They may have decided you're the mega-evil empire.
Watch for other AIs also suddenly declaring war on you.
As for the psychic weapon that's out-ranging you...this is possibly the result of weapon platform mounts, as they increase a weapon's range where ship and base mounts don't. If you want to glimpse into the future of weapons technology, make yourself a new game and set tech level for new players to high. You'll start with all techs, and under Help, you can find a weapons report. Good info to have.
[ February 15, 2004, 07:56: Message edited by: Sivran ]