Fight's (read: HO) On!!

[Edmo]

I've finally realized a large number of cyber pilots cannot resist the head on pass.  It's like the bag of candy laying in front of you when no one else is home.  You can't resist yourself.  Over the last 5 or so years, I've jinked and bunted to avoid the wild spray of bullets during these head on passes.  I've looked down my nose at their tactics much like a lacrose player looks down on the bowler.  I've chimed in on channel 200 when people beat up the head on pilots, but I'll do it no more...

Bring 'em on!  I'll be flying you favorite head on airplanes which make "E" out of thin air.  That's right the LA7 & N1Ks.  I'll see your head on and raise you a bunch!  I'm mastering the art of the head on and I'll be hunting you down.  Watch your 6 because you might see me there between my head on passes.  I'll give you one freebee head on pass to see if you are a "bowler" and if so Fights On!

Enjoy the simulation and have fun!

Edmo

[mechanic]

so if i dont ho you, you will play nice?

if so i'll no its you, you'll be the first la or nik that doesnt ho me.



by the way, if you've only just realised most people HO, what the hell have you been thinking about all this time??




batfink

[DamnedRen]

Ohoh. Methinks you've taken one to many HO's?

I've found most HO's are a result of it being a two way street. If you evade the HO the odds of getting hit go way down. If you can't resist the urge to point yer nose at him at 1k then plan on the 50/50 chance of living thru it. It's pretty much as simple as that. Personally I'm working on angles on the guy so I'm not too worried about the HO. Most times they're noob's and don't have much else to offer in a fight.

 Like you said, it's a game. Do whatever you wanna do. Jug's do a pretty good job in the HO department. Well, they did before the .50's got neutered so maybe 20's are the way to go.

Let me when you get up to speed with the HO'n

[GunnerCAF]

The pilots who only HOs are easy to deal with.  They will never get a position advantage on you because they are always leading for a shot.  What will get you is the first pass if you are not expecting it.  I will always sent a VOX message to the people I am flying with to warn them.

The dangerous ones are the vets who will do both.  It keeps it exciting because you never know the skill of your apponent until it's too late

The people who complain about HOs have just not learned one of the aspects of this game.

Gunner

[Alpha81]

My 2 cents, for what it's worth, I have been playing the sim for 6 months now and enjoy all the dimensions it has to offer, including the sometimes "very" colorful people that fly. When I was training in the TA, most of the trainers and experienced pilots that instructed me, looked down at the HO. I took that as HO's are a bad thing and the proper etiquette was not to indulge in them, that those pilots that HO'ed were lesser in some way.
 When I began to fly in the MA, I was excited to show all whom crossed my path my new merge skills, turn and Dogfight with them as in the TA...WRONG first N1KI  I merged with co alt opened up 1.5K away and I was spinning in before we reached 600. I was pissed, how and why would a pilot do that, how underhanded, didn't he know that it was wrong and immoral to shoot me in the face! You know the rest of the story, happened on a regular basis, so much that I decided that I was going to start to Ho right back...worked the first time, but from then out it seems that I lose 90 percent of  HO's. I have since began angling my plane in a way to avoid most HO's that seems to be the way to go.
   Since then I was watching a special on the Military Channel and saw an interview with Chuck Yeager, an ACE in a day shooting 5 down!!!  Then he begins to tell the story of another sorte where a FW190 merges with him Opens up face to face and tears the right wing tip off his Pony, spalds the armor glass plate on his canopy and tears the prop clean off his ride!!!  HOLY CRAP Chuck friggin Yeager was HO'ed!!!! bailed out and spent the next 6 weeks or months (can't remember) in occupied France trying to get back to his squad. Obviously this was a tactic in WWII not just in this sim. I have since quit complaining about the HO... if Chuck Yeager can get HO'ed so can I , Sorry about the long winded post.

[Stang]

Yeager deserved it, the vulching bastid

[TrueKill]

Originally posted by Stang
Yeager deserved it, the vulching bastid

yep. my saying is if yeager can be shot down in a HO y cant u:aok

[DamnedRen]

It doesn't mean ya have to be....just means you can be

[stantond]

In earlier days, the HO attack was a scourge of AH.  I am not sure if I have just gotten better at avoiding them or they are not as leathal as they once were due to gun dispersion.  The +1000d HO deaths are what I am referring to here.  

