HotTom

Thanks for the update, Luthier! Folks just want to know you're listening and it's now very obvious you are!

Very Cool!

I wouldn't go so far as to say "agile." A Spitfire is agile. An ME109 is agile. This is still an energy fighter relying more on speed than ability to turn. It can turn a bit and the controls must be handled with some sensitivity. As with any plane, you have to find the edge and keep it there during a fight. I find a Force Feedback stick is a huge help. It starts twitching as soon as I get even close to a stall. I think that accelerated stall is an unexpected and rude awakening to folks who expected to yank and bank. You have to develop a "touch" and that takes practice and flying it regularly.

Gav, my guess is those complaints are from folks who haven't flown it enough to really get a feel for it. It takes a long time flying it every day to get the muscle memory working. My log book has just gone over 100 hours and I'm just starting to feel comfortable and confident. TTT (HT)

^ Agreed! My FFB G940 gives me plenty of warning when I approach any stall. It's sad that no one is making a force feedback stick these days but, if you have an older one or can buy one, you have a huge advantage with the P-51D. In the instant mission, I own the Dora. When the stick starts shaking, I just back off a bit and completely avoid accelerated stalls. I consider FFB the single most important feature in any flight sim joystick. Essential kit! Hiya Gav! TTT (HT)

Puma, you made your point...don't oversell it....

No animosity taken, Merlin. Just a good discussion. Nice to see folks discussing tactics here!

Sorry, Merlin, but -- while I agree completely with your three rules -- I disagree on relative performance and so does historical fact and the DCS models. And I don't know who the "we" is you are talking about. You have a mouse in your pocket? Your experience in on line play may be different -- I don't play on line; the jerk quotient in any on line sim is too high and in my old age my annoyance threshold is too low to willingly put up with them -- but against the AI Dora, the Dora is slightly faster in a level flight chase. I can't catch it even using WEP. If you read my post to mean that I turn fight the Dora you read incorrectly. I use the Mustangs slightly better turn ability to avoid his attack runs but mostly just keep him on my lift line (yes, Wild Bill, use it) and wait until he exhausts his own energy state. That's why I keep him low. It limits his ability to dive away and put energy in his bank account. I agree if I catch the Dora at a low energy level (as I said) and his attempt to zoom is limited, I can outzoom him and fill him with holes if he stalls out fairly low. But if he keeps climbing, all I will do is cook my engine trying to keep up with him, even with the air and oil cooler flaps fully open. It's pretty easy to tell when he is beginning a zoom climb with low energy. The Mustang was not a good climber. The Dora was. DCS modeled them correctly.

If you flew Falcon 4.0 you would know they were nice enough to etch a lift line into the canopy. It runs from front to rear in the center of the canopy. Yes, that's how I kill the Dora so frequently. I don't chase him (except when I have an energy advantage). I just circle below keeping him on my lift line while he strains his engine. The Dora is faster (at lower altitudes) and out climbs the Mustang. The Mustang turns a bit better (the Dora can hardly turn at all). If you can damage the Dora enough it will head for home at its airfield by the lake and you can jump him when he descends. Let him fight in the vertical. You can't match him. But you can beat him in the horizontal. If you stay low and he can't dive to build energy, you've got him. My only complaint with the Dora is that it is too tough. It takes me at least 150 hits and often 200 to bring it down, according to the scores at the end of the mission. My 2 cents....

The trick, IMO, is to take the time to learn to use the gyro pipper properly. Don't "chase the pipper." Let it settle. Get it on the screen and maneuver your plane so the target drifts into it. The advantage, sort of like a holographic rifle sight, is that no matter what your head position, if you can see the pipper and put it on the target, you'll hit it. It seems quite accurately modeled. It works fine for me. In pure pursuit I have to put the pipper just a hair below the target but it seems to work, judging by all the pieces flying back at me. ;-) All you're admitting, WB, is that you haven't been able to master it. Not that you've come up with a "better" solution. Yeah, I can hit targets, too, when my sight is knocked out but, really, it's just spray and pray. That video using the fixed sight is a useless technique when both planes are maneuvering.

