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PapaDoc's Guide to the Merge

[words by PAPA, punctuation amended by Redshift - but, hey, look at the raw material I had to work with!]

I will try and be brief. But keep in mind that much of this is gonna be a bunch of bull....WHY..? Well because situations in H2H are fluid....you shouldn't EVER be predictable.....What was brilliant last time may not be so brilliant the next time in seemingly the same circumstances...this is CRUCIAL DO NOT FORGET IT.....I cannot tell you the amount of flights I've won because the other pilot was going the same way each and every time....WHA..????? That's right he died the last time and instead of modifying his tactics....he COMES at me the SAME way....WHA...????

Then also consider that if you won the last match doing a particular maneuver that if you're flying someone competent he may counter that particular move this flight.....DON'T BE PREDICTABLE...which kinda makes advice useless. But hey you need to start somewhere. So here are a couple of examples and my thoughts on why they are useful.

To the more technically inclined I apologize, I don't use the LINGO...because the people who know the lingo don't need to read my advice...the people who are asking don't know the lingo..so I tend to put all my advice in hopefully simple terms.

Coming into a merge (when you pass each other nose to nose) it's wise to know the bad guy's speed - this will tell you a lot of where to go. To those who ask about what to do after the first merge and you are approaching nose to nose the second time...treat it like the first merge except that if the ROE [Rules of Engagement] called for a clean pass first merge you can now shoot, or lead turn (more on that later). Also make sure to be flying with Mirrors.

Two major styles of fighting

Your speed is gonna be dependent on your style of fighting the Flanker...there are two major styles of fighting ...

One is called the energy fighter. He keeps his speed very high, around 1200km/h into the merge and tries to force his opponent to bleed his speed by taking a slow angles fighter vertical. An impatient angles fighter will be continually trying to pull his nose into lead (pointing his nose ahead of the energy fighter's flight path) to get a shot and the energy fighter is always just a nick ahead of the bullets....then all of a sudden the angles fighter will notice that he is no longer flying a sleek killing machine, but instead he is flying a large paperweight and he no longer has control. Then the angles fighter discovers that he has deftly placed the energy fighter into his deep six (behind him).

The other is the angles fighter....this is the predominant type on the net because it's the most natural. Most people want to pull hard on the stick. And this is the main reason that anyone flying Flanker should for the first month or so fly with the ACS off....that will force sane treatment of the Angle of Attack as pulling hard on the stick is an extremely bad habit that causes death and destruction. The angles fighter is trying to use his reduced speed to turn inside of you and get a shot.

The angles fighter comes into the merge anywhere between 750 to 950. If he is at 950 watch his airbrake at the merge and act accordingly, in other words if you are flying a known angles fighter and he comes into the merge hot, WATCH his airbrake to see if he is a cat that has changed his spots or if he is actually trying to sucker you into a bad move.

Things to do at the merge

It helps to develop a knowledge of who fights like what.....because as much as we all try to be unpredictable we all still pretty much stick to a style.....nonetheless avoid being pinned down if possible.

Ok here are some very rough ideas on things to try at the merge.

