Jane's USAF by Dan "Crash" Crenshaw
	Sounds ambitious, doesn't it? But it's been a persistent goal for Jane's, SSI, Novalogic and others for years. To date only Novalogic has achieved great success in the real world simulation arena with this concept. The goal for World War is to achieve 120 players in a battle zone at the same time. Future Jane's titles will be integrated into World War. What would this look like? Let's take a cue from Viking1's speculations of last year (Strat/Sim Titles and the Genre Bender): The following is mostly conjecture, but suppose that Fleet Command or Harpoon 4 or 4.5 allowed eight players, with two players (one on each side) acting as Theatre Commander, actually ordering the intercepts and CAPs and Strike missions, and controlling the movement and engagement of naval assets also. Then picture the Theatre Commander of Soviet forces with his system box and two monitors. He monitors the strategic Theatre command view from his 21" monitor, with the ability to bring up a zoom window on a particular area. He checks the battle scene as his strike force arrives and he zooms in to get a closer view. Meanwhile his second monitor has a real time view of the Flight Leader , but the Flight Leader in the Su27 is NOT an AI machine, but one of his LAN buddies flying in the same room in real time. Click to continue		Flanker 2 Meanwhile, somewhere in Denver Colorado "Sleepdoc" and "Snacko" and a few of their buddies are playing for the Allies. Eric "Snacko" Marlow is Theatre Commander, directing traffic while Glen "Sleepdoc" is flying LEAD in an F18 force that is scrambling to deal with the hostile incursion. Of course, we can't leave out Crash and Rhino of the 209th. These guys are both flying F16s as CAP and are already racing to engage the incoming force. "Snacko" and "Sleepdoc," however, are not satisfied with a 21" hi res display, they have the Theatre map on a 60" projection system, making their War Room look like something out of the movies! "Snacko" kicks back in an easy chair with his IR mouse, vectoring aircraft and sending orders to the naval commanders. Voice command software comes in handy here! Just when he thinks things are under control, someone else is in the Soviet LAN group is getting a good fix on an American carrier, and that isn't a Flanker he's flying! In fact, the only thing vaguely resembling wings on that vehicle are the diving planes! As soon as he lets go with his three fish, another LAN player at Allied HQ commanding a destroyer is getting ready to loose some serious hardware on top of that ambitious tin can! In the real time air engagement, the 209th in F16s are doing well against opponents in their Su27s, and all the while the respective Theatre Commanders are monitoring the entire operation in real time while other players are engaging on the ocean. If the Soviet Commander loses his carrier, where are Papadoc and crew doing to land their returning strike force? Go to Page Five
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