© 1996, Darren Beyer

This version of Rocketman's on-line lecture from Air Warrior has been edited by Hammer (with Rocketman's permission!) for a smoother flow and easier reading. All information was left intact and unchanged.

This write-up is the second in a series on mastering the merge. In this discussion, we'll be talking about a negative energy merge.

A negative energy merge is done when you enter a fight at an energy disadvantage. Energy in the form of altitude, speed, or both - your opponent is higher than you, faster than you, or both.

The one absolutely key element in winning a fight where your opponent starts with more energy is to equalize that energy to a point where you can shoot. It may sound simplistic, but it has to happen. Your first thought needs to be "how can I equalize energy?"

When energy states are fairly close, the best way to stay out of an opponent's guns and to equalize energy is to keep your speed high enough that you can pull up to a nose-to-nose pass. (note from hammer: In Air Warrior, which is the game this was written for, 95% of head-ons were thrown out. That is not the case in Aces High. Therefore, you must keep avoid head-ons during this maneuver) Make sure you are not presenting the attacker a T-Bone shot while pulling up. You're not trying to get a shot here. You use it purely as a defensive maneuver. Make sure you are not pulling head-on at 600 yards. You want to be pulling in at longer ranges... more than 1000.

The desired result is to equalize your energy states while maintaining roughly equal angles but don't push for it. If you push for it, you are probably pulling Gs which means you are blowing E. Be patient. Equalize your energy first. Pull low Gs through all the maneuvers. Many times what you see in the above graphic will happen. Iff the attacker gets below you then you've just gained a tremendous amount of relative E provided you pulled low Gs. You have to be careful, though. Watch for the attacker pulling around hard. If you see him doing that, then you need to correspondingly pull Gs to maintain your angles position. If a higher plane gains angles on you, you are in trouble. The key here (once again) is to be patient and equalized your energy until you have a concrete shot opportunity.

You have to be careful for rope-a-dopes! If you see your opponent not diving down past you, you must maintain enough speed to allow some vertical maneuvering in for the shot.

When I see someone roping me, I get out of my vertical maneuver as quickly as possible. Usually I will enter into a medium G flat turn then... (here's a good trick) I will briefly roll inverted. Inexperienced ropers use the bottom side of the aircraft as an indicator for when the defender has peeled off so I show it to them then turn back into them. Many times they will dive in on me just as I am pulling up into them and we get into a situation as seen here.

They get below me and they no longer have the energy to risk a rope attempt.

Where these tactics don't quite work is where there is a large disparity in energy. The concept is the same; you need to equalize energy first. But the initial tactics are different. The first step is to identify plane type. The second is to fly away from the enemy at maximum climb or maximum zoom.

If the enemy wants to get you now, they have to fly to you. Meanwhile you are climbing and closing the altitude gap. Sometimes you want to zoom out. This I use against faster aircraft that could catch you if you went to max climb. When I say "max" I mean max sustained climb (note from Hammer: default auto-speed in Aces High). Against slower aircraft I climb more, but those are not hard rules. I usually cheat on the 180 and actually go towards an extremely high bogie so I only need to turn about 120 degrees to be going away. No need to go straight at the enemy to begin with in this situation.

While climbing at max climb leaves you slow, it is not all bad. You will not out run a higher opponent with a shallow dive. You need to equalize energy then try and get separation so you can climb above him. Being slower is not bad at all provided you have sky underneath. If your opponent is trying to catch you then he is fast. You have two choices: turn into him to force a nose-to-nose or simply split-S out of the way. He won't be able to follow the split-S. If he tries, he will overshoot in the vertical (a big no-no) and will give up a lot of E.

If you are going to turn into your opponent, you do it far enough out that you can do a slow, low G turn. Remember, the key is to equalize energy so you need to pull low G whenever possible. Do not use flaps unless you need to. If your speed lets you do an immelman at 3 Gs, that's OK too. What you don't want to do is dive away from a higher opponent. He can simply point in the direction you're diving and gain on you easily. You will be giving up E when you dive where the key is to equalize.

Once again, the main concept here is to equalize our energy first. Don't try wild shots. You only want to pull high Gs if your opponent is trying to turn with you while at high speed. Otherwise, you probably won't get around on him before he gets out of range and you will have wasted E. Keep the angles even and equalize your energy until you have a good opportunity to convert. Then start pulling Gs and for for the kill.

The last situation is being attacked from the straight vertical. If you have the E to go nose-to-nose then you do it, but a lot of times a straight vertical attack is the result of you being roped. In that case, go into a tight spiral turn down. You will blow E, but you have no choice if you're stuck at 150 IAS with an enemy above you. If possible, though, maintain vertical maneuvering speed.