My personal favorites for roping are the F4's and LA's.
The F4's, especially the c-hog! Get the dope to chase you vertical and as he starts to wallow pop several stages of flaps and pull it on over, done right, a complete reversal takes only 2-3 seconds and the 4x20's simply pulverize the fool who though he could take you.
The La5 when low on gas is simply amazing. It damn near hovers and you can just abuse it terribly holding it vertically untill it flops over one way or the other with no fear of entering a spin. Works very well against everything but a G-10 using the "very slowly start climbing 'till he's roped before he knows it" technique.
The general roping technique:
Unless you have a massive performance advantage you want to start with an E advantage. Let the opponent on your six, I like about 600 yrds, where a little juking means a damaging shot is unlikely. Depending on your E advantage start pulling vertical as the range increase to 800 to 1000 yards. Do this very slowly!!! An abrupt pull up allows the enemy to "cut the corner" of your manuever and gain closure even if his airspeed is lower than yours! I typically try to get vertical just before stall speed. This allows you to choose to nose over to the front or rear or perform a wingover if you choose. I also suggest very slow vertical rolls to throw off the enemy's aim and lets you watch what they are doing on the way up. If they realize they are being roped and start to break, turn into them immediately! They have less E and will be easy lunch. If they continue to follow you just watch and wait 'till they start wallowing/stalling, or ideally just before, so as you have completed your reverse they are just floating there in a stall with no airspeed and no control. Experience helps to judge when to reverse.
