Ho? No Ho? You be the judge...

[captain1ma]

anyone can ho, i can and on occasion do. so does everyone else. the question is can you shoot him down from a lesser position? to me, thats the fun of this game. after the first merge, are you good enough to shoot him down from behind or from the side. its not about honor, its about a good fight.

Head to head, i hold fire, until he fires first, if at all. if you fire, not only will i ho you, but ill try to ram you too. if you hold, ill try to get behind you.

again Ho'ing is easy. depending on who you go up against, some can take you out from 1k. the fun is in what happens after you pass each other. is a ho acm? yeah probably. ive read accounts about how they did it in the war, but do you want a 10 second fight, or a 4 minute fight. that's the difference.

its up to you as to what you want, and how you want to play. personally, I've had some great fights, because neither of us ho'ed. its a great experience. but, i dont play for score, i dont play for a particular chess piece, i play for the fun, and the thrill of the fight. how you play is up to you.

[Latrobe]

The reason I don't like the HO shot is because the enemy can shoot me. Shooting from the 6 o'clock position is a whole lot more safe. 

[titanic3]

Even tho i would really like to see you once without a concrete tiger2 or a 20k pony...
This is not a head on.

Other thing, when you both have guns on each other at longer ranges, then one tryes to break and the other one is forcing and spraying like crazy. Maybe technically isnt a ho but still super lame.
This is for the "it takes 2 to ho" awesomenesses.

This. If you try to be a goodie 2 shoes, half the time, the other still tries to fire at you regardless, costing you E to perform that break turn, or causing you to dive/turn while he climbs straight up after you pass him, giving him an advantage.
On the other hand, right before I "break" incase the other guy starts firing, I simply fly to the side a little bit. If he doesn't fire, then a real fun fight begins, if he does, I break.

Sometimes, in a situation where he has altitude advantage, I will point my nose at him for as long as possible, and if he fires first, he takes it. If he doesn't, the fight goes on until he/I are on each other's tail.

In a base defense, I will HO, against 20+ guys, I will HO, against 262s, I will HO, against bombers, I will HO. If you piss me off by HOing continuously or vulching, I will HO, regardless of the situation. I had a case once where a group of players were vulching a field, relentlessly. "Fine, no big deal". I come back from a different base, I get HOed. Second time I come back, 5 kills served with a platter of whines that HOing suck. "Vulching is OK, but HOing is not?". We held on to that base for the entire day because none of them worked on the town.

[Oldman731]

its not about honor, its about a good fight.

This.  And, as Chalenge note, also a bit of a hold-over from AW, where taking a HO shot was just trying to beat the odds of the programming (which was designed to eliminate all HO shots but which didn't always).  If you play this game for the sport of it you'll generally see the HO shot as lame because it's easy, requires little skill and because it ends the fight early.  I suppose that if you're only interested in maximizing your kill numbers you won't care.  The debate has raged for decades.

A note: the argument that the HO was a real-life tactic and so is fine here is unconvincing.  This is not a real-life game, nor even really a simulation of a real-life war.

- oldman

[Kovel]

For me....

1. whenever you die..... no matter how ...... it is always your fault.....always.........no excuses

2. Now the second question.... how painful is it for you dying?

a. There are people who don't want to die.....ever!!!

b. There are people that don't mind dieying.....if they can get one or more kills....

HOers are always 1 + 2b people

and they can HO because they engage (1 + 2a) or (1 + 2b) people

So, if you die in a HO, just deal with it, you made a mistake, or, you don't mind dying IN A GAME THAT IS MAINLY ABOUT SURVIVING.

   
 

[Max]

The Spit already appeared to be engaged with two other bogeys. While your salvo wasn't a ho, you introduced a 3v1 disadvantage for the Spit. I'd say it was a pick of opprotunity as the Spit allowed the situation you took advantage of.

[Tmac7]

Like I announce on 200 frequently I AM THE BESTEST ever and I will ho, ram, and any other move to kill you  

[zack1234]

i thought a ho was two people not in a firball going head on and shooting the other guy in the face, without the intention of dogfighting.

