Manual Engine Control Tutorial

A tutorial for manual engine controls in War Thunder! (With pictures!)

Introduction

Hey guys, and welcome to my manual engine controls tutorial. You might be a Realistic Battle player or Simulator player who just found out about a feature in War Thunder, and wants to try it out. Well, here you are...so let's get started!

The Basics

This is where I teach beginners about the engine controls.
And I want to say before we get going, there's going to be a lot of minimum/maximum values stuff, and when you set these, you must ALWAYS turn on relative controls. Otherwise, it'll just skip from 100% to 50%, and that's it. I would also like to say that manual engine controls do NOT, I repeat, do NOT work in arcade mode. To jump right in, I recommend going into an aerobatics server or a test flight of realistic difficulty. (Or simulator, if you prefer.) To get to the manual engine controls, go into controls, and turn on Full Real controls. Next, go to engine controls. After that, you can bind your keys and such.

Radiator Cooling

Radiator cooling is an option that lets you change the temperature of your engine. This is performed by opening flaps near the engine, exposing the radiator. Of course, the air will cool down an engine. This is most effective when your engine/oil/water is at around the orange level or about to get there. Also, it helps a LOT to lower your throttle down to about 50% for this. Otherwise, I recommend to keep it closed, because the flaps, when open, create drag.

Propeller Feathering

Propeller feathering is a term describing when you enable your propeller to stop spinning, as a spinning propeller with no power creates quite a lot of drag. This is called windmilling. Propeller feathering especially useful in multi-engine planes when one of your engines is shot down. When you turn on propeller feathering, your propeller stops spinning, ultimately creating less drag...and less drag means more speed!

Propeller Pitch

This is what it sounds like. It changes the pitch of each propeller blade to get more speed out of your engine power. You may think, "Hm. Couldn't we just leave the pitch at 100% to get the most speed out of flying?" Actually, no. Leaving the propeller pitch at 100% for long periods of time will overwork, and soon enough, overheat your engine, which is extremely helpful in ensuring a quick death.

Fuel Mixture

This is probably the hardest thing you have to keep track of. Fuel mixture is how much fuel goes into the engine. Simple enough, right? But, no. The higher you go, the lower the percentage has to be, because if it's too high, there's too much fuel, but no air, so the engine gets overloaded and doesn't combust it's fuel. But, the thing is, I can't tell you how much the mixture percentage has to be. It's different for each engine, and that means different for each plane. (Unless they have the same engine) Just go into a test flight, and you'll see how much it is by climbing to different altitudes. Here below is a table that'll show you the fuel mixture estimates based on my experiences with the P-47 in Realistic Battles.

Altitude	Percentage
Sea Level	100-120%
2,500 ft. (762 m)	90-95%
5,000 ft. (1,524 m)	85%
10,000 ft. (3,048 m)	75%
20,000 ft. (6,096 m)	50-60%
25,000 ft. (7,620 m)	40%

Remember to practice!

I've seen so many stuff where people suck at this, but you have to remember, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. I can't stress this out enough. You NEED to go in an aerobatic server or test flight and get the hang of it. Especially with the mixture of specific planes. Every time you unlock a new plane, just remember to test it out, some overheat more than others, some have different mixture settings, etc. But, just please, before you go into an actual Realistic or Simulator battle, please practice. Your team doesn't need a person who doesn't know what they're doing. I'm not doing this to offend people, but please. Practice until you're an expert at this, or even moderately good. Just, don't be a complete noob about it and enter a battle for real. And remember, you can do this while climbing and getting to the battlefield, and if you ever need to actually battle, you can always turn it back to auto engine mode with the, Engine Controls Mode. Otherwise, you'll end up like the guy on the left... yeah.

In-Battle

Taking Off

Taking off is quite easy. Radiator at 0%, propeller pitch at 100%, fuel mixture at 100-120%, and you're up. Refer to the previous section for the estimate of mixtures at different altitudes.

In the Air

Remember, don't be all extremely pro at this if you're actually not. It sounds weird, but what I'm saying is, don't overestimate yourself. I know it sounds rude, but it's the truth. Just remember, engine controls mode, if you bind a key to that, you can switch not just to manual engine controls, but back to auto as well. If you're a type of player who Boom and Zooms or changes alititude a lot, or changes the power in general, it might be recommended in-battle to turn on auto engine controls while you're fighting.

Landing

Remember to always put your fuel mixture higher and higher the lower your altitude is. If this doesn't work, then your engine stalls, and gets damaged. Basically, you fall out of the sky. And in this case, you activate propeller feathering!

Conclusion

Hope this helped!

I appreciate you reading this guide, and hopefully you learn from this guide and will help you in the future with War Thunder! And remember, if anyone notices these pictures and they don't want it up on this guide, just alert me, and I'll take down the picture right away! (Or the next day if I'm not online...)
Well, yet again, I hope this helped you! Just remember, if you're frusturated with this, just switch it back to auto engine controls, and practice on your own in test flight, or in an aerobatics server. Post down in the comments below what you think of this, and if you want me to make a video about manual engine controls, then just post down in the comments, and if a lot of people want it, I'll put it up! Thanks for reading, and happy flying!
My youtube channel is HeadStriker on youtube, I'll make more videos there if you want!
Oh, and I take tips. ;)
Credit to PIXEL_altimix for fixing the thumbnail.

Now Teaching Lessons!

Yup, now I'll be teaching lessons for more help on manual engine controls, just add me and I'll teach you guys. It'd actually be better if there was a bunch of people in one server, and I'd teach you all. Hey, teach 32 people with 1 stone. (Not sure if that saying worked right...)

[electroboy11]

What buttons do I use so I can do this

[bad]

Aggressively use the rudder, if you can use it enough, you start to go for a roll. Actually, the rudder can completely substitute for the ailerons. Not a good idea to do so, but it can do the job.

[Deafening Silence]

Well, I do know about using the working engine and the yaw/roll controls to correct the flight path. However, depending what engine number has been shut down, you will lose some turning control (Eg, Engine failure on left wing = lacking right turn, Engine failure on Right wing = lacking left turn control)

[bad]

Simple. Turn off the engine controls for the working engine, and turn off the broken one, and feather. If you really need some power just for a little bit, you can try and turn on that previous engine, but do not WEP with an overheating engine, as it has risk of dying.

[Dewa]

Magic

[Deafening Silence]

One question: How exactly do you control a deranged 2 engine bomber when one of the engines fail? I mean, it's not gonna restart after being struck badly.

[beeeeeeeef]

magnetos are the things used to start your engine, kinda like a key to a car

[Oak]

what about superchargers?

[Toby S.]

Its a magentic starter/backup basically from what i understand.

[Dewa]

dont worry i googled it, it was something to do with the spark plugs apparently.