Complex Engine Management - need some guidance

[Luno13]

The instruments in the game aren't the most accurate, and don't always reflect what's really going on in the engine. Many are totally not functional, so it's not always practical to use the original manuals for operating the in-game engines.

Even though it's called "Complex Engine Management" it's still quite primitive, and you can do a lot of things that you shouldn't, although DT have done a lot to improve it.

In game you have something called Prop-pitch which is self explanatory. This is used to control RPMs. Higher RPMs are achieved with a finer (lower) angle of pitch (ie, the propeller disk is flatter).

Power in the game controls manifold pressure, or boost, which is the pressure of the fuel-air mixture going into the engine.

A constant speed prop is among the most commonly used for aircraft in the game. With it, you set the RPMs and it will stay there, and will automatically compensate when you change manifold pressure or dive or climb.

Although Il-2 doesn't penalize for this, you generally want to keep the P-pitch higher than the Power. Otherwise you risk over-boosting and destroying the engine.

Each plane is different, and German aircraft have totally automatic systems, but a general rule of thumb is:

(Regime of flight: power - pitch)

Takeoff: 90-100
Cruise: 50-50 to 65-65
Combat cruise: 75-75 to 85-85
Combat emergency 100-100 to 110-100 or 110+WEP-100
Landing 30-100

In a dive, it's important to reduce p-pitch to prevent over-revving the engine (the prop acts like a big pinwheel). This also helps to reduce drag, allowing you do dive faster. In a climb, higher p-pitch is necessary.

I keep pitch at 100% on landing to allow myself to go to full throttle at a moment's notice, and go around from a botched landing approach.

Radiator is used to cool the engine, but opening the flaps causes drag, lowering top speed performance. If you keep your speed up, and power settings reasonable, you will generally not need to open them much, if at all.

Il-2 doesn't take Magnetos into account, so you can forget about them for now.

Mixture is the ratio of fuel and air going into the engine. "Rich" means more fuel, and "lean" means less. When flying at higher altitudes, you have to lean to keep the ratio the same (there's less air up there). However, most planes do this automatically, especially US types. It's also a good idea to over-rich to pump extra fuel into the engine to cool it down. Some of the fuel doesn't burn however, and you're not getting any extra power in an over-rich condition. In real life, doing this would foul up the spark plugs with soot fairly quickly, and mixture has to be adjusted often as conditions change.

Generally, in game, lean by 20% per 2000m.

Superchargers suck in more air for the engine, and is useful to help the engine breathe at higher altitudes. I don't have a table of values on hand, but I generally engage Stage 2 superchargers for most aircraft at 3000 meters. Many US aircraft have 3 stages, and so these are engaged at 2000 and 6000 meters respectively. Many planes have totally automatic systems, and you don't have to worry about them.

Hope this helps. Although you didn't want to hear it, you will have to spend time and practice with your favorite planes. A chart won't tell you how each one responds and feels at a certain power regime.

[MaxGunz]

It varies by plane but there is a better pitch for different combinations of power and speed. And once you are fast, 400kph or more, you can lower RPMs without losing speed if you were still accelerating when you did lower them. The slower you go with CSP, the higher you want the prop speed even for landing.

You can learn much by running solo at lower power 60%-80%, adjusting prop pitch while running yoyos. You won't be bumping against max speed and the worst drag so results of your handling will show more. The less power you learn to run well with, the better your energy management sense will become.

Don't cross-control any more than you have to. Always keep The Ball near center. Both are drag-increasers that can make open rads a minor problem.

And yes, it is much about the smoooooth control. To that extent there are things you can do.

- Practice flying (not combat) holding the stick with two fingers and thumb only.

- All the time, do not rest the weight of your hand and arm on the joystick. Do not rest your elbow on the table. Both will make your handling heavier. Keep checking, this is hard to do all the time.

- All the time, grip the stick lightly. This is very hard to do all the time during action. Only a cool head avoids a ham hand.

- Go into hardware and add a bunch of FILTER to your pitch axis. Give it a try when practicing flight. Sure, you may be 2/10's of a second slower between stick jerk and elevator movement (you can see right in the test box) but the idea is that you don't want to jerk the elevator!

- Practice just flying occasionally and every time you switch planes. Do this so you see how you are doing without distractions. Mouse the view down so you see the instruments and a little over the dash.

Keep checking The Ball until you are able to keep it near center without much if any thought. this is hardest in Spits as they have a Slip gauge wayyyy down on the lower right front panel. It is easiest on P-51's with the small ball at the base of the gunsight. In simulation it is much more important than IRL where slip pushes on the pilot.