The way CTP handled most diplomacy was with treaties. "No Trespassing" being one of my favorites. Would stop the enemy from exploring in your territory. Breaking treaties affected your standing with other ai nations in the world as well, but that wouldn't always stop the ai from doing like a human and breaking the treaty if he saw you as weak. I guess a dominions twist on that would be to sign a no trespassing treaty then scout cautiously, because then if your scout is revealed/caught you've just broken your treaty and will find future diplomacy more difficult potentially making your nation the target of all the others.
That's just one example.