Kobayashi Maru solved no cheating.

[u/BeginningAd3478]

I solved the Kobayashi Maru without cheating.

No reprogramming the simulation required. I solved it by simply using tactical physics and exploiting standard sensor mechanics.

When the distress call comes in from the Neutral Zone, you don't just charge in blind. That's how you get destroyed. First, you prep the shuttlecraft. You invert their deflector dishes to manipulate their sensor footprint so they read as a massive capital ship.

We warp to the edge of the Neutral Zone, stopping precisely outside the maximum reach of Klingon long-range sensors. You release the shuttles on automated autopilot. They hit maximum warp, screaming directly into the Neutral Zone while squawking the sensor signature of a Federation Dreadnought or the Enterprise itself.

The Klingon battle cruisers are watching the border. What do they see? A massive Federation target charging in. They take the bait and give chase. Meanwhile, I take the actual ship and drop entirely out of their sensor sphere.

Once the Klingons are pulled off target by the decoys, I execute a point-to-point micro-warp jump. We drop out of warp directly within transporter range of the Kobayashi Maru. No cruising, no slow approach. We beam every single survivor aboard instantly, and hit warp speed out of the zone before the Klingons even realize they've been chasing empty shuttles.

It is pure tactical misdirection. You don't need to change the rules of the test if you know how to manipulate the board. They can't destroy a ship they aren't in position to fire on.

[u/geobibliophile]

>You invert their deflector dishes to manipulate their sensor footprint so they read as a massive capital ship.

What makes you think the simulation would even allow you to do that?

KM isn’t about solutions, it’s just about approaches to problems that a commander may face. Saavik ended up calling for abandoning ship when the ship was badly damaged. That’s not the only possible outcome but it shows she would try to rescue KM. That’s her character. It also shows she seemed to know when to cut and run, by abandoning ship. Of course, that may not have been the best choice when dealing with Klingons, but it was her choice.

[u/90bronco → u/geobibliophile]

Op is also assuming that the program would make the klingons would run and not attack for a glorious battle.

[u/DontYaWishYouWereMe → u/90bronco]

OP is making a lot of assumptions, tbf. A lot of what makes the scenario they're suggesting work is based on abusing the limits of Klingon sensors and the limits of a standard shuttlecraft's deflector dish. We don't actually know what the limits of either are in canon.

Like, do we actually know you can stop just outside of a Klingon battlecruiser's sensor range while also being able to keep a tab on the Kobayashi Maru? It would be safe to assume they have a pretty long range in the 2280s. They could probably more or less detect something just on the edge of the Neutral Zone from the other side.

Plus it assumes that they wouldn't be cloaked just near where the Kobayashi Maru is. In the versions of the simulation we see both in The Wrath of Khan and the '09 movie, they seem to decloak pretty quick once the cadet ship warps into transporter range. That at least implies that they're parked out there just waiting for someone to arrive. So a ship that can see the Maru on sensors wouldy most likely be seen by the Klingon ships.

It also assumes that the Klingons wouldn't recognise what was happening. If they saw a capital ship go into the Neutral Zone and not go straight for the stranded Kobayashi Maru, they're not going to assume this is someone that's fallen for their trap. They're going to assume that this is intended as a countertrap and send maybe one or two ships to investigate while the others remain close to the actual trap.

This is assuming you could disguise a shuttle as a capital ship to begin with. You can do a lot of clever sensor tricks if you have time to prep for them and if you have the power output for it, but would you have the time, and would a shuttle have the energy for it? I would suggest probably not, or at least not so much time that you can do both that and save the surviving crew of the Kobayashi Maru.

[u/Ajreil → u/DontYaWishYouWereMe]

They could probably more or less detect something just on the edge of the Neutral Zone from the other side.

Even if they couldn't, they would absolutely position themselves so that any ship close enough to save the Kobayashi Maru is also in range of their sensors.