There are several techniques to help avoid the HO.  Here's is my list:

1.  When you see the banana (aka HO'er) coming straight at you, don't fly in a straight path.  Make some slight corrections.  Dive slightly left and then climb right.  Not high g dives or turns to blow speed or altitude but enough to throw off the aim.  

2.  Dive (again not high g's) below the banana.  Force him to pull negative g's to take the shot.  He will miss.

3.  Rolling helps protect the wings from the HO.

4.  At d800 (after diving in item 2), pull max g's to lead turn onto the banana's six and open fire.

While item 4 isn't an avoidance, it is the best part of the HO banana encounter.  I cannot claim to never HO.  However, it is a last resort tactic for me.  After the merge, everything is fair game (imo).  All things considered, item 1 is really the most important with 2 and 3 more elaboration on 1 for not getting hit in the HO.  

If you like to HO, and don't mind people like myself calling you a banana, I suggest using a multiple cannon equipped plane.


Regards,

Malta

[lasersailor184]

We are not fighting for our lives here.  We will not be physically killed in the real world if we lose one dogfight.  So there is no point in resorting to cheap tactics.



That being said, the way I see it is on the merge pass, I will not do a HO.  But once we pass, anything is open.  But with me, my gunnery sucks, so I'll just wait the extra 20 seconds for me to get on your 6 and kill you that way.

[DamnedRen]

One thing to remember.....

What looks like a HO to one might be a canopy shot to the other.

[red420]

Well, I'm not the masta..but I'll tell you my experience with the HO. Seems like every single time I see a guy coming straight head on, and try to evade the bullets, I die. I have found that when you get about 1.5 out, if you spray some rounds his way it tends to discourage them, also sometimes you'll get lucky and get a few hits on the front as you're swinging around on their 6. I personally love the 110, and with that much firepower in the nose of your plane anyone would be an idiot to go head on with you.They get sliced apart like butter. So if you're down about getting HO'd to death all the time, grab a light 110 and climb towards the clouds, and swiss cheese their arses. It's like the A10 of WW2

[Simaril]

Originally posted by red420
Well, I'm not the masta..but I'll tell you my experience with the HO. Seems like every single time I see a guy coming straight head on, and try to evade the bullets, I die...

Like stantond said -- if you roll, you wont get hit.  If I see a nasty HO plane, like a 110 or mossy, coming at me I'll keep right on barrel rolling until they're almost past -- then I reverse. When the stakes are lower, I'll be more aggressive and break earlier. I honestly have not died to a HO in several months -- and I'm far from a flying master.

[SKJohn]

Originally posted by stantond
In earlier days, the HO attack was a scourge of AH.  I am not sure if I have just gotten better at avoiding them or they are not as leathal as they once were due to gun dispersion.  The +1000d HO deaths are what I am referring to here.  
Regards,

Malta

That attitude is a carryover from the old Air Warrior days where the game was set up so that HOing would not work.  Since they got use to not having to worry about being HO'ed, they thought it should carry over into AH.  I don't see why - in "Real Life" HOing was certainly a valid and often used tactic.  
Read the accounts of America's leading ace, Dick Bong.  He was a proponent of the Head on shot in his P-38.  Why?  Because with his concentrated firepower against the lightly armored Japanese planes, it actually gave him and advantage.  If you spend some time reading the accounts of other famous aces, you'll find that many of them often used the HO.  Robert Scott (God is my CO-Pilot), describes using it in the early days of the war.  As stated earlier, Yeager was shot down by a HO.
So, I get a laugh out of the guys who call others "bananas" because they HO, and then complain to HTC because things aren't enough like real life.  
What they're really saying is, "I want to impress you with my mastery of ACM, so play the game "fair"!"  Talk about a "gamey" type attitude!  Anybody ever heard the expression, "EVERYTHING's fair in love and war!"?
So, if you like the Ho shot, go for it!  You're just being a realistic pilot, flying like the real-life aces did.
If you don't, then sit back with your smug, "I'm such a better pilot 'cuz I know some ACM's" attitude, dodge the HO, and then kill the guy when you whip around on his 6.

Either way, to quote one of the truly great Americans; "Can't we all just get along?"

[68DevilM]

HEAD ON DWEEB