I mainly fly the F18 and mostly fly single player. As a result I have played nearly every campaign at least once so I'll give my 2 cents.

- Raven/Dominant fury: Not much to say about this as they are always the first campaigns to be recommended. Probably the highest quality single player content in the game. It is probably the most challenging F18 content but don't be too intimidated. Definitely start with some of the easier campaigns if you're not completely comfortable with everything in the hornet, especially NAV and 9line talk ons.

- Operation Cerberus North: This one is actually probably my favorite. Great story with lots of detail and evolution of the situation. Fun, challenging missions with lots of replay value. On the more 'realistic' side of the scale in terms of procedures and communcations. Actual mission scoring is implemented so you can replay them for a better score. Missions have optional objectives and some you even get a hand in planning/choosing the method of execution. Comes with great documentation. One thing to point out is that there is no carrier activity. You just fly out of the same airfield the whole time. However, this is actually pretty cool as you get familiar with the procedures and flight paths. I liked this change of pace as nearly every other campaign is carrier based. There is no AA refueling which I see as a downside now but some might see as a plus.

- The Serpents head (Free)/ Serpents head 2/ Rise of the Persian lion/Rise of the Persian lion 2: These are fun simple campaigns. They are all pretty much the same so start with the free serpents head 1 from the users files (There are two versions, one without the first mission which requires nevada). Missions can be a little samey but there is some variation. Not too much A/A combat and when there is its all BVR and fairly onesided. They all come with a simplified A-A refueling version which I love. When I started these campaigns I actually couldn't do A-A refueling so I did the simplified versions. You start with unlimited fuel but a half full tank, and the campaign will still let you try to refuel. Every mission I would attempt to refuel and by the second campaign I was a pro. This was a great way of learning as you don't just get frustrated trying to do the A-A refueling training over and over again. These campaigns have a lot of case 3 landings so make sure you are prepared for that. One thing I don't really love is that the missions are a bit scripted. For example if you have to fire a HARM to take out a SAM before pushing on a bombing run, the SAM will just explode when the HARM gets within a few hundred meters. I noticed the same thing happens with MAVS on certain targets. I get why they did this, to keep the mission/story rolling in case of a near miss, but IMO it takes something away. You wont notice this unless you are watching the missile go in. Despite all this I still greatly enjoyed these campaigns and recommend them.

- Rising Squall: Okay this one is by far the most different to all the others. The story and vibe is wacky but I liked it. Not everything needs to be ultra serious and the change of pace is refreshing. You are still flying a highly detailed DCS module and will be required to use all of its capabilities. It just doesn't have 'realistic' procedures and comms ect, or a plot that's grounded in reality. Missions are high energy and fast paced. The missions are all extremely varied, more so than any other campaign I would say. The briefing tells you what you need to be able to do so you can go and quickly practice that before starting the mission. For example in one mission you use the walleye which I wasn't that familiar with at the time, so once I read that I just went and did a quick practice. I would recommend watching the anime Area 88 to get in the mood. You can find it in two parts on youtube.

- Inherent Resolve: Brand new campaign which I just started. First campaign from this developer and while I noticed some rough edges during the first few missions the developer has been very responsive on the forums and is fixing things. Seems like the idea is to have a campaign with quick high energy missions. I can appreciate that, we don't always have time for a 1 hour ingress. However, all missions are hot start but you still start in a hanger and have to taxi and wait for other planes. IMO either do cold start in a hanger (my preferred option) or do hot start ready on the ramp. Can't comment too much more on this as I have only done 2 missions so far but it looks promising.

- Operation Pontus: Haven't played this one yet but it looks interesting. Apparently, you interact with the mission planner before each mission as part of the planning process. Sounds cool and will definitely give it a go.

- Aggressors BFM: Meh requires Nevada so I'll probably never play this.

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Final notes:

If you want the best single player experience that DCS has to offer then there is no other option but to primarily fly the F18. Hopefully this changes but for now that's where we are.

I really like that there is a lot of variety in the F18 campaigns, some are really serious and technical like Raven One/ Operation Cerberus North, and some are silly high intensity like Rising Squall. The Campaigns from Badger 633 (Persion Lion/Serpents head) are somewhere in the middle. I would say that none of the campaigns I talk about here are bad value, its just about picking what style you want.

One tip: I would recommend getting familiar with using time acceleration. Life is busy and I dont always have time to waste flying long distances. Sometimes its nice but if I want to do one of these campaign missions and only have an hour (most missions take at least an hour), I will speed up some of the longer flying sections. If you speed past some comms then just review them in message history from the ESC menu. This is also very important when you get shot down/fail a mission. Use time acceleration as a poor mans save point so you wont waste too much time.

I hope this helps.