Can you help me expand on this so more people agree? It appears that many people completely disagree.
The main point of this is to encourage smart expansion while punishing those who order everything. Over time, the slot grabbing players may be pushed out altogether with a fuel crisis (affecting their narrower margins)... all while the smart player is slowly getting an awesome fleet of very similar aircraft. Because honestly, there has to be a lot of similarities how a specific company makes their planes from one type to the next.
Well, the part about lessening commonality penalty when staying within the same manufacturer, which probably does reflect real world. OTOH, from game play point of view, that may just cause more people to stick to Airbus / Boeing, with fewer players venturing out beyond their offerings.
As far as approach to commonality, I outlined my ideas above. The start-up cost for the fleet group can contain 1 or both of these:
1.- one flat amount per fleet type per week (independent of # of aircraft). This would correspond to set-up for pilot training and maintenance
2.- optionally, a one time charge, per fleet group, corresponding to perhaps purchase of simulators etc. Player would be prompted about this charge, and if it is like 10M for a large aircraft, that itself would postpone adding of 2nd fleet type.
3.- regular per aircraft per week fee (constant fee per aircraft, regardless of # of aircraft player has) + direct costs of A/B/C/D checks.
If items 1 and 2 are large enough, that will definitely force players to adopt a strategy corresponding to real life running of a business, and it would slow down initial growth.
To implement this, it would take a higher start-up capital to be able to get to the profitable 6+ within the window provided by the start-up capital and 4 month pre-paid leases, but a player would need 10 to 20 planes to even start thinking about fleet group #2. This would mean slower expansion at the start, since you are limited to 1 fleet group for some time (a year?) and than, to only 2 fleet groups for perhaps another year or more - assuming you are doing everything else right.
Edit:
In Game Play language, Ability to purchase fleet group in 2nd fleet group would be similar to getting to "Level 2", meaning, you have already mastered "Level 1" - which is ability to successfully manage 1 fleet group to the point you are able to "purchase" ability to buy fleet #2.