If the late game jump drive stays in I suppose that would be a better stand-in for warp-drive then just tweaking the stupid hyperlanes around.
As for the base game I always found Hyper Drive to be the least interesting of the drive options, as for forcing players to interact with static defences that doesn't really fit Star Trek, in the shows the borders are bypassed fairly frequently, unless you set up those tachyon detection grids along the neutral zone. Even then by themselves they only alert the Federation to incursions and border violations, they do nothing to physically stop them and Romulans or Klingons determined to invade will not necessarily be stopped by them.
They're not and will not ever be a physical border wall. Those are mostly folly anyway and about as porous as Swiss Cheese in reality. The only then mega expensive border walls are really good for, whether on this planet or their sci-fi equivalents would be to reassure the population and make it look like politicians are doing something about their security.
Sensors and detection techs on the other hand are really useful and they're arguably more useful with Warp Drive, as you can see where your enemy is headed rather than with Hyperlanes where every possible fleet movement is predictable and predetermined anyway.
So hope the NH team can find a way to bypass and work around this mess.