I would like to have the ability to initiate a training duel where it simulates combat between two players - i.e. I am helping a newbie with combat skills, we initiate the training duel, we fight, and it shows damage (or how much damage each hit *would* do), and then afterward, the newbie does not have to buy a new ship and weapon (or me, if I am *really* bad at it). That way you could train your own nation's players in combat without any loss.

don't those that are of the same nation not take damage from each other already, I was corrected on this last week. Or is that eliminated when a duel is initiated in which case you just don't "duel" you would just fight each other.

It would be kinda neat to have somethin like this. So that I can train someone continuously without having to leave and repair.

You CAN just practice with a student from your nation, but its difficult for people sometimes to know when they're getting hit. It would be nice if it simulated everything about the duel, but at the end it would reinstate your hull to its preduel values.

Owing to the possible abuse of this in combat situations, I would suggest that if damage is taken by either pilot as a result of a 3rd pilot, the damage should remain, and the pilots should not be returned to their original values.

This way, training duels could only take place in empty sectors, away from other groups.

what a good idea!

yah, that sounds workable, DEVS?

It could either be something like /practiceduel invite "player" or some free guns that don't actually hurt, but you can see when you have been hit by one. You could have damageless rockets, missiles and mines as well for practice.

Last night I got into a duel with someone and ended up having a fight that was paused every few seconds to explain what my opponent could do to better his last moves. It cost him quite a few ships :)

It would be great to have a /practiceduel that would show a fake damage meter next to the real one, and allow us to have duels without risk for teaching purposes. This fits in well with the 'mentor' aspect of the game too.

Why not just have a 'simulator' mode. Jumpgate does this... you can buy anything available to your nation for a $1 and fight other players/fake enemies, but nothing carries over outside. You don't get XP for simulator kills, etc... You would need to be docked of course.

This way you dont have to worry about hostiles joining the fun or anyone using it to exploit combat with bots/PvP.

The simulator has been suggested before.
Any thing which lowers the number of players in the universe is a BAD thing

Simulators have been previously discussed:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/7731

i do like the idea of a practice duel. maybe implement a damage meter when the duel starts and once it reaches zero the duel would end. no standard damage is done to either player. might give mentors a new lease on life so to speak. lol