Start-up settings feedback

[Sami]

Feel free to drop in feedback about the startup settings of this game world

Changes to previous include for example:

• Limited aircraft selection in used aircraft inventory. ("Special rule: Startup selection of aircraft is limited. Only DC-3, Li-2 and C-46 aircraft are available at the start.")
  
• AI brokers have orders for new planes.
  
• Minor changes to slot costs and other cost structure etc. to curb the initial growth a bit.
  

With the new admin tools for game management I am able to do more tweaks, and now it's also easier to build in new features there.

[Mike Swaledale]

Only DC3's/Li2's and C46s?

No DC4, No DH84/86?

All aircraft over-valued?

[Cardinal]

I'd have been okay with it had all the C-46 not immediately disappeared and gone back into storage on day 2. I did all my research based on the C-46 and there's nothing but DC-2/3 and Li-2 available now, with over 700 C-46 back in storage.

[Sami]

I'd have been okay with it had all the C-46 not immediately disappeared and gone back into storage on day 2.

Not very normal (if we had those in market and they were taken back?), gotta check that tomorrow.

[KingAirways]

I like it.

That said some maybe bugs found:
C-46 has 26 PAX as config but this is not a player choosable number of pax. It goes up to 36 PAX, however.
DC-3 has 26 PAX as config, but this is not player choosable number of pax. It goes up only to 31 PAX instead of the displayed 32 PAX, however.

Either the C-46 offers more space, than it should be labelled as business, or it seems off between the two for me.

What I miss is a display of how many aircraft can be put outside of bases and ongoing orders from the AWS Leasing Brokers for better aircraft.


In general I'd like to have a better calculation tool for distances. Comet 3 for example seems like it's the first usable US-continental aircraft, but if you actually take PAX with you, it isn't anymore. The weight-distance-curve is, at least for me without being from the aircraft industry, not a reliable and useful tool. The route planning on the other hand would be a qiuck and dirty tool for that, but it doesn't allow for not-available/released aircraft.

[saetta]

I love this 'New" start it imposes strategy over luck. No more midnight DC 6 catches.
Thank you Sami
P.S i left i more detailed assesment in the wrong portal

[saetta]

Ok I will be me more specific, by allowing only 3 types of a/c for the fist year, a more even playing field was established.
1 -The "panic"buying was virtually eliminated...a syndrome in which you bought a plane that really was not what you really wanted, but was available, now we have time to study what we really need an order it with tranquility..
2- initial strategy is now more valuable then initial luck.
Therefore i am enjoying the game much more
Thank you

[KingAirways]

I think it involves still lots of luck with the drops of the DC-6(B), B377 and Constellations. In my opinion the setting would profit from non-available used aircraft of this kind but an increased production line, so more players are able to order those and get them not in the too distant future.

[Sami]

C-46 has 26 PAX as config but this is not a player choosable number of pax. It goes up to 36 PAX, however.
DC-3 has 26 PAX as config, but this is not player choosable number of pax. It goes up only to 31 PAX instead of the displayed 32 PAX, however.

There was a small rounding error in the new admin system which caused this, it's now adjusted (for any new games).

[saetta]

king is partially correct, we are again desperately bone dry in the used wanted planes, and playing the Russian roulette of trying to catch a decent DC 6 or Connie in the used market. All of this stifles most strategies.
 Yes i know it is the same for all, but in my opinion it imposes a brake on creativity. Some of this might be necessary to control growth , but is a bit over the top. i have been only able to get one decent airplane off the market in a year, so what i thought was fixed to improve the game, was only partially so
Cheers

[KingAirways]

It's combined with much smaller production lines than in History and the Future. Yes, this slows down rapid expansion, but only for roughly the first 1.5 in-game years. After that, the snowball effect starts again. It's August 1953 and I'm sitting on over 200 millions cash, adding about 6.5 per ingame week (that's roughly one DC-6B/1049G with the extremely increased prices).

In this game world, Fox Air demonstrates very well what's possible when you have an airport like Atlanta, with a huge amount of short-haul demand, more or less to yourself.

I planned my strategy around picking up B377s from the used market, as it's a somewhat unpopular aircraft. But I think that advantage will fade once more people understand the basic concept of "a bad frame is still better than no frame at all."

That said, I don't really have a perfect alternative solution either. My general suggestions would be:

1. Make cargo more attractive in the early game and make tech stops easier to use:
   That way, cargo aircraft with their rather miserable range could become a viable alternative starting strategy instead of everyone relying on passenger aircraft. I'm currently running 7x B377F out of LAX, and they simply don't generate enough money to build an airline around them. I can afford to take the small additional profit they provide, but starting and running an actual cargo airline should be a viable option in its own right.

2. Add more aircraft types:
   The FW 200 and other pre-war/WW2-era models would be good examples. Instead of further boosting the usual DC-6/Connie production lines, weaker aircraft could be balanced through low purchase prices and large production runs. A bad aircraft can still be attractive if it's cheap and readily available.

3. Improve the underlying aircraft data:
   The DC-6B still has almost no cargo capacity, while some other aircraft continue to show 0.00 cargo. Where reliable historical data isn't available yet, using plausible placeholder values would be much better than simply displaying 0.00.

4. Revisit some of the feature requests from years ago:
   I've linked to several suggestions I made 10+ years ago. One example would be a manufacturer's image/reputation system, which could encourage airlines to operate fewer different aircraft types and instead remain loyal to their preferred manufacturers.
Another possibility would be removing or reducing fleet-commonality penalties for small aircraft, combined with airport-specific restrictions or declining attractiveness for such aircraft at airports like LHR. After all, there are already limits on large and very large aircraft at certain other airports.


All in all, I still really like the setting of this game world, and I also like how AirwaySim has developed over the roughly ten years that I wasn't around. At the same time, many of the old strategies still work, and it's somewhat absurd how well the "magic carpet" approach continues to perform — San Airways out of LHR is one example, but even my own aircraft configurations into LHR from LAX/JFK show the same thing.


I also think there's still a lot of important information missing for the average player. For example, there is still no genuinely useful tool for determining an aircraft's practical range:
The Comet 3 is a good example. It's effectively useless for US West Coast–East Coast operations in either direction, yet the manufacturer's published range makes it look like the first jet capable of doing exactly that. A player could easily buy it for that purpose and seriously damage or even destroy their airline as a result.



I don't know, sami, how you feel about all of this after so many years. If you're interested, I can also send you a PM or an email with some additional thoughts that I probably wouldn't want to discuss publicly in too much detail, just to be fair.