venus, with a fricking Jump Gate. Queue the probe with a really tiny fighter. I thought about cheaping out, building just an engine and a fuel tank, but I decided to be nice, give them enough endurance and an engineering system so they could last enough for a retrieval mission.
I am RPing that communications are possible, even if transit isn't, but still. This throws my schedule off a bit. I had anticipated a somewhat more leisurely exploration, refitting my Nuclear Thermal ships to Ion while grav surveying was done and systems probed. Suddenly all my grounded Geo Survey ship crews and officers are like, "Wha?!?" as the prospect of adventures at least a year earlier than projected are possible.