"there's no stealth in space, but there most certainly is stealth in an atmosphere."
It would allow for ambushes, and fake-ambushes.
A lone-ship running from a fleet, carrying a local governor, running past an uninhabited planet, away from a chasing enemy fleet. The lone-ship passes right next to the planet and keeps going. The enemy fleet follows. When the fleet is passing next to the planet, will there be an ambush waiting? Will missiles hidden in the moon orbiting the planet emerge and fire in a cloud of <"thunder" replacement>?
The algorithm deems the chance of an ambush springing from the planet atmosphere as "possible", and the fleet retreats.
Unless you need to make a gravity-assisted course correction, why would you follow in the path of a ship? Ambushes aside, they can drop all sorts of things behind them that you don't want to run into.
It would allow for ambushes, and fake-ambushes.
A lone-ship running from a fleet, carrying a local governor, running past an uninhabited planet, away from a chasing enemy fleet. The lone-ship passes right next to the planet and keeps going. The enemy fleet follows. When the fleet is passing next to the planet, will there be an ambush waiting? Will missiles hidden in the moon orbiting the planet emerge and fire in a cloud of <"thunder" replacement>?
The algorithm deems the chance of an ambush springing from the planet atmosphere as "possible", and the fleet retreats.