JayDee has made available some awesome checklists for the DC-6 that include versions for use with or without the AFE. They include all the power settings that you are looking for. Easy to print and keep handy.
https://flightsim.to/file/16610/dc-6-pmdg-jds-comprehensive-checklist-procedures
How long have you flown the DC6? And where? If you are willing to shareā¦
I flew the C118A for about 8 years at Elemendorf AFB as a flight engineer.
you still had the AFE selected in the cruise position, so that means that the AFE still has control of your engines.
I use 2800 RPM and about 51 inches of MP for a dry TO and climb out at 2400 RPM and 40 inches of MP. This is all from memory but Iām sure I havenāt overboosted the engines at these settings. For cruise power I like 150 BMP using 2100 RPM and 30 inches of MP.
Sounds pretty close to the settings that the AFE uses.
Now I let him having a rest during the cruise, now I prefere to use the engineer only for T/O and Descent, the cruise and the approache I take care, more fun! 
I tried not using the AFE from cold and dark today. Too many switches to check and activate, I would rather be flying instead of sitting on the ground toggling switches.
Thatās funny. Iām the opposite. I canāt get enough of switches, buttons, knobs and levers.
If I am in a rush to fly, I just click on the āready to taxiā state. It skips the entire start process.
Iām sure that a lot of our power settings are a like but I still feel that the AFE maintains T/O power too long before going to METO power, and waits too long before retracting the landing gear. Its cruise power settings are quite a bit a higher setting that I ever used in real life or the fltsim. I hope that I didnāt advocate that the AFE is completely in error and shouldnāt be used but with my experience in the C118 I donāt need nor use the AFE and I like to manually do everything as I did almost 50 years ago while still on active duty with the USAF.*
Occasionally Iāll use the AFE to prep the bird for engine start, once youāve got them started thereās really not all that many switches to flick anyway. Warming the engines takes longer than anythingā¦
That is about the time when I made a couple of round trips to Thule AFB in Greenland in a C 118. I went up to the flight deck on one of the trips and then I asked what the window was at the top of the ceiling, and one of the crew members explained that this is how they navigated when they were out of radio range. I was amazed.
I usually use ready to start, on most of my flights.
Never made it Thule but had several flights up and around Goose Bay, Labrador and in the winter time there isnāt much to see except white out conditions and snow. Torbay Newfoundland was another frequent stop for us and it is pretty decent there in the winter time. Oil dilution of the engines was a must landing in those places if you were going to RON.
We landed in Goose Bay to refuel. Pretty desolate back then.
This may seem utterly ridiculous to some, but Iām finding the DC-6 is kind of cool to fly at lower altitudes for sightseeing purposes.
It flies fast enough that you can really cover ground quickly and see more terrain in a shorter time.
Iām kind of digginā it for this use.
Same I have been flying the bird under 10,000ft 1hr flights on pretty scenery routes around the Carribbean region is excellent
I do wish that this bird was a little less sensitive to pitch trim changes. Even using AAO to dampen out the input amounts, I find it to be overly responsive tot he slightest movement of the trim wheel. Far be it from me to understand the behavior of the real thing but I just think of the massive run of the trim cables and the size of the bird and canāt help but to imagine that it would take more than just a touch of the wheel to induce a change of a couple hundred fpm on the VSI.
If it hand-flew as well as the Big Radials Goose or the Beech 18 with Denarqās mod, I would never get out of the DC-6.
