Full realism for the sim. Makes things real interesting from start to finish.

But if you don't have much experience with engine management, start on the easier levels, and as you get to knowing what does what, and when you can react with quick adjustments, you can increase the difficulty. Otherwise, going directly to full real can confuse, and frustrate ya'.

To help with engine management. This is with patch 2 added.

Make all adjustments with the right mouse button not the left, as the left mouse button will keep the AI from doing any engine work, until you really know what's going on!

1 Once the planes are airborn, and have taken up there respective postions in the formation, go to the co-pilots postition.

2 Press the "I" key to get the instrument view.

3 Press the "F6" key to read the dials for the engine info, temperatures, rpms, etc, etc.........
You may notice the engine temps are a little high.

4 Use the "F9" key to access the Intercooler controls, and lower the settings 2 to 3 steps lower than ther AI have set them. You may need to go lower, just do a little at a time for now until you are comfortable.

(For some reason, the AI like to set the Intercoolers too high, and can damage the engines. You will have to make slight adjustments to them, as the AI will want to boost them back up if the engines cool down too much. But as the AI gain experience, they will keep the settings down where they need to be)

5 Use the "F6" key to go back to the engine guages view again, and if you move your mouse pointer over the engine temp needles in the dials you will get a reading of how hot or cool they are. Try to keep the temp readings in the green color, as the AI will boost the settings again if they turn yellow. Do this until the temps are stable enough.

6 Press the "F5" key, to get back to the standard instrument view. Now comes the fun part, balancing the "prop" pitch, engine rpms, and manifold pressures.

7 You've pressed the "F5" key, and can see the full instrument panel, and the throttle console should be to your left.

8 Using the RIGHT mouse button, slowly raise the four individual propellor pitch levers until you see the rpms reading about 2300 to 2400 rpms. You will hear variances in engine sound, that's OK.
( You may need to switch between the F5 and F6 views to get this.)

9 Once the engines are all set to the same rpm setting, you need to balance the manifold pressure btween the engines.

(You want to try to keep the manilfold pressure around the 30 mark on the dials. Also each dial has 2 needles. Engines 1 and 3 are gray, and 2 and 4 are white. This applies to the rpm guages too)

10 This will take some time and experimenting to get right, be patient, you may have to restart the mission a few times to get the hang of it!

11 Using the right mouse button, tweak the individual throttle controls back slightly, not too much, or your changes will be too drastic and will throw everything out of kilter, and you'll be back at square one again.

12 By working the throttles back slightly you will notice the manifold pressures even out between the engines, this is what you want. You will also notice the engine sound even out. This is because all the engines are putting out the same power, which also affects your effective range. The best setting for cruise speed, and fuel economy is to have the rpms read 2300.

13 Check your engine temp. guages again, the darn AI have em' runnin' hot again? No problem, adjust your intercoolers down a couple notches at a time again until you're back down to about 2/3rds again on the temp dials Now check the needles on the Cylinder Head Temp guages, they should and do operate best at 205 degrees. Again move your mouse pointer over the indvidual needles and you will get temp readings in yellow (cold), green (optimal), or red (not good at all!) You will if in the red, lose the engine(s) soon.

14 Look at your manifold pressure dials again, you may need to tweak them again, but not too much, you already did the initial setting the first time around. Just keep them as even as possible.

15 Once you have the engines set for cruising, you don't need to worry about them until combat, or flak causes problems, and from there you'll need to re-adjust rpms, and all for the present situation.

If you're on a long trip to the Fatherland, you may need to ditch your bombs, to stay in formation, or head home due to damage, but you can again adjust your propellor pitch for differing situations, such as the loss of an engine. This part is a trial and error learning experience, as no two missions are the same where damage is concerned. Just remember, that the remaining engine on either side will need to have higher rpms, and prop pitch settings than the other side.

The side with 2 good engines will need lower settings. Engines 1 or 4 will need to be set to the lowest rpms, sometimes around 2000, or a little lower, and engines 2 or 3 sometimes as low as 2100 to 2300 rpms, but this all depends on which side an engine is out, or damaged, as you want to fly as level as possible.

This also helps in the landing curcuit, and will help keep the planes on a good landing approach, as I've lost a lot of planes in the past due to poor engine management, and the AI doesn't automatically compensate for situations at hand.