[Raapys]

I've seen them doing it without any contacts and only their home system explored though.

Also Kwok, I've not yet seen *any* empire research other than the Frigate size ships, i.e. they research it to level 3 then dismiss the rest completely. Guessing it has something to do with the altered tech tree in the mod? The AI also seem a wee bit too interested in researching that cultural stuff.