Opening Bases

[johnlattanzio]

So if I read this properly you need both conditions
   a) more than 15 planes
   b) airline more than 18 months old

This seems very restrictive. If your home city is not HUGE you may indeed have trouble getting to 15 planes, no?
This is especially true with the restriction that you can only fly HOME - A - HOME.

Or am I missing something?

Seems we really need other routes urgently to make the game more realistic?

What do others think?

JL

[Sigma]

Well, I doubt the 15 planes thing is a problem.

I can't imagine what airport would have less than that.  "HUGE" airports can support several-hundred, even 1000+ aircraft.  I'm playing out of San Diego (a size 5, about the smallest you'd want to HQ from) in the late-'60s in a game now for a change of pace, I've only got 4 routes with demand over 100/day, less than 10 more with more than 50/day, and I'm already at 15 planes and only fly to 8 destinations.

As your airport shrinks in size so does your aircraft, so you don't necessarily get a whole lot less planes.  I could probably operate the same 300+ aircraft out of San Diego I normally do out of DFW.  It would just be a bunch of 20-30 seaters.

Your bigger problem is that, if you're at a small base, you can't afford to open a new base.  Thanks to a game-balance decision to at least try to keep larger airlines from moving in and crushing smaller ones, every new base will increase your total non-flight staff by 40% or more; you can expect a total personnel cost increase of about 30% every time you open a base.  Since smaller airlines are already crippled in AWS by staffing costs anyways because of the way the game decides how many overhead personnel to hire (it's essentially the same, whether you're flying 3000/day routes or 30/day routes), they can't even hope to afford to open a base.

[johnlattanzio]

Well, I doubt the 15 planes thing is a problem.

I can't imagine what airport would have less than that.  

But isn't it  my airline that has to have 15 planes, not the airport. Or am I wrong on that?

I've only got 4 routes with demand over 100/day, less than 10 more with more than 50/day, and I'm already at 15 planes and only fly to 8 destinations.

Ah...I must be doing something wrong! I am typically running 20 destinations with about 6 or 7 aircraft!

JL

[Sigma]

But isn't it  my airline that has to have 15 planes, not the airport. Or am I wrong on that?

Yes, your airline.

Still finding it hard to believe what airport couldn't support that many; surely anything north of a Size 4 can support that without any problem.   Now if you're joining late and the airport is already full then, yes, you could find it hard to maintain enough profitability to get to that 15 planes.  But in that scenario you could never afford that 2nd base regardless.

Ah...I must be doing something wrong! I am typically running 20 destinations with about 6 or 7 aircraft!

JL

Not necessarily.  It could be really good.

Are you filling up demand on those routes?  If they're short-distance very thin routes and you're grabbing all the demand with one flight and simply moving on to the next destination and turning the plane a bunch, that's a good thing.  Or at least a good a thing as you can do with that strategy -- it can prove out to be difficult to make money in AWS if they're too thin (anything under 30 seats can be quite difficult, particularly when fuel is high).  But they must be some very thin routes.

But if you're not filling up that demand on that route, go back and fill them out.  A number of overhead expenses are paid based on the number of routes you've got.  You always want to minimize your routes.  And, ideally, you'd want to minimize your flights too with bigger planes but there's the frequency preference you need to balance out and your maintenance costs would kill you if you flew the exact plane necessary on each route to move the number of people on it with the fewest flights.

[johnlattanzio]

I think the problem is that I joined late and there was not a lot of opportunity!

Certainly being present at the start of a game must be a HUGE advantage :-)

JL

[Sigma]

I think the problem is that I joined late and there was not a lot of opportunity!

Certainly being present at the start of a game must be a HUGE advantage :-)

JL

It is.  But so is picking a good base.

I wanted something different and more challenging this game.  So I joined Jet Age at the 50% mark in a Size 5 Airport that is Closed for 25% of the day.  And, depending on the measure of success, I'm doing at least as well as I do in any other game starting from Day One.

But most importantly I still picked one that was empty.  I'm amenable when newcomers come into DFW in the games where I usually play there, simply because there's way more capacity than I care to keep to myself, but most people are not and, despite the rules against it, will slam a newcomer into their base very quickly.

If you're gonna join late, you've got to be sure to pick one that's empty.  And stick in the Size 5-6 range as they're usually not too coveted by other airlines for bases but not so small that you can't do anything.

[johnlattanzio]

Thanks sigma.

My first game (state about a week ago!) was when I joined "Modern Times 3" well into the game and started at a size 5 airport. That one is doing OK.

I then joined other games for more practice. The second was "Dawn of Millenium" in an airport I now discover is size 4. I'm the only airline based there but I am having problems because there just isn;t enough traffic to expand much.

I also joined "Jet Age 3" quite late and I am keeping my head above water with just 2 planes out of a size 5 airport, with another airline based there.

And finally for completeness I joined the current Beginners World :-) I'm the only airline based in a size 4 airport but seem to be surviving.

Is there a way we can look at the health and routes of other airlines easily? CI, LF, etc? And prices :-) That woudl be fun!

JL

PS Thanks for your help!

[slither360]

You can't see prices.

CI and overall LF are viewable on the statistics tab of dashboard,

[johnlattanzio]

You can't see prices.

CI and overall LF are viewable on the statistics tab of dashboard,

Ah! Thanks!

[starrymarkb]

How soon do you need to get 3 aircraft operating from the base?

I've got some on order pending delivery in about 1-2 months game time (and 1 in two weeks)