Planets Screen newbie question

[Poddu]

Hi all,

I have the demo and am waiting for the retail Version. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if this is already fixed in the retail Version.

Early in the game, when sending out colony ships, I cannot tell if a previously explored planet is inhabited or not by another culture unless I have a ship stationed in the system. With a ship in the other cultures system, when I go to my Planets screen it shows that planet as an inhabited alien colony. However, once my "explorer" ship has left the other culture's system, the Planets screen shows said planet as a colonizable, seemingly uninhabited planet again. It does not matter if I have a trade and research treaty or no treaty at all. It seems to me that my empire should be able to "remember" which planets my explorations have revealed alien cultures to be on.

Is this a "feature" or a bug, or am I just not understanding something basic? Sorry if this has been addressed before, I looked through a lot of Posts and could find no mention of it (which makes me suspect that I'm doing something wrong). Thanks in advance!

-Poddu