F-19 Stealth Fighter overview and more

After writing about M1 Tank Platoon and B-17 Flying Fortress , I think it's time to talk about the elephant in the room, the series of MicroProse games made up of F-19 Stealth Fighter , F-15 Strike Eagle II and F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 . I think (although I lack any evidence) they are the most popular simulators from MicroProse, and they also have many elements in common.

I also think that, rather than make separate entries for F-15 Strike Eagle II and F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 , I'd rather talk more extensively about F-19, the first title in the bunch, and then make shorter observations about the other two games as responses to this thread.

Starting with the obvious, there is no F-19 airplane, and most likely there has never been. During the 1980s there were rumors about some kind of F-19 futuristic bomber that would be invisible to radar. Said airplane would eventually be unveiled as the F-117 in 1988.

But meanwhile there was speculation about its looks and its capabilities. In 1988 Testor released a model they called the F-19 Stealth Fighter, and that model inspired how the plane looks in the game as well:



Well, not really. I mean, the first versions of the game have a plane that looks pretty much like it:



But then when the F-117 became known publicly, newer editions of the game included more accurate external views as an extra:



They are not on by default. To get the new external views, you need to rename the game files STFLT.3D3 to STFLTF19.3D3 and STFLT117.3D3 to STFLT.3D3. To undo the changes, rename STFLTF19.3D3 to STFLT.3D3 (thank you, MobyGames).

We also need to talk about Sid Meier. Meier is currently best known for his work in the Civilization series, which he conceived, and other strategy games like Pirates!

But in 1988 he was also a founding member of MicroProse and a pioneer in programming simulation titles such as Acrojet , Silent Service and F-15 Strike Eagle .

In his own words:

F-19 was the last flight simulator that I wrote. I felt that it was everything I knew about how to write a flight simulator, and I never felt the need to write another one after that. That didn't mean that Bill [Stealey, co-founder of MicroProse] didn't keep asking me to write them, though.

Meier wasn't by any stretch of the imagination the only person involved in F-19, but I think it's telling that he also got credited in F-15 Strike Eagle II and F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 . And also that those two games share so much with F-19 .

So, what does F-19 Stealth Fighter so special? Well, for starters it was likely one of the most complete flight simulators of its time.

- It features miles and miles of detailed terrain, including rivers, mountains and other geographical features, in four different scenarios: Libya, Persian Gulf, North Cape and Central Europe, all presented in still beautiful, untextured, 3D solid graphics:



- A complex (for its time) flight model, that included taking off and landing from ground bases or aircarft carriers. It is also scalable, as you can turn off the most difficult options anytime. Enemy settings also range from facing green troops and pilots to far more experienced enemies.

- Campaigns taking place during cold war, limited war or conventional war. Apart from the targets and what to do to them, this changes the ammount of damage you can cause (or receive) from the enemy without career repercussions. In a cold war setting, your objective will often be to penetrate enemy territory, remain undetected, photograph or bomb enemy assets and leave without any fuss.

- Almost complete freedom when it comes to external views of the player or the enemies.



- Randomly generated missions, based on scenario and political situation.

- The extras! Like many MicroProse titles from this era, you didn't get just a few disks and a single sheet of paper. Extras for this title included keyboard overlays, maps for every region and a bulky yet fascinating manual that covered pretty much everything, from the basics of flying to electronic warfare.



So alright, part of this was bloat. I never used the keybard overlays nor the maps, for instance. But I'm happy MicroProse went the extra mile and created them. If anything, they helped with the inmersion.

And now the bad news. I'm not saying PC users were done dirty by MicroProse, but they could have handled the graphics better. Although the package and the game promise 256 color VGA graphics, the actual game looks more like EGA 16 colors. This might not be entirely true, because a commentator at the game entry mentions we're getting some extra colors... in the cockpit.

I still prefer how the game looks in Atari ST and Amiga, computers that back in 1988 often made a better use of color:



See what I mean?

Now, the flying, yes.

We'll play most of the game from the cockpit, and you need some basic memory (or one of the keyboard overlays) to remember some commands.

The flight computer has three modes, Navigation, Air attack and Ground Attack, which you cycle with F2. In any of the attack modes, SPACE switches weapons (or cameras) and ENTER fires them. B, M, < and > will acquire the nearest targets in front, left, right and rear of your plane.

Then there are some basic flight commands... cursors move you around, and - or + by the numbers in your keyboard control the throttle. In non-US keyboards those keys might be mapped to ? and ¿ or whatever.

Oh, and the ILS (F9) will help you adjust your trajectory when it comes to landing.

Numbers from 1-9 contain several key commands, such as the ICR and RADAR jammers, flares, chaff or decoys (use them when things become intense), or extra plane commands, such as gear up or down (6), auto-pilot (7), bay doors (8), flaps and brakes.

There's also a very useful time acceleration option (MAYS+Z), which will help you skip to the action.

Form here on, it all depends on you, the scenario and the difficulty settings you set up earlier. Good luck and good hunting!

PS: Oh, some further notes on emulating the game. It's going to work fine on DOSBox with default options, but just in case, don't forget to type KEYB US before loading the game . Otherwise, some key commands might not work and you could missing out later in the game.

And yes, as usual in golden age MicroProse games, the game is copy protected . Copies around the internet are likely to have been already deprotected, but worst case scenario you may have to learn to identify a few military jets by their shape. Big deal. I'm pretty sure experienced armchair pilots like you won't have any problem with that. And if you do, just check out the manual.

