Hey Gents.
Well I got the F-18 so I thought I would write about my feelings and things I noticed on it after the first day.

Control set up:
Straight forward as all you really need is the HOTAS controls.  Plenty of buttons and hats on a TM Warthog setup. TDC can not be mapped to an axis(mouse stick on throttle) yet so you have to use a hat switch for now(Fix is WIP). Can’t “jump the hump” to start engines you need to assign a finger paddle lift or just use keyboard(I hope they fix this in the future.). Toe brake axes need to be inverted to work right.  

Ground handling:
Seems good on land and carrier deck. Very minimal “sliding” type movement on the carrier deck. Strong wind will push you some. Nose wheel steering (NWS) has 2 modes normal (NWS) on hud and high toggle for tight turns (NWS HI) on hud.  NWS HI will turn it almost inside it’s wing span.  
Note: Seems when turning hard and you NWS HI the front gear turns past 90* and/or slides, this has the effect that the nose gear steers to the lesser angle side (the other direction). Now as I have never taxied a jet on a carrier deck and/or anywhere else in RL I don’t know if this is correct or not.
Takes a bit of throttle to get moving but easy to control ground speed (you can creep up on the cat shuttle).  Nose gear set way back so you can turn way out over side of the deck. (I recommend F2 view for this and getting lined up and on the cat shuttle.).
Brakes are effective and work as expected. You must press/hold the NWS HI button to steer with the launch bar down.

Takeoffs
Cat shot: line up and extend launch bar. When launch bar is near the front of the shuttle hit U and it will hook ya up(you should see the aircraft move alittle to get set). Full power starts the shot. Don’t touch the stick till after it rotates.
Airfield: pull the gear as soon as you get positive climb rate. Set flaps to “Auto” right after gear up. (Large AoA changes if you get to fast)
Half flaps used for takeoffs.

Flight
Stable hardly any need to trim except on landings.  Controls start to feel “mushy” around 140 or less. In full burner will build speed rapidly and climb like a fallen angel.  High G or AiA turns will bleed speed off fast. Engine takes a sec or two to spoil up so you will need to stay ahead of the aircraft(think A-10 engine response). She will forgive you some and once you get power she will climb out pertty fast. Huge airbrake!  

Landings
Simple just touch any one or combination of ground, ship, or water anywhere and you are down(may result in large burst of light accompanied by rapid unplanned disassembly of aircraft/pilot into individual components). It has a really strong landing gear so fly it to touchdown.  With power off/reduced and a dirty aircraft it will sink FAST on approach.
Carrier landings: you will have to figure this out yourself(see above).
Field landings: just like any other aircraft.
A lot of throttle movements when landing. Oh yea with power off/reduced and a dirty aircraft it will sink FAST on approach!

Odds and ends
Modeled fuel dump.
Bit test for controls.
2 radios either which can be used for navigation.
Sound of shockwave passing cockpit when passing through transonic.
Mouse click ejection handle (have not tested it YET) and manual seat separation handle.
Nice lighting.
Ever see a MFD in the sunlight? Yep looks just like that.
Control bit test.
4 planes spawn on Stennis. Note: they spawn in/near the 6-pack area so you may have to move out of this area to allow other aircraft to spawn in.
Nice lighting and sounds.

Things learned/noticed as of 5/31/18
Must hold canopy close toggle till it slide foward and locks. If not you get the convertible option!
Port rear elevator (#3) has no collision so you fall through(known bug).
If you change your loadout with ground crew I was unable to select and A/G weapons. It only displayed the options for the mission editor set load for me. Maybe you change this like the A-10. After loadout change aircraft wanted to pitch nose high(ran out of stick and trim) and showed autopilot error. Once again maybe something I did wrong.
The ball on the carrier works(F-view to carrier and move you view up and down looking at it).  
Set a TACAN on carrier it helps with your turns and lineup.
Carrier deck not so big when you taxi around on it. How they get 70+ aircraft onboard and move them around is truly amazing.
No reverse! Need tug or deck crew.

Final recommendations
I would only buy at full price if you really want to fly it. As it stands currently it only has limited A/A and A/G weapons. Mission is a multi role platform so would  probably best be used in that type of environment.  Fun to fly and attempt to land.
Overall I’m glad I bought it.

I found pretty much the same to be true. The NWS is only used at very slow speed and is for lining up with the launch bar and for maneuvering in the tight quarters of the carrier. Not designed for actual taxi-ing as far as I know.
I found the nose pitchup also to seem severe after loading 3 drop tanks. I also ran out of trim. I jettisoned the tanks and got most of my pitch trim back.
The engine has a strange on off sound (could be only a jetseat thing). Like it was having compressor stalls in level flight with lots of power. I have seen others comment on it. I'm not sure what to make of it tho.

Yea apparently the sound near Mach is a bug.
Wages also says they are looking at the flaps since they appear to be acting funny when deployed. (Nose down pitch).
But hey it’s Beta and DCS.

You can 'jump the hump' to start the engines. You just need to map the controls!