Playing together
Airport Commander can be played together. One player hosts, up to three friends join, and everyone builds and runs the same airport from the same bank account.
Hosting and joining
From the main menu, one player picks Host co-op game. The others choose Join co-op game and enter the host's address. The game uses UDP port 7777, so the host may need to open that port on the router.
You can join at any time, even in the middle of a running game: the host sends the current save, and the new player drops straight into the action.
One airport, one budget
There are no separate companies in co-op. Everyone works on the same airport and spends from the same account. Each player's mouse cursor is shown on the field with name and colour, so you can see who is building where.
| Who | May do |
|---|---|
| Everyone | Build, plan the schedule, sign contracts, research, hire staff |
| Host only | Game speed, fast-forward, saving and loading |
If the host loads a save, everyone receives it. If the airport goes bankrupt and you switch to sandbox mode, that applies to the whole session.
How it stays in sync
Airport Commander does not stream the whole airport over the network. Instead, every computer runs the complete simulation itself, and only the players' actions are sent – in lockstep:
- every action goes to the host, who assigns it to a fixed simulation step,
- all players then apply the same actions at the same step,
- regular checksums confirm that everyone's airport is identical; if one ever drifts, the host simply sends that player a fresh copy.
The host never waits for slower players, and your own actions take effect after one round trip – while building you will hardly notice.
Tips for teams
- Split the work: one player on the terminal, one on runways and taxiways, one on the schedule.
- Agree on big purchases – the shared budget empties fast when two people build a tower at the same time.
- In the airport management, whoever clicks first hires the applicant.