Didn't spend that much time in it yet, but so far...


CCRP bombing with mk-82s is surprisingly fun and accurate. Haven't gotten the hang of the radar and Super 530Ds yet, seems very prone to losing lock with maneuvering. The thing is fun to just fly too. Turn on the spin recovery mode and watch it roll your brains out on to the canopy, or bypass the fly-by-wire system altogether and rip the wings off. At lower speeds you can do it and be less worried about breaking the plane, but if you do it at anything above Mach 0.7 you best be real gentle. With some practice it could actually be useful for a desperation move in defensive BFM like Sweep does in the F-15 all the time, except it wouldn't just be balancing differential thrust and hoping you regain lift in the direction you wanted and you won't look pathetic doing it. M2kC picks up speed incredibly fast in a clean configuration and will supercruise with ease around 30,000 feet. You definitely get the feeling you're flying a through and through interceptor.

Loadouts aren't the Mirage's strongpoint, the most air-to-air ordnance you can carry is 2 Magics and 2 Supers, and in most situations you probably want to take the centerline tank for some fuel peace of mind. I was slightly dismayed to find that the bigger wing tanks occupy the only pylons that can accept the 530, so if you wanted those you aren't going to be packing your biggest air-to-air punch. I also learned that the Mirage's ballistic computer can't handle carrying too many different types of air-to-ground ordnance, so you can't mix mk-82s and mk-20s at the same time, though rockets are fine with either bomb type. The computer also chooses the cueing method based on the ordnance, mk-82 slicks are always CCRP, mk-82 snakeyes and cluster bombs are always CCIP, and I think the GBUs are CCRP as well but I haven't tried them yet. The CCRP is also unique in that it doesn't use a trigger pull "consent to release," a horizontal line rises across the HUD and you have to pickle the bomb when it crosses the cue at the top, so there's some room for error there, but even with a couple minutes worth of experience I was able to land some very accurate drops.

Great brief, pyro! Very much appreciated and looking forward to trying this one out. Got a bit more time this evening than I thought I'd have, so I might get lucky tonight if the update does not stagnate.

I don't know, I think it stands to reason that it is not fond of too mixed up a load, perhaps. The Mirage, in all its variants, always struck me as a pretty single objective "get there, do the job quickly and go home" sort of aircraft, whether it is interception or strike. I think we often spoil ourselves with our lingering CAS and CAP flights on servers, fun as they are in all effect. I still think of what was for me the high point of my on VS experience, that Warrior event, when I tagged along with the A-10 mud-movers and we executed a brilliant, purposeful hit on a platoon* near a lake.

Perhaps we might do that again sometime in this Mirage, on some specific objective. It would be really cool...

*my memory fails me, it was more of a company sized unit, thinking back.

ill be looking forward to buying this module, just not full price..... i agree, it will not be a aircraft capable of loitering, but i can see it as being viable of providing some air coverage for A-10s perhaps. depends on their fuel burn though. perhaps when i fly it eventually, i might have a much higher return rate than with my A-10

It seems like a fun little romp, but yeah, I'll wait for a price drop well down the line as well. Disposable income is extremely tight, so I'm scrounging for the Viggen instead.

Lot more interested in this after reading some of the impressions of it, though. Didn't really care at all prior to release.

Wait wait wait, they're upgrading the FM? I thought it was EFM (AFM+/PFM level) already?

Yeah I'm pretty sure we've got the PFM already, the stall characteristics and the stuff you do when you bypass the FBW aren't things you can get in an SFM. If it feels too stable you should really give that FBW disable switch a try, or at least the spin recovery switch that gives you a lot more roll authority.