sopwith(6)

📦
version 2.9.0 · 6 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44, ubuntu resolute

✨ sopwith — the manual, but make it make sense ✨

okay bestie, welcome to sopwith(6) 💖 this is the games manual for a whole entire aerial combat shoot 'em up and we are gonna go through it together, no skimming, no skipping, every single flag accounted for. buckle up 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

sopwith — classic aerial combat shoot em up game 🛩️💥

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

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

like… that's the whole vibe check right there. moving on 💅

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

Sopwith is a modern port of the classic 1980s shoot 'em up game of the same name. it's got a whole World War I aviation theme going on — very vintage, very "we're flying biplanes in 1917 and we have opinions about it". 🛩️✨

the object of the game? destroy all enemy targets with a somewhat limited airforce. yes, limited. you do not get infinite anything (unless you're in novice mode, we'll get there). this is the challenge, bestie, embrace it 😌

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

important detail tho — the config file is only generated after you change one of the settings from the in-game options menu. so don't go looking for it before you've touched something. details about what's actually inside that file live in sopwith.cfg(5) 📄

💅 OPTIONS 💅

every flag, every one, no crumbs left behind:

  • -n — 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 the good option if you're new to the game, or if you're just here for casual gameplay without so much of a challenge 🍼🫶
  • -s — start a single player game in expert mode 🔥
  • -c — start a single player vs. computer game 🤖
  • -l — start a network game listening for a network connection. see the section "MULTIPLAYER SERVERS" below for more details 📡
  • -p — use a different TCP port for multiplayer games than the default (3847) 🔌
  • -j host:port — 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 🧭
  • -f — start in full screen mode if possible 🖥️✨
  • -glevel — start the game on the indicated difficulty level. for instance, use -g2 to start the game on level 2. the default is level 0 📈
  • -q — turn off sound (quiet) 🔇
  • -m filename — load new mission (level) from the given filename. see sopwith-mission(5) for details of the level format 🗺️
  • -v or --version — show version number and exit 🏷️

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

okay here's how you actually use this thing:

sopwith -c -q

start a single player game vs. the computer with sound disabled 🤖🔇

sopwith -g3 -p 9999 -l

start a game server, listening on TCP port 9999, playing on level three difficulty 📡3️⃣

sopwith -j example.com:9999

connect to a game server at example.com on TCP port 9999 🌐

🎮 CONTROLS 🎮

the standard controls on a US layout keyboard are as follows — memorize these, they're your whole personality now:

  • , (comma) — pull up ⬆️
  • / (slash) — pull down ⬇️
  • . (period) — flip plane 🔄
  • Z — decrease speed 🐌
  • X — increase speed 🚀
  • space — fire machine gun 🔫
  • B — drop bomb 💣
  • H — autopilot plane to home base 🏠
  • S — turn on sound effects 🔊
  • Ctrl+R — restart the current game, only works in single player mode 🔁
  • Ctrl+Q — quit the current game, only works in single player mode 🚪
  • Ctrl+C — quit ✋
  • Ctrl+C Ctrl+C Ctrl+C — quit immediately 😤 (yes, you gotta mash it three times, the plane is not letting go easily)

⭐ SCORING ⭐

playing the game, you can rack up a score based on targets destroyed 🎯 you lose the same number of points if your own targets get destroyed. yes, symmetric. rude? maybe. but that's the rules 💀

the scoring is as follows:

  • Enemy Plane — 50 points
  • Ground target — 100 points
  • Oil tank — 200 points
  • Planes left over when completing a level — 25 points each

if you do very well, you may obtain a high score! 👑 the high score is shown on the title screen of the game after 10 seconds. high scores are stored in the high score file:

~/.local/share/SDL Sopwith/hiscores.txt

🧚 DASHBOARD 🧚

at the bottom of the screen, the plane's dashboard is shown. it consists of several components, and honestly it's giving cockpit instrument panel realness:

  • Score — your current score, which is accumulated from the enemy targets and planes you have successfully destroyed (see SCORING above). in multiplayer two scores are shown, so that both players can see each others' scores 👀
  • Lives (Cyan) — number of lives remaining. you have five lives 🩵
  • Fuel (Cyan) — amount of fuel remaining in your aircraft. once this becomes empty, you need to return to your home base to refuel, or your plane will crash 💀⛽
  • Bombs (Magenta) — number of bombs remaining. you can carry a maximum of five bombs. once you have dropped all of them, you must return to your home base to get more 💣💜
  • Bullets (White) — number of bullets left for your machine gun. once you have used up all your ammunition, you must return to your home base to get more 🔫🤍
  • Map — shows the contents of the level. cyan and magenta dots indicate the positions of allied and enemy planes and ground targets 🗺️

🌸 TIPS 🌸

the following are some tips for playing the game — listen, these are genuinely useful, don't skip them:

  • 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 outmaneuvered 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. this can save time if you run out of bombs, and some targets at the edges of the map are even easier to destroy 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. but don't reduce the speed too much or the plane may stall ⚠️
  • 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 for obvious reasons 🐦💀
  • 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 an enemy 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 ⬆️😭
  • the autopilot can make mistakes that lead to a crash. this is particularly a risk in higher levels if you're flying at very high speed. to avoid crashing, make sure that you're as close as possible to your home base before hitting the home key, and that you have a clear path to the runway 🏠⚠️
  • it's possible to fly upside down, but trying to drop bombs while inverted is usually unwise 🙃💣

🎀 MEDALS 🎀

if the "medals" game option is turned on, the player is rewarded with ribbons and medals for the following — yes, this game has a whole award ceremony built in, main character energy fr:

  • Flying Ace Ribbon (cyan with a single white stripe) — shooting down 5 planes 🎖️
  • Top Flying Ace Ribbon (cyan with two white stripes) — shooting down 25 planes (difficult!) 😮‍💨
  • Service Ribbon (cyan with white edges) — three successful raids 🫡
  • Perfect Ribbon (white with two magenta stripes) — finishing a level with no planes lost ✨
  • Competence Medal (white medal on a cyan ribbon) — gaining 25 points in a single flight, where 3 points are awarded per plane and 4 per building 🏅
  • Ribbon of Competence (white with magenta stripe) — as above, a second time 🔁
  • Purple Heart (magenta heart on a cyan ribbon) — returning to base after having been damaged. this medal is impossible to attain if wounded planes are turned off 💜
  • Ribbon of Valour (magenta with white stripe) — 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 🎗️
  • Victoria Cross (cyan cross on a magenta ribbon) — as above, but a few more points 👑
important caveat bestie: medals are only awarded if you get back to base safely. for example, if you destroy some targets but then crash, or if you shoot down a plane but get shot down yourself, it doesn't count. no posthumous medals, the game said "we don't do that here" 😭

🎀 FILES 🎀

okay so here's where Sopwith keeps its stuff, bestie — paths are literal, don't @ me.

  • ~/.local/share/SDL Sopwith/sopwith.cfg — this is the configuration file, the main character of your settings. Go read sopwith.cfg(5) for the deets. 💅
  • /var/games/sopwith/hiscores.txt — the high scores file, shared by every user on the system. lowkey iconic, highkey risky: it's usually installed world-writable, so be aware that other people can cheat and edit their names into the list. not cute, but that's the warning. 😭
  • ~/.local/share/SDL Sopwith/hiscores.txt — the alternate high scores file. If the system-wide high scores file doesn't exist, the game will save one here instead. backup bestie energy. 🫶

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these too, iykyk:

👑 AUTHORS 👑

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

🦋 HISTORY 🦋

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 fans refer to as "Sopwith 2" was actually a newer version rather than a different game, but it 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 Author's Edition. periodt.

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. 🛩️✨

Copyright © 1984, 1985, 1987 BMB Compuscience Inc. Copyright © 1984-2000 David L. Clark Copyright © 2001-2024 Simon Howard, Jesse Smith

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

okay that's the whole vibe, bestie — sopwith(6) out. the footer's got the source/version and date energy, but we're not copy-pasting that line, we're just blowing a kiss. 💖🎀✨

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