I dont know if its always been like this, (I havent played beta 1 or 2) but I find the announcements during the game more annoying than helpful. I always look up when my tech officer says "enemy forces inbound" and find out its just a scout. (Then the one time I didnt look figuring it would be just another scout I ended up losing a planet to an invasion force)
I was thinking maybe there could be two diffrent announcements for scouts and real enemies, ie, "Enemy scout inbound". And as for the "impending pirate raid" notices, It would be nice if I only heard them when they were coming for me and not every other empire in the galaxy. I normaly have to leave a scout at the star so I can see which way they are going.