| Exclusive Falcon 4.0 LAN Report
by Dan "Crash" Crenshaw |
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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. Go to Page Three
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