So there you are co-alt and closing fast on your target just in front of you. 1k or just under. Then he starts the barrel roll craziness. I believe the goal of this is to end up on YOUR six or the equivalent. Ideally: he cuts throttle, rolls around you and there he is on YOUR six. I could be wrong but that is what is seems.
I can detect a barrell roll manuever nearly immediately. Currently I just try to do the unexpected. Not the best plan.
How do you long time AH vets counter the barrel roll as described here?
[Barrel Roller Sidebar]
I should add this for all you barrel roll junkies out there. In flying this game for 5+ years I have not been shot down once by this technique. Maybe I am lucky but it is just a nuisance to me that I want to get better at dealing with.
You mention that you are closing fast on your target, and in this situation you have a number of options. I'm going to explain them in order of increasing speed/energy.
Firstly you could try to control your closure and saddle up on your opponent's six for the kill. However if you try but fail to control your closure adequately you may end up forced into a rolling scissors in your attempt to avoid the overshoot. The decision to try this option will depend on if in your judgement you will be able to control your closure. If the answer is clearly no, then you need to try the next option.
If you can see that you won't be able to control your closure enough to secure a six o'clock position, but it is a close call because you have just a little too much speed, then try this next option. Yo-Yo off early, pull your nose high and then role back to your target's high six for a second attack with your speed and closure under control, repeat if necessary.
If you have too much speed for the Yo-Yo, you still have the option to break off high, but this time position your self above your target keeping your nose high and holding low g, in effect you are inviting your target to follow you up. As you see him turn into you, begin a spiral climb and if you had as much energy as you thought you did your target will lose his energy first and fall off his turn at low speed, at which point you should be able to drop back onto his six for an easy kill. This sort of maneuver is often referred to in-game as the rope-a-dope because experienced pilots will recognise the energy difference and won't follow you up.
If you have way too much speed, and you want to press your attack anyway, you have two significant problems. Firstly if you are much faster than your target you will have a large turn radius and you won't be able to follow their break turn, so an experienced pilot will be able to execute a successful guns defense, and a more aggressive target will use the barrel role defense and look for the shot as you blow through. The first thing here is that once you become aware you won't make the shot, the worst thing you can do is to continue tracking the target or pulling into him, that will improve his chance of a successful shot dramatically. The key here is to break off the attack away from the bandit while keeping your nose low to maintain your speed. You simply need to be far enough way in the seconds it will take him to line up on you, to make his parting shot unlikely to hit. If you were right and your speed was high enough, you should be able to do that without any real concern. As soon as you are clear, you need to do a high reversal and resposition above your target for your follow up attack. Don't extend and climb out, don't take your time, you need to do this quickly, the less time you spend repositioning the less time your target will have to regain energy, regain situational awareness and regain their composure. You should force as high a tempo as possible, don't give your target time to recover between attacks.
In doing this you will expend more energy than your target, who will be attempting to equalise energy, so as the energy margin closes you should be looking for the opportunity to revert to one of the previous options where you seek a solid position rather than a passing snap shot.
I haven't mentioned all of the subtleties here but this should give you something to think about.
Good luck with it, and have fun.
Badboy
