Triplane - a side-scrolling dogfighting game.

       This menu is used to select players for solo and multiplayer modes.  There are four boxes, one  for  each
       country.

       Inside each box there are four radio buttons and two text fields:

       first radio button (red circle)
           This country is disabled.

       second radio button (SOLO)
           This  country  is used to play a solo mission.  Other countries are automatically disabled.  Remember
           to set pilot name in the text box to the right of this radio button.

       third radio button (computer)
           This country is played by a computer pilot in multiplayer mode.  The text box to  the  right  is  not
           implemented.

       fourth radio button (human)
           This country is played by a human pilot in multiplayer game.  Remember to set pilot name in the first
           text box.

       If  you  activate  the  solo mode the computer will automatically adjust the other countries to NO-PLAYER
       mode.  (If you want to play the solo missions, now just exit and click the take-off times  flyer  in  the
       main  menu.)  For  example,  assume  that  you  want to be the German player, your friend wants to be the
       Japanese player and computer wants(?) to be the Finnish player.  Choose "Human pilot" in the  German  and
       Japanese boxes, "No player" in the English box, and "Computer pilot" in the Finnish box.

       Note: If you select the last multiplayer level (CAVERN) and you set the computer to be the Finnish or the
       English  plane,  these  planes  will  be disabled when game begins.  (Computers cannot handle takeoffs in
       caves.)

TriplaneClassic  is a side-scrolling dogfighting game featuring solo missions and multiplayer mode with
       up to four players. It is a port of the original TriplaneTurmoil game for DOS  and  aims  to  match  the
       original game exactly so that high scores remain comparable to the original.

       Triplane finds its configuration directory by searching the following directories in this order:

       • 1) $TRIPLANE_HOME

       • 2) $HOME/.triplane (created if missing)

       • 3) the current directory (if step 2 fails for some reason).

       The configuration directory contains the following files:

       • triplane.cfg
           Main configuration file.

       • roster.dta
           High score file.

       • keyset.dta
           Keyboard configuration file.

       Triplane  tries  to  locate its data directory by looking at which of the following directories exist, in
       the following order:

       • 1) $TRIPLANE_DATA

       • 2) TRIPLANE_DATA set at compilation time (if step 2 fails)

       • 3) current directory.

       The data directory contains only one file:

       • fokker.dks
           Game data file containing levels, graphics and sounds.

       After  starting  the  game, click through the splash screens to see the main menu.  Then click ROSTER and
       click the pen on the right to create a new pilot entry.  Type your name and press enter.  Click the  keys
       on  the  left  to get back to main menu.  Click ASSIGNPILOTS and check the SOLO check box beside the red
       plane (top left) to select the German plane for solo game.  Click on the background to get  back  to  the
       main menu.

       Click TAKEOFFTIMES and MISSIONI.  Read your assignment carefully and click on the arrows to look around
       the  map.   Your objective is to destroy the buildings identified by red boxes around them.  When you are
       ready click FLY and use the following controls:

       • press S (roll) to get out of hangar

       • hold TAB (power) down to accelerate

       • use X and W to steer the plane

       • use 1 to drop a bomb

       • use S to roll the plane upside down

       When you have destroyed all the targets try to land  by  releasing  power  and  gliding  to  the  runway.
       Holding  up  and  down  simultaneously  activates the air brake system.  When the plane is stopped on the
       runway, press S to re-enter the hangar and resupply bombs and fuel.

       N.B.: If you have a new computer you may encounter serious keyboard errors.  This  is  due  to  the  cost
       savings  of  the  keyboard  manufacturers.   The  current  keyboards  cannot  handle  more  than 3-6 keys
       simultaneously.  If you encounter keyboard problems, see the "on/off power" option below.

       This  is  a  special  menu.   This appears when the actual game is in progress.  There are three columns:
       Bombs, ammo and fuel.  Use the Bomb and Guns buttons to select one of the columns, and adjust  the  value
       using the Up and Down buttons.  Press Roll or Power to exit, and a mechanic will push your plane onto the
       runway.   If  you  want to return to the hangar, just press Roll or Bomb, and the mechanic will push your
       plane into the hangar.

       The original TriplaneTurmoil was developed by Markku Rankala, Teemu J. Takanen and Henrikki  Merikallio.
       Some work was also contributed by Risto Puhakka, Antti Lehtoranta and Mikko Kinnunen.

       The  portable SDL version, TriplaneClassic, was created from the original source by Timo Juhani Lindfors
       (timo.lindfors@iki.fi), Teemu J. Takanen (tjt@users.sourceforge.net), and Riku Saikkonen. We  also  thank
       Timo Lilja for his earlier Xlib porting efforts and Sami Liedes for spellchecking and optimization ideas.

