If I was playing MP I would be totally using this feature.
How do you truly know that your ships, though invisible to you, aren't really fully visible to your opponents? If so, then they're not visible to you as their commander charged with their safety, but all the while they're presenting a fat and juicy target to your enemies' navies. Hear those booms? Those are my missiles and mass-drivers hitting the weakest parts of your colony ships and transports. Casting your colonists and their goats and chickens, as well as your troops and their equipment out into the vacuum of space.
The fact is, the game on YOUR local machine is just that. Local. If it's not behaving correctly, then you really have no idea how to play the game, regardless if it's a single player or multiplayer game.