We have a brand new major feature - Random World Events!
A volcano erupts near your airport and all flights are cancelled for several days. General strike shuts down all flights in the entire country. A storm causes major delays at an airport .... and many other challenges and events to keep you on your toes!
AirwaySim's new event engine creates different random events that can cause flight delays, cancellations or changes to passenger demand. There are dozens of different event types that all have unique effects to your operations.
This feature is initially available only in the Euro World scenario but will be later added to other scenarios too.
(https://www.airwaysim.com/tmp/RandomEvents-April14.jpg)
Are any of the events good? i.e. the Olympics, World Cup, etc. where it might actually boost air travel?
Yes there are some of them but so far only a few.
Are some regions likely to suffer more from certain events? I mean a volcano eruption in New York or a strike in Switzerland or political demonstrations in Russia or something aren't very 'realistic'? Or is that random as well?
I'd like it to be a bit of both. Nobody's going to Iceland if volcano's happen only where there are volcano's :P
No, it's purely random in that sense.
Quote from: Dasha on April 01, 2014, 12:40:51 PM
Are some regions likely to suffer more from certain events? I mean a volcano eruption in New York or a strike in Switzerland or political demonstrations in Russia or something aren't very 'realistic'? Or is that random as well?
I'd like it to be a bit of both. Nobody's going to Iceland if volcano's happen only where there are volcano's :P
"The fiberglass Big Thunder Mountain prop at Walt Disney World has erupted, disrupting air traffic at MCO and SFB." ;D
Will this feature in the future include 'accidents' as well? Like a collapsed landing gear and the plane is damaged or a crash or something?
Quote from: Dasha on April 01, 2014, 12:40:51 PM
Are some regions likely to suffer more from certain events? I mean a volcano eruption in New York or a strike in Switzerland or political demonstrations in Russia or something aren't very 'realistic'? Or is that random as well?
I'd like it to be a bit of both. Nobody's going to Iceland if volcano's happen only where there are volcano's :P
Political demonstrations is Russia :) Ha, That's quite funny you placed it to 'aren't very realistic stuff' :)
Well since we're both from Russia (I guess) we both know they never happen :P
Also.. I posted it on April 01... quite by accident :D
This new feature will make the game more fun. I can't wait to play in a game world that has this new feature. It will be an awesome addition to Airway Sims. :)
We'll gather some feedback and general technical reliability data of the new system first in this game, and it will be added to other games probably later this month.
Really sami ?? even less thinking and even more luck ??
I like the new feature, it's not an active element that enhances or impacts playability but it does add some realism and fun. However, I feel that aircraft collisions/crashes whatever happen a little too frequently. I have seen 2 or 3 in the last 6 game months in Euro World alone, irl there would never be so many in that timeframe.
Not realistic, eh:
"General strike in France 20-Jan-2017
For two days the whole work force of France is on strike. All flights are cancelled."
;D
(ps. this feature hasn't got anything to do with luck, and one saying so is purely ignorant. Any real world airline manager really cannot choose when the bird flu hits or when the volcano decides to spit out some ashes - in real life such events have had huge effects and powers to airlines during the last years, and now we have the same here too (but not in such extreme levels) - but the main idea is that one cannot think/expect anymore that once you set up the shop it's always growth and easy expansions until the end. If some big event happens you really need to adjust your operations and stay on top of things.)
(Will be reposted in feature request forum)
The random events have taken over the world events news feed. It is easy to miss actual important announcements like airport openings with the random events making other events roll off the bottom of that section very quick. Can we get a new feed for random events to make keeping up with all events easier?
Quote from: JetWestInc on April 11, 2014, 08:48:24 PM
(Will be reposted in feature request forum)
The random events have taken over the world events news feed. It is easy to miss actual important announcements like airport openings with the random events making other events roll off the bottom of that section very quick. Can we get a new feed for random events to make keeping up with all events easier?
Or I wont post in the feature request forum since we are no longer allowed to post there....
There's still an open thread of this matter so simply post there. (The features forum is closed for NEW topics so you should just find the existing topic of that matter and reply there, since most major requests are already covered there. )
And; as posted today to the other thread the events will be expanded to all running game worlds, bit by bit. In Euro World in my mind the amount of events has been good (= not too few, not too many?), but for full world scenarios their coverage may be too small to have any meaningful effects, but feedback on this is welcome.
