Does anyone here have the VRS Superbug? I've noticed JF are selling it now and reading through the blurb.. it seems to be able to do a whole pile of stuff. I've always been under the impression that it could only do what is advertised with TacPac but there's no mention of TP in any of the blurb at JF. Any owners out there able to confirm TP is a requirement?
The F/A-18 has never been high on my list of fave aircraft but it IS navy and I'm starting to warm to this particular model
ATB
DaveB
Hei mate
IIRC VRS have always treated the F-18 and TP as separate products and TP didn't become available until long after the plane was released. Personally, I've always preferred the lower level of system detailing in the old KBT model and have made a point of grabbing all the updates made since the original release. Even so, I've recently been gathering copies of the several different versions of the Hornet made available through the virtual BA group at their forum - http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?board=4.0
Their original release was by Sludge and was an update of the Acceleration default model. The second iteration was another update of the same model (I think) by a different team. This can be found in the "New FSXBA Hornet" thread.
More recently, another team have been working on refining a recently developed alternative FSX model and this appears in the "FA-18 C/D aircraft mod and texture pack (FSX, CS and NH)" thread.
If you'd like more information on any of these I'll try to answer your questions if I can.
You can use the Superbug without TP, but you won't get all the capabilities. You can add TP afterwards if you like.
The installer covers both options, IIRC.
edit: BTW, if you do buy it, pop over to the VRS Forums and download the latest version from there. V1.4.2.4 at time of writing.
It's under TacPack support, but you'll probably need to register to see it.
I don't recall a "quick start" option, but you can load it engines running & be in the air straight away. There are a lot of systems, but you don't have to use all of them. Configuring the aircraft first time can be a bit of a pain, as it uses it's own commands, which override FSX. When I first got it, I used a key command for something basic (can't remember what it was off hand) and ended up ejecting.
The Milviz F-15 runs okey dokey on this rig.. the M2M Mirage even better so if performance is similar to these.. I should be ok JF threw me a tenner for finding an error in a product description so the £29 asking price for the F18 is suddenly much more feasible
3x better than the JF Tornado isn't too difficult to achieve me thinks I've given up on it I'm sad to say (the JF Tornado). If you're having problems.. you can imagine how I'm seeing it! Same happened with their Canberra.. fix.. fix.. patch.. lost interest
On this rig, the M2M Mirage runs remarkably well.. very well in fact. It surprised the pants off me as looking at all the preview/dev shots, I'd presumed it would drag the old i5 to it's knees but the opposite is true The MV F-15 is definitely heavier though infinitely usable.. similar here to Dino's F-14. If as you say, the F-18 falls somewhere inbetween.. it's worth a punt
Yeah, I've given up on the Tonka as well. I was getting single figure FPS in situations where the Superbug gave 30+.
Hope they fix it, but I reckon it will take a lot of work. They mention on their forum they are looking at some optimisations, but it sounds like the sort of things that should have been done early on in dev. But what do I know?
With the F-18, you know you're getting a tried and tested product. Not seen any RN paints for it though.
JF threw me a tenner for finding an error in a product description so the £29 asking price for the F18 is suddenly much more feasible 
Same happened with their Canberra.. fix.. fix.. patch.. lost interest 
The MV F-15 is definitely heavier though infinitely usable.. similar here to Dino's F-14. If as you say, the F-18 falls somewhere inbetween.. it's worth a punt 