 

Now, it's the time for... F-15 Strike Eagle II :



Strike Eagle II arrived the following year, and at a time when the performance of PC clones was constantly increasing. Although nominally it's the sequel to F-15 Strike Eagle , one of the earlier simulators from MicroProse (so early that it even had 8-bit versions!), it's actually a revamped version of F-19 . So close that you can actually copy the new scenarios (Middle East and Vietnam) to F-19 and play them, although the original names will still be present.

It's not like the game is even hiding it: game menus, options and even gameplay are pretty much the same, although with some changes to taylor the game to a different airplane. The plane now feels more agile, and if the F-19 emphasized sigil over straight action, the F-15 II is much more action packed. We get many more enemies, and dogfights will be a constant in your missions.

Gone too are the options to play under cold war, limited war and conventional war rules. This time feel free to blow up anything you see.



In fact, the game gets some criticism for being too arcade oriented.

And as you can see, the graphics were also upgraded. This time they are truly VGA 256 color graphics and not enhanced EGA. And the models of enemies and targets also seem improved from F-19 . But yikes, I still prefer the graphics on the Atari ST and Amiga versions:





External views, Amiga vs. PC VGA

F-15 II must have been very successful for MicroProse, because in 1992 they released an expansion called Operation Desert Storm . It included a new campaign based on the Iraq '91 operation, plus the North Cape and Central Europe scenarios from F-19 .

The game even had a Genesis / Mega Drive version, which plays pretty much like the Amiga version but with all the controls stuffed into its 3-button controller. It's a nice version, but it feels even more arcade-y than the original.

 

F-19 was my first ever flight sim, and I loved it, even though I had to figure it all out on my own, as I had a bootleg copy with an unofficial Russian translation, no manual and still copy-protected, so most of the time I played what was basically the demo scenario that would activate if you failed the copy protection routine (which I think was nice for MicroProse to do, basically giving you a demo if you obtained a copy "unofficially"). I figured out he controls by trial and error, discovered the cheat keys and many other options, but what I didn't guess were the actual stealth mechanics that I'd only read about much later when I downloaded the manual from ReplacementDocs.

Most of the time, I'd just fly around and explore (I'd even pack the plane with extra fuel tanks in all slots for that, as I didn't know you could refuel at friendly airbases), the feel of being in a real world was incredible. That was in 1994-1996 by the way, and I was 8-10 years old

Sometimes I'd guess the right plane though and I could play the other scenarios, but I quickly discovered that I couldn't do even easy landings, and higher level opponent pilots got pretty deadly very quickly. It was still big fun.

Later on (still being at school) I remember reading a flight sim retrospective article in a gaming magazine borrowed from a classmate, where I first learned about F-117A. That was a big discovery, because I felt that more modern flight sims of the mid-90s era looked too realistic after F-19 to my liking, and I was literally drooling over that tiny F-117A screenshot. A classmate promised me a copy but never delivered (also didn't give me back my floppies!), I wish I knew there was a cool free demo back then.

Already in the 2000s, I remember downloading F-15SEII too, which was another nice discovery, and I kind of relived those cool moments with F-19 from my childhood. But I didn't play a lot, although I think the more arcade-y feel was actually a good thing. Back in the 90s, there was something truly magical for me to fly around in F-19, even though the tech was already quite dated, this simplicity contributed to the feel of a living world in a way, allowing the imagination to fill in the gaps.

 

Sometimes playing without a manual is the best way to enjoy a game. Glad you finally figured out F-19 and enjoyed it soo much. I had a similar experience with Gunship 2000 , which is the MicroProse simulation that occupied most of my playing hours in the second half of the 1990s. I did have a manual (it was one of the few original games I owned back then), but instead of reading the whole thing I kept the reference card nearby and figured out many of the rest by myself.

I also enjoyed F-15 Strike Eagle II a lot. True, it can get very arcade-y, but you rarely get flight sims that have that combination of realism and arcade action. They should have toned it down just a notch.

 

F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 was the third and final release in the series. It arrived in 1991-92 in separate VGA and EGA releases. The next year an Amiga version was released as well, but not an Atari ST one. These changes show how much the marked has evolved since the launch of F-19 . PCs were still becoming more powerful every year, but gone were the days when a game was expected to work in a handful of different configurations, from 8086 CGA or Hercules to 80486 VGA. And sadly, the Amiga was in its last legs. They had introduced a new AGA generation that failed to surpass the current PC especifications, while still costing more. And the Atari ST had mostly disappeared, overrun by the Amiga.

By this time the world already knew of the F-117, so it made sense that MicroProse updated their deprecated F-19 simulator to make it more attractive. They did it once more sticking to the template set years earlier by Sid Meier, but mostly upgrading the graphics. Now we even get the luxury of an animated intro, but under the bonnet things remain very familiar, from the mission structure to the freedom when it comes to use external views.



Since this time we fly the F-117A and not a multirole fighter like the F-15, the different war modes (cold war, limited war and conventional war) also make a return. Depending on each setting, the mission objectives change, and so do the engagement rules. From being able to fire back only when fired upon to pretty much being given permission to blow stuff up at will.

And after the joy of blowing things up that was F-15 Strike Eagle II , we're also back to more of a thinking man's approach to warfare. Under its more strict settings, you'll be expected to evade enemy activity (and detection) pretty much until you reach your targets, drop your bombs with precision and leave undetected.

But MicroProse also thought of those of us with more of an itchy trigger. One of the game options features flying an unrealistic MicroProse F-117A , one with more weapon bays (which you should stuff with air-to-air missiles) and that can operate from aircraft carriers, allowing for more spectacular and hair-raising landings. It is in options like these that F-117A shows that MicroProse didn't entirely ditch the more action-oriented aspects from F-15 Strike Eagle II .