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I originally planned to make this a thread in the Imp Zone, because it seemed a silly thing to make a serious Let's Play about a game as old as F-19 Stealth Fighter. I started a game to take a few screenshots, but as I got into it, I realized that this game, almost 30 years old, and that I started playing on a 386 in 1991, still has a lot of game play that I want to explain! F-19 Stealth Fighter by Microprose was a 1988 release for DOS computers (Atari and Amiga versions also exist), simulating the Stealth Fighter, which at the time was believed to be designated by "F-19". At the time, the capacities of the Stealth Fighter weren't known, and the computer version included things like a gun and air-to-air weaponry that the actual plane didn't have. While unrealistic in hindsight, this also made for a better game.  This is the loading screen. This was really impressive graphics in 1988! And even in 1991! There was also a tinny little theme song from the PC speaker. Wow, said we, in 1991.  There are a few screens at the beginning where you get to choose your difficulty level and setting. The game includes 4 difficulty levels, and 4 settings: Libya, Iran, The North Cape and Central Europe. It also includes settings for Cold, Limited and Conventional war. In Cold War setting, you aren't allowed to be detected or attack things that aren't designated targets. Conventional War is just full warfare where you are allowed to do whatever. Limited is between the two. After putting in the parameters, the game will generate a mission. Here, I have to photograph a target and destroy a target.  Here I am, about to take off from an airbase in Cypress to fly into Libya. Those polygonal graphics, once again, were very fancy in 1988! The top of the screen is what I see out my windscreen, and below are my controls and two display panels. Right now, the panel on the left is showing the theater map, and the panel on the right is showing my mission objectives. Now it is time to take off!  Here I am, airborne! on the left, notice that my throttle is only at about half-power. My air speed is 254, and my altitude is 685. I keep my speed low both to conserve fuel, and because going slow makes me much more stealthy. My altitude is higher than what it should be, but since I am playing on "Regular" difficulty, and am in the Libyan theater, I can play a little bit sloppy. Ahead, I've detected the Al-Badya SAM Radar, but it hasn't detected me.  I ended up strafing the Al-Badya SAM Radar, and now a Libyan Mig-29 has come to intercept me. I have my weapons selected as Sidewinders, and they are about to come into range.  The real F-117 didn't have a gun, and even if it did, it probably wouldn't be used to dive and attack ships in strafing runs. Even beyond that, there is another break from reality in this game: all enemy targets are either destroyed or uninjured. A weapon either hits totally or misses totally, and here, after taking about 10 rounds of 20mm cannon fire, a missile boat totally sinks. On the other hand, my own plane doesn't have the same weakness: I can sometimes get hit by a missile with only mild damage. Not that I am complaining.  When I destroy an enemy ground target, enemy airplanes will immediately head right towards me. Which makes them easy to pick off: this Mig-25 has approached within two km of me and is about to be dispatched by gunfire.  I've finally gotten to my primary target, an enemy oil refinery. After all of the destruction I've wrought on random targets, all I have to do is take a photo. On "Cold War" mode, it is quite common to have missions that are only photographic.  Things are starting to heat up! After destroying the secondary target (notice all that thick, polygonal smoke coming from its remains) two enemy planes have come looking for me. I am also flying at a tight tilt, which for real Stealth flight would be a very bad idea, but which I can get away with at this difficulty level.  After completing my primary and secondary missions, I find myself hovering around Benghazi, looking for things to keep myself occupied. It is like I am a Republican Congressman!   Different enemy ground targets give different values. Strafing things like enemy villages and tank farms will give you a few points each, but things like tanks (when you can find them), are worth around 20 points at this difficulty level. Of course, tanks are much harder to destroy than a village. (Again, this is a break from reality: a 20mm cannon couldn't actually destroy a tank with only a few rounds).  After using up almost all my ammo and fuel, here I am, ready to return to the same airbase I started from. Landing is pretty easy: all the airstrips line up North/South, and all you have to do is slow down, slowly descend, and then brake once you hit the runway, and after you do:  After landing, I get a big thumbs up and a run-down on what I did in the mission. Again, this is more than a bit unrealistic for a simulator game: I don't think there are many pilots in history with 26 total kills, and as a one-mission total in an aircraft not designed for air-to-air warfare, it is a bit ludicrous. Not that I am complaining.  After your mission, you get to relax in the bar with some friends. Depending on how you do, it can either be a packed bar with a party (in case of a promotion or medal), or you sitting alone at the end (if you really messed up). This ending is for good missions. If people are interested, I could fly more, and different type of missions, and explain the mechanics of the game better. This was an easy game, and I didn't have to use my stealth capacities much. More difficult missions might have me doing something like flying 50 meters above the ground so that radar can't detect me. The game I played today was one that I played after figuring out how to game the game, and that took me almost 20 years. Fly low and slow, strafe enemy ground targets, and then ambush enemy planes that come to investigate. glowing-fish fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 02:21
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 08:23 |
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Don't you dare take this to the
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Dec 5, 2014 12:36
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Oh boy. I noticed this in the sandcastle but didn't find the thread: this deserves a video LP just for the amazing sound effects. Great nostalgia there; this is the first game I ever played, at the ripe age of six. I had no idea what I was doing and the first English word I ever learned the meaning of was "missile". edit: Another thing pops up: I never learned how to land. Mission success was bailing out above my home airport. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 12:43 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 5, 2014 12:40
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I remember playing this as a kid (As well as F117 and F15 II) but never getting much done. Honestly i wouldn't mind some LPs of 90s Flighsims. Maybe an idea for a thread?
