Did anyone else have trouble with this Predator and Prey SP mission?

I bought it this weekend and I'm afraid my Elite career has stalled right out of the gate as I can't seem to get past this Predator and Prey SP mission, when I try doing it stealth mode coasting around with shields off I can kill the first two Fed ships but when I go for the third one the Cobra always seems to find me and attack.

When I try to attack the Cobra first, I can usually get the jump on him and knock out it's shields, but once he manages to get his weapons on me, my shields are no match.

I know I just have to keep trying this until I figure it out, but just wondering if anyone else got stuck on this mission ?

It's extremely difficult, when I go stealth mode I almost always get found or lose contact with the targets. The only way I've gotten through it has been brute force by taking out the Cobra right away.

It's a good training mission to demonstrate a situation not to get into in the first place.

I would actually disregard the briefing, just go for the Cobra first.

Tactics:
- the sidewinder is much nimbler than the cobra, albeit not just as fast. With a bit of practice you should be able to stay locked on his six o'clock.

- He will then try to shake you off by boosting straight and get some separation, that's the moment you know you have him. Even then mind you, he can be dangerous if you let him get that separation. He can pitch pretty fast his weapons back on you.

Q: What to do?
A: When you notice he stopped maneuvering and he's getting away, try to point your nose as fast as possible between his engine and disengage the Flight assist. Then boost after him, cut the throttle when you reached top speed and put all pips between shields and guns. This way he'll not be able to get away as you're just a hair behind him while at the same time you've got all the energy to shoot away and keep his shields under pressure.

As soon as he tries to reverse kick back in your Flight assist and maneuver to stay on his six.
Eventually you'll manage to put him out of his misery without a scratch on your hull.

Then go get the federal fighters.

Let me know if it works.

I've managed to take out the fighters without worrying about the Cobra. Took some doing tho'.

I switched off any unnecessary modules (such as lasers and frameshift drive) to save power and used silent running, deploying heatsinks when temperature reached critical levels (usually one after each of the first two fighters and hope to get the third before overheating). Taking them out quickly with the cannon is difficult, it's unlikely that you'll manage it before they get a chance to run, after which you have to chase them down as quickly as possible. You have plenty of ammo, so there's no need to get in close before opening up, just lead the target and open up.

If the Cobra does engage you it's not necessarily game over. Since you're hidden from their sensors there's a chance they'll lose contact and fail to reacquire you.

Cool thanks for the tips guys, will use those tips to keep working on it, hopefully will teach me dogfighting as well as stealth.

I think the scenario was created before some fairly significant improvement to the AI, many have stated that the single scenarios were much easier prior to the Premium Beta. [/idle speculation]

QFT, but it's still largely beatable, with the right skill.

Skill or persistence, probably some combination of the two. I'm very modest so reckon it was more of the latter.

Very true. Probably my usage of Skill word was a bit implying.

Can I just ask why you would play these missions now? They were only there in the first place to give us something to mess about with until the main game content (which we have now) was delivered.

Cuz they're still fun!

I still go play them pretty regularly. It has very well executed space dog fighting mechanics, and the scenarios provide good instant gratification.

It would be pretty cool, actually, if they'd release a simple mission builder. The ED engine would be well suited to a linear, Wing Commander style space shooter. Usually I want the grand, persistent universe simulation experience, but I like just jumping in and blowing stuff up without consequences too.

I was actually playing because I thought I had to finish them before being able to go online since the "Online" button was red, so I assumed it would stop being red when I passed all the SP missions, but I just went to check and I now see that the Online button only stays red for a few secs when I first start the game and then goes normal color, I just had never waited long enough to see that.

I will still want to finish these missions for the training, but great to know that I don't have to wait to try online mode, so thanks for asking the question which led me to that discovery