Chianti, I see you just joined this month. Give yourself six months and fly every day. It takes a long time to develop the muscle memory that allows you to "feel" the P-51 intuitively and instinctively. One day, it suddenly is there for you. The plane flies the way you want it to. Really. Fun fact: Robin Olds had 250 hours of training flight time in his P-38 before they sent him to Europe (where he later swapped for a P-51). How many hours do you have in your P-51? Look in your log book. No patch ever made will make up for lack of practice and patience.:joystick:

Okay, you sold me! Nice find!

LOL, I've already agreed I believe there is too much smoke. I think we're advocating the same thing here -- less smoke. I'm just saying it shouldn't be "arbitrary" but based on photographic evidence. The problem is: How much is too much? How do you quantify it so you can simulate it accurately? A film of a P-47 isn't proof (except of how much smoke a P-47's guns produce) -- but it is a very good indication that DCS is overdoing the effect. I believe that's true, too. I suspect that somewhere there is actual film of a P-51D on a strafing run. That would be proof. I'm arguing for historical accuracy. I'm not saying "don't allow cameras" or to "bury your head in the sand." Don't put words in my mouth. I never said those things.

Folks, I'm not saying it's right the way it is. But before it is changed, how about some historical evidence (screen shots of a sim only show what it is like in the sim)? It is a simulation, right? Not a "season to taste" game? My guess is if the ground shooting video is an accurate depiction, if the plane were flying at several hundred miles an hour the smoke would be quickly blown away. But it should be based on reality if it is changed. Sri if Wild Bill is disgusted but, frankly, I never notice it one way or the other. I'm usually looking at the target, not the guns. Some folks must be spending too much time admiring themselves in the external view?

I can't recall seeing any film showing a P-51D firing its guns. Gun camera footage, sure, but not external film showing the guns themselves. I've seen many .50s fired for real (and fired quite a few myself) but never six simultaneously in flight. Here is a film of a P-51D firing its guns on the ground and there is considerable smoke: Some research to see what it really looked like on a P-51D in flight would be helpful instead of saying you don't like it. Something more objective would be a better argument.

[quote=Jamz;1994021 thanks for your hekp LOL, there may be a clue there...:doh:

Update: Found it! For anyone with the same problem, go to C:/User/Saved Games and delete the DCS folders inside. Mission Generator returns to life!

My create quick mission generator function suddenly refuses to generate any missions. If I click on the Missions button I see a quick generated mission stored in My Missions. Could that be causing a conflict? Problem is: I can't find that My Missions folder to try to delete it (I didn't put it there; is that where they are created when a mission is generated?). I must have flown more than 100 of these generated missions with no problem. Now it won't generate any. Any ideas, please? Thanks!

I'm having the same problem but your solution is gibberish to me (sorry). Could you provide roadmap in simple non-geek English please. I have no idea what you're modifying or where you located it.

Scat is very cool! Thanks, Tom!

I kill the AI Dora almost all the time (after a learning curve that took five months). It takes a long time and lots and lots of practice and many small tweaks to your controls. And I'm very much still learning. My advice would be to buy it as soon as it goes on sale (mine cost about $16). And then fly it and fly it and fly it. The campaign is a superb (and frustrating) learning experience. You can see your skills improve and your muscle memory develop. It's an amazing sim and the most pure flying fun I've experienced in a couple decades of sim flying! EDIT: A final thought: I use the Quick Missions a great deal. Only for ground attack (The stang gets nicked up considerably; waiting anxiously for the P-47) and those are target rich environments. Also good fun flying low!

It should be. Watch that video I linked above . He's clearly over-priming after not being able to start and getting flames (@30 sec - 1 minute). I would tie the flames to over-priming. Having them just be random would be pretty bogus IMO.

Pilots who think about noise don't fly Mustangs :cry:

Thanks Shahdoh. I have Saitek pedals and am configured only in SIM. I will try using the curve, though. Maybe will make the brakes less twitchy.