This training mission is MUCH easier in XvT than it is in TIE Fighter, because you pilot a ship with shields (whereas in TIE Fighter you do not, and have to rely on either expert maneuverability and laser accuracy, or power down your engines when you're just in range of a mine and pick them off one at a time).

The assault gunboat is quite slow, and it doesn't have a lot of power reserved for laser fire, but it does have deflector shields, as well as ion cannons (used to disable craft without destroying them). It's not my favorite ship, but it definitely has its uses. It's not built for dogfighting, but the ion cannons are useful for disabling all your foes quickly so that you can then pick them off one by one. You won't win a turning match though, and you're a favorite target of bombers from a great distance. Gunboats won't last much longer than any other craft near enemy capital ships.

Once the mission is complete, you get several waves of increasingly challenging opponenets to fight. The A-Wings usually tear me apart, because not only are they much faster and more maneuverable, they're equipped with torpedoes, so I thought I'd spare myself the pain.