Scenario 1: I stop by a planet. It's minimally developed, no patrol or military base, so no guard fleets. I feel like tacbombing it, so I do. Then I fly off somewhere else, singing Judy Garland songs.
Scenario 2: I get a mission from an agent to tacbomb the exact same planet. I know the planet has no guard fleets, so I figure it's worth doing. I go to the planet. It has a strong guard fleet in orbit - multiple cruisers at least, usually. To tacbomb it, I will need to distract or fight past this fleet. The expected cost of the expedition has suddenly skyrocketed and is not at all congruent with the information available at mission briefing.
Obvious conclusion #1: the only reason the guard fleet is there is because I have the mission.
Obvious conclusion #2: the only other person than me who knows that I took the mission is the agent.
Obvious conclusion #3: the agent betrayed me and set me up - or, at BEST, has appalling security breaches in his organization.
Why does the game not recognize this?
Why is it GUARANTEED that a guard fleet shows up in case of a mission, while they NEVER show up if the player depends only on his own resources and initiative? Why are ALL agents hopelessly corrupt in this regard?
Why is it not possible to have at least some agents who are trustworthy and/or have decent security and no leaks and therefore the attack will come as a surprise the way it should? Why is it not possible to, upon observing that the details of the operation were very visibly leaked to the enemy, return to the agent, snarl something witty, and shotgun-blast him out a skyscraper window?