After some serious frustration, I'm wondering if anyone has done something to fix what I consider to be a major flaw in a great game - the fact that the computer cheats. It's always been a sore point with me that the AI has three separate cheats regarding missiles.

Cheat #1 - This will be obvious to anyone who plays the game. You cannot fire your cannons and target a craft with a missile. You have to switch between the two, and cannot fire one while the other is in use. You cannot use your missile targeting system unless you switch your cannons off. The AI can. A TIE Advanced can be sitting on your tail blasting away with its lasers, while the little box indicating that it is also targeting you with a missile merrily blinks on your HUD. Unfair.

Cheat #2 - Have you ever known an enemy fighter to run out of missiles? Neither have I. Set yourself to invulnerable and just park, and see how many missiles one ship sends your way.

Cheat #3 - Large craft can INSTANTLY fire an interception missile at any incoming projectile, without having to target it first. The very second you fire a heavy rocket at a frigate, it fires a missile to shoot down that rocket. It doesn't even pretend to be fair about this.

So does anyone know of a patch or mod that erases these cheats, making for a more fair playing experience?

While I can see where you are coming from, I must say that there are several things that you do that would be considered cheating by the AI. You can go after mission objectives that are not assigned, you can fly out of formation, and you can order wing men around. The game has some balance to it.

As for a tie advanced targeting you with missiles and lasers at the same time, IDK if that actually happens. Might be more than one fighter. Wouldn't surprise me if they can though. You can counter with dodging, and shooting, and you can always use the beam weapon if you have it.

For the capital ships, Often you don't need to target them. You can fly fast and just dumb fire the missiles and rockets. The capital ship will not lock onto them with their own warheads, and often won't target them with lasers either. The best way you can get your warheads to hit if you need to lock on to a specific component is to be moving really fast, and try to take out the launcher on the ship first. If your warheads are moving fast enough there often isn't enough time for the ship's warhead to hit it.

Yes the unlimited shots the AI gets is a bit frustrating, but your AI has them too. In some cases it seems like the AI is limited though. Often tie bombers will only produce one or two volleys onto a target before switching to lasers and sticking with them.