Game World #1, introducing cargo, is now open!ยป Join the game here (https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=255#game255)(https://static.airwaysim.com/content/images/misc/GW1-Nov17.jpg)
Game World #1 is one of the four main long