All right, I know this is a question which gets asked over and over in any simulator, but this is kind of a special case because I'm excellent at avoiding head-on passes in other fairly realistic simulators. I just can't do it in this one because the aircraft are so slow.

My usual trick in my P-38 is to fly low and fast, below the enemy aircraft's nose, at an angle rather than directly toward him. A moment before he shoots, I pull up, which also is the beginning of my combat turn. It never failed to throw them off. Even the best marksmen found it impossible to hit me at the merge, unless I had a truly miserable energy state to begin with. The reason why is simple: if you move horizontally across his line of fire at 400 M.P.H., pulling up just before you actually cross the line, he cannot move his nose up and over enough to fire at the updated point at which he should fire, which has moved significantly, before you pass that point.

I've drawn a very artistic picture of what this should look like from the enemy's point of view. Obviously, things are not to scale and this is not an exact diagram of the maneuver (in particular, I had a hard time drawing the P-38, so it's pointing farther away from the enemy than I would be in actuality). Hopefully it'll convey what I'm talking about, though. The red dot in each panel depicts approximately where the enemy needs to point his guns in order to hit me. I suppose it's theoretically possible that he could get his gunsight from the first dot to the second dot in time to make the shot, but it's never happened to me when I've started out with a reasonable amount of energy (meaning, as long as I was at least able to attain around 250 M.P.H. by the time I had to jink).



This is actually similar in principle to my less reliable last-ditch dodge, which only works in aircraft which can do a pretty quick roll. Snaprolls generally aren't good for this, as the brief stall prevents you from simultaneously pulling "up" (which, in this picture, is actually up, relative to the ground, but this isn't always the case).



Back to my original point. The dodge depicted in my first image works perfectly well for fast World War Two fighters such as the P-38 and the P-47, but it does not seem to work at all for Great War aeroplanes. Is there any sure way to avoid a head-on firing pass? Or if not, how can I best minimize my chances of getting hit? My old method isn't working too well here. (Actually, it's worked pretty well so far, but only because most of my opponents aren't that great of gunners. If he knows what he's doing, however, he can hit me in spite of my maneuvers.)

My head on passes that work well for me start off with me diving below his nose as a target disappearing below your nose is hard to target. This can be fairly shallow to quite steep depending on what the other plane is doing. I try to aim like I am going to fly well below the other plane. If the opportunity presents itself, right before I pass beneath I try to do a quick pitch up and get a few rounds into the belly of the other plane.

Remember these planes can pitch up a lot quicker than they can pitch down.

Requiem has a tactic that he says works. I haven't had success with it yet but that's because I haven't practiced enough. His idea is to move off tho one side, turn in towards the opponent and try a burst. If you miss, you are at least already in a turn to follow him.
As to your diagram you have which shows safety in crossing the line of fire, not so in ROF. Think about it. those planes flew so much more slowly. If one crosses my line of sight I usually have time to get off about five or so rounds. Might not sound much but I have on more than one occasion been lucky. Slow dog fighting demands a different mind set.

Jerry

The best advice (IMHO) is to "slip/skid" past your opponent on either side, using rudder to point your guns at him.

You can let go of the rudder input - or even apply opposite rudder to squirrel out at the last minute - this way if you're too late, you should still miss the collision (if he follows the same proceedure and doesnt fly into you that is!)

*shrug*

Neither of those two suggestions involves avoiding the head-on firing pass, which is what I was asking about; they instead advocate actively participating in the head-on. What I am looking for is advice on how to merge with the enemy in such a way that he cannot hit me, regardless of how good a marksman he is. I recognize that this may not be possible with these aircraft, but this what I'm seeking advice on.

To clarify: when I say "a head-on firing pass," I'm talking about a situation where both aircraft are shooting at each other at the same time. I don't like doing this, because even if I do everything correctly I can still be hit. I have no control over how good of a shot my opponent is and so no matter how well I aim; if he aims just as well as I do, I'm going to be shot, too. My fate in this case is out of my hands. I dislike that.

What I'm looking for is a way for our two aircraft to fly toward each other and pass, without me giving him an opportunity to hit me. Again, I understand that this may not be possible with these fighters. But that's what I'm asking about.

Um, isn't a head-on pass like this fairly inevitable in the co-alt, co-energy, co-visual scenario you've been describing as your preferred way of starting a dogfight? Maybe this is why so many players prefer to fight on their own terms rather than from equalised situations... (I jest, I jest!)

Well assuming the co-alt/co-energy state of affairs, my preferred tactic would be to turn beam-on to the incoming bandit and begin a climbing turn, maintain distance from them, and I would hold this situation to help ensure that the bandit was unable to get a good guns solution on me. I'd hold it until either it was clear I was now high enough for them to stall out if they try to shoot at me, or until it was clear they can match my climb.

No. Not in the IL-2 series, Aces High II, nor Lock On: Modern Air Combat (among others). As I said (and showed), I developed a technique which allows me to avoid head-on passes with 100% effectiveness in duels which begin at co-energy, co-angle, co-visual. It also usually works even if I'm sub-energy at the beginning. But it only consistently works with the aircraft in other simulators. It doesn't work very well with the aircraft in this sim.

I don't understand what your are negating in Masaq's post. Your preference is to start a fight co-alt, co-energy, co-visual -- that is, on completely equal terms, right? If you want that and start to engage the enemy in RoF, you will be dealing with some kind of a head-on situation and, you are correct, it is hard to guarantee you can't be hit during that.

The solution Masaq proposed is also the one I like. Turn away from them, keep them on your wing tip or even in the rear quarter and start climbing. If you are too late in starting that and they will be in gun range immediately, I would try timing it so that when they are about to fire, I turn hard and dive. Immediately after the enemy has lost the guns solution, I would try to climb. Depending on the airplane I am flying, it will either become a spiral climb or a hard turn fight.

I was clarifying that the answer to his question may or may not be "yes" in Rise of Flight, but the answer is "no" in general, and in other simulators.



I've tried that. Doesn't seem to work very well; whether I climb slow-and-steep or fast-and-shallow, they always get gun solution unless I had a significant energy advantage already. Spiral climbs were one of my best maneuvers in my P-38, but they don't seem to be a good idea here. Not with the SPAD, at any rate.

The really quick turning planes are hard to fight against because if they know you are there, they are always pointed at you.