Let's Play Sopwith, part 2: Let's Play Sopwith II

Here we are again with Sopwith II. I'm not really sure of the exact history of the program, but I think this is in fact just a later version rather than a proper sequel. Note that there are now two options for multiplayer, neither of which I know how to implement, and a range of control choices. I pick single player and IBM keyboard only, and get to it.



Here we are on the landing strip. Note the changes visible already: the ground is a line instead of a solid shape, there's a cow, and a flock of birds drifting into view. Also note me rolling my craft about on the ground.



I take off and check out the scenery, which seems largely the same. A few stray birds drift about. Unlike the earlier version of the game, this one runs at the proper speed without me fiddling with the DOSBox emulation rate. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get the .gifs running at quite the right speed, so they're a little slower than the real thing.



Following Mogri's advice, I attempt a dive bombing. Unfortunately I get the order of events wrong and blow myself up.



My next sortie starts off a little better.



And even when I repeat the same suicidal trick I manage to take an enemy structure with me.



Any goodwill I might've earned through this action is quickly lost when I bomb a cow. An enemy cow, though!



I also manage a startlingly accurate shot against an already-destroyed building.



I put my guns to good use against an enemy tank, then float around uselessly for a bit. Note that when I go left I'm flying upside-down. I'm not sure that that's realistic biplane behaviour, but I find it easier than rolling back to upright, because it keeps the controls more consistent: pulling up will turn the plane anticlockwise. If I roll myself upright, I tend to pull up when I mean to go down, and the reverse.



This scene, while disastrous, is also a pretty good killing spree.



I need to learn to keep my distance.



Especially when I'm blowing up fuel tanks! The blast throws me high into the air, and I crash to earth spinning. Game over.



Starting over, I head left. I had an idea that the buildings behind me might be friendlies, so that in multiplayer each pilot can attack their opponent's ground forces, but it looks like they're all hostile.



I set about wrecking up the place, with some success.



I even manage to take out the building on the hill on my first pass! This is much easier in Sopwith II than in the first version, because I can now hold down the buttons and turn in a tight loop instead of having a delay. Still, the two high buildings (along with the fuel tank) are the hardest to destroy without dying, because of the limited space you have to turn away from them.



I start heading back and destroy myself against a tank.



My next pilot takes aim at the remaining building on the left. Unfortunately I forgot that bombs come out the underside of your aircraft, even if you're upside-down. Adding insult to injury, I think that the bomb was on track for the building before I interrupted it.



My next man manages to blow it up, but a stray bird wrecks his engine and he goes down.



Something similar happens to the next guy.



I just can't seem to stop catching my own bombs! Let's start over, again:



This is, frankly, embarrassing.



Now there is a quality bit of flying.



I struggle with the elevated buildings.



I fly too high and go into a spin from which I am unable to recover.



I'm sort of getting the hang of bombing.



I pull a tight Immelman turn. I wouldn't normally do this, because I don't like flying to the left while upright in this game.



Here's why it happened: pressing the h key will cause the computer to take control and return you to base for refuelling/reloading.



With bombs back on board, I get back to destruction.



Once again, altitude proves to be a deadly foe.



I pull off a nice dive bombing on this tank. Of course, since I was flying directly at it my machine gun probably would have done the job equally well.



I stall again going for the mountain building.



I try a new approach: I gain a suitable altitude and fly in intending to shoot at the building and then drop away to turn. Unfortunately a flock of birds makes this impossible. Fortunately I destroy the building anyway.



Heading for the left side, I drop by base to fill up.



Ugh. Let's try this again:



Not a strong start.



That's pretty good, though.



Things are looking up!



Aww. That first shot was a direct hit, but I guess it takes more than one to blow a tank.



Still, I seem to be getting the hang of things.



This game can be pretty picky about accuracy sometimes.



I get it together.



With this tank out of the way, I'm down to two enemies left.



I'm also almost completely out of fuel. After a couple unsuccessful passes at the fuel tank I hit h and let the autopilot take me home. Unfortunately, it hits a bird. I think you can take over for the autopilot by using any of the controls, and I guess this is why.



One more tank down. All that remains is the fuel tank.



It's not a bad idea to blow up the fuel tank last, and this is why: my plane turns immediately into the background, avoiding the explosion that would have surely killed me otherwise.



Here's level 2. It's just like level one, except that the ground enemies shoot at you. Here's WWI fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker on the dangers of ground fire:

Eddie Rickenbacker:
To score a fatal hit these invisible missiles of death have a great space to fill when a small aeroplane and a still smaller pilot are at a height of ten or twelve thousand feet above earth. Even when flying through the defensive fire of a balloon battery at two or three hundred feet elevation or when cruising along the trenches but fifty feet above the rifles and machine guns of the enemy we learned to disdain the furious fire that was turned upon our swift flying planes. Experience had taught us that the non-flying sharpshooter is wofully ignorant of the rapidity with which we pass his aim when we are traveling at the rate of two miles a minute—exactly 176 feet each second! It requires a second or more for him to steady his aim. How many riflemen can compute the exact point 176 feet ahead of their gun-muzzle where the bullet and the pilot's head must meet in order to bring down the prize? Not one! 'Occasional hits are made at random, but the percentage is ridiculously low.

His book Fighting the Flying Circus, which you can read at the link above, is a very interesting first hand account of WWI aerial warfare. Despite the above, there's another earlier passage where he talks about his shock at seeing the shrapnel holes in his plane after his first flight over enemy lines.



Ground fire in Sopwith is somewhat more accurate than the real thing.



I think my favourite thing in the game is the slow arc you fall in after getting shot down.



Even when I manage to dodge enemy fire, a stall gets me. Well, that's it for today.

Next time: Vs Computer