Personally, i'm good with it. But is having the original hood as an option in the Mission Editor a possiblity? For those who would prefer to have the historical hood it could be nice.
Alright, i think i know the solution to your problem!
On the main DCS menu go to options (the small gearing on top left of the screen), then click on the "Gameplay" tab, uncheck "Game avionic mode" and click OK.
This should fix your problem. :)
"BATT SW" means the battery is set to ON... Manual, page 31... ;)
Weird problem you have there Spartan1910. While in the mission did you check the commands for "Throttle Idle" (both left and right) by pressing the escape key and clicking on adjust controls? In the control window you can press Right-Shift Home and it will go directly to the Throttle idle line.