Can the sidewinder in the training mission sidewinder face-off actually be destroyed? I have been trying for months and it still kicks my bottom every time and even though I deplete it's shields and reduce it to a gibbering wreck it still manages to hammer me. I have wiped out anacondas whilst playing one handed reading emails yet I can't best this poxy bloody sidewinder! Is it a Kobyashi Maru thing? Can you win?
Combat training. Sidewinder face-off or kobayashi Maru?
- Thread starter SENTER
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I agree, much tougher than the in-game AI for some reason. I smoked him with FA switched off in the end
Personally, I think there should be an un-winnable Kobayashi Maru style mission that handles what happens when you get wasted.
Would solve the issue with the daily "I lost everything because I didn't keep the insurance costs" insurance threads!
Personally, I think there should be an un-winnable Kobayashi Maru style mission that handles what happens when you get wasted.
Would solve the issue with the daily "I lost everything because I didn't keep the insurance costs" insurance threads!
Most definitely yes, and pretty easily in the grand scheme of things. But yeah, facing an equal ship can be quite hard in the beginning as you trully have no technical edge in the fight (same maneuverability, firepower, etc...). And the NPC has the advantage of perfect situational awareness and instantaneous reaction time. But it doesn't fly really well, so keep practicing, try to concentrate on power management, thrusters usage and learn to read the radar at a glance. Once you master this, the NPC's advantage will be mostly voided and you will have a much easier time 
As a side note : most fights against NPCs in the "real game" are easier than this in a way, because you can upgrade your ship to have an edge in the engagements and you can pick your fights most of the time. And because shield cell banks exist. The "incursion" training mission is actually the biggest combat challenge I've found in the game yet, and I never won it. Managed to get to wave 9 the last time I tried and would most likely have won. I blew up one of the sideys that i managed to isolate for a bit but ... the other two somehow decided not to follow anymore us after a minute or two, and I couldn't find them after that ><. So yeah training missions are not easy and a good way to get better at PVE dogfights fast.
As a side note : most fights against NPCs in the "real game" are easier than this in a way, because you can upgrade your ship to have an edge in the engagements and you can pick your fights most of the time. And because shield cell banks exist. The "incursion" training mission is actually the biggest combat challenge I've found in the game yet, and I never won it. Managed to get to wave 9 the last time I tried and would most likely have won. I blew up one of the sideys that i managed to isolate for a bit but ... the other two somehow decided not to follow anymore us after a minute or two, and I couldn't find them after that ><. So yeah training missions are not easy and a good way to get better at PVE dogfights fast.
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Yeah, back in Beta I ran this mission dozens upon dozens of times, until I could kill it without putting any pips in systems and without losing any ring of shields.
Throttle control, lateral thrusters, and reading the radar instantly were skills I picked up doing that.
Was good practice - in the real game it became easy to smoke Cobras in my newbie sidewinder, as long as they didn't FSD out.
Good tips:
* Vertical thrusters during a turn can change your turn radius and angular velocity
* Don't joust. NPCs always try to do this, well, don't be like they are
* Reverse thrust exists - use it when appropriate
Throttle control, lateral thrusters, and reading the radar instantly were skills I picked up doing that.
Was good practice - in the real game it became easy to smoke Cobras in my newbie sidewinder, as long as they didn't FSD out.
Good tips:
* Vertical thrusters during a turn can change your turn radius and angular velocity
* Don't joust. NPCs always try to do this, well, don't be like they are
* Reverse thrust exists - use it when appropriate
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Wouldn't, since generally speaking those people don't play the training missions but rather jump into the game.
You can beat faceoff scenario very simply: leave power management set to default, set throttle at 50% and leave all throttle/thrust controls alone - don't touch them at all. Completely ignore the fact that hes shooting at you and concentration on a) always flying/turning towards him especially when hes head on (#) and use scanner to turn/pitch towards him when hes off screen on b) shooting accurately and economically (i.e. only firing when dead on target).
(#) - avoiding action collision if possible of course.
Most people I see play this do themselves more harm than good by trying to boost and use fancy evasion tactics etc and panicking when getting shot at, if you simply keep steering towards him @50% throttle he will never get on your tail long enough to do any serious damage.
(#) - avoiding action collision if possible of course.
Most people I see play this do themselves more harm than good by trying to boost and use fancy evasion tactics etc and panicking when getting shot at, if you simply keep steering towards him @50% throttle he will never get on your tail long enough to do any serious damage.
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^This exactly. It's a life-changer. Up-thrusters can help you bring your guns on target when in lag-pursuit, while down-thrusters are a good way to reduce the advantage of a more nimble opponent by increasing the distance between you and your target which means that you have to turn less to keep it in front of you (and your guns).
Also a quick tip to turn a joust into a chase : while your are going head-to-head, put 4 pips in SYS to tank the enemy shots an 2 in ENG to go faster and shorten this part as much as possible. Also, make sure your ENG capacitor has enough energy to boost, but don't do it just yet. ANd shoot your opponent as much as your stored WEP power allows while you're at it. One or two seconds before passing the enemy, start slowing down to bring your speed in the blue zone. The more powerful your boost and the slower your opponent, the slower you should go. As you pass the other ship, start turning around as hard as possible. Try to keep your opponent in front and above you during the turn, so that you can see where he's going. As you are completing your 180 (~45 to 70° remaining I'd say), BOOST ! This will let you complete the turn much faster. And if you time it right and fine tune your trajectory with vertical / lateral thrusters (which also benefit from the boost), this can put you right on your prey's tail. Put your pips to ENG and WEP as you see fit to stick there and hammer the ship until it explodes. Against slow enough opponents, you may not even need to boost.
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Good point. This, sadly, is why we shouldn't really care about some of the people that do run without insurance.
There are, however, quite a lot of players that fall foul of this without ever seeing the mechanism of ship destruction until it's too late. This would help them - the players that care to learn.