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sopwith(6) Games Manual sopwith(6)

sopwith - classic aerial combat shoot em up game

sopwith [ -n | -s | -c | -l | -j host ] [-f] [-glevel] [-x] [-q]

Sopwith is a modern port of the classic 1980s shoot 'em up game of the same name. The game has a World War I aviation theme. The object of Sopwith is to destroy all enemy targets with a somewhat limited airforce.

It can be played both in single player and multiplayer mode over a TCP/IP network.

Sopwith looks for a configuration file in the user's home directory at ~/.local/share/SDL Sopwith/sopwith.cfg; the configuration file is only generated after the user changes one of the settings from the in-game options menu. Details about the contents of this file can be found in sopwith.cfg(5).

Start a single player game in novice mode. In novice mode there are no oxen or birds, you have infinite ammo and bombs, and it is not possible to stall the plane. This is a good option if you are new to the game, or if you're just interested in more casual gameplay without so much of a challenge.
Start a single player in expert mode
Start a single player vs. computer game
Start a network game listening for a network connection. See the section "MULTIPLAYER SERVERS" below for more details.
Start a network game, connecting to another listening host as specified by host:port. If the port number is not specified then TCP port 3847 is used.
Start in full screen mode if possible.
Start the game on the indicated difficulty level. For instance, use -g2 to start the game on level 2. The default is level 0.
Turn off sound (quiet)

The standard controls on a US layout keyboard are as follows:

pull up
pull down
flip plane
decrease speed
increase speed
fire machine gun
drop bomb
autopilot plane to home base
turn on sound effects
quit
Ctrl+C Ctrl+C Ctrl+C
quit immediately

The following are some tips for playing the game:

  • Start off by playing in single player mode before playing against the computer. This will allow you to "get the feel of the stick" without being attacked by enemy planes. Practice dropping bombs on ground targets, as this is a key skill.
  • Accelerate to maximum speed on takeoff, otherwise you may stall the plane. Moving at speed is particularly important when playing against the computer, as you are otherwise likely to be outmanuevered by the enemy planes.
  • Bombs can be used against planes as well as ground targets. It can sometimes be easier to hit a plane with a bomb instead of the machine gun.
  • The machine gun can be used to destroy ground targets as well as planes. Some targets at the edges of the map are much easier to destroy in this way. Since the machine gun has a limited range, reducing your speed when attacking a ground target can give you more time to aim and attack before you have to pull away.
  • Computer planes will try to tail you so that they can shoot you down. Don't allow them to get a clear shot. "Wiggling" the plane by repeatedly pulling up and down can be an effective evasive maneuver.
  • Firing your machine gun through a flock of birds will cause the birds to disperse, and the computer planes will sometimes hit a bird and crash. However, this tactic can also backfire.
  • Each computer plane has a "territory" and if you escape that territory they will break off their pursuit. At the boundary between territories you can sometimes trick two planes into crashing into each other.
  • When your plane is crashing, the pull up/down keys still have a small effect on your trajectory. You can use this to try to crash your plane into a ground target.
  • Hitting the top of your screen stalls your plane. Hold down the pull up key to break out of the stall before your plane crashes into the ground.
  • Wait until you're close to your base with a clear path to the runway before pressing the home key - the autopilot sometimes makes mistakes.

If the "medals" game option is turned on, the player is rewarded with ribbons and medals for the following:

Shooting down 5 planes
Shooting down 25 planes (difficult!)
Three successful raids
Finishing a level with no planes lost
Gaining 25 points in a single flight, where 3 points are awarded per plane and 4 per building
As above, a second time
Returning to base after having been damaged
Gaining a certain number of points for destroyed planes and buildings; the points depend on whether the player was damaged at that point in time, and how far away the destroyed object was from the player's base
As above, but a few more points

All medals and counters for these are reset once a plane is destroyed.

When run in "listen" mode with the -l command line flag (see above), sopwith runs as a server that listens for an incoming connection. To make this server available from a home Internet connection, you will typically have to set up a port forward from your Internet router. The port to forward is TCP port 3847. You will also need to find out your public IP address so that the other player can connect.

Alternatively, if you have access to a *nix-based server then it may be preferable to run something like a dedicated server that avoids the hassle of port forwarding and dynamic IPs. All that is needed in order to do this is to run a TCP server that forwards connections between two clients. This can be done using nc(1); for example:

nc -l -p 3847 -c "nc -l -p 3847"

Developing the above command into a complete shell script for a continually-active dedicated server is left as an exercise for the reader.

sopwith.cfg(5), triplane(6), airstrike(6)

Originally written by David L. Clark for BMB Compuscience
Modern SDL port By Simon Howard, Jesse Smith

Sopwith was originally developed by BMB Compuscience of Canada as a demonstration game for their Imaginet Networking System. The system was not commercially successful but Sopwith became a popular game for the IBM PC and compatibles. A sequel that is referred to by fans as "Sopwith 2" was actually a newer version rather than a different game, but included extra features, such as oxen and birds (the oxen being an in-joke reference to a BMB employee who was nicknamed "Ox").

The original author, David L. Clark, later released "Sopwith - The Network Edition" with several extra features including comical heads-up "splats" and wounded planes; a follow-up titled "The Author's Edition" contained the same features. This version of Sopwith is based on the released source code to the Network Edition.

The real Sopwith Camel F.1 was one of the most famous fighter planes of World War I; Camel pilots shot down 1,294 enemy aircraft over the course of the war, more than any other aircraft. The plane gained a reputation for being agile but difficult to fly; many novice pilots crashed the plane on takeoff. The Camel was designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company, founded by aviation pioneer Thomas Sopwith; 5,490 aircraft were produced. In popular culture the Camel is known for being the biplane flown by the protagonist in the Biggles series of novels, and by Snoopy in the Peanuts comic strip.