If I bash the powerplant of a conda to bellow 0% and it still flies, boosts and fires back at me, then the NPC is cheating.
When an NPC drops from hyperspace and immediately tries to interdict me, then he is cheating.
When I boost, FA-OFF and turn 180º and boost again, I'm cheating, cause no pilot could survive that G shock in a ship that reaches max speed >500m/s. (around 37 gs)
When you use synthesis to create more stuff, you're cheating, because materials occupy no space in-game, and so allow you to have more ammo/heatsinks/chaffs etc.. by science-magic.