Lean Mixture

[Skoshi Tiger]

Originally Posted by RE77ACTION

I think the mixture thing isn't worked out very well in this game. My real world experiences with changing mixtures are the following and I don't see it represented in CloD:

Lean mixture should give less power but more RPM. It also should run a lot hotter because of various reasons.

Rich mixture should give more power in lower RPM but lacks the ability give as much RPM as with a lean mixture. Rich mixture should also spill some fuel to the exhaust system.

I hope they will take care of it in future updates.

I also think that there are issues with the mixture system in the game. From my flying days (It's beenmany moons since I actually got in the left hand seat of a plane) Most of the time you want the mixture in the rich position.

When you are flying with a rich mixture you have excess fuel in your fuel air mix. As you lean out your mixture, lets say for a cruise, your reducing the ammount of fuel in the mix.

The closer you get to a chemically perfect mixture the more efficient the combustion process is and you will find that your RPM, combustion chamber temperature and power increases. This is good except that as you get closer to the chemically correct ratio of fuel and air the chance of pre-ignition and detonation also increases.

Pre-ignition is when the fuel air mix spontainiously ignites befor the spark plug fires and leads to rough running. Detonation being when the fuel air mix in the combustion chamber explodes instead of burns in a controlled manner. Detonation causes rough running and can damage the engine.

When leaning for the cruise in the cessna the procedure (if I remember correctly) was to lean the mixture until you find your maximum RPM (close to the chemically correct ratio) and then push the mixture in a bit to give a richer but safer mixture. Nearly all the other checks I remember were to put the mixture in the rich position (less efficient but less chance of damaging the engine)

In the Spitfires in COD we only have a two settings, Rich and Weak. Unless your flying for maxium range the manual tells us to make sure the mixture is in the Rich (rear) position.

I guess this is for safety. In COD I haven't had a mission that I've had to worry too much about fuel yet. This is probably a major issue for the boys in the 109's trying to get a few extra minutes over London.

I think I'm safe in saying we all want the mixture system in the game to be working in an historically correct and accurate fashion for all aircaft modeled in the game.

Cheers!