Leaning Mixture

[Wayfarer 5]

I am trying to manage the engine revs as explained in other posts by using Ctrl - to lean the mixture as I gain altitude, and ctrl + to enrich while descending. I am flying a BE2 and seem to keep the revs between 1100 and 1200 most of the time. My other flight members seem to climb and pull away from me with ease, often leaving me feeling uncomfortably alone (fortunately it is February 1915 and I haven't seen an enemy aircraft yet!). I am thinking perhaps I should be getting more power out of the engine.

I usually hit Ctrl - three or four times every 1000ft or so, flying at no more than 6000ft. I once tried about ten times and the revs dropped below 1000. Should I be doing things differently?

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Welcome to the OFF skies Wayfarer. New lads buy the drinks!

 

You have it about right Sir on the mixture adjustment. My routine is to get my kite in the air, level off at the end of the field and lean the mixture until the engine begins to drop in RPMs and/or sputter and cough. I then richen it back up about 5 to 6 clicks. I repeat this procedure every 1'500 feet in altitude; leaning as I climb, and going richer as I descend.

 

Now then, a cup of Irish coffee for me if you please, my good man.

 

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

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[Winston DoRight 3]

I always lean the mixture until the engine can be heard to loose revs then richen it slightly. I do it this way because in combat you can't be looking at the tachometer when you may need a mixture change. When decending you can richen up a bit and you'll learn how much with practice. On decent do it before the engine looses power. Mixture is best controlled with a wheel/axis/buttons on your joystick or controller. It's easier than trying to press the keyboard in the heat of battle.

 

As far as the AI pilots outrunning you, well there's nothing you can do about that as the weights in the AI aircraft are different and they always have a higher performing craft. It's a CFS3 thing.

 

Lead the flight and then you won't get left behind.

[Wayfarer 5]

Thanks to both of you. It's good to have these things confirmed. I am going to need a joystick with more wheels/buttons!

Now Lou, how much whisky ...

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Two fingers of Tullamore Dew 12 should do me nicely, thank you very much.

 

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[carrick58 23]

Wow you guys are far ahead of me. I still have everything set on easy and still don t last very long .

[Wayfarer 5]

Carrick. It's just an illusion in my case. Like I said, I haven't actually seen an enemy aircraft yet in this period. I am still landing more by luck than judgement - that'll probably get me first!

Edited July 31, 2010 by Wayfarer

[Bletchley 8]

"As far as the AI pilots outrunning you, well there's nothing you can do about that as the weights in the AI aircraft are different and they always have a higher performing craft. It's a CFS3 thing"

 

I have noticed this as well - I struggle to keep the rest of the flight in sight during the initial climb to altitude, and often loose touch with them before we even cross the lines. Is it a 'bug' that is being worked on, or is this now impossible to correct ? Or, as a work-around, how much does fuel load have to be reduced before the mission starts to equalise the weights ?

 

Bletchley

[Winston DoRight 3]

"........ Is it a 'bug' that is being worked on, or is this now impossible to correct ? Or, as a work-around, how much does fuel load have to be reduced before the mission starts to equalise the weights ?

 

Bletchley

As I understand it, when the AI flys a craft the weight of the fuel and the weight of the pilot is not modeled. The only thing that can be done is to make AI only aircraft and add an pylon with a non jettisonable dummy weight weapon in the amount of the fuel and pilots weight. I've done this in the CFS3 mods and then used mission builder to make custom missions using the modded AI planes. I have no idea how this could be incorporated into single player OFF.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

My understanding is that fuel and pilot weight is modeled for the AI, but that the AI always have 50% fuel on board, both at the start and end of a mission. I seem to have an easier time keeping up with the AI at the end of a mission, as my fuel load gets depleted, than I do at the start.

[themightysrc 5]

" Like I said, I haven't actually seen an enemy aircraft yet in this period. I am still landing more by luck than judgement - that'll probably get me first!"

 

You probably won't see a Hun until June 1915 - I joined up a pilot in February 1915 (see reports from the front thread) and managed to get plenty of valuable flying time in BEs before meeting the inevitable Eindeckers. Be reassured - they're even less manouvreable than BE2s, and not quite as fast. Ask your observer to duck his head before you open fire!

 

As for landing, you'll probably find it increasingly easy as you go on. I used to crash with monotonous regularity until I realised that the best way of landing is to actually chop back the throttle to more or less nothing, and then to glide in, keeping the nose just up until the stick's rattling away, when you cut the engine completely and coast. It'll work with a BE, but they are, believe me, sweeties to fly, because they have stability built in. Do not, I repeat, do not take up a Camel until you have mastered a variety of other planes.

 

Finally, welcome to CA and OFF - mine's a pint of Pendle Witch!

 

Cheers,

Si

[Winston DoRight 3]

My understanding is that fuel and pilot weight is modeled for the AI, but that the AI always have 50% fuel on board, both at the start and end of a mission.........

AI planes takeoff with 100% fuel and no weight penalty for it. This is verified in multiplayer because when you spawn into another aircraft near the end of a long mission, there's always much more fuel in the plane you just spawned into compared to your other multiplayer flight members. The lack of modeled weight for fuel and pilot makes the AI planes much more economical on fuel usage as well. Instantly the change happens, now the fuel weight (and pilot weight) is modeled when a human is flying it.

[Wayfarer 5]

"You probably won't see a Hun until June 1915 - I joined up a pilot in February 1915 (see reports from the front thread) and managed to get plenty of valuable flying time in BEs before meeting the inevitable Eindeckers ...

As for landing, you'll probably find it increasingly easy as you go on. I used to crash with monotonous regularity until I realised that the best way of landing is to actually chop back the throttle to more or less nothing, and then to glide in, keeping the nose just up until the stick's rattling away, when you cut the engine completely and coast."

 

Thanks Si, this confirms what I've been trying to do. Typically, I made a couple of reasonable landings first off, and now I seem to to be always crabbing sideways in the last 10 feet - and it's too late to get power back up and go around again!

I deliberately chose Feb 1915 for its quiet start - I seem to be strangely content to fly spotting flights real time, just trying to control the machine and enjoying the graphics. I never have this patience with CFS3 or IL2, but I haven't tried any WW1 since 'Flying Corps' wouldn't work with Vista. I'm going to try and persevere so the shock value of the first Eindecker will that much more exciting!

[vonOben 55]

As I understand it, when the AI flys a craft the weight of the fuel and the weight of the pilot is not modeled. The only thing that can be done is to make AI only aircraft and add an pylon with a non jettisonable dummy weight weapon in the amount of the fuel and pilots weight. I've done this in the CFS3 mods and then used mission builder to make custom missions using the modded AI planes. I have no idea how this could be incorporated into single player OFF.

 

Hi

 

If you fly a campaign wouldn’t it be possible to simply increase the weight of all other aircraft with the amount of the fuel and pilots weight?

And when you get a new aircraft you have to change back so it has the default weight.

 

Would that be possible and which files contain the weight information?

I’ve checked and both the xpd file and the aircraft.cfg file have weight information, are there any more?

 

Cheers

 

vonOben

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

The .air files also contain weight information, but you need a hex editor or airEdit to read those files. Of the three, I think the .cfg file is the file the game uses.