also it provides you with very important inteligence about the exact capabilities of your enemies, and their technology, and allows you to plan acordingly, in acordance to the capabilities of your enemy. you can get important data such as their armour tech, and sensor tech, much faster than you would with salvage, letting you get away with more bullsmeg. you can then have a better expectation for what you are going to fae on ground combat, allowing for adjustments in ground troops long long before you even find their home planet.