After Jet Age...

[Speedbump Joey]

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[[ATA] APB Airlines]

you are right i change my vote to a larger group. Is there a way that we can change it so we can put bases in any country? I know that take away from reality but i hate seeing an airport wide open but i can use it because of my HQ.

[filipek]

Is there a way that we can change it so we can put bases in any country?

I think you just answered your own question.

[GDK]

Of course it affects the game.

That's far too few people for a full-world scenario and makes the game super-easy... for a portion of the players.  People always want to point at the number of players in a world as some cause for their failures, but fewer players makes the game-world even harder for those that already have a hard time with the game.

In a game-world with a lot of people, people begin treading on one another a lot sooner.  This increases competition, stifles margins to at least slightly more realistic levels, and slows growth as a result.  This creates a much more balanced world of comparably-sized airlines in a healthy competition.  The one downside is that late entry into the game is likely to prove more difficult because even the lesser airports are based out of with so many players, making even small airports difficult to start at.

In a game-world with fewer people, those who really know how to play the game well explode out of the gates and can increase in size at a much quicker pace because they can grow much more before ever stepping on someone else's toes.  They've got bases popping up all over the place before the vast majority of people even hit their stride.  This, in effect, causes there to essentially be more players because there's more bases popping up all over, and bases from people making a much larger margin than they could be in a world with more players.  More margins means means more ability to knock others out with far greater ease.  Soon the game is dominated by a relative handful of players controlling the vast majority of the world's traffic, each so large that they could never hope to take one another out.

In the end, fewer players doesn't mean that you're increasing your odds of getting an unoccupied base that so many people think it does.  Instead it only greatly increases the odds that your base will be occupied by someone with a mammoth airline at some point in the near future, whether it be a result of the new base system, or them using it as a ABCBA route if that feature were to come back.  You're much better off in a more populated world where, chances are, you and your in-base competitior started at the same time, are more likely to be on the same footing, and your combined capacity is more likely to deter expansionists.

And this isn't just conjecture or something on my part.  If you've ever looked at the game stats, you can see exactly that.  In the larger worlds, the players are much more tighly packed together in terms of their overall stats.  In smaller worlds, there is a massive disparity between the "top" handful of airlines and everyone else.

Everyone is limited to 3 hubs. So the nomination of players is just the same. No matter how many players are there, the guys who nominate the world will not be able to threaten other players once they reach the limit.

Basically nomination of those guys who know how to play is unavoidable. With their skills and knowledge, they can still nominate the world no matter how many peoples are competing there. But, when the game grow older, a bigger game will have greater competition which means more hubs have been set up. This is what peoples concerning about.

Assuming the game is now 50% in progress. In a big game with 500 players, 50% of the players are operating 3 hubs already. In a small game with 300 players, 70% players have 3 hubs due to less competition. However, the airports occupied in the big game is 750 while in the small game is only 630. I know it is not 1 hub = 1 airport occupied. These numbers is just for comparing to show that the empty spaces for late comer/players who restarted is narrower in a big game. Even tough the competition is greater and realistic, but till the end of the game, will it still be competitive and realistic?

Because due to the greater competition, more players will be thrown out of the game at the early stage. The great competition will only last a while and then it is getting less and less. But in a smaller game, nobody will be killed so easily and at least the competition will last longer... Look at Modern Time and ATB. Everyday, people bankrupt and reopen but they just can't grow.

I'm not very experienced in AWS, this is a conclusion I made as a player who quit halfway in Jet Age, Dawn of Millennium, Modern Time and ATB. I saw that people die faster in a bigger game and the competition will be minimize to competition between alliances and between big guys.   

[Sigma]

Everyone is limited to 3 hubs. So the nomination of players is just the same. No matter how many players are there, the guys who nominate the world will not be able to threaten other players once they reach the limit.

Basically nomination of those guys who know how to play is unavoidable. With their skills and knowledge, they can still nominate the world no matter how many peoples are competing there. But, when the game grow older, a bigger game will have greater competition which means more hubs have been set up. This is what peoples concerning about.

Assuming the game is now 50% in progress. In a big game with 500 players, 50% of the players are operating 3 hubs already. In a small game with 300 players, 70% players have 3 hubs due to less competition. However, the airports occupied in the big game is 750 while in the small game is only 630. I know it is not 1 hub = 1 airport occupied. These numbers is just for comparing to show that the empty spaces for late comer/players who restarted is narrower in a big game. Even tough the competition is greater and realistic, but till the end of the game, will it still be competitive and realistic?

Because due to the greater competition, more players will be thrown out of the game at the early stage. The great competition will only last a while and then it is getting less and less. But in a smaller game, nobody will be killed so easily and at least the competition will last longer... Look at Modern Time and ATB. Everyday, people bankrupt and reopen but they just can't grow.

I'm not very experienced in AWS, this is a conclusion I made as a player who quit halfway in Jet Age, Dawn of Millennium, Modern Time and ATB. I saw that people die faster in a bigger game and the competition will be minimize to competition between alliances and between big guys.   

Yes, all that is true.

That's why I said, in reference to larger worlds:  "The one downside is that late entry into the game is likely to prove more difficult because even the lesser airports are based out of with so many players, making even small airports difficult to start at."

In a larger world it is easier for your initial airline to survive.  A much larger percentage of the players develop at much similar rates than in smaller worlds where a smaller number of players dominate everything and eventually force most players out and/or relegate them to smaller positions.  However, in a larger world it is more difficult to start again because so many of the airports are full of at least one, and often multiple carriers.

Does that mean in a large world that everyone is going to survive better?  No, of course not.  There's always going to be some players that just can't cut it no matter what scenario they're presented with and others that, despite their best efforts, just get out-maneuvered.  But larger worlds do create a better chance for that survival and more equitable competition for a much larger percentage of players.  This has been proven when comparing the results of smaller and larger worlds.

[GDK]

In a larger world it is easier for your initial airline to survive.  A much larger percentage of the players develop at much similar rates than in smaller worlds where a smaller number of players dominate everything and eventually force most players out and/or relegate them to smaller positions.  However, in a larger world it is more difficult to start again because so many of the airports are full of at least one, and often multiple carriers.

I don't see it is easier for initial airline to survive in big game. Nomination and forcing people out will only happen when peoples operating at the same base or the same route. But this will happen only when the game is crowded and people squeeze themselves together. In a small game, with the same amount of airports available, at least peoples got more choice to set up their HQ and won't clash with other players so soon. It is easier to survive in small game.

[raptorva]

I wouldn't mind another game like Early days myself or one that covers the period from props to jets like Jet Age only starting earlier (50's?) or something where you can begin like many real airlines did by using war-surplus props and working your way up (if you choose to).

[GDK]

So, after a long thread of discussion, when is the next game?
System update is not so important because it can be done slowly. What we want at this moment is simply another game world opened.