Spying on NPR homeworlds with ELINT modules is very possible and profitable. I do it all the time.
I don't say it's not possible, but you would require 2 things:
Enough EM range to be out of the enemy sensor range
To get there and remain undetected from possible patrols, civilian lines, etc
I personally find the combination ELINT Diplomatic Module easier to manage and overall safer (the reason being that we actually have the Diplomatic exception string of code)
It's...maybe a bit exploitative of the AI, in that once it loses track of the spy ship it basically forgets the ship is present.
My guess is that the AI currently suffers the same bug/issue as the player and when it loses its contact the transition with the following order to the new one makes the AI not forgetting about the ship but lose contact entirely. As stated before and with more in-depth analysis, could be fair to assume that now the AI will be able to track down ships better and for longer. However, without Steve's confirmation that remains a wild and totally speculative guess.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=12523.msg152588#msg152588I seem to remember that a sort of short-term memory is already implemented into the code, so if what you saying it's correct, it may be possible we are facing a bug similar to the one that was not recording the AMM capability of the enemy. So, again, without confirmation, it is easy to assume that the AI is not tracking properly the location of the missing contact, therefore not actively looking for the ship
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg119676#msg119676As the records are actually in the DB, should be easy for the AI to lodge a request to investigate certain contacts with appropriate forces. Eventually, importance could be set considering how old is the contact, where it was made, and what sort of contact was (size, number of ships, and more). The AI could then dismiss contacts already investigated, too old, or simply deemed uninteresting. Again, assuming that it either doesn't actually do it already or, if it should, it may be bugged then.