As much as I enjoy flying with no autopilot it does take a long time to get to the destination. What settings can I set the game that will make it easy, but not too easy?

I'm not sure if this is what you're asking for, but here's what I do with autopilot.

I open the tactical display and set it to around a two mile radius. While using auto pilot and time compression I monitor the tactical display. As soon as any enemy planes appear (in red) I immediately terminate time compression, auto pilot, and the tactical display.


There's also a workshop setting that you might like. Set "target range" to always closest instead of historical and you'll not be travelling as far.

Thanks for advice!

You can also select 'closest target' in the workshop to get shorter flights.