And one other thing to note is that each event has a certain "do not repeat until xx days has passed" time frame setting. So that major events of the same type cannot happen too often. This means that when the events system is started in the games the probability of the 'big' events (like the bird flu thing) is higher than after some game years when some big events have already happened - so it will even out as time goes by. (just that you know)
(ps. this feature hasn't got anything to do with luck, and one saying so is purely ignorant.
I think the use of the word "random" severely undermines your argument here.
In real life you have 24 hour monitoring & a wealth of viable and immediate contingency actions.
While I generally like the idea of more world events, I think the fact that it's completely random makes it unrealistic. For example, if I were to have my airline based in Muscat, Oman in real life, my chance would be effectively 0 to have my home base shut down by a volcanic eruption (the closest even slightly active volcano being ~2500 km away) . That said, I should be far more prone to political instability, and Kabul is of course far more likely to be shut down by some action rather than a small US regional airport.
Cheers,
Florian
Random is indeed correct. I have been to Bismarck and it would be the absolute last place you'd see this:
03-Dec-2004
Several people are peacefully protesting against social problems at Bismarck Municipal (KBIS / BIS). This may cause delays.
Why's that? What if the county or city parliament of Bismarck wants to initiate a law that offends a local group and then they protest? Maybe the city decides to lay off a fire department or close a hospital with a free ER?
https://www.airwaysim.com/forum/index.php/topic,53026.msg303428.html#msg303428
I'm not arguing for anything Airport-level Sami, but I think it would already be a big step forward from total randomness if the probabilities of a certain event are different per region.
Quote from: FlorianV on April 19, 2014, 05:30:24 PM
I'm not arguing for anything Airport-level Sami, but I think it would already be a big step forward from total randomness if the probabilities of a certain event are different per region.
I think this will be easy to accomplish once city-based demand is implemented, which includes values for leisure travel, business, industry, infrastructure levels, etc. Areas with more business/industry could be more likely to have protests, for example. Areas with high levels of infrastructure would be less likely to have disruption by politicians showing up, etc.
Having been a victim of the biggest random event, so far, in GW4 (African Volcano) the impact for me was Punctuality reduced to 13% which in turn led to 25% being wiped off CI.
The only action that I could take (as far as I can see) was to increase marketing to restore CI, which I'm still paying for.
You can't plan for these events as you would do in real life, and you can't implement contingency plans quickly as you would in real life. If you are away from the game for 24 hours (I like a good drink every now & again) a game month can pass before you even know that the event happened. Realistically does the flying public blame an airline for an Act of God & mentally mark their image down by 25%?
For me this is just a random hit on profits, should you be "unlucky", and therefore adds nothing. It certainly doesn't help the game's credentials as a educational tool.
Feeling just a little sabotaged at the moment, as I suspect the few operating out of Africa are.
How about letting me insure against more Random Events?
I came to think about asking sami for reduced CI loss due to the events. This should prevent the longterm problems from the huge events to a certain level.
Quote from: Wreck on April 19, 2014, 06:32:59 PM
You can't plan for these events as you would do in real life
Can you plan for volcano eruptions in real life? I wasn't under that impression when it happened the last time.
I don't think it really matters what the event actually is or whether is realistic, just that it gives us a challenge. Before these random events, the only thing we faced was 9/11 and that was always entirely predictable.
Now at least we have something other than constant growth.
Although, I'm yet to see a "positive" event... Or maybe I've missed it.
Quote from: saftfrucht on April 19, 2014, 10:14:35 PM
Can you plan for volcano eruptions in real life? I wasn't under that impression when it happened the last time.
Generally, we have a good idea of when a Volcano may erupt in this day and age. Not with the accuracy we can predict weather, but at least we can see signs that an eruption is likely or even imminent and prepare accordingly. Now if we could only figure out how to predict earthquakes....
Quote from: NorgeFly on April 19, 2014, 10:50:52 PM
I don't think it really matters what the event actually is or whether is realistic, just that it gives us a challenge. Before these random events, the only thing we faced was 9/11 and that was always entirely predictable.
Now at least we have something other than constant growth.
Although, I'm yet to see a "positive" event... Or maybe I've missed it.
Where is the challenge?
