Zoom Climb question

[Max]

When do I use it...not use it? What upward angle should be used, or does it depend on the situation. Should one dive for acceleration before zooming? At some point, what goes up must come down. How is the reversal best accomplished?

[JunkyII]

When do I use it...not use it? What upward angle should be used, or does it depend on the situation. Should one dive for acceleration before zooming? At some point, what goes up must come down. How is the reversal best accomplished?

Don't zoom climb when the other pilot can climb with you....only time I can think not to use it...at times there's more effective maneuvers to accomplish the same task which is a positional advantage on your opponent giving you the opportunity to kill them.


Remember most planes zoom climb pretty similar...close enough that in Aces High they are within gun range so you are better of spiraling a bit in order to scrub their shot attempt.

[FLS]

Zoom climb when you want to trade speed for altitude.

Stop climbing when you don't want to get any slower.

[DmonSlyr]

When do I use it...not use it? What upward angle should be used, or does it depend on the situation. Should one dive for acceleration before zooming? At some point, what goes up must come down. How is the reversal best accomplished?

Max, there's a million correct angles that you can you use in a zoom climb. It all depends on speed and energy state. Zoom climbing is for a desperate attempt. The only time you should zoom climb in the MA is if you are 100% positive you won't get picked. You will be easy pickens. Secondly, focus on spiral climbing rather than just going straight up. The goal is to suck your opponents speed dry before yours. You should be going at least 50 knots faster and be 1K - 1.5K away before attempting it. If you pull up gradually into a spiral, your opponent will waste more E trying to get the angle for the shot. You will also be able to roll around over the top easier without stalling out completelty like your opponent.  You want to be about 800 out, and trying to get the spiraled position so that your opponent ends up underneath you vertical, with 0 E. Then you can easily roll around and get the shot. Spiral climbs also make it easier to avoid pickers if they appear.  Zoom climbing is very dangerous and should only be used in desperate situations if your teammate is clearing your 6 and no other enemies are around.

[bozon]

The "zoom" in zoom climb refers to the ballistic nature of this climb, as opposed to a steady climb. This means that most of this climb is from pointing your forward speed upwards and flying like a stone with a lot of initial speed. Prop thust helps some.

In a pure zoom, the plane would be at near 0 G. In these conditions, the difference between planes (starting from the same speed) will be rather small: 100-300 feet for typical combat speeds. The bigger difference is how planes handle at the top - some can really hang in there almost hovering, while others touch the top and immediately fall back.

In practice, zoom climbs are almost never pure zooms. They are a combination of a zoom climb and a regular aerodynamic climb using wings lift (hence not zero G). So when starting from speeds well above the typical climbing speeds of 150-180 mph, fighters tend to behave similarly. Then when speeds drop to the above range, the planes with the better climb rates start to gain. Spit 16, Zeke, La7 and Yak3 for example have very very steep climb angles (determind by the ROC/TAS ratio). This is not just their best climb rate - it's the climb rate at very low speeds. To rope them in a heavy poor climbing plane, the zoom needs to be near vertival to minimize the aerodynamic component and rely on the ballistic component.

So, to zoom climb away from your opponent, you'd better start at a higher speed than him, and dont expect to out zoom his bullets.

[wil3ur]

I usually only zoom climb as part of a bounce.  Dive in, take a shot, zoom back out (BnZ).  It's really not a great maneuver for avoiding an attack, as others have stated.

Climbing in a spiral is a great way to bleed your opponents E.  If you're doing it correctly, you should remain relatively stable in your turns and G's.  The other guy should be forced to pull over the top to try and gain a firing angle.  Every time he does this he loses more E than you.  Keeping an eye out your back and watching for when his E is bled dry or nearly dry and knowing when to wingover and go in for the kill takes some time, and there's some guys that are very good at disguising their E, so it won't always work.