If this occurs you up another plane it takes two to ho,

If some one shouts out that P51 is hoeing i am aware of it and adjust my response,

If you still complain that you were hoed on the merge after playing this game for more that 6 months you need to read a book or paint a fence, you obviously must be odd.





Best plane in the game  

[Kovel]

If you still complain that you were hoed on the merge after playing this game for more that 6 months you need to read a book or paint a fence, you obviously must be odd.

 

[dedalos]

I do not understand what is "wrong" with a HO

Considering my aircraft, my opponents, and the entire situation of the fight, there is no reason why it is not a legitimate tactic.

Choosing to put your face in front of several 50cals, 20mm and 30m guns is not only a legitimate tactic, it is also a very stupid tactic.  So, given that every other tactic does not include looking down the barrels of several big guns one is always left wondering: "WT*?  Was that the first thing that came to your mind?".  If one asks that question out loud, the person asked gets extremely upset for some strange reason 

[PFactorDave]

Someone, a Trainer I believe, once said (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that if there was no chance of guns being fired during a nose to nose merge, then the pilots would then view that nose to nose position as a "safe" area.  Thus changing the way that they approach a fight, using that "safe" spot as a tactic.

Since in Aces High there is always that possibility of guns being fired when nose to nose, the pilots must either manuever to get guns on or keep the other guys guns off at all times.  There is no "safe" area except one that a pilot creates for himself by manuevering in such a way that the opponent cannot get guns on target.

This is why, when I fly in the Main Arena, I fire whenever I have guns on the opponent.  I rarely intentionally go for a HO shot, although I have and most likely will again.


On another note...  Someone above mentioned that he will always HO a 262...  Personally, I don't see that as any different then the guy flying the Hurri who HO's the P51/190 that continually B&Zs...  Or any other turny plane HOing a faster B&Z plane...

[dedalos]

On another note...  Someone above mentioned that he will always HO a 262... 

Makes sense because a 262 has only 4 30mms in the front.   

Actually, the reason they do it is because the perk cost of the 262 is high so they will HO it because the chances are the 262 driver will try to avoid (to save the perks) while they will do everything they can to either HO or collide since their planes are free.  Strategies that you would never even think about in real life in this game become the main tactics.

[Wiley]

Makes sense because a 262 has only 4 30mms in the front.   

Actually, the reason they do it is because the perk cost of the 262 is high so they will HO it because the chances are the 262 driver will try to avoid (to save the perks) while they will do everything they can to either HO or collide since their planes are free.  Strategies that you would never even think about in real life in this game become the main tactics.

Er... Wasn't a frontal shot a pretty common tactic IRL on 262s?

I believe it was Mtnman, PFactorDave.  I happen to agree with it.  Otherwise, I would like a diagram of all the appropriate angles where I can safely fly around people without fear of them taking a shot at me so I can work it into my strategy.

Wiley.

[dedalos]

Er... Wasn't a frontal shot a pretty common tactic IRL on 262s?

I believe it was Mtnman, PFactorDave.  I happen to agree with it.  Otherwise, I would like a diagram of all the appropriate angles where I can safely fly around people without fear of them taking a shot at me so I can work it into my strategy.

Wiley.

No problem, here it is.  Any angle.  0 degrees is not really an angle.  I am not talking about the bad guy putting guns on you or "frontal" attacks.  I am talking about a person making the choice to look down 4 30mm barrels and call that a tactic.  Would you do that in real life?  See the difference?

[Wiley]

No problem, here it is.  Any angle.  0 degrees is not really an angle.  I am not talking about the bad guy putting guns on you or "frontal" attacks.  I am talking about a person making the choice to look down 4 30mm barrels and call that a tactic.  Would you do that in real life?  See the difference?

Ok, I see the dividing line.  I agree, I wouldn't call it a 'tactic'.  If it was what was available and it was my job to stop him from getting through to wherever he's going?  I wouldn't be happy about it, but I'd probably go to the side and try to throw rounds on with rudder, the same as I do if it comes up in the MA ingame.  It's no real different argument than asking who in their right mind would attack a buff group flying close together?  There's how many .50s being aimed at you at any given moment of your pass?

Wiley.