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Dec 5, 2014 14:34
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Oh yes. F-19  I've played that in high school  My greatest achievement in this game was performing a safe dead-stick landing (ok, so I've run out of fuel because I ran 100% throttle through the whole mission, but that's beside the point  )And my greatest disappointment with F-117 is that it doesn't feature post-mission bar scene 
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Dec 5, 2014 14:55
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I "played" this with my Amiga when I was a kid. It had a helpful keyboard overlay cardboard thingy to show all the keys so taking off usually took less than 15min unlike with other flight simulators. With no real grasp of English the initial equipment Camera just didn't feel right for the mission. Amraams, sidewinders and mavericks just kill enemies faster. True stealth fighter doesn't care about radars and taking on SAM-sites head on is the name of the game. Good times.
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Dec 5, 2014 15:58
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Haha holy crap I remember this sitting in our stack of PC games for like forever. I had no idea it was older than me. Is there any kind of progression or goal to reach, or do you just fly missions to rack up score? Anyway, please bomb Iraq. It is your destiny as an USAF pilot apparently. Edit: Also wow, that bar celebration image sure is a thing.
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Dec 5, 2014 16:22
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This looks so cool, please keep on doing this. I never played this game, but I have fond memories of spending countless hours in Gunship, and the old flight simulators where the developers tried their best to make simulators out of limited knowledge of how the airplanes worked and with limited technology have a certain charm going for them. Fredrik1 fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 5, 2014 17:38
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paragon1 posted:Is there any kind of progression or goal to reach, or do you just fly missions to rack up score? Oh! Oh! And also if you eject behind enemy lines and get captured, you get to see a hilarious front page of Pravda
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Dec 6, 2014 02:49
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YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS this game was my childhood. There was nothing better to encourage a little kid's dream to be a fighter pilot than this game (followed up by Chuck Yeager's Air Combat).
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Dec 6, 2014 17:59
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Fredrik1 posted:This looks so cool, please keep on doing this. I was fond of Hind because you could chase little polygon infantry about with dual gunpods (as well as the normal cannon) and your windscreen used to get individual holes shot into it. Good times. Wish the DSC people would stop showcasing gimmick planes and make a loving Hind DLC. Their next DLC is the goddamn Hawk. A training jet. gently caress you DCS world. Regarde Aduck fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 19:35
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I played a game similar to this with a joystick and at 10 or so fps. It had a tank shed, Radar(?) sites with barely noticeable AA batteries, automatic/manual landing settings, and ejecting three times got you benched. You can destroy your plane if you eject at the start of missions. You are apparently floating a couple yards when you spawn. You can get a good view of your carrier group while a cloud of smoke appears below you. Memories are flooding back and the one time I successfully landed my plane, on an enemy airfield. Scalding Coffee fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Dec 7, 2014 |
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Dec 7, 2014 05:06
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anilEhilated posted:
You can actually play the game on "No Crashes" mode, where you can fly straight at the ground, hit it at 600 mph and there is absolutely no damage to your plane. You can also never leave the ground and just use your plane as a hovercraft. I might actually show that mode, but I think my next post will be showing the game in cold war mode. I have to figure out how to use dosbox's video features.
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Dec 7, 2014 09:10
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Yeah, well I was six and didn't understand a word in English, so rememebering the - I really want to say it was Shift + Escape? - button combination to jump out was about the limit of my cognitive processing.
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Dec 7, 2014 09:47
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Oh God, the nostalgia. My Dad had a whole suite of Microprose games, including the F-117 one. I seem to recall an A-10 one as well, but the one I ended up spending the most time with was M1 Tank Platoon. Wouldn't even let you play the campaign mode unless you could correctly identify a Soviet Pact tank out of 20 or so possible ones. For a while I had enough trouble navigating DOS to even get there. I was pretty poo poo at F-19 Stealth Fighter; it'd be neat to you show it off.
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Dec 7, 2014 10:01
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glowing-fish posted:You can actually play the game on "No Crashes" mode, where you can fly straight at the ground, hit it at 600 mph and there is absolutely no damage to your plane. You can also never leave the ground and just use your plane as a hovercraft.
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Dec 7, 2014 16:45
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Ah I played this game as a child on my dads 386 or 486. I must've been very young and couldn't read very well at the time so had no idea what I was doing. I just liked to fly around whilst the PC's internal speaker made a horrible shreaking noise trying to emulate the sound of the jet engine. The best of times.
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Dec 9, 2014 00:34
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 08:23 |
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I had the Commodore 64. The result for such a (relativly) low performance machine was superb.
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Dec 17, 2014 00:06
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