What are you going to do other than take the hit on profits?
Quote from: saftfrucht on April 19, 2014, 10:14:35 PM
Can you plan for volcano eruptions in real life? I wasn't under that impression when it happened the last time.
If I have cancellations for a week, then hopper flights (under the ash) to Malta/Sicily (miraculously unaffected) and run operations from there until it subsides. Assumes that a contingency plan was in place with contracts already negotiated.
Otherwise, start filling the insurance forms in....
Quote from: Wreck on April 20, 2014, 05:06:57 AM
Where is the challenge?
What are you going to do other than take the hit on profits?
If it's a major incident that has a longer timescale, it challenges you take actions to remedy the effected. During the bird flu outbreak in Euro game I chose to temporarily ground some aircraft and reduce frequency on some routes to lower the losses.
Or you can just ignore it and take the losses.
Quote from: NorgeFly on April 20, 2014, 10:00:29 AM
If it's a major incident that has a longer timescale, it challenges you take actions to remedy the effected. During the bird flu outbreak in Euro game I chose to temporarily ground some aircraft and reduce frequency on some routes to lower the losses.
Or you can just ignore it and take the losses.
How long did the Bird Flu incident last?
I think the effects lasted over three months.
Quote from: NorgeFly on April 20, 2014, 11:29:39 AM
I think the effects lasted over three months.
OK, accepted, easier to do something over that period.
Quote from: NorgeFly on April 20, 2014, 10:00:29 AM
During the bird flu outbreak in Euro game I chose to temporarily ground some aircraft and reduce frequency on some routes to lower the losses.
You can't. If you do, you will loose the slot.
Anyway I agree with Wreck, in my opinion those events add nothing but frustration.
I think that the development effort should more useful if directed in writing a better user interface.
Quote from: Luperco on April 21, 2014, 08:25:26 PM
You can't. If you do, you will loose the slot.
Anyway I agree with Wreck, in my opinion those events add nothing but frustration.
I think that the development effort should more useful if directed in writing a better user interface.
You can and I did. I decided that the possible costs of repurchasing slots was worth it to stem losses. I could not justify flying aircraft with only 30% LFs indefinitely.
Had the "event" gone on for much longer I then would have fired the excess staff too. That would have impacted CI and morale so I left that a little longer to make sure it was necessary. In the end, it wasn't necessary.
Depending to
14-Apr-1967
Major protests in Italy against the government escalated. Several foreign governments issued travel warnings. The local government announced snap elections in two weeks. It is expected fights between security agencies and protesters are ongoing until then. Travel agencies expect up to 40% less passengers for airlines.
i have dozends of route oversupply warning to all my destinations in italy. is this intended? i´ve nothing against the events, but to reduce my seat capacity at all these routs is just silly work, i think...anybody else with the same experiences?
Quote from: jaba on April 21, 2014, 10:55:55 PM
Depending to
14-Apr-1967
Major protests in Italy against the government escalated. Several foreign governments issued travel warnings. The local government announced snap elections in two weeks. It is expected fights between security agencies and protesters are ongoing until then. Travel agencies expect up to 40% less passengers for airlines.
i have dozends of route oversupply warning to all my destinations in italy. is this intended? i´ve nothing against the events, but to reduce my seat capacity at all these routs is just silly work, i think...anybody else with the same experiences?
I have the same problem.. :( I thought these random events wouldn't trigger oversupply warnings.
Especially if you have to reduce seating capacity 7 times per route for 7 day scheduling
This game is demanding more and more time to be spent on it....reassessment of my time is near
I have the same problem, it is silly to cut seats, and in two weeks put them back, it takes too much time. :( These events shouldn`t trigger oversupply warning.
I have the same problem too.
This game is getting too demanding in its need for attention.
Seriously starting to reconsider the enjoyment value....
Events should not trigger the oversupply warnings naturally.
Quote from: sami on April 22, 2014, 08:58:24 AM
Events should not trigger the oversupply warnings naturally.
I've had a few...