                                                                                                     TRIPLANE(6)

       Like in a real Air Force, you will be awarded with higher ranks and medals  when  you  have  served  your
       country  well.   The  medals  are  shown on top of your pilot in the roster menu.  Every rank has its own
       ribbon which is located beside your pilot in the roster menu.  When you start a new  pilot  you  have  no
       medals  and  you  have  only  one  ribbon,  2nd  Lieutenant.  When you advance ranks you do not lose your
       previous ribbons like you would in real life.

       Bestpilotinthecountry-Medals

       When you complete a sequence of solo missions (six of them) you will be awarded the "Best  pilot  in  the
       country"  medal.   Every  country  has  its  unique medal, but the main color of the medal depends on the
       country so it will be very easy to see which country has awarded you with it.

       Specialmedals

       There are two special medals.  The first is the veteran medal, Golden Star.  It will be  awarded  to  you
       when  you  have  flown 1000 missions.  The second is the hero medal, Silver Eagle.  It will be awarded to
       the pilot who has killed the most and died the least.  There is only one Silver Eagle medal in the world,
       so be careful, it will change its owner very quickly.

       Ranksandtheirabbreviations

       Here is a list of ranks appearing in Triplane.  In the  roster  an  abbreviation  of  the  rank  will  be
       automatically  added  to  your  name (for example: 2nd Lt. Dragst).  Both solo and multiplayer games will
       affect it so you probably will not gain a lot of promotions by just playing one of them.

       The ranks are:

       Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt.)
              A simple blue ribbon with one golden column

       First Lieutenant (1st Lt.)
              A blue ribbon with 1 golden column and 2 stars

       Captain (Capt.)
              A blue ribbon with 2 golden columns and 2 stars

       Major (Major)
              A blue ribbon with 2 golden columns and 4 stars

       Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col.)
              A blue ribbon with a Golden Shield of the Air Force

       Colonel (Colonel)
              A blue ribbon with a Golden Eagle of the Air Force

       If you are ever promoted to Colonel, you have probably played for some time.  But  remember,  it  is  not
       impossible to gain it, you just need play a little longer.

       See the "ASSIGN PLAYERS MENU" chapter on how to  select  players  for  multiplayer  mode  and  visit  the
       "REQUEST TRANSFER" menu to select the multiplayer level.

       To configure plane controls for multiplayer mode, visit the "PLANE MECHANICS" menu.  Choose a country and
       then configure either the keyboard or a joystick (a game pad is also OK).

       If  you  want  to  change  the keyboard layout for the chosen country, click the keyboard and you will be
       prompted to press buttons for all six controls needed to fly.  The order is Up, Down, Roll, Engine power,
       Bombs and Guns.  Remember that brake is always Up+Down simultaneously.

       Joystick configuration is still a bit experimental and it is not easy to play the game with  a  joystick.
       Start by clicking Joystick 1 or Joystick 2 and follow the on-screen instructions.  There are two types of
       joystick  actions.   You  can hold down a joystick button and press Space on the keyboard.  Alternatively
       you can move a joystick to a different position (left, right, up or down) and press Space.   Finally,  by
       pressing  "D"  you can disable a control completely.  You can use this for example if you have configured
       up and down actions to be buttons so that you can hold them together and thus  do  not  need  a  separate
       brake control.  Disabling the roll control enables autoroll, which keeps the plane upright.

       Triplane - a side-scrolling dogfighting game.

-fullscreen
              Start the game in fullscreen mode (this is the default).

       -nofullscreen
              Start the game in windowed mode.

       -nosound
              Start  the  game without sounds.  Note: This option also disables sounds in the configuration file
              so sounds will be disabled also the next time you start triplane.  To enable sounds  set  Physical
              Examination->Hearing->Sounds on in the game menus.

       -2,-3,-4
              Scale  the  320x200-pixel  game  window  2x, 3x or 4x using software scaling.  This helps you play
              Triplane on displays that cannot switch to such low resolutions.

       -2svga Scale the 800x600-pixel window 2x using software scaling, to  produce  a  1600x1200-pixel  window.
              This resolution is used only in multiplayer mode.

       Note that triplane does not warn about unknown options.

       This is the options menu, where you can define game-related parameters.  On the right side  you  can  see
       four tabs:

       VISION

       Shots visible?
              If deactivated, no flying ammunition will be seen (planes & infantry).

       AAA shots visible?
              If deactivated, no ammunition of flak battery will be seen.

       AA-Mg shots visible?
              If deactivated, no ammunition of ground machine gun will be seen.

       Flags? If deactivated, all flags will disappear.

       Structure flames?
              If deactivated, the bombed structures will not burn.

       Use 800*600 window (in MULTIPLAYER)?
              Activate this option to play multiplayer games in a 800*600 window.

       HEARING

       Sounds on?
              Activate  this  to  enable or disable all sound.  Note that the -nosound command line option turns
              this off.

       Musics on?
              Play music in the menus, if the "Sounds on?" option is also activated.

