taking off fog of war

The only way to take off fog of war is to implement a specific cheat code.

Not sure if you want to continue to pursue that or not.

Good luck.

Cheese anyone?

I enabled cheats and used ctrl-f to remove the fog of war for my first two games. It was just something I didn't want to deal with when starting out and basically being overwhelmed with all the new information.

But it's a crutch you should try not to become dependent upon. Research up to Sensors IV and build Eyes of the Universe as soon as reasonable, certainly before going to war.