Game World #3
Airline: City Shuttle
Routes in violation of the rules:
» UK143, EGLC - LIPZ View route Route planning
» UK1023, EGLC - LIPE View route Route planning
» UK141, EGLC - LFLL View route Route planning
» UK047, EGLC - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK979, EGLC - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK797, EDDH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK823, EDDH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK829, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK831, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK833, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK835, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK837, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK839, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK841, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK975, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK981, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK983, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1097, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1097, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1097, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1097, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1097, EGPH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK943, LIME - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK945, LIME - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK985, EGHI - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK991, EGHI - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK993, EGHI - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1103, EGNH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1109, EGNH - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1105, EGDG - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK1107, EGDG - EGGD View route Route planning
» UK261, EGAC - EGGW View route Route planning
» UK263, EGAC - EGGW View route Route planning
» UK265, EGAC - EGGW View route Route planning
» UK213, EGLC - EGTE View route Route planning
» UK181, EGLC - LIME View route Route planning
» UK717, EGAA - LIME View route Route planning
» UK1025, EDDN - EGLC View route Route planning
» UK1031, EDLW - EGLC View route Route planning
» UK1035, LPPR - EGLC View route Route planning
» UK645, EGBE - EGAA View route Route planning
» UK683, EGPN - EGAA View route Route planning
» UK269, EGAC - EGPH View route Route planning
» UK273, EGAC - EGPH View route Route planning
» UK999, EGAC - EGPH View route Route planning
» UK1003, EGAC - EGPH View route Route planning
» UK337, EGCN - EGAC View route Route planning
» UK693, EGMH - EGAC View route Route planning
» UK1007, EGPN - EGAC View route Route planning
Please be aware that oversupplying a route is forbidden in the game rules and airlines violating the rules may be penalized.
Please don't let the system close these routes Sami... it's 49 routes and my airline will implode if that happens.
Quote from: JetWestInc on April 20, 2014, 12:14:03 AM
Generally, we have a good idea of when a Volcano may erupt in this day and age. Not with the accuracy we can predict weather, but at least we can see signs that an eruption is likely or even imminent and prepare accordingly. Now if we could only figure out how to predict earthquakes....
If that is true, why did the whole world plunge back into the dark ages when Eyjafjal... >:( the Icelandic Volcano erupted in 2010. Even if you can predict an eruption, which I don't think they can, there's nothing you can really do about it.
Would it be an idea and technically possible (@sami) event caused cancellations of 100% not to count as cancellations, but as some kind of grounded? So no CI would be lost and the flights don't consume any money if that is so right now?
Basically a penalty free "auto-ground-function".
Quote from: Dasha on April 23, 2014, 09:23:43 AM
If that is true, why did the whole world plunge back into the dark ages when Eyjafjal... >:( the Icelandic Volcano erupted in 2010. Even if you can predict an eruption, which I don't think they can, there's nothing you can really do about it.
IIRC, that volcano was showing signs of an eruption for at least a month before the actual eruption began. No, there is noting that can be done about the effects of an eruption, but we do have the ability to loosely predict that an eruption is likely even if we can not pinpoint an exact time (let alone an exact day.)
Don
I just got hit with 408 flight cancellations, and all it says is force majeure, I cannot drill down further to find out what type of event it was. If this keeps going for another week, I am going to have to shed some leases and trim the personal.
Quote from: CUR$E on April 23, 2014, 10:24:46 AM
So no CI would be lost and the flights don't consume any money if that is so right now?
They are cancellations, and will remain as such. However their impact to CI is way less than of a regular cancellation.
Quote from: sami on April 24, 2014, 07:47:24 AM
However their impact to CI is way less than of a regular cancellation.
But when your entire network is grounded for the better part of a week, 11401 cancellations = 5-point drop in CI in a week. That's huge. The CI just doesn't move that much in 7 days' time.
Quote11401 cancellations = 5-point drop in CI in a week. That's huge
That's little, IMO. Whatever the reason, pax hate the airlines for cancelling their flights
I got hit too, although it wasn't a big deal for me. IMO CI shouldn't be hit because an airline isn't any less worthy of flying in pax eyes. When the volcano erupted in Iceland and shutdown Europe, British Airways didn't have their brand tarnished, nor did Air France, etc. Sh*t happens and volcanic eruptions are something I think most pax would be willing to forgive. It is the minor stuff that they are ignorant of that tarnishes the brand, such as delays due to parts on the runway--pax are usually less understanding about the minor issues.
