I've been playing this mission for quite a while. Not only is it difficult and long but it is also supposed to end at the 30 second mark with the cruiser jumping to hyperspace, according to the strategy guide, but it doesn't happen, it just stays there and I fail the mission even when EVERYTHING has been destroyed.

I'm on my laptop so I can't verify right now, but isn't your cruiser supposed to load some containter in that mission or something?

Not that I'm aware of.

AFAIK you have to protect a cruiser from a lot of enemies. Usually it ends with the cruiser taking some damage, at least shields down. I don't know if it's possible to damage the engines and that prevents the jump to hyperspace for the cruiser.

Hi!
Topic solved, but no precise solution provided. So I have something to add. I have found similar topic on Steam forum.
One guy recomended to set
cycles=fixed 10000
in dosbox config file but this value was far too low. Game FPS was not stable. So after I died quickly I tried
cycles=fixed 15000
Game was smoother but it could still be improved. After all the Cruiser jumped into hyperspace after about 10 minutes which is too early. I have not tried to run the mission again being tired of replaying it several times. Next time I would try setting
cycles=fixed 27000
Last value is recommended on the other topic of Steam forum.

This is actually not a problem with Dosbox as such. The same thing happens with real DOS as well, if the PC is too fast (Pentium-level or so). One other mission that is affected by the same bug is TOD 5 mission 2, where the tugs won’t move, making it impossible to clear the mission. Can't verify suitable settings for Dosbox for bonus mission, but I cleared the other mission with cycles below 10 000, just to be safe. It helps to downgrade graphics in-game, too.

A Steam thread claims that TIE fighter has similar problems, but I never had issues with a relatively fast DOS machine.

Edit: Okay, at least in my case 11500 cycles didn’t cut it, the cruiser didn’t jump. 6500 or so worked for me, with the cruiser escaping after 10 or so minutes.