Falcon 3.0 1991 Sphere, Inc.

Part of History of 1990s Computer Games.

Falcon 3.0 1991 Flight Sim

Falcon 3.0 is a 16 bit/32 bit combat flight simulator coded by Sphere Inc. for MS-DOS (1991). A non-trivial evolution on Falcon 1987, Falcon 3.0 marks the point at which flight sims ramped up in terms of CPU clock-speed, RAM-size and FPU demands. Most notably, this resulted in no Atari ST or Amiga versions of Falcon 3.0, whose recommend specs are:

• >=25 MHz 80386 or 80486 CPU
• 6 MB RAM (602 conv., 4 MB EMS)
• 8087 floating-point coprocessor or 486/Pentium (High Fidelity flight model-handling)
• 16-bit VGA graphics
• 11 MB hard disk drive space
• Double-speed CD-ROM drive
• Sound Blaster and either a Roland MT-32 or Roland LAPC-1 sound card
• Joystick, dual joysticks, CH FlightStick Pro, ThrustMaster Flight Control System (FCS) or rudder pedals
• ThrustMaster Weapons Control System (WCS)

Amiga 3000 25Mhz 030 (1989) could have handled Falcon 3.0. Amiga 1200s and Atari Falcons (ST microcomputer successor) also could have handled most of Falcon 3.0's hardware requirements, but the problem is they didn't come out until 1992. And when they did come out they didn't take off anyway, being too little, too late. [1] Moreover, not enough Amigans owned 020/030-accelerated older-model STs or Amigas to warrant ports (A2000, A3000). Not to mention the general lack of HDDs on ST and Amiga setups.

In addition, the VGA color palette exceeds the Amiga and ST palettes around this time (256 colors vs. 32 vs. 16), allowing for fancy stuff such as digitized images and FMV insets. Even in 2D flight sim presentation terms, the PC is taking off with hardware scrolling and the ability to switch between big bitmaps without breaking a sweat. And for the purposes of playing flight sims, PC analogue joysticks were superior to ST/Amiga digital micro-switched joysticks, which are only better for arcade games.

The detail level option shown below impacts terrain polygon-count and draw distance. Proper texture mapping is still a no-go, however.

 

So basically, Falcon 3.0 marks the point at which MS-DOS becomes the clear-cut best platform on which to play flight sims; the point at which the ST/Amiga flight sim aficionado must go out and purchase a PC if they want to play the most advanced flight sims with the best performance and visuals.

Note however, that Falcon 3.0 was not easy to set up on original hardware: you had to configure your soundcard(s) and joysticks, find free memory, configure the memory and maybe even make a boot disk with autoexec.bat and config.sys -- stuff that microcomputers with custom chipsets did not demand of end-users. That said, the rigmarole was worth it.

Day/night tinting of the Falcon 3.0 cockpit:

Arming the Falcon fighter. The statistics for and 3D rotating models of each and every allied and enemy ground and air unit can be viewed.

Angled and switchable cockpit views as well as views external to the cockpit, which can be zoomed, rotated and tracked:

All interior angles feature drop-away panels. Those coming off Falcon 1987 were astounded by the angular tracking of targets in Falcon 3.0. I would also estimate that super-smooth framerates and increased view distance doubled the immersion and realism of flight.

And as it pertains to fighter control, the High Fidelity flight model-handling facilitates realistic banking that leaves other flight sims of the era in the dust.

Falcon 3.0 Campaign

There are three campaigns or theatres of war in Falcon 3.0: Israel, Panama and Kuwait (Desert Storm). Each theatre has a resupply date and resupply time as well as a number of aircraft and ordnance stores.

The default targets, routes and waypoints can be edited by the player before take off. As with Gunship 2000's multi-helicopter command, squadrons and wingmen can be assigned based on interpretable stats, such as pilot dogfighting and bombing skills.

 

The theatres offer 11 mission-types; a combo of air-to-air and air-to-ground. Missions include shooting down enemy aircraft (mostly MiGs), bombing SAM sites, and bombing other enemy installations such as bridges, runways and comms.

• Scramble
• Air Superiority
• Front Line Screen
• Combat Air Patrol
• Escort Transport (Milk Run)
• Escort Strike or Bombers
• Close Air Support
• Ground Strike
• SEAD (Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses)
• Bomb
• Tactical Air Reconnaissance

Falcon 3.0 ACMI

ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation) is an advanced feature of Falcon 3.0 that allows players to replay and review their combat missions via the in-flight AVTR (Airborne Video Tape Recorder). You can play back your recordings at any angle and even step through them frame-by-frame.

Falcon 3.0 Armament

• M61A1 Cannon: 1-mile-range 20mm Vulcan (six-barrel gatling gun-style)
• Air-to-air missiles: AIM-9P Sidewinder, AIM-9M Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM
• Air-to-ground missiles: AGM-65B/-65D Maverick, AGM-45A Shrike, AGM-88A HARM, LAU-5003A rocket launcher
• A-G Bombs: Mk82, Mk82HD, Mk83, Mk84, Durandal, CBU-84, GBU-15
• 300-gallon external fuel tank or ALQ-131 ECM pod

Falcon 3.0 Medals & Awards

• Purple Heart
• Air Force Cross
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Air Medal
• Air Force Medal of Honor
• Silver Star
• Bronze Star

Falcon 3.0 Allied Aircraft

• A-4 Skyhawk
• UH-60 Blackhawk
• B-52 Stratofortress
• AH-64 Apache
• F-4 Phantom
• Panavia Tornado
• F-117A Nighthawk
• A-10 Thunderbolt
• F/A-18 Hornet
• F-14 Tomcat
• F-111 Aardvark
• Kfir-C7
• F-16 Falcon
• C-130 Hercules
• F-15 Eagle
• E-3 Sentry

Falcon 3.0 Enemy Aircraft

• Mi-24 HIND
• Mirage III
• TU-22 Blinder
• MiG-23 Flogger
• MiG-19 Farmer
• MiG-21 Fishbed
• MiG-27 Flogger
• MiG-29 Fulcrum
• MiG-25 Foxbat
• Su-24 Frogfoot
• Su-24 Fencer
• Su-27 Flanker
• Mirage 5
• Mirage F1
• An-12 Cub
• SA 342 Gazelle
• Il-76 Mainstay

Falcon 3.0 Allied Ground Forces

• M1 Abrams
• M198
• M60A3
• Wildcat
• M2 Bradley
• Jeep
• AMX-13
• M113
• Shahine
• Walid
• Truck
• Roland
• Patriot
• M163 Vulcan

Falcon 3.0 Enemy Ground Forces

• G-30
• Jeep
• T-80
• BMP-1
• SA-8 Gecko
• T-64
• T-72
• BRDM-2
• SA-6 Gainful
• BTR-70
• ZSU-57-2
• ZSU-23-4 Shilka
• ACRV
• Truck
• SS-1 Scud

cf. Falcon 1987.

[1] I am mostly talking in the context of 3D flight sims. In terms of arcade action games (2D games), the Amiga would remain competitive for several more years. And at a competitive price-point. But the Amiga (1985 tech) was not suited to advanced 3D games due to its planar display and lack of raw processing power. Even AGA Amigas struggled with Falcon 3.0-level 3D.

Back to: Combat Flight Simulators.