Quote from: LemonButt on April 24, 2014, 11:41:33 AM
I got hit too, although it wasn't a big deal for me. IMO CI shouldn't be hit because an airline isn't any less worthy of flying in pax eyes. When the volcano erupted in Iceland and shutdown Europe, British Airways didn't have their brand tarnished, nor did Air France, etc. Sh*t happens and volcanic eruptions are something I think most pax would be willing to forgive. It is the minor stuff that they are ignorant of that tarnishes the brand, such as delays due to parts on the runway--pax are usually less understanding about the minor issues.
It could be argued that in RL airlines that continued to operate actually took a bigger hit in CI as many pax realised that some airlines put their profits before pax safety, whereas airlines that cancelled flights due to the 'risk' would have had a CI increase, unfortunately this game gives everyone a CI hit
Quote from: LemonButt on April 24, 2014, 11:41:33 AM
British Airways didn't have their brand tarnished, nor did Air France, etc.
You obsivously do not know what kind of bs some airlines got to themselves during that event, when not taking care of their passengers etc. But of course all smart people will realize that it is not the fault of the airline ... but all people are not smart, which has been modelled here too. :P
(And 5 pt from in image due to some event is very minimal and should be considered as normal fluctuation even)
Quote from: sami on April 24, 2014, 03:42:17 PM
You obsivously do not know what kind of bs some airlines got to themselves during that event, when not taking care of their passengers etc. But of course all smart people will realize that it is not the fault of the airline ... but all people are not smart, which has been modelled here too. :P
(And 5 pt from in image due to some event is very minimal and should be considered as normal fluctuation even)
On a related note, is there anything modeled for random events for reservations systems failing? Comair's reservations system had a meltdown for 48 hours during Christmas of 2004 and cancelled every single flight (aka same consequence as volcano): http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/12/25/comair-cancels-all-1100-flights/ This WAS an event that the airline could control and if the heaviest penalty is a 5 CI drop, IMO it should be an airline specific event such as this (penalty should be harsher than 5 CI though and based on morale or something). While I understand some airlines got into trouble on the customer service side during the Iceland volcano, there is nothing you can do in AWS to mitigate this--i.e. paying for temporary extra staff to avoid a CI hit, paying for hotels, etc. All you can do is bend over and take it, which sucks :(
Also, CI seems to be more sensitive on the high end versus the low. That is, first class and business class passengers. If you are flying JFK to LHR and North America is shutdown, that means the airlines based at JFK aren't flying the route, but neither are the LHR pax. When things settle down, the JFK airline is at a disadvantage as the LHR airline (likely) didn't suffer at all from the shutdown in terms of CI. Those first/business class pax are smarter than economy because they are frequent travelers (typically). A few CI points can make a big difference on the high end, but not so much on the low end.
Another thing to consider is what happens when an airline is based on multiple continents? Russia comes to mind, but also France and I'm sure there are others. See the attached route map of a guy based in France (I love this routemap lol). His airline is essentially a different brand/CI at each base because they are so far apart. So if there is a volcano that shuts down South America, do you think his CI in Europe or Oceania would get hit? I would think pax would continue flying the airline as normal because the other events are half a world away.
So ultimately, I think a better solution is to not penalize CI for these massive blanket events, but penalize RI. This makes more sense because of the above examples, but also because IMO pax are more likely to say "I'm not flying to London because of the Iceland volcano" versus "I'm not flying British Airways". This also means that airlines that are geographically diverse such as the one in the attached routemap aren't losing passengers because of an uncontrollable event that happened 5000+ miles away. I'm not sure how you'd do it, but maybe every day a route isn't flown due to force majeure you lose 7 RI points on the route? That means 7 days at 7 RI points = maximum loss of 49%. I think the net effect would be the same as a 5 CI drop, but wouldn't hit EVERY route you fly, just the ones affected.
So just experienced my first full shutdown in GW3, with a volcanic eruption shutting down all of Asia (pretty impressive indeed), two remarks
- The minor one - we still had thunderstorms slowing down traffic and an aircraft collision in Asia during the week while all of Asia was shut down - not possible.
- The major one - the passengers that weren't able to fly during the five days all seem to have fallen into a black hole - in reality you have tens of thousands of people stranded all over the place - shouldn't such a shutdown be followed by a big demand surge for the week after?
Cheers,
Florian