avoiding the ho

[snake339]

whats the best way to avoid it, i try to do a slight dive on contact with a con but apartly its not working

thnx

[TequilaChaser]

try to do a slight dive and off to one side or the other along with it,  also check out the following link , a write up about it by Lephturn

How To Avoid The Head On

[Ack-Ack]

You should go to NetAces.org and read the merge lectures from Rocketman and Bullethead.  This way you'll know how to merge and avoid the HO.



ack-ack

[Hap]

duck underneath

[Cobra412]

Most of the time simply ducking underneath will get your tail shot off if not severly damaged.  Things I typically do is initiate a bit of side slip in my jinks.  Also depending on the angle because not all HO's are at the 12 position you can also jink high with a bit of side slip.  Depends on the closure rate and angle to defeat an HO.  Anything off center you can pull up or down and into there path causing minimum angle of track to spoil a shot.  It's still a 50/50 chance to survive though.

[snake339]

have read both lectures,i try to merge slighty lower with some and to one side still taking hits during first pass

thnx for the replys

[WldThing]

Doing a slow barrel roll upon approaching the con always seems to work.

[Murdr]

Originally posted by snake339
have read both lectures,i try to merge slighty lower with some and to one side still taking hits during first pass

thnx for the replys

Then it is a matter of degree and timing that is eluding you.  If you are only picking a point in space down and to the right, you can be intercepted.  If on the other hand you pick that same point, and cross left just before you get to that intercept, it makes for a harder shot.  Even just ducking under, is not as simple as it sounds.  If you were decending at ROD 1 at 1.2k out, and increased your ROD stedily harder the closer you get, then pull up right before the merge.  You again would be much harder to gain a shot on than if you kept a constant pitch.  Using changing degrees of pitch & dirction heading into the merge is what makes you hard to line up.  

Ya only need three things to avoid.
1. Speed to manover
2. Time to manover
3. Space to manover
If I have all three, I almost never take any pings from a HO.  Sounds like you almost got it.

[BigMax]

Originally posted by snake339
i try to merge slighty lower with some and to one side still taking hits during first pass

Define slightly...
100', 200', 500'?

The seperation is not nearly as important as when you start your maneuver...

Look at it like this...
The other guy WILL shoot at you at about D1K or less usually - unless he knows what he is doing... most don't.  So what I do in most cases is angle 20 degrees right or left @ 2-3K or so and as I get to 1.5K I pull back and underneath...  Because of net lag, he will be aiming to hit me somewhere where I am not going to be & I will have vert seperation and angles on the merge... he will die.

An experienced guy that is HOing will be shooting at you at 1.5-2K and then avoiding your shots by a similar maneuver...  (yes I know.. extreme range) But, because of closure & lag, his bullets will have only travelled 800 to 1K when they rip you apart... About the time you start to maneuver.

The problems... If you start to early, you pull up right in front of him and you die, or you pull too late and get HO'd and die too...

So, TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

[Ecliptik]

I just stay out of the red light district.

[Claw]

I have been playing ah a very short time........."everyone"
 tells me DO NOT HO!!!!..........yet every one I engage in the MA  goes for HO ,,,,,,,,automatically,,,,,,,,these players have good rank(above 100) ,,,,,,,they have the numbers 3 v 1......and yet the still ho,,,,,,,hnnmmmmmmmm.....maybe I don't get it,,,,,,,curious how everyone distains ho's and yet uses them!

Claw

[Soda]

Everyone HO's sometimes.  Depends on the quality of the options that present themselves at the time.  The more options, the less likely someone should be to HO, the less options, the more likely they are.  You really shouldn't be surprised if someone tries to HO you when they are disadvantaged (especially when seriously in trouble).

Typically though, the HO is a great thing to see if the enemy is trying it.  It is such a predictable maneuver that you can exploit at merge and usually get yourself into excellent position post HO attempt.

[Cobra412]

Soda hit the nail on the head with his statement.  The HO is not a bad thing if your already in a bad situation.  The way I look at is I'm trying to reaquire a better position through the HO, not looking to get a kill.  I rarely if ever fire in an HO situation.  

I prefer a cold merge due to the fact that kind of shot is not only hard and very ineffecient but can be lethal for both parties so it's either death or a waste of ammo.  Also when I merge I'm not trying to merge directly at the 12 o'clock position but off center left or right. If I have the time to gain atleast one turn radius in seperation before the merge then I will. If for some reason a friendly is in trouble and thats the only angle I have to try and force the attacker off I'll come in off center and fire some rounds and hope for a hit to scare them off.

Many WWII aces used the head on not only against bombers but against fighters too.  Many situations and different tactical doctrines almost always have a head on situation at some point in the fight.  Navy pilots in WWII were actually trained extensively on the front quarter attacks due to there armament and highly durable airframes.  Most often than not this is true for 1 on 2, 2 on 1 and 2 on 2 dogfighting.  Though these fighting doctrines prefer the fighters to always have the bogeys to one side of them or the other, during the maneuvering stages HO's present themselves quite often.

 Depending on the bogey's and the fighting doctrine used ( double attacks, bracketing/pincer, and loose deuce) you'll see atleast 1 HO position inwhich the attackers have a firing solution.  These solutions are presented very quickly and for only a brief second during the engagement.  If the bogeys aren't killed during the first stage you'll see the same situations arise again coming through the next series of maneuvers.  These HO's are only in passing and aren't necessarily the way the position the want the bogeys in for the kill.

All in all using the frontal quadrant or HO to nullify a persons advantage is not wrong it's sound techniques used by even the best pilots.  The best pilots tend to keep themselves out of this situations or limit there exposure to it to a minimum.  Simple fact is you'll see your self in this position constantly due to the furballs that occur so often in the MA.  Some are simply unavoidable and taking the shot is your only option.  Others though are being used to setup a more advantageous position.  And then there are those that do it just to do it for a kill regardless of the outcome.

[gofaster]

Just open up with your four 20mm and two 17mm at d1.2 and wait for the other guy to explode (you're flying a 190A8, right?), exept if the other guy is flying a Mossie, Me110, or A-20.  Works well in a 109G10 with gondolas, too.  And N1k2s.  When the other guy comes on complaining about your head-on attack, just tell him your plane couldn't get out of the way.  

[pellik]

If all this ACM is too much for you: fly a plane with no gun convergence (P-38) and just light the other guy up at D1.3 or so. He will turn well before he gets the HO he was planning on once he hears the pings. This worked great for me back before I got decent with ACM.

-pellik