the energy merge
by sick
well, i havent blasted out a good long book about ACM in a while, so i
thought i'd lay one on you guys today, heheheh. must be something in the
air.
the merge is everything. you win or lose the fight in the first few
seconds. the evolution of a particular pilots merge is usually the
evolution of their skills in general.
most start with a hard break turn, trying to come around as quickly as
possible. they start the turn as they pass the bad guy, and then whip it
around.
the next step is usually cognizance of the vertical; a little
experimentation with nose down reverses is usually fatal, resulting in
the merge most often seen: the hard immelman. upon passing the bad guy,
they pull nose up and come around the top as hard as they can.
next, someone tries to teach them the lead turn. they then try to pull
their nose up in an immelman *before* passing the bad guy, to get a jump
on his turn. maybe they even stop taking the head on shot, and start
calculating their lead turn timing based on closure velocity, and
include a small jink to spoil the bad guy's head on shot.
inevitably, they begin to think about energy. the hard immelman gives
way to the soft immelman, and an energy maximizing zoom climb. the pull
up becomes softer, the climb longer, ending either in a hammerhead or a
gentle flop over the top. they experiment with how much velocity they
should retain before pulling over the top.
the occasional practiced duellist goes a step further, with techniques
like eadg's 5 count merge (a lag, rather than a lead, immelman). the
gentle balance between energy and angles is explored.
with all this in my head, i was convinced i understood the merge pretty
well. but i was a bit confused; Shaw recommends never going vertical in
the merge. "how can this be?" i thought. how can the horizontal, the
initial dweeb break turn, be superior to these honed and practiced
vertical moves which i had been slaughtered by and spent much time
mastering? i thought, "maybe Shaw is wrong, or he's thinking only about
jets."
so last year, at the WB con, i asked him point blank. "hey Bob, why not
go vertical on the merge?" "because you don't know the enemy's energy
state." huh. but i do, dont i? i mean, i can judge closure and altitude,
right? maybe Shaw is wrong, or thinking about jets again.
well folks, Shaw hasn't been wrong yet, and if he'd been thinking about
jets he would have told me so. i spent a long time reading his section
on 1 v 1 merges, both angle and energy merges, diagramming them,
rereading them, and trying to figure out what was behind them. how can
the end game be a rolling scissors? shouldnt it be a distinct advantage?
whats up with this damn nose to tail horizontal turn anyway?
the basic problem was that Shaw expects the opposition to be perfect. in
WB, you can get away with all kinds of stuff, because the bad guy is
just as often a 15 year old kid with a gamepad as 1000 hour veteran with
cold eyes and a black heart. but in Shaw's world, the bad guy is always
an expert, and he's there to kill you, not ruin your score.
Shaw's energy merge is far more careful, methodical, and brutally
effective than any of the merges i've discussed so far. its suitable in
a 1 v 1 fight, and doubly so in a multiple participant fight, or a fight
in which a new bandit could show up at any time. i'll describe it as
best i can.
when you merge with the bandit, maintain some horizontal flight
separation. this means that instead of putting your nose right on the
guy, put it a hundred yards or so off to one side. let him pass you by,
don't attempt a lead turn at this stage. when he passes you by, keep
your eye on him, and adjust your course, but only slightly, to make sure
you can. don't climb, and don't dive.
watch what he does. especially, watch which way he turns. there are a
few possibilities for what he will do here:
- make a nose down reversal of some kind
- turn in the horizontal
- turn obliquely; some in the vertical, some in the horizontal
- turn in the pure vertical, nose up
- he appears to do nothing
case #1 is the easiest. when he goes nose down, keep an eye on him,
turning slightly if you have to to keep him on your tail (i.e. turn away
from him, not towards him). when he is half way through his reversal,
initiate a gentle immelman. if he is in a pure split-s, use a pure
immelman, otherwise use an oblique pitchback to keep him on your tail
(i.e. all nose to tail turns here). you will come out of this facing him
with a massive energy advantage. don't try to press the attack now;
instead, go through a second merge to build even more advantage.
case #2 is pretty close to the same. turn nose to tail away from his
flat turn, keeping him on your tail. i call this "stringing him out". he
makes that hard reversal, only to be left far behind you, and with no
airspeed to catch you. when he is most of the way through his reversal,
execute an oblique pitchback as above. again, prosecute a second merge
before pressing the attack.
case #3 is tricky. he is conserving energy, so you have to watch him
closely. again, turn nose to tail to string him out, but what your
watching for is the peak of his zoom climb. when he is brings it over
the top, whether its with an immelman, a hammerhead, or whatever, this
is your moment. he should be directly behind you due to your nose to
tail turn. execute a pure vertical immelman. when you merge again, you
will have a slight energy advantage. as always, dont blow it by pressing
it too early. allow another merge, and build more advantage.
case #4 is tricky as well. he isnt turning in the horizontal at all, so
you can't use a nose to tail turn to string him out. however, you can
use a slight nose to tail turn to force him to either alter his immelman
midway in order to stay on you, or exit the immelman facing the wrong
direction. gently make about a 45 degree turn, preserving your
airspeed. when he compleats his reversal, and you've completed your
gentle turn, execute an immelman of your own. you will have an energy
advantage at this point, but it will be slight. again, another merge
will be required.
case #5 means the guy is either leaving the fight, or is waiting to see
what you do. knowing which it is can be tricky; if he's leaving, you
want to immelman as soon as possible in order to catch him. if he's
waiting on you, acting too soon could give him the advantage. generally,
if he hasn't done anything by the time i reach a 10 count, i reverse and
chase him.
one of the keys in this careful game is the follow on merge. its likely
to be just as dangerous as the first, and you will come out of your
initial reversal with a much lower airspeed than you had going in. but
you will also have more altitude; its time to trade it back in. the
second merge should ideally be executed at the same altitude the first
merge was made at. dont try to horde a little altitude and and up going
into the merge without sufficient airspeed for crisp vertical
maneuvering. you'll stall out, and thats usually fatal. dont worry if
the bad guy holds on to his altitude. remember that means he is slower
than you, and may not be capable of a vertical maneuver.
use a shallow, unloaded dive when approaching the second merge. that
means, get your G meter to 0 G's and leave it there. an unloaded dive
maximizes your airspeed while losing as little total energy as possible
(dives always give up some energy). dive enough to get vertical
maneuvering speed in your airplane, and maybe a little extra if you can
afford a little extra altitude loss. in any case, dont bother having any
altitude advantage in the second merge that you don't need; trade it in
for airspeed.
prosecute the second merge exactly like you did the first one, with the
same set of responses. in most cases, the second merge will leave you
with a tremendous advantage, and it will be time to initiate a boom and
zoom attack on the bad guy.
this kind of merge isn't just for fast fighters; its for any airplane
that can hold and maintain an energy advantage. i did this last night
consistently with an A6M2, often against multiple opponents. what the
zeke lacks in speed it has in climb and efficiency in a reversal.
ok, i think thats a good start on this topic. feel free to ask me any
questions, or make any comments.
JUB!
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