Hi guys, I am new to DCS WW2 planes and am currently learning the P51 and Dora. I find the P51 quite newbie-friendly, once you learn safe RPM and manifold pressures anyway, and I can easily defeat the FW190 in the P51's Instant Action dogfight against it.
However I am having a lot of problems defeating the P51 while flying the Dora in its own Instant Action mission against it. I suspect this is due to some newbie mistakes and some advice would be appreciated!
My standard setup is to throttle to 100 % with MW on (I believe the MW is default on, correct?). However I have the following issues:
- The plane naturally rolls left quite heavily, which I can't trim out due to the absence of rudder and aileron trim! This is definitely the most annoying and makes it very difficult to fly level, or to make minor adjustments e.g. for aiming up a shot. Surely this can't be the normal state for this plane? I have double checked all my inputs (including checking the control-enter input panel). The only slightly odd thing I notice is a constant right rudder that is applied, even with neutral rudder input, presumably this is simulating a trim tab? I don't get this behaviour on the P51.
- I find the plane very shaky and unstable compared to the P-51. I can't turn too hard or the cockpit shakes heavily, and if I push it, the nose of the plane bucks wildly around. I suspect this is me playing too heavily on the stick, but sometimes it feels like the plane gets into a bad mood and even gentle movements cause shaking until I level out for a good five seconds. This all hurts my position badly in the dogfight.
Generally I find I have to try very hard to get a favourable position against the P51. I have recently tried to focus more on vertical loops and split-S rather than turnfighting the P51, as turnfighting seems to be a hopeless proposition. However typically I am always just 1 mistake away from having him on my six, whereas it takes many minutes of good manoeuvring from me just to stay even (typically resulting in head-on gun runs at each other). I also find it to hard to play in the vertical while still managing to keep eyes on the opponent and avoid stalling.
It doesn't help that I am using an X55 stick with a twist rudder, but I am getting rudder pedals soon which hopefully will help a little!