<84/04/24> SOPWITH <84/04/24> NAME : SOPWITH SYNTAX: sopwith [-r] [-d?] FUNCTION: SOPWITH is a video war-game played over the IMAGINET network or on a stand-alone PC. The object of SOPWITH is to destroy all enemy targets with a somewhat limited airforce. SOPWITH may be played in three ways: Single Player Single Player against the computer Multiple Players SINGLE PLAYER ------------- Single player SOPWITH should only be used to 'get the feel of the stick'. The player ( blue airplane ) must destroy all the enemy ( red ) targets before losing five (5) airplanes. SINGLE PLAYER AGAINST THE COMPUTER ---------------------------------- This game is of the same flavour as single player SOPWITH with the additional realism of having someone else ( red airplanes ) out to get you. MULTIPLE PLAYER --------------- Multiple user SOPWITH allows 2-4 IMAGINET users to form opposing air forces with the goal of being the first to destroy all enemy targets. The airplane which player controls, and the airforce for which the player flies, are determined by the number of players and the order in which they attach themselves to the game. 2 players: first player receives a blue airplane second player receives a red airplane 3 players: first player receives a blue airplane second player receives a red airplane along with a computer controlled plane eager to bring about the demise of the dreaded blue enemy third player receives a blue airplane 4 players: first player receives a blue airplane second player receives a red airplane third player receives a blue airplane fourth player receives a red airplane In all cases each player attempts to destroy the targets of the opposing colour while defending friendly targets against enemy aircraft. Each player is limited to five (5) aircraft. SCORING: A player wins if the player or the player's team destroys all enemy targets before losing five (5) airplanes. The point score acquired is of no importance in determining whether a player has won or lost. However, to assist in determining a flier's skill level, the following points are associated with airplanes and targets: 50 - airplane 100 - factory, hangar, or tank 200 - fuel depot In single player games, points are gained if enemy targets and airplanes are destroyed; points are lost if friendly targets and airplanes are destroyed. In multiple player SOPWITH, points are always gained by one side or the other. KEYBOARD: The following keys are used during the play of SOPWITH: ctrl-break - terminates the game for the player by crashing the player's plane. Scores are adjusted accordingly. , - elevator up. The airplane will rise if right-side-up, drop if up-side-down. . - roll airplane / - elevator down. The airplane will drop if right-side-up, rise if up-side-down. x - accelerate airplane \ - decelerate airplane b - drop a bomb space-bar - fire a shot h - allow the computer to fly you home for refuelling and rearmament. Computer control ends if elevator, acceleration, or roll keys are pressed. s - turn sound on if off, off if on. SCREEN: During play, the screen is divided into two sections, a window and a status display. The window comprises the upper ninety percent of the screen and provides a display of the player's airplane along with a display of other airplanes, targets, and ground in the immediate vicinity. This window is scrolled left or right in an attempt to keep a reasonable view in front of the player's airplane. The lower ten percent of the screen is used for displaying the status of the game. From left to right, the status display consists of: blue team score red team score ( multiple player game only ) plane gauge showing the number of airplanes not yet destroyed. Each airplane is represented by two (2) vertical dots. The game begins with the gauge indicating five airplanes available. The gauge shows two (2) dots when the player is using the last airplane available. fuel gauge relative display of fuel remaining. bomb gauge relative display of bombs remaining. shot gauge relative display of the number of gun rounds remaining. Note: fuels, bomb, and shots may be topped up while remaining stationary at one's home base. A player is at home after a crash, or after completing a return to home by using the 'h' key. world display a miniaturized display of the entire playing world showing the positions of all airplanes, targets not yet destroy- ed, and bombs. PLAY: To play SOPWITH, simply key: sopwith or: ?:sopwith where ? is the device indicator of the disk containing the SOPWITH program file 'sopwith.exe' SOPWITH will then display the following to determine how the game is to be played: Key: S - single player M - multiple players C - single player against computer Respond by keying s, m, or c ( IN LOWER CASE ). In either of the single player modes, this is all that must be done. The program will pause for a few seconds for initialization, and then will display the SOPWITH window and status screen. If multiple player SOPWITH is selected, there are a few more steps to be performed. Since SOPWITH allows several games to be played concurrently, SOPWITH must know which game the player wishes to start or join. SOPWITH will ask ( demand ): Key a game number In order for a game number to be accepted, the following must all be true: . the game number is between 0 and 7 inclusive . the data file 'sopwith?.dta' ( where ? is the game number keyed ) resides on the player's SOPWITH disk. The player's SOPWITH disk is by default the 'C' disk, but may be overridden to A,B or D by use of the '-d?' option of the SOPWITH command line. . an IMAGINET semaphor file 'semaphor' resides on the player's SOPWITH disk. . the game requested is not currently being played, or the game is waiting for additional players. If the player is the first player to request this game number, SOPWITH will display: Key maximum number of players allowed A response of 2 through 4 indicates to SOPWITH that it will wait for 1 to 3 players repectively before allowing play to begin. SOPWITH will pause for initialization, and then display the window and status screen. While waiting for additional players, SOPWITH will remain in a suspended state. Once all the required players are attached to the game, noticeable screen refreshes will begin. If the player is not the first player into the game specified, ( ie. the game is waiting ), SOPWITH will pause for initiali- zation and then display the window and status screen. If all the required players are attached to the game, the game begins. Otherwise, SOPWITH will continue to wait. RECOVERY: If for some reason, a player's SOPWITH program fails to end properly while in multiple player mode, the game number in use at the time is renderred unusable. In order to reset the game in question, SOPWITH must be run with the 'reset' option: sopwith -r [-d?] Continue through the game number and maximum player prompts as usual. Keying 'sopwith -r [-d?]' and specifying a game which is in progress will yield unpredictable results. INSTALLATION: The program file 'sopwith.exe' must be available to each player. For single player games, this is the only installation needed. For multiple player use, the following files must be available at the root directory of an IMAGINET disk common to all players: semaphor - IMAGINET semaphor file sopwith?.dta - SOPWITH communications files where the symbol ? corresponds to any valid game number between 0-7 inclusive. Sopwith?.dta files may be created by copying existing SOPWITH dta files, or by using any other output method to allocate one disk sector under the root directory. In all cases, newly created SOPWITH dta files should be initialized by using the 'sopwith -r [-d?]' command line described above under RECOVERY. BUGS: 1) at all times, SOPWITH expects lower case input. Watch out for the caps-lock key. 2) Computer controlled planes occasionally kamikaze into the ground. Since the computer flies a player home when the 'h' key is pressed, 'h' may place a player at the mercy of the machine. 3) In multiple player mode, SOPWITH does not care if the file 'semaphor' on the player's 'C' disk is actually an IMAGINET semaphor file. If it is not, the players must take care to stagger SOPWITH initialization, otherwise, ( you guessed it ), unpredictable results occur. 4) Explosions sound funny.