reflected, and skouras, very good perspectives you put forth. I'd have figured the Hurricane to be pretty much dead meat, but I guess you can never be too careful. As for going up against the Spit, even the real pilots of both sides seem to be split on which is faster. I suppose it just depends on where one encountered the other; efficiency at altitude perhaps being the issue there (but don't quote me on it).
Either way, there's nothing like going up against real live breathers in full real combat. Seems it's still the ones you don't see that get you, eh? ;) Thanks for the replies. Can't wait to get the game, my new system and to be up among you.
Flyby out

I really like the 109 prop set 80% radiators 50% elevator trim -1.

Use energy against the Spit. Avoid turning after Spit with low energy.
Use canon only from close distance, a few cannon hits can cripple the plane and finish of with MG. Very effective AC.

Ah! Beware the Hun in the Sun, eh? The Emil is an energy fighter (boom~n~zoom). I guess the penalty was the heavy use of fuel to gain altitude over the Brit fighters, and so a short time over the cliffs. I guess. Good advice about getting close then using canon.
Flyby out

I think all the fighters actually stand good chances to score kills, thanks to the improved DM.

I'm not going online until we get the next official patch (too many people running different versions with the beta patches currently and that creates problems for multiplayer), but my experience from practicing offline against a wide variety of targets is that the machine guns pack a noticeable punch in this sim thanks to the complex DM.

Having them centrally mounted and with so many rounds in the 109 also helps a lot, in fact i find that most of my kills against fighters are with MG rounds only. They have a high rate of fire and none of the fighters in the sim are sufficiently armored, i've even scored a pilot kill on an AI spit firing only with the MGs from dead six.

If you want to gauge this for yourself and see how pronounced the difference is in comparison to IL2, get in a G.50 and set-up a QMB sortie against some AI Gladiators. The 12.7mm Bredas were a bit harder to aim (but i hadn't messed with convergence and ammo belt settings yet when i flew that sortie) and slower-firing, so you do tend to miss a bit more.

However, most of the times that i did score hits it only took 3-4 impacts to score a kill and 90% of the time it was pilot kills. I think the Bredas have some sort of incendiary/explosive round and that works wonders if you approach with a bit of deflection and not straight from dead six.

Individual aircraft performance aside, if the tactical situation is right, one type can prevail over another. My interest is in how the Emil acquits itself against it's main foes. But again, on any given day, whomever holds an advantage can succeed. I guess I like the Emil, and the problems it's short range presents for limited fighter escort, and even friejags.
Flyby out

Flyby- i'm finding the difference between the Merlin powered machines and the 109 to be quite stark. The merlin is definitely more robust than the DB- it seems you have to watch the gauges much more closely on the DB as it is very easy to over-rev it and that means game over.
The merlin is practically bullet proof if you keep your radiator open.
The acceleration of the Spit and Hurricane is woeful- if you're in a 109 with more E, they are toast. A number of times i've been caught climbing in a Spit from an airfield on full switch servers and there is no chance of getting E to make it a fair fight, whereas in a 109 you can get some speed up to get away just by dropping the nose. The difference to Il2 is quite marked.
From accounts i've read of vets opinions it seems pretty accurate, the Spits are definitely easier to fly but if you master the 109 you're deadly.

Thanks for the comparison, Blakduk. I thought the Merlins might take more tending to versus the DB. But that speaks to workload, not durability. Each sides premier fighters seem to have their strengths and weaknesses. So again, good tactical advantage comes into play. How cool is that? :D
Flyby out.

Actually, it's the other way around. The RAF fighters are equipped with constant speed props and automatic boost control. That means you can set your RPM and forget about it.

You can also set your manifold pressure and the auto boost will maintain it steady despite altitude changes (at least as long as you're not so high up that it can't due to lack of ambient air pressure).

Of course, if you go to coarse pitch/lower RPM the manifold pressure will rise and you'll need to readjust it. However, the overall recipe is:

1) experiment in free flight and find the highest power setting you can run with the lowest radiator use without overheating
2) set it once upon entering combat and forget about it, unless you need to chop throttle in an overshoot situation or something similar


The 109 on the other hand has neither of these systems. Manifold pressure for a given throttle position will vary with altitude. The RPMs also vary with airspeed, manifold pressure and possibly attitude and G-load and you have to "dance" on the pitch controls to keep it where it should be.

That being said, i find that taking the time to get used to it in free flight (seems like this is a must for me on every aircraft :grin: ) and getting used to how each RPM band sounds, i can easily keep it within limits and maintain optimum RPM for whatever it is i'm doing without looking at instruments.

It's like shifting gears in a manual transmission car, after a while you do it by engine sound and sense of speed ;)

Excellent stuff! Thanks Blackdog_kt. I've got to get my system built so I can fly this game, and the Emile! ;)
Flyby out