Sweet summer F/A-18 Eagle

Turns out I was misinformed. Plenty of ground munitions in game now. Just not the extra cool advanced stuff that requires a ground radar. Those will be coming.

A-10 already is in DCS, both full rivetcountered detailed in the -C variant and as an entry level lets blow shit up in the -A model.

Tomcat is being worked on by the guys who made Viggen. They promised both the analog -A model with the shitty engines and the awesome -D that was retired because they were too damn expensive to keep flying.

@Anklebiter have you dropped the Mk-84 yet? Much fun šŸ˜Ž I always pull up then turn to the right so I can look at my handiwork.

The B, D, F, E/F or G? :)

Iā€™m a weirdo. I bought Unreal for my Voodoo.

Nothing like a free weekend when you have a career and family. I was so stoked to see this release come out and immediately snapped it up.

Something to consider with this title. Yes, it is a rivet counters dream. Yes, you can use this simulation to gain real-world flight hours for Navy school.

I donā€™t have time for that now. This weekend was about instant gratification.

Nothing ruins the fun of impulse PC game purchases than when they donā€™t work. Given the reputation of DCS and VR, I figured this was a risk. The Hornet was calling though.

I had no issues. Maybe I got lucky. I purchased, downloaded and installed. I pulled my Oculus off the shelf and plugged it in. I dug out my T.16000M HOTAS that had been collecting dust since I impulse bought it last Fall and I plugged it in.

I turned on the game, and shoved on the headgear. I was in some virtual hanger with a huge jet looming behind me. I think it was a Flanker, but the front of it was obscured by the menus and I couldnā€™t tell. I gawked at that for a minute and then I spotted the Hornet Icon. Yes. I chose instant action; all about instant gratification here.

Everything worked. After a brief load I was in a Hornet cockpit.

I looked around, behind me, to the floor, to the left and right. Holy Shit. I appreciate excellence and attention to detail and this is one detailed space. I mean the rows of glowing buttons are at different levels, the familiar MFDā€™s and the digital map! As I hover over each switch, there is a hovering VR tool tip, telling me that every single one of them does something.

Er, donā€™t got time for that now.

I focus my attention out the window. Graphics are fine. VR resolution issue, but movement hides that, and as I look at things, my view moves.

Sun, clouds, sky, terrain all completely believable. Lots of detail, like reflection off the cockpit, shadows.

Iā€™m running a GTX 970. Probably frames would be better if I upgraded, but its around 45fps in VR. In other words, frames are not getting in the way of the experience. Cool!

So what do you do at this point? Me, there is only one thing. I hit the throttle forward and go as low and fast as I can. All those annoying warning beeps can kiss my bat-out-of-hell ass as I point the bird to a promising canyon.

Iā€™ve simmed enough to get the basics of flying jets. It really is pretty easy. Point and go. You do have to be careful of speed though. The ground will come up way faster than in a WW2 prop plane.

I did OK. I ran through that canyon like Will Smith in Independence Day for a good 30 seconds. Then I crashed.

Oh glorious day. Most flight sim crashes are garbage. This one was catastrophic, with a giant fireball.

That was enough for the night. I logged off and jumped on this forum to come up with the smartest-stupid name for the title I could, ensuing people who typed in ā€œF/A-18ā€¦ Eagle Dynamicsā€ would find it quick.

Today I repeated a similar performance with an aircraft carrier. I took off, geeked out at the water below as scary realistic, and then once in the air, immediately proceeded to turn back for high-speed / low altitude fly-bys which would get me kicked out of any flight school.

Investment here is solid. Iā€™ll try to update as I can, but life looms.

Ooooooooh! Except dynamics isnā€™t in the title. And when I think ā€œEagleā€ I think F-15, not 18, which is one reason I was bewildered. The current state of the top post is much clearer than it was initially.

Yeah, I know, sorry. After the incredible experience of flying the sim and then coming up with a Q23 title I was just out of gas. I did a poor job of following it up in the content. I hope the current state is better.

To be honest, I was trying to decide if you were over or under medicated, lol.

And what is your opinion now, since you brought it up?

Less concerned than I was initially :D

Good. Glad you are relieved. Now go play Hornet.

Late Edit: Or why are you in this thread Misguided? If you hate sims begone. Thanks for crapping up a perfectly good impressions post.

No, I donā€™t hate sims, by any means, though they arenā€™t my thing.

Then what is your contribution? That I didnā€™t set the thread title right, or provide perfect prose from first impressions? Begone.

Please disregard.

Not a problem. Ignore function in the forum I think.

It would be better if somebody else quoted this. Hated to think that the Misguided commentary was at the bottom. Anybody?

Hereā€™s are some quotes from the Eagle Dynamics forum, not always the friendliest of places.

"I agree with the OP and all the views stated above. To realise that this module is at this level of detail in Early Access is just mind boggling.
Thanks a LOT ED! You make peopleā€™s sim dreams come true! "

Hereā€™s another.

ā€œHornet is my favourite aircraft and this is just amazing. Every time I sit in the cockpit I canā€™t help but smile (using Occulus Rift).ā€

Another

"All I can say is Iā€™m in love. Unfortunately you are forcing me to get a VR setup now. Relationships are expensive =):

Late edit for the A-10 folks:

ā€œThis experience is reminding of me of how amazed I was with the level of depth of the Black Shark when it came out, and again with the A-10C. DCS continues to set the bar at impressively high levels for study-level simulations. The attention to detail shown in the numerous videos leading-up to the F/A-18 release and the model quality demonstrated by those lucky sons-of-guns who got pre-release access really shows that this product is a labor of love.ā€

I think theyā€™re actually doing the -A, the -A+, and the B. Yes good engines, no fancier avionics, but half the fun of the back seat in the Tomcat is reading the inscrutable radar screen.

Once they finish up the ground radar for the Hornet, the Tomcat-D should be possible in the sim. Any idea if the third party will pursue that?

I like this quote especially. It is a labor of love that has defined the careers of some of our most iconic and dedicated game developers. Hats off to their accomplishment today, and full support for their vision tomorrow.