Falcon 4.0 is perhaps the most sweeping military simulation ever released for the PC. In spite of the continuing issues, the dynamic campaign environment and the multiplayer abilities (particularly via KALI) make this simulation an excellent online experience.

Naturally, testing continues and patches are still in process to stabilize multi-player in F4. The 209th VFS Delta Hawks tested the latest (middle of March) network code during our LAN meet. While still not complete, the potential and the direction of what this game will be is stunningly apparent.

Friday night was a bit frustrating. True BETA testing is not all that much fun or as glamorous as people think. We worked directly with the programmer working on the network code, calling and e-mailing back and forth for several hours. We could get into missions, but with no better stability than our 1.03 attempts and with never more than 3.

Late on Friday night, after trying about 6 new executable files, we were contemplating what to fly for the weekend. We had a TV crew coming to do a piece on our squadron and wanted to fly FALCON to show off what we do in all of its glory. But FALCON wasn't cooperating.

We spent some more time on the phone with the programmer as well as SLEEPDOC who is running what is being referred to as the I-Beta team, a small group of testers who are focusing solely on Internet Multi-Player code.

There was a difference of opinion on exactly which object files should be used with which executable. We decided that some of the files we had added to our directory from other beta builds might be the culprit in our lack of success. So we completely uninstalled and reinstalled F4 afresh, then patched up with the files we thought would give the best stability based on all of our guesses and input.

By the time we completed this process it was past 10 P.M. and we had been working on getting into the game together for about 5.5 hours. We were going for a minimum of four players, so we began to enter the game using our standard methods. I was running my P2 450 at 504 Mhz with 256 megs of RAM, so I served.

After we all connected in the COMMS section, I started a campaign. With what we call the "209th VooDoo" we never try to have two people enter any area of the game simultaneously. (This is being corrected as I write this and has already improved greatly.) After I got into the campaign, RHINO entered, next was BIGFOOT and then CENTRAL. Four players in the interface … so far so good.

LAN Crew.

The next question: could we get into a mission? Well, after several tries we decided that the AI was still not where it needed to be for us to taxi out and the "Charlie Foxtrot" on the runway caused at least one of us to get killed in an accident in every attempt. I had a talk at MicroProse the previous Monday about this very issue and discussed several options that are being considered. This situation is being addressed currently and there have already been improvements here.

Back to the "209th VooDoo" (we called it this in 1.03 as well.) We would wait until our flight is in the air to avoid the runway antics of the AI. BINGO, success! At 11 P.M. and we had four players in a campaign. All of us were in the air and flying. But for how long?

After 3 missions or so, we decided that we had pretty decent stability with four players and the voodoo. Now it was time to up the ante. We had ten pilots present on Friday night, so we decided to give it a go. Using the entering the game "voodoo," we had ten players in the multiplayer interface!

As we started to set up missions, we noticed some issues and started a bug report list. As we entered these missions, we were still doing well. Four players in, then give, then six … then we lost one. We brought in someone else, and lost two. Back to four players, with three players yet to even try and get in.

After we worked out the rest, we had lost all but three players: the server and two others. We reached too far too soon. After a few more trials, we found that we could occasionally get five in, but six would always cause a problem. Four players in the game was very stable. The game plan was made at 3 A.M.; we would split up and fly multiple campaigns for the weekend.

We didn't sleep much that night (we never do on fly in weekends), and were up well before the TV crew showed up on Saturday. We had all flown several missions successfully by the time they showed and were starting to feel really good about what we were seeing.

The ground war was spectacular as in solo play. The missions were similar to a solo campaign, but with the beauty of what multi-player is all about … when I call for help, RHINO or BIGFOOT was right there. When we rolled into a target, we all actually dropped our ordinance on the target. Once the TV crew started filming, we got into a crazed, no holds barred fly in.

Missions were excellent. Dogfights with the bandits were a blast. The yelling was at an all time high. You can usually tell how much fun we are having by the beer consumption. The more fun we have, the more beer we drink. Normally 5 gallons lasts all weekend, it was gone the first day … we were in definite party mode.

Here is an ACMI file (1.2 meg) of a mission that BIGFOOT and I flew as escort to protect RHINO and CENTRAL with a STRIKE mission load out. There were no ESCORT flights tasked in the area and we had a long DEEP STRIKE up the coast past several enemy air bases.

As we ingressed to the target we noticed that the largest airfield, about half way along the route, had PATROL flights up. BIGFOOT and I split off to make sure they didn't make a run for the fat STRIKE aircraft.

