This article will introduce a new column and Thomas "AV8R" Spann to combat simulation fans. In real life Thomas is an engineer and online vet with the uncanny ability to actually know how all this online stuff works! This article will appear in full in our first print edition in June.

What better way to kickoff the Combat-Sim Multiplayer Section than to take time to visit the evolution of military multiplayer flight simulation over the past five years. This period spans the first major benchmark of this genre, namely Spectrum Holobytes’s Falcon3, to the up-and-coming future, Microprose’s Falcon4 and SSI’s Su27 Flanker V2.

This peroid also brackets the the time that I have been deeply involved into multiplayer simming - or "social simming" as I coin it. There have been plenty of good sims over this period, but I will limit the scope of discussion to the realm of multiplayer, i.e. Head 2 Head, human vs. human aerial combat dog fighting - the heart and soul of hard-core social simming.

Falcon3 Gold was, in its day, the epitome of the merging of military flight simulation and the multiplayer mode. In the 1993 era, local area networks (LANs) were the vehicle of choice for one vs. many (human adversaries); Internet had not proliferated to the general public as of yet. IPX protocol over a LAN was the networking technology of the day, thus the genesis of the IPX multiplayer mode that still exists today.

For the majority of those without the benefit of access to a LAN, solo play or one vs. one modem to modem dialup mode were also supported. At that time, 9600 and 14.4kbs modems were considered fast. Processor technology was up to the Intel 386 family running at clock speeds of 16 - 40 MHz. Most systems contained 8 - 16 MB of RAM and a 1x CDROM. At the time, Microsoft DOS 5.0 was the operating system of choice. I remember using memory manager programs like QEMM to free up 540kb of conventional memory.

Flight controllers where also in their infancy. My first controller was some cheap analog stick. Soon the Thrustmaster line came out with the FCS and its "coolie hat" view switch, thus the revolutionary ability for HOTAS and view panning in the sim environment was born. Throttles like the WCS and rudders like the RCS were soon to follow; these gave rise to the home virtual cockpit and the use of the padlock view.

Click for larger shot.

What made Falcon3 the "King of the Skies" was its depth in flight modelling, breadth in features, options, flyable planes, mission editor, chat, ACMI, documentation, and multiplayer support. Multiplayer ability gave rise to competition ladders, the ingredient that crowned a classic military flight sim by virtue of its wide acceptance and use.

It has been my experience that only the very best simulation draw an almost fanatical following that leads to virtual squadrons, user add-ons, shareware missions, and competition ladders. Mediocre and lesser sims were decommissioned to coffee mug coasters - even if the flight model and avionics were stellar (i.e. Back To Bagdad).

After Falcon3, a host of other military flight-sims arose, but again, my focus is on those of notable multiplayer acclaim. Around the 1994 to 1995 time frame, the Internet started to become the hot ticket. "Surfing the web" and e-mail was the fad, thus enabling the "On Line Sim" environments to mature.

Warbirds and AirWarrior were the best known examples, whereby simmers could choose from a wide range of dog fighters with lovingly crafted flight models and cockpit artwork. Voice chat and arenas were introduced, whereby hundreds of human virtual pilots participated in multi-player; graphics were still in the SVGA polygon world.

Air Warrior III Online

Warbirds 3d Online

In 1995, the next great sims to follow were Digital Image Designs EF2000 and Strategic Simulations Inc.’s Su27 Flanker. Both of these classics are still widely flown today - another hallmark of a topgun simulation: longevity. Unfortunately, both also required 5 or more patches to get them there, a painful trend that is still with us today (LongBow2 being a rare and welcome exception). By that time, Internet’s TCP/IP format had been accepted by simulation vendors as a viable alternative to IPX that opened up multiplayer modes to the Wide Area Networking (WANs) arena.

Suddenly the world presented itself as a virtual happy hunting ground. I remember pondering [to my amazement] the concept of dog fighting with a Japanese pilot in the convenience of my own home. Before this, [since I did not have any IPX LANs available to me] my multiplayer experience was limited to either modem-to-modem or paying $2/hr online gaming in WB. IPX to TCP Internet translation gaming/chat worlds of Kali and Kahn came to the rescue.

EF2000 and its successive releases became the next true "King of the Skies", a term which DiD themselves coined to the best of my knowledge. The graphics were first rate - no more simple polygons - instead a brilliant pixelized world greeted the virtual pilot.

EF2000 by Digital Image Design.

What EF2000 gave us was a nice balance of: functional and virtual cockpit, superb sound effects, adversary and cooperative multiplayer over IPX/TCP and modem - a mixture of flying, music and artistic graphics. I have found myself more immersed in the EF2000 world than in any other simulation.

Flying cooperative missions in EF2 was unparalleled with the full avionics suite and its connection stability (2 – 6 players over Internet). At the same time as EF2000 was jetting to stardom, a smaller but even more fanatical following was centering on an East Block jet fighter; the Su27 Flanker. While Flanker still lived in the SVGA graphics era, enhancements in other areas were made such as rear-view mirrors and [near warpless] multiplayer stability. We've come a long way, baby!