ways to beat the kobayashi maru without cheating
- Thread starter WildManWizard
- Start date
I can’t remember - do cadets who take the test know, in advance, that they can’t win?
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Simple.. You don't go in.. Your vessel has 430, so simple numbers.. I'm not going to risk 430 people to rescue 300..
and you don't risk an interstelar war by breaking the border as well..
Space sucks.. you roll ur dice and takes your chances!
So lets run thru some possible rescue..
Warp in stay 5 seconds, warp out.. won't work. you can only transport maybe 30 at a time, and cycling every 6 seconds.. thats still 1 minute standing still with shields down.
Tow it.. nope, you towing something makes you slower than the D7..
Actuall plan - Maybe you warp in, Tractor beam it, then transport while running, then jetteson it when done.. Then place a charge in the ship and blow it infront of the D7's.. bobs your uncle and over the border..
and you don't risk an interstelar war by breaking the border as well..
Space sucks.. you roll ur dice and takes your chances!
So lets run thru some possible rescue..
Warp in stay 5 seconds, warp out.. won't work. you can only transport maybe 30 at a time, and cycling every 6 seconds.. thats still 1 minute standing still with shields down.
Tow it.. nope, you towing something makes you slower than the D7..
Actuall plan - Maybe you warp in, Tractor beam it, then transport while running, then jetteson it when done.. Then place a charge in the ship and blow it infront of the D7's.. bobs your uncle and over the border..
The idea is that they don't know in advance. The cadets probably have no idea what kind of scenario will be played out.
Kor
I expect that when eventually the Kobiashi Maru test got famous, and for whatever reason Starfleet decided not to randomize the name of the ship, they spring it on you at random during one of a multitude of simulator missions. It seems they want you to know it's a no win scenario early. Since it's actually a test of character, I guess it doesn't tell them much psychologically if the cadet doesn't know the situation is hopeless.
The tribble shipping crates are empty. Now the Klingons are actually mad.
All of this assumes the test isn't programmed to thwart your every move. If you warp in it disappears (as per what we see in TWOK "I've lost their signal"), if you don't and just sit back, the crew and passengers suffocate as life support fails. etc. If you can get close to it, the Klingons' first torpedo blows it up and the debris damages your ship or whatever.
Yeah, the impression I've gotten is that the test is programmed with every probable scenario and a way to checkmate it. It's more of a test of character, ie how do you handle a situation? Kirk is the only one who beat it because Kirk was the only one who cheated. Which in itself tells the instructors about Kirk's command style. This is the guy who, faced with problems, will come up with out-of-the-box solutions.
Surrender your starship and join the Klingon Empire.
Glory to the Empire!
The only way to lose is to be a sore loser, or panic and do something stupid, like bail out with an escape pod. It's a psychological measure as well.
For all we know, the test is completely randomized in all its parameters (meaning one may meet Klingons at the RNZ while rescuing the Kobayashi Maru or flying dinosaurs on ancient Andor while apprehending John Gill) - but Kirk in two timelines happened to get the same scenario, and in ST2:TWoK also chose to repeat his own version on a bunch of students as a sadistic birthday gift to himself. Picard never faced a Kobayashi Maru, to our knowledge, nor did anybody else we know of.
This is possible, yet makes Saavik look like an idiot for protesting that very fact. But it is her first time, as far as we know, while we only met Kirk at it after he had been exposed to the scenario personally. Could be the "seems they want" is just observer bias, then.
Timo Saloniemi
No doubt. Saavik, famed for her knowledge of rules, sould have been able to quote the one that puts the NZ treaty ahead of the duty to save lives if such a thing existed. The matter must be juridically ambiguous for the scenario to work. Otherwise, Starfleet ought to reward those skipper-hopefuls who can save the galaxy from conflict through their knowledge of the law.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
What happened to the "Risk is our business" speech? 
I look at it that a good commander needs to know when to act and break the rules then ask for forgiveness later. If justified, he is forgave and sometimes rewarded. If not, he is court martial'ed and the Federation gets to clean up the mess. As we saw in all series, the Captain broke rules/laws and they continued as Captain. How do we know this, ah, the same actor continues to play the same character in the next episode. 
I look at it that a good commander needs to know when to act and break the rules then ask for forgiveness later. If justified, he is forgave and sometimes rewarded. If not, he is court martial'ed and the Federation gets to clean up the mess. As we saw in all series, the Captain broke rules/laws and they continued as Captain. How do we know this, ah, the same actor continues to play the same character in the next episode.
Bring in a phaser and stun the bridge crew, then contact the klingons saying I'll turn the ship over to you if you let the civilians go.. then blow up the ship once they leave, killing the klingons too..!