We proceeded in at about angels 20 cautiously. BIGFOOT went COMBAT SPREAD and started ranging the bandits. The bandits apparently were not happy about being painted with RADAR and started their move towards BIGFOOT. I rolled in from the east and we engaged.

Discretion is the better part of valor. RHINO and CENTRAL decided that low and fast was the way to make the run and started skipping across the waves at 100 feet at full thrust. It worked, the MIGs never looked their way, but then BIGFOOT and I didn't give them much of a chance to look for other targets.

BIGFOOT and I went in close to make sure of high Pk with the AIM-120's. BIGFOOT was loaded with 4 AIM-120's and 2 AIM-9M's. I was loaded with 2 AIM-120's and 4 AIM-9M's.

The plan was for BIGFOOT to soften them up so I could get in and make the up close and personal kills. While it didn't work out quite as we had hoped, it was extremely effective. The MiGs were constantly being reinforced by the airfield as BIGFOOT and I moved in for the kills.

We kept communications open and worked as a team, trading targets and handing off to the pilot with the best shot. Twice BIGFOOT came from a proper wingman perch for a kill that was proving difficult for me. And I used the superior turn rate of the F-16 over the MiG-21's to take on 2 at a time successfully. BIGFOOT made some very impressive guns kills.

After twisting and turning and screaming and yelling we managed to extend and head back to the STRIKE package we were tasked to protect, wary all the while of the aircraft that were certainly coming up off of the airfield. Final score: BIGFOOT 3, CRASH 4 and the DPRK 0. 8 missiles and a bunch of Vulcan shells for 7 kills. Yeah, they were only MiG-21's, but there were a LOT of MiG-21's.

This was only one of several outstanding missions. The 209th all agreed that this was the best Fly In we have had in quite some time. And by the looks of what is to come, this is only the beginning.

As stability increases, and more players can successfully fly in the campaign, the possibilities are endless. The multiple missions, multiple squadrons, multiple airfield capabilities, selective load outs (which was very important for us in the noted mission to make two of us A2A while 2 went as STRIKE), add up to a flexibility that is vast.

FALCON 4.0 has taken most of the best and important features for Multi-Play from all previous games and combined them in one sim. Once stability is nailed down and the few remaining issues are nailed down (particularly the ones that are causing no problems in solo play, but show up when humans enter the arena), FALCON 4.0 will be un-paralleled in the multi-player sim world.

You can hear more audio files from our first successful FALCON 4.0 LAN meet on the 209th VFS Delta Hawks web site on the Radio Comms page. You can also watch for the New Media News segment on the 209th VFS Delta Hawks sometime early April on your local cable channel or at MediaNews.

The 209th VFS Delta Hawks VooDoo for getting into FALCON 4.0 Multi-player...

1. Fastest machine loads the campaign.

2. One player at a time enters the campaign. Wait until the HOST has been in the game for at least 5 to 10 seconds before the second player attempts to enter. Stop at 4 until the new patch or you're feeling brave. If some one can't get in, they should exit FALCON, (sometimes this is done for you right after "receiving units") reboot and retry. After all four are in, proceed. Never try to have more than one person enter the campaign interface screen at a time.

3. Find the mission you want to fly. We typically pick 4-ship missions. Enter that mission. Do not move from this mission. Look at them all before you decide which mission you want to fly. Once you pick an aircraft, do not move from it.

4. Have the HOST (fastest machine, remember?) enter that mission but only after the mission is "enroute" or in the air. If you don't, you risk having the AI aircraft taxi into you or general runway chaos. If you have a long time to wait for take off, you can all speed your clocks up in the interface. Everyone should go back to "1X" time before anyone enters the game.

5. After he is in the mission, have the next fastest enter. Proceed until all players are in flight. Again, only one player at a time should enter the actual mission.

6. If your mission gets listed as "RTB" shortly after the first player enters the mission, then wait 30 seconds. If it does not return to "enroute." Exit the game and re enter the campaign. Try again to get in. You might notice that the mission that was 9:14 interdiction now reads 9:14 CAS. Never mind, just get in and play.

Rhino and Crash in F4.

At this time, it is not a good idea to change steer points while in multi-player. If you do, then just have the "server" change the steer point. It is a little cumbersome but changing weapons will work. Just make sure you "deselect" everyone but yourself to change weapons. (You should be highlighted and the rest should have a black background.)

If you have to re-enter the mission, then you have no idea what will be loaded. Who cares, just go bomb something.

It is also a good idea to save the campaign after completing a mission. Have anyone and or everyone save it and if the whole thing crashes, reload the most recent version. Since there are some memory issues here you may also want to reboot every other mission or so just as a precaution, or use a memory utility to free memory regularly.