NAME

dog − cooperative or competitive flight simulator using the ethernet

SYNOPSIS

/usr/people/demos/dog

DESCRIPTION

The flight(1d) demo is extended for multiple IRIS systems.  Each IRIS determines the position of its aircraft several time a second, broadcasts the plane’s location and orientation to the other IRIS systems running dog , and listens to the other planes’ locations.  All known planes in the current field of view are displayed on all systems. 

Pilots may cooperate by attempting formation aerobatics or compete by trying to shoot each other down.  The fighter are armed with missles, rockets, and cannon.  The coordinates of projectiles are included in the ethernet packages, hits are detected, and scoring is maintained. 

Weapons

Fighters are armed with rockets, sidewinders, and cannon. 

Rockets have about ten seconds of power and follow ballistic paths after the power is exhausted.  They explode when they strike the ground, come within range of an aircraft (including the one they came from), or are destroyed by their owner. 

Sidewinders are like rockets, but will steer themselves towards the nearest aircraft (except their owner’s).  Sidewinders can turn around and destroy aircraft behind you.  The Cessna 150 does not generate enough heat to attract sidewinders.  Sidewinders will not track aircraft on the ground.  A good pilot can usually outmaneuver a sidewinder. 

Cannon have limited range − each shell exists for only one second. 

The number of rockets and sidewinders available on each type of fighter are indicated on the help display.  Landings replenish armament as well as fuel.  The number of missles replenished depends on the quality of the landing.  Ammunition for the cannon is inexhaustible. 

Each aircraft can have only one projectile in the air at a time.  He can destroy projectiles that have missed their targets to allow new ones to be fired. 

q fires a rocket.  w fires a sidewinder.  e fires the cannon.  r destroys the current projectile.  Any aircraft in the range of the explosion will be destroyed. 

In flight , or in dog with no competition, strafing the airport can be good practice for the real thing. 

Scoring

dog keeps track of kills and crashes.  A pilot scores a kill when a projectile fired by his plane destroys another aircraft.  A pilot scores a ’killed’ when his aircraft is destroyed by a projectile or crashes. 

Each pilot’s score is displayed on his instrument panel.  The scores of all the current players are shown to each new player when he joins the game and when he reincarnates himself after destruction. 

When a player joins the game, an announcement is broadcast to all players.  Messages are sent whenever a player quit or is destroyed, as well as when sent by the radar program. 

AUTHOR

Gary Tarolli
 

BUGS

See the bugs for flight. 

Various kinds of cheating are possible.  (For example, temporarily selecting the night display to better see a distant opponent’s exhaust.)  Some scrupulous pilots avoid operations not possible in real aircraft.  Others use every trick possible. 

The Cessna 150 and B-747 have 20mm cannon.  This is inaccurate but amusing in the C-150 (the 747 is much too logy).  Try taking off in the 150 and flying around the ramp, picking off opponents as they appear.  Since the Cessna is invisible to sidewinders, it has a chance to survive.  If you make a mistake and take off in the 747, you are dogmeat. 

The cannon ammunition should be finite.  The cannon, in fact, should overheat and jam if used too often. 

Version 2.3  —  July 04, 1985