  1. Coming into the merge his speed is more than 150km/h faster....and he turns into you.....in the horizontal...and you don't see a brake. Then you put the brake out and turn away in the horizontal plane (same plane of motion as him)...when you regain tally you reverse your turn putting you inside of his circle. Imagine him flying a large circle and you flying a S pattern within the circle. Don't let your speed bleed too much in this maneuver cause if you miss....big problems will ensue....stay above 600. This is a wonderful way of messing with a person's head. Cause usually he is thinking everything is peaches and cream as he is at corner speed (around 900km/h) and your not...(your at 750 or so into the merge)...I've had people repeatedly come at me, not believing that I was gonna turn inside them....bang bang your dead each and every time.
    A word about missing with guns...missing is bad. Don't miss. Practice with your guns in both modes until you can hit the gnat off of a pin at a thousand yards....why both...??? Because you might accidentally get shot and lose your radar gun sight. So learn the funnel....also shoot from padlock.
    Speaking of padlock....its gonna be really painful to fly H2H if you don't understand padlock inside out. So make sure you do. Outside views are for pussies. Besides most old timers will disable them if they master and then where are you if you depend on them.
  2. Coming into the merge he is at 1200 and your at 850....its gonna be a long day. So settle down and be patient. Rushing a shot will bleed way too much speed and you will die. Now he goes past and probably goes up....now all that practice you have had against the AI is gonna come in handy.
    side note...its a very good idea to practice against the AI by going 1vs many...but its even a better idea to load yourself up with fuel. NOW you're gonna learn something. Pulling hard is a very bad thing....hehehe. My observations about the AI is that while they have a slight advantage (I mean very slight) in the vertical, its easily taken away. I continually and with reckless abandon kill AI in the vertical.
    Anyway back to the merge....as he zooms past (give him the finger) dip your nose slightly to gain a bit of energy...no need to immediately pull into a turn...at the speed of heat he is going his radius is gonna be REAL big...and you need energy like a man in the desert needs water. Ok now one of the ideas I have for this situation is to pull up gently so that you match his radius while keeping your speed somewhere in the rational zone. If you waited a bit before going up...he will have almost started to pull over the top on his immeleman....and you will be about half way up. What you're gonna do is LEAD turn his ass...what's a lead turn? It's when you are coming into a nose to nose merge and you start your turn into him before reaching him....(you probably see that much of this is speculative) since relative to him your speed is low you can turn with a much tighter radius, but to not lose too much in the turn make sure to not go up when turning anymore than is required to bring your nose around....a bit of lateral separation here is not a bad thing... to help picture this put your hands up in the air (hehe and sing after me) the left at 11:00 heading down to your 4:00 and the right heading up from your 4:00...as you bring them together the right hand will begin turning before you reach your left....as you can see if you move your right a bit off the flight path towards your chest and then turn away from your chest your turn will have more room to come around his six....(all assuming much predictability on his part). A little guns in the face while passing him is a great wake up call for the overconfident energy pilot. Even if it's just tracers passing his general vicinity...but your practice should have made you able to at least connect with a few.
    When lead turning in these situations to make things simple always pull towards the bad guy...when your first starting out its easy to get too cute with lag and lead pursuits and usually just getting your nose on the person is the biggest challenge.
    Ok so now you have lead turned the bad guy and you find yourself behind him...and y'all are going around a big loop. BUT he is pulling away from you. NOW comes the patient part....BE PATIENT....what your gonna do now is what I do against the AI....DON'T try and pull into lead immediately for a shot...your probably too far away and will burn too much energy. What your gonna do is keep him somewhere in the top of your HUD or out the top of your canopy and gather him up slowly. This takes lots and lots of gentle practice...when you start getting close you will every now and again take a long distance shot to keep him honest and try and disrupt him. (The truth of the matter is that if he is good and doesn't get flustered he has an advantage) this is where all that gun practice will come in handy. Remember to pull in the flaps when going up.....and to push out the flaps when going down and pulling for a shot...then pull them back in.
    Now sometimes its also possible in this situation to not go up with the energy fighter and to instead just Slice (nose low 10degrees turn, put your nose 10 degree's below the horizon and pull) and meet him on the other side of his loop....this has worked well for me with some and not so well with other and because GOOD energy fighters are so rare I haven't been able to do it enough to find out why it works sometimes and not others.

The Basics

  • Ok this is enough of this speculative stuff. The basics are...........
  • When your first starting out try and not be CUTE....(I've seen a lot of cute) PULL TOWARDS THE ENEMY....put your nose on him and shoot.
  • Corollary of the above DON'T PULL TOO HARD...hehe..confused..? What I mean is be aggressive always be going after the bandit. I see some doing aerobatics to get a shot somewhere in the future...NOT GOOD.
  • Be very very very good at shooting your guns. All the most wonderful flying in the world means diddle squat if you can't hit the bad guy with guns. What's the secret? PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE....and then more PRACTICE.
  • Padlock is my friend...outside views are for pussies.
  • I Promise PAPA that I will fly with ctrl j selected all the time so that I can see me screwing up...when I'm pulling too hard.
  • I will continue to check my instruments to be sure that I'm not flying around with my brakes out...(I lost a match doing that, stupid shit that I am).
  • I promise PAPA that I will try and not be predictable.
  • Use the radar gun sight...but know how to use the funnel.
  • Be wonderful at recovering from spins...actually be miraculous...(yea I know I need a spell checker) [you think that will fix it?]
  • In tight turning fights FLAPS are REQUIRED....you will die without them.
  • When out of guns range don't be so anxious to pull into lead for a guns shot....DUH..!
  • Pulling too hard is for when I'm alone in the bathroom...not for when I'm flying my JET. [??]
  • Reversing turns is for the brave, the skilled and the dullards...try not to be in the last category. hint: There aren't too many legitimate opportunities to reverse your turns against a good opponent.
  • When all else fails, keep trying....stay alive for a second more...you never know when the other guy will have a brain fart....be ready to punish him.
  • AS ALWAYS A BANDIT ON YOUR SIX IS BETTER THAN NO BANDIT AT ALL. [But not as good as a Papa in your gun camera]
  • Aerobatics tend to allow the badguy to slip out of your view...its very difficult to shoot something you can't see. Stay on him.
  • Match his nose.
  • Match his wings.
  • The ground is hard...attempt to avoid the ground unless taxing.
  • The guy with the least amount of weight has the advantage....unless he is light because he is out of stuff to shoot....then he is a target. Running out of bullets in a H2H match is unforgivable.

Brought to you by the one and only …

PAPA DOC Infamous Flanker Pilot.
The one your mother warned you about.
Flying the Pink Flamingo... Damage, Inc.