My Main Universal Energy Tactic
There's an energy tactic I've come accustomed to mainly due to the following reasons:
1. ULQ's seriously screwed up cloud spotting.
2. Low framerates at low altitudes due to limited hardware resources.
3. I prefer aircraft that have either relatively stronger thrust-mass ratio and/or better wing lift-drag efficiency over the enemy aircraft
4. This tactic is great at pulling enemies up higher into thinner air away from trees, which matches my 2nd reason.
5. I like hard-hitting planes. This works on planes that hit enemies hard and may require close distance to hit.
6. This tactic/manoeuvre works so well on so many kinds of planes, and I originally formulated this in... a friggin Ju 87 D-5 "Stuka" ground attacker.
7. Can be used as a temporary position-reversal when dealing with a superior thrust aircraft or superior wing efficiency (not both) with slightly higher energy on your six
I don't know if this tactic/manoeuvre has been registered but if it isn't, I'll probably call it the "___" manoeuvre... actually I don't have a name for it. Most of the time I just improvise anyway. You probably can call it "Z's Universal Manoeuvre" if you want if that makes things easier.
A few additional notes when conducting this manoeuvre:
1. Don't pull back all the way unless the aircraft you're flying is a stupid brick that lacks both thrust/mass ratio and lift/drag efficiency like the A-8. Either way this tactic won't work well in most of those aircraft anyway. There is an exception however, and that's at the number 6 in the image.
2. The amount you pull back is to reach the approximate "best endurance Angle of Attack (AoA)" as briefly described in this article
3. You need to use your rudder quite a bit as it is more preferable to use the rudder to stabilise your bank more than your ailerons. Those ailerons are often just garbage at high Angles of Attack anyway. If you are not good at your rudder to prevent your plane from rolling at high angles of attack at low airspeed, this manoeuvre is probably not for you.
4. This kill does no where close to guarantee yourself an immediate kill in RB because of some stupid feature called shared spotting. This means that you'll end up playing as an easy bait for the enemies while your friendlies take your kill, which is one of the few reasons why my RB stats actually suck so much.
5. As said in #4, this tactic is very good in a two-man squad, as it can be used in a bag-and-drag style - That is, the bait drags the victim into the air while the attacker consumes the kill.
6. The only points in this tactic that actually grants you guns on the target is at positions #3, #7, and #10. If required, you can repeat over and over again snipping #8 onto #4 but I don't recommend repeating it if you're against a superior aircraft.
The Process:
1. Initialisation. Flying inverted over the enemy or looking down to your side, ensure you have higher energy status over your enemy initially even just a bit. Energy means the combination of both speed and altitude. You can make a brief calculation by using your speed as your "health" and adding around 200 km/h (~100 knots) per 1000m above the enemy. (though mathematically its more like 36 km/h [or 20 knots] for every 10 meters). I wouldn't suggest engaging if your "health" is less than 50 km/h (30 knots) above the enemy's "health" in SB and 200 km/h (120 knots) in RB if you're using a joystick (this tactic doesn't work well for mouse aim users anyway, but if you want to try it, you'll probably need at least 300 km/h advantage for a safety margin). Arcade is aimbot arena so tactics aren't really worth as much when another player is going to steal your kill anyway.
If you don't have an optimal approach such as being stuck in a head-on with some shitty mouse aimer, you can force them into a split-S or a tight turn. I'll provide more info on this later.
2. Prepare for the dive. Climb up initially if you must to get a good angle on their wings. I recommend about 10 to 20 degrees on your attacking approach angle to get a juicy bite at those wings.
3. The "Boom" of the B/Z style. Try not to stay in their line of fire too long. If you do end up getting caught, just roll to either side at least 60 degrees for a short period of time and level off again, then pitch gently for the climb and the enemy will practically never hit you anyway, even in RB. I tried it myself many times and they'll only get you if you're just too slow. (though if you're only a bit faster in SB, just roll about 30 degrees and continue pitching up as climbing is your priority),
4. The climb-out. It is important not to yank the yoke so harshly. You can over-G if you're blazingly fast in a jet but just don't exceed your endurance AoA and you will not bleed your energy so quickly. A lot of the time the enemy will bleed their energy a bit more than you do at this point.
5. The Spiral Climb. Do not pitch up further than 80 degrees. Once you do that, or as you reach about double your stall speed, start rolling your plane. As you slow down reduce your climbing angle as if you're flying a somewhat parabolic path while spiral climbing, but not quite as you'll be using your wing lift to actually help you displace yourself as you climb as well as keep you in the air. This part is important in bleeding the enemy's energy in RB as well as getting the enemy to miss in SB.
6. The drag-out. If you do it right, as your plane lowers to a climbing attitude of about 10 degrees and closing in on your endurance AoA, the enemy should start to stall out and fall, else just pull all the way back to your critical AoA to get yourself vertical. Rudder usage is very important to keep your plane from rolling too much. If you need to you can sideslip your plane to prevent the rolling. At this point the enemy should stall out (else you did it wrong, or he's simply in a plane that has both better thrust and wing efficiency than yours). If this happens, it's most likely your fault for not doing this correctly or you just picked the wrong target.
7. Falling back. Use your rudder to prevent yourself from spinning and stabilise your aircraft. Get your guns on your target again. Flaps and critical AoA if required but if you use flaps you'll bleed energy, keep that in mind.
8. Recovery. Same as 4. for the climb-out. You can snip this back onto 4. for repeating the manoeuvre against inferior or similar aircraft. Enemy has two choices, go up with you, or evade/flee.
9. Another drag-out. For insurance purposes you can choose to disengage and continue to climb out near the peak of this zoom-climb or engage again if conditions are favourable. This is also a good chance to check your surroundings as in the spiral climb you're focused on your target.
a) If the enemy chooses path 9a again, just repeat as if conducing from point 4. If you did it right, the enemy should have significantly less energy than before and will only make your life easier, but if not, its best to disengage after the fall back to the ground. If the enemy
b) If the enemy decides to stay under you, you can make another attempt. If he turns in a spiral, just head straight down and roll your plane ahead of his turning rate. Pull out of the dive for a deflection shot with your wings in plane of his flight path. If he decides to run straight, by all means, dive down on him again or choose another target. If you require close distance to hit such as flying the Me 262 against bearcats, I wouldn't really recommend going back down and just watch him to see what he does.
10. Boom and Zoom. You should have the overall energy advantage by now and you should be able to continue just by boom/zooming. If he turns, disengage and go back up, don't try to correct your aim. Of course, you may repeat again from 4. or 8. if you wish to do so.
Videos:
I don't really have any good videos of me doing this but I do have some samples where I "sort of" do it:
Dealing with a Venom with my stock F2H Banshee (RB):
Taking down a F-25 Sabre in my stock Mig-15bis (RB despite how it looks)
Dealing with a bomber that was too confident trying to sneak a kill on me (RB):
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