Remember that every turn where you meet at 0 to 30 deg is a new merge. The first merge only sets the stage. On the second merge after the first turn its just like you were merging for the first time. Each merge initiates a new fight.
If you merge correctly the first time you should be in a position to gain control. This may mean giving him angles but it is only fleeting. It is a trick in disquise. The player who attempts to bring his nose direclty at you on the second merge is only setting himself up for a lead turn of some kind.
Anytime a player goes for a HO shot it puts you at an immediate advantage. When they do this if you are thinking about ACM and not trying to HO back you can EASILY lead turn out of the gun envelope and be either at guns on them immediatly or dropping in for a saddle shot.
They can not react to your lead turn if they are going for guns. Its a simple fact of geometry. They go for HO you lead turn and come around on there six.
That second merge you are asking about is your golden oppurtunity to win. 99% of players can not resist taking a shot of some kind at that point. Knowing this it is easy to draw them into a sucker set up.
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Below is my LONG short story about HO in general
Some people here just don't get the whole HO thing.
As someone pointed out earlier HO was used in real combat...BUT...there was a reason....as stated "to protect the bombers". That was the whole point of having fighters in the air. Fighter sweeps were rare. When faced with 100 me109's coming in to shoot up allied bombers they did everything and anything to protect them which did include a first pass HO shot on the bounce even if it meant getting killed your self. It was real combat and people do gallant things to do their job. After that it was gangbang wingman tactics. All the things we hait in this game such as HO, cherry picking, gangbanging, vulching were done as much as possible in REAL combat. If you got caught alone you were dead. Allied fighters never engaged without a wingman. Loosing your wingman in a fight almost always meant you were in big trouble if you lived to land. It was ALL about the bombers and protecting them.
When in the special events areana and your side is to protect an asset such as a carrier in order to win then HO or any other tactic is absolutly fair. You have a mission....and your duty is to do what it takes to win.
With 20 Mossies diving on a carrier you better HO pass every one you can. Do anything to kill them because that is the point.....NOT getting into a 1v1. That is not what a mission like this is about.
BUT in the MA....this is a totally different scenario. People here like to engage in ACM. Be it 5v1 or 1v1. HO here is a show of how you lack talent.
And in the DA if you HO you are what the FPS game players would call a "bunny hopper". A bunny hopper is equivelent to a skilless dweeb.
THE MA IS NOT I REPEAT NOT REAL LIFE. IT IS A GAME THAT WE PLAY TO HAVE FUN. We play to use ACM tactics. The whole point is to "Out Fly" your opponent. Like it or not MOST playes think you are a skilless bunny hopper if you HO. A HO is not an ACM tactic. It is a desperate attempt to get a kill for no other reason than to up your score. It has nothing to do with ACM. A HO because you are out numbered is still a skilless move. First don't put yourself there and if you do its your fault. Learn to fly so that you can either get a 1v1 or take on a 3v1 with or without advantage. If you get caught in a 1 v5 or more well you better run. HO to even the odds is still a dweeb move. Either fight with angles, out climb or call in some help. But HO is just a waste of everyones time.
This is a quote from the book "In Pursuit"
"....for every move you make he has an answer. Whatever you try, he's right there on top of you. Even scissors doesn't work. He anticipates your every move and isn't foxed by desperate attempts such as cutting throttle or throwing out flaps. He just won't let go. However, he's not firing. You've been dodging him for a good 5 min already, and he has yet to fire his guns? Is he out of ammo? Why then is he following you around? Is he trying to make you auger, or run you out of fuel? He keeps coming closer. You can see the individual blades in his propeller, the evil grin beneath those blank goggles.....NOW HE FIRES, when he cannot miss! You dodge, you skid, you roll like crazy. Still he won't let go. You swirl like a dervish, and he matches your every move - not wasting a single bullet! YOU are sweating bullets! You know that the instant you fumble, the isntant you mush, the instant you become predictable, it will be the end."
This is what I strive for. NOT a skilless HO shot because there is more than one con or so I can up my score ( scores are meaningless)
I think a lot of HO players come from FPS games like counter stirke and the like. There they are used to using bunny hoping game exploits to do nothing but get kills. They have no concept of "tactics". They just think its a flying automatic weapon to carelessly fly around looking to blow someting up. They mis understand history and think because BUD, Yeager, or whoever ACE did it then its legit in AH2. I am sorry to inform you that this is a game where we try to engage in crafty ACM in which one pilot out performs the other. That is fun.
---I win on the word count here....LOL If you have actually read this far I Salute you!!!!!
PS. If anyone tries a HO on me be prepared to experience what is described in the quoted paragraph above because I will lead turn you and you will be dead in 60 sec or less. You HO I get angles. You try a HO a second time I get more angles. Third time you are dead from a saddled six burst. Cheers!!!
