Inconsistent cost increase for permanent campaign marketing?

[sleepypig]

Hi,
While playing a couple of game years I noticed that permanent costs for marketing increased a lot, if I start a new campaign.

For example, I started a Whole world, Television campaign on 30-Oct-75, which cost 1 565 438 USD / week
This helped put my CI up to 90%

Now, when I wanted to start the exact same campaign, the game says that it will cost me 2 168 131 USD / week

In the past, even when I tried deleting an existing campaign and start that exact same permanent campaign, the costs wasn't the same and increased, which means deleting my permanent campaigns will guarantee that I perpetually lose money permanently.

Granted that I added a few bases during the course of the year, but here's why I think it's incorrect or unfair:
- Locking a general campaign when the airline first starts can get you a very high CI with very low cost, which stays up there however large you grow and however many bases you have
- Locking the general campaign earlier means airlines with permanent campaigns will always unfairly get higher CI / marketing $$$ against airlines that start later, which will kill them easier
- The permanent marketing costs does not seem to increase with inflation or number of bases
- Changing your permanent marketing campaign always, seemingly, increases costs for no reason, suggesting marketing folks will always find a way to embezzle your company's money anonymously, even though bitcoin has not yet been invented in GY 1976

Does anyone know the reason for this strange behavior?

Cheers,
sleepy

[gazzz0x2z]

Well, to my understanding, it's the reverse : it's insanely low cost when you begin the game. As you grow and your company gets older, the initial bonus vanishes.

[JumboShrimp]

I have seen this as well.  Meaning closing and re-opening a campaign that has been running for years or decades will have a higher cost for newly started identical campaign.

Whether this is a problem, I don't know.  I don't think it is.  I don't think the system looks at what campaigns you are running, only at the total cost in dollars, regardless of how you arrive at that dollar amount

[Tha_Ape]

From what I observed, most of your observations are good, sleepypig, but not all of the conclusions.

- cost of a campaign increases over time. Not as fast as inflation at the beginning, but then catching up. So yes, a "long campaign" bonus applies but it ain't enormous.
- at some point, every airline will have to fire staff, which means decreased CI, which means cancel a campaign and launch a way much costlier one. The sooner that airline started, the more it will have to be done, somewhat balancing the long campaign bonus.
- costs of marketing are usually between 5 and 10 of operational costs. It will never "kill" any airline.
- within 10 years from now that new airline will be an old airline, and the initial bonus of a long campaign will be more or less the same than for another airline twice that age.

[wilian.souza2]

TV campaigns burn a lot of money, so I use it only in temporary campaigns. I use a combination of permanent general campaigns with heavier investments (using more means of communication) in regions closer to my home base. It has worked!

[Luperco]

I agree on this behaviour of the game.

In my opinion is correct that to grow from 0 to 30 cost (much) less that going from 30 to 60 that in turn cost less than going from 60 to 90, etc.
Is a diminishing return mechanism present in many games and also in real life in some cases.

About the bigger cost of a new campaign, I agree as well. It reflect the expenses needed to setup the campaign that are bigger than in the past due to the size of the company and the inflation.

Anyway is not lost money. The effectiveness of a marketing campaign is based on the money invested, not on the type of the campaign. So those two millions make you CI grows more than the million of the old, identical campaign.