So. Wow. Amazing. That’s my initial TLDR impressions. Wow. Amaziiiing.
For an early access product the F/A-18C is fairly far along and the parts that do work, work pretty well. There’s the issue with the flaps putting the nose down but that’s something that you can keep under control if you stay on top of the power curve changes. There are systems that are working with some level of degradation (a new work that I am learning from the BIT test) but all in all this module is well on it’s way to becoming one of my favourites - sorry Mirage 2000C and Harrier who will still have a space in my hanger).
Visually the F/A-18C is beautiful. You all are posting some supreme screenshots showing just how beautiful this sim has become but, if you will let me, here are some more prime cut examples.
Really (!) want to thanks ED for putting some CF-188 skins in there. I am biased but I think that those skins are some of the best!
Is there any angle or weather that makes the sim look bad? I mean, yeah, probably but why are you looking for those
Oh course it is easier to get good shots when @near_blind and @Bogusheadbox put up their servers.
That view is going to be the bane of my existence once I make it to attempting carrier landings. Add some functionality here and ED has made the perfect tool for everyone on the servers I fly on to judge me and judge me harshly
Can’t. Break. Away. From the screenshot. Key.
The systems are working well and my reading of (some) of the NATOPS has bourne fruit. Startup, shutdown, TACAN and ADF are all modeled and, as you can tell above, Air-to-Air weapons (as @near_blind demonstrates) are working.
Flight model wise I am spent the last two days coming to terms with the quirks of the current implementation and I am finding it very satisfactory. There are a few rough edges (open beta … this should be obvious) but as long as I stay focused on the numbers and on paying attention to what part of the flight envelope that I am in, it is manageable. One hint: You do not want to be on the lower power side of the curve as the 18C will lose altitude fast, real fast. Making turns in the break and I have to keep on the airspeed accurately and aggressively to not trap myself into a high sink rate and having to AB my way out of the problem.
All in all, as a consumer and hobbyist flight sim pilot, I want to thank ED and Belsimtek for the hard work that they have put into this module. It, obviously, was a lot of work and it looks and feels like there’s a ton of love in there too. I am confident that work will continue and this is an awesome base to build upon.
Now. Back into the sim and an attempt to drop some iron.