       SFX on?
              Enable various sound effects in the game, if the "Sounds on?" option is also activated.

       Explosion sounds?
              If deactivated, a sound will be not heard when a bomb collides with ground.

       Gunfire sounds?
              If deactivated, a sound will be not heard when a plane fires its guns.

       AAA fire sounds?
              If deactivated, a sound will be not heard when ground defenses fire (machine guns & flaks).

       Water splash sound?
              If deactivated, a sound will be not heard when a bomb collides with water.

       Infantry death sounds?
              If deactivated, infantry soldiers will not scream when they die.

       Do you want on/off power?
              When activated, the behavior of the engine power button  will  be  dramatically  changed.   On/off
              power allows toggling the engine on or off by pressing the Power button, instead of having to hold
              it down.  Use this option ifyouencounterkeyboardproblems, because this decreases the number of
              keys pressed down simultaneously.

       Do you want a reversed power switch?
              Turns  the behavior of the engine power button upside-down: when you are not holding the power key
              down, the plane accelerates.  When held down, the engine will be deactivated.   This  is  not  the
              same as braking, you still need to use Up+Down to brake.

       The following options are for multiplayer only.

       Are all the planes the same?
              Sets  all  planes'  attributes to a specific country.  For example: Choose the German plane on the
              left, and every plane has 4 bombs etc.  This affects all plane abilities.

       Collisions on?
              If active, a collision of two planes results in an immediate destruction  of  both  planes.   Both
              players lose one point in collision.

       Flying parts?
              If enabled the parts which appear when a plane crashes cause damage to other planes.

       Battle ends after n points
              End  the  game after one of the players has this number of points.  The number can be increased by
              pressing it with the left mouse button and decreased with the right  mouse  button.   UnLtd  means
              unlimited, where the multiplayer game will not end before you press Esc.

       Alliances enabled?
              Enables alliances.  The sides are selected at the box in the lower left corner.

       AA-MGs?
              If deactivated, all ground machine gun batteries will disappear.

       AAAs?  If deactivated, all flak batteries will disappear.

       Infantry?
              If deactivated, all infantry will disappear.

       Unlimited ammo?
              If activated, you can shoot even when you have no gun rounds left, but you cannot adjust your ammo
              load.

       Unlimited fuel?
              If  activated, the plane will still fly even when you have run out of fuel, but you always have to
              take the full load of fuel when leaving the hangar.

       Country           Germany   Finland   England   Japan
       Ammunition        **        **        ***       *
       Maneuverability   **        *         *         ***
       Fuel              **        **        ***       *
       Speed             **        ***       **        *
       Bombs             **        *         **        ***
       Endurance         **        ***       **        *

       The German plane is very deadly in dogfight because it  is  designed  for  it.   It  does  not  have  any
       particular strengths or weaknesses.

       The  Finnish  plane  is  the  fastest and the toughest but it has a poor bomb capacity and great skill is
       needed to pilot it because of its low turning rate.

       The English plane never runs  out  of  anything  (except  bombs).   Its  only  disadvantage  is  the  low
       maneuverability.

       The  Japanese  plane  has the biggest bomb capacity and it is even more agile than the German plane.  Too
       bad it always runs out of fuel.

       See the "ASSIGN PLAYERS MENU" chapter on how to select the solo game country.

       Winning a solo game requires that:

       • all mission targets have been destroyed

       • all protection objectives are met

       • all enemy airplanes are destroyed, and

       • at least one plane is left and stopped on a runway.

       Scoring is mostly based on how many planes you have shot down.  Extra points are awarded  from  destroyed
       enemy  ground  installations  and  infantry  without  regard to who destroyed them.  You will get penalty
       points for shooting down allied planes and for destroyed allied ground targets and infantry.

triplane [OPTION]...

       • Remember that stalling is a VERY good way to brake fast, but do not even think about it unless you can
       handle the plane very well.

       • When flying the Finnish plane remember to deactivate the power when turning.

       • There are several Acemissions which are quite easy to complete, but great effort is needed for
       receiving a higher score.  Patriot Flight is a very good example of this, it is possible to get at least
       169 points in it.

       • The Japanese plane can even outmaneuver the German plane, but only with an empty bomb load.  The German
       plane is still a bit better in dogfight.

       • Remember to use hit and run techniques when playing the Finnish plane.

       • There is no need to leave any bombs behind if you are playing with the Finnish plane, because it does
       not make any difference.

       • In the missions with a lots of enemy air activity, try protect your AAAs.

       • In solo missions you should learn to use the Radar markers, because that makes it easier to avoid enemy
       airplanes.

       • Avoid shooting too many bullets at the enemy plane, because it will probably explode.  In the solo game
       you cannot deactivate the part collision, so this is quite vital.

       • Remember that Japanese plane will always run out of fuel, particularly with six bombs.