Question About The HO

[Ack-Ack]

you don't have to turn away to avoid him ho'ing you. go right by him. if you remotely think he's going to try to ho ya, then do not point your nose directly at his plane. as soon as you do, you're setting yourself up for it. slight maneuvers to avoid it.

 have you talked to a trainer in the ta about this yet? they can help ya in about a half hour.

Honestly, the best way to avoid a head on shot on the merge is to create seperation, ideally both horizontal and vertical seperation.  This way you have options going into the merge and options immediately after the merge.  Dipping under on the merge, a barrel roll, etc to avoid a head on pass is risky at best when you could have avoided it by just creating some seperation.

ack-ack

[Zygote404]

IMO any time you fail to remove yourself from a position where the other guy can point his nose at your nose and you both have a firing solution you have a ho situation.  That's pretty self explanatory.  Its your fault and and the other guys fault.  Its also a legitimate tactic.  Nobody should complain.

If you attempted to avoid the HO at the last minute its still your fault and you can't complain.  Legitimate tactic.  Nobody should complain.

HO's that are stupid are the ones that are completely unnecessary.  But they are usually always beneficial to the person being HO'ed.  Was flying P47-N once, a spit and a la7 jumped me with alt, they gave up alt and positional advantage and repeatedly HO'ed.  Managed to lose my engine but they both were shot down. 

Really the only HO you should complain about is the one that you initiate when you have an advantage and give it up to get the kill first or because you were stupid, all the rest are usually avoidable if you take measures prior to getting into firing range.  The rare unavoidable HO's that occur when you are at a disadvantage and likely to die anyway are beneficial to you because they were probably the only way you were gonna get a decent firing solution anyway.

[CAP1]

Honestly, the best way to avoid a head on shot on the merge is to create seperation, ideally both horizontal and vertical seperation.  This way you have options going into the merge and options immediately after the merge.  Dipping under on the merge, a barrel roll, etc to avoid a head on pass is risky at best when you could have avoided it by just creating some seperation.

ack-ack

when i realize that they're trying to go for the ho, i tend to push the nose over a little....not much....just enough to get me under them....and i try to slip the plane one way or the other. i try to make it so they think they're gonna get the ho on me till it's too late..,,,,if it works, then they've already screwed the merge.

 one thing i've noticed the last few weeks, is that those going for the ho will roll inverted as soon as they realize i'm going underneath them, in an attempt to gain a shot. this is fine though, as they almost always get going too fast, and by the time they can start coming back up, i've established an alt. advantage, which i work my bellybutton off to keep from then on.

 it doesn't work as well as i'd like it to all the time, but it helps me survive longer each fight, giving me chance to learn more.

[SlapShot]

I do not want to turn away for fear of giving the red guy my six.

In time, you will learn to start your "turn(s)" before you actually merge. This is called a lead turn. If you set up your lead turn correctly, and at the right time, you will never be in a nose-to-nose merge. Now ... if I set up a real crappy lead turn and I get raked from nose to tail, as we merge ... not an HO as far as I am concerned. When I try to setup a lead turn, I want to create what I consider a good angle to be in at the merge (for a reversal) AND at the same time, not present myself as a good target.

As Ack Ack pointed out, when I see a guy coming at me, I don't vector my plane directly towards his nose. I start the separation (thinking lead tunr) by dropping my nose (to pick up a little extra speed) and then banking either right or left ... this is the vertical and horizontal separation that Ack Ack mentioned.

Now, as I make those adjustments, I watch his reaction and make similar adjustments as he gets closer. This is all being done to create my lead turn and if I have done it right and the other guy is still pressing to get a nose to nose solution, he will be dead within 1 or 2 turns, if he decides to stick around.

As mentioned above, if you come upon a guy that is not pressing the nose-to-nose merge, tighten your seat belt 'cause your in for a real fight.

Ack Ack has defined the "technical" head on ... others are talking about the "intentioned" head on. When I hear HO, I always think of the technical definition. It seems that about 98% of the time, I run into the intentioned head on ... guns blazing from D800 on it ... but I don't consider, when we merge, it to be a HO merge because I haven't given them my nose and I don't usually have a guns solution on them due to my angle for a lead turn.

