Wooohooo!
I tried soaring with Sim Update 9 today, and it works! I made sure to set the weather to temperatures that are normal for summer (22°C), few clouds, no wind, disabled Kinetic Assistant’s thermals, and launched from Füssen.
Unlike when I usually fly there I avoided the mountains.
I headed for the next cumulus cloud, and right before I reached it I noticed a slight downdraft and a little bit of turbulence. But then immediately after that I got a positive indication on the vario, and I climbed the thermal until I reached the cloud base. The climb rate kept slowly increasing, I experienced up to around 2.5 m/s (480 fpm).
I tried a few other clouds and got roughly the same results. There are also smaller thermals, some below smaller clouds, some without any cloud near but those are weaker and smaller so they are hard to use in a Discus (and I am a terrible glider pilot).
I also tried ramping up the temperature a bit (30°C), and that did increase the strength of both the thermals below the clouds and the other ones. I now reached climb rates of up to 4.1 m/s (800 fpm).
I then tried Australia, near Ayers Rock, clear skies, and 40°C. I really didn’t need clouds there. It did vary a bit, but I had lift almost everywhere. I think it depends a bit on the ground, but I was too stoked to make a proper test flight. Maybe the dark ground rule already works? I have to test that.
The only thing I was a bit sad about is that the clouds don’t tug at you quite as strongly as I’d expect, especially when you fly very close or even inside them.
Anyway, that was fun! This soaring thing is coming together.
