Greetings toribashers. My name is monkeyishi. I am opening this thread to provide a place for questions reguarding akido. I can not train you as my computer is dead but ill do my best to help.

Good to see someone who had experience in aikido willing to give some tips and help to people. So i guess i will start the question by asking how to counter a knee?

Depends on what you know about you know about the one who is throwing it. If they throw it on the same side. Create space by moving your pelvis to wards the corner behind you on the opposite side that they threw the knee from. Keeping your ankle relaxed to keep ground control. I throw a knee shield up. It gives me the option to kick ,leg sweep or stomp down for a lift. I personally prefer to leg sweep it lets me attack and it gets my leg back towards the ground.
If they throw on both sides youll .need to figure out what makes them throw on a side then its the same principles as before. Create space, maintain ground control, set up counter.
Or you can also throw a knee. Aim for the hip of the grounded leg.

how about for dueling in aikido or abd, sometimes I tend to hesitate on whether I should take the offensive side or just wait to counter, how do I figure out which initiative is best for whichever situations.

When dueling in a mod like ABD, being offensive is good and if things go the wrong way it is not difficult to correct. I'd go defensive if they go for a suplex opener, or offensive if they play a way you're experienced with. But play how you're comfortable, you can't win them all

Taking the initative is always advisable. Especially if you havent versed them before. Like mcnuggets said play how you are comfortable. The better you get at your play style the easier it is to put them in a position you are farmiliar with and they are not. Ideally youll be able to flow back and foward between the two.
Also if neither a counter or an offensive action be an option. In these i work for position. I work for a safety position like a step crab,or a tripod if i am already safe i want to work on getting my cog close to and under my opponent's cog.

Do you know how to get decaps with kicks?

Thank you for both the response. Last thing, any advice on dueling?, I find tourneying too slow in terms of earning tc, so I want to get into dueling, I know it's going to be hard, but it'll also be exciting, I want to learn as much as possible, every move, predictions,counters, adaptation, improvisations, I basically want to immensely improve so are there any differences in playstyle when people duel?, what should I Do to be a better dueler, like predicting moves and paying attention to grabs and such...

edit: also you said taking the initiative is advisable, but I always see imapirate just wait for the opponent to do something, always waiting for a counter, is it also advisable to focus solely on countering or attacking.

Im not sure how to get kick decaps. I find punches and knees more reliable. Before dueling i would scout out the metagame. I would try to have an answer to the three most comon oppeners. If you win and you wernt sure how save the replay. See what went right for you. As you figure out counters to common situations you'll see patterns emerge. As you see these patterns you can become more of a counter fighter. Finding good people to play against is a must. And if you save close losses you can go back later to see if you can figure out a counter.

Sounds like I have a lot of work to do, thank you for everything, peace.