[kvuo75]

Honestly, the best way to avoid a head on shot on the merge is to create seperation, ideally both horizontal and vertical seperation.  This way you have options going into the merge and options immediately after the merge.  Dipping under on the merge, a barrel roll, etc to avoid a head on pass is risky at best when you could have avoided it by just creating some seperation.

ack-ack

this!

I have not been successfullly ho'd in a "merge" in long time.

there ARE other ways to get into a fight rather than fly directly at the guy and hope for the best

[Dawger]

Go HERE

 
Learn it.
Love it.
Live it.

The most important step in ending the cycle of HO is attitude. If all you do is stop trying to horse the guns around on target at every opportunity then you will take a big step towards becoming part of the solution.

You don't need fancy skills to avoid the HO. The skills help you advance your game to the level needed to achieve success but all you have to do to avoid the HO is keep your brain off the trigger and on flying your airplane.

Don't fly the guns, fly the plane.

Success in air combat has one definition.

Bring your guns into the weapons employment zone while denying the enemy a guns solution.

If you fail at either you FAIL. If you succeed at both you WIN. 

[Jonah]

i love it when ppl try n do it because it gives alot of information away about that person. It tells me theyre a noob and are scared. And usually after i avoid that crap with a quick roll and theyre spraying like crazy im already halfway through the reversal on them. dont think ive been ho'd in like 3 months. keep on Hoing, i look foward to it.

[LLogann]

I think you are generalizing too much.  some 2 weeker vs a don5090 ho for instance.........  I judge the experience by when they start firing.  The 2 weeker is spraying at 1.5 k, while donHO waits for you to think there is no ho. 

i love it when ppl try n do it because it gives alot of information away about that person. It tells me theyre a noob and are scared. And usually after i avoid that crap with a quick roll and theyre spraying like crazy im already halfway through the reversal on them. dont think ive been ho'd in like 3 months. keep on Hoing, i look foward to it.

<S> don5090 <S> 

[CAP1]

i love it when ppl try n do it because it gives alot of information away about that person. It tells me theyre a noob and are scared. And usually after i avoid that crap with a quick roll and theyre spraying like crazy im already halfway through the reversal on them. dont think ive been ho'd in like 3 months. keep on Hoing, i look foward to it.

just an FYI....you'll find a lot of those that ho, are "vets" at the game.

[SlapShot]

just an FYI....you'll find a lot of those that ho, are "vets" at the game.

Not in my experience ... what vets will do, if you make a crappy (lead turn) merge, they (and I) will rake you from end to end ... from the top, bottom, or sides ... especially if there are other baddies in the area.

That's a case where I would not consider it a HO ... YMMV.

[CAP1]

Not in my experience ... what vets will do, if you make a crappy (lead turn) merge, they (and I) will rake you from end to end ... from the top, bottom, or sides ... especially if there are other baddies in the area.

That's a case where I would not consider it a HO ... YMMV.

the only reason i consider some things a ho, is because they seem to aim delibretly for a nose to nose shot, and when i try to avoid...and i'm gettin pretty good at avoidance now.....but since i tried to avoid, they call it not a ho.
 i know you're not one that ho's, but there are many vets that will do it in the blink of an eye......when they have the advantage too.

[Jonah]

i was referring to the guys who see u goin head to head with them from 5k and they dont even try anything else despite having the time to do it. CLearly they have already decided on it. If it was a vet thats worth fighting than they would have done something within the 4 or 5 seconds before the merge. Even when you move out the way theyre still spraying at weird negative G angles. I have no comment on the split second stuff people referrin to here.

[infowars]

I've been HO'd by someone who opened up at the very last second...  I was actually pretty PO'd because it was just us and I thought we were setting up to fight it out...  I have also been Ho'd by some who started firing at 1.5k out...  lol

I went from not caring about HOs to hating them and now I'm back to not caring again... = ) 

I also found cranking your rudder will keeping it rolling really tricks them up...