From: bash@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (thomas.w.basham)
Subject: Re: Falcon Books: Which is the Best?
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 22:04:42 GMT

From article <1992Nov13.174736.25589@news.uiowa.edu>, by sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov(Michael D'Alessandro):
> 
> I've noticed at my local Software Etc. that there are several different
> books dedicated to Falcon, with each proclaiming it is the final word
> on the subject.  I'm looking to buy a book to improve my performance in
> Falcon, and I'm interested to find out which books you've used and which
> is the best.
> 

Regarding Falcon 3.0: (if you're talking about pre-Falcon 3.0,
I can't help you that much).

I've seen two of the three. ;-) I contributed a few pages to the
Bonanni/Yee book and I wrote about 1/2 of the Waite group book. I
know Howard Bornstein (the author of the third book) quite well.

1. The Bonanni/Yee book contains a lot of material from Bonanni's
original F3 book. There are some interesting flight stories, and
some good tips, but the book, IMHO, doesn't really go into deep
detail. THis one is on bookstores now.

2. Bornstein's nee book (he also wrote on on the original Falcon) is
supposed to be very detailed. I haven't seen it, but I am familiar with
Howard's style, so I expect it to be very thorough. From what I've
been told, he focuses a lot on the internal workings of the game, and
how to use those your advantages.  This book is due out real soon now,
but I don't know an exact date. The book is supposed to ship with a disk.
This disk will include a limited-capability version of FALCNR and
the most recent version of F3MAPS.

3. My book,the Waite Group's Falcon 3.0: The Complete Handbook, 
co-authored by Joel Powell is divided
into two sections. The first is for the novice user who needs help
learning to use weapons, land, etc. The second section (my handiwork)
is dedicated to the advanced user, discussing in detail the HFR,
campaign operations (tips, tactics, supply mgmt, roster, mgmt, etc),
and "secrets of the enemies" which gives info on how computer players
fight. Operation: Fighting Tiger, and how it differs from the base F3,
is also discussed.

I also include a "Red Flag: Advanced Flight School." The 
accompanying disk our book includes has 8 custom RF missions, each
focusing on a different tactical problem, such as using combined
forces to defeat enemy air defenses and attack a target, escort missions,
intercept missions, etc. The associated chapter (over 100 pages just
discussing these 8 missions) contains a briefing for each mission, an
analysis of your objectives and tactics, a step-by-step walk through of
the mission as you fly along, and a debriefing to help you figure out
what went wrong. The RFAFS is modelled after a typical F3 campaign, and
progresses accordingly. It has been tested by my reviewers with great
success. There are detailed instructions on avoiding enemy missiles, 
finding ground targets, overcoming enemy defenses, radar avoidance,
attack profiles, and selecting weapons loadouts.

Also, we have several appendicies containing quick reference charts
of threats and TWI codes, fuel usage, aircraft data, and upgrade info.
Our book is due back from the printers by either today or Monday, and
should be in stores soon thereafter. We teach not only "how to play"
F3, but how to apply standard combat doctrine and strategies to 
meet your goals. We discuss how to get the most out of the padlock view,

We are including the latest version of F3MAPS and a fully functional
version of FALCNR on our disk, also. We are the only licensed distributor
of this version of FALCNR. 


Hope this helps...

KC
-- 
Tom "KC" Basham    AT&T Bell Laboratories:  bash@ihlpb.ATT.COM
                   CompuServe:              73760.1251@CompuServe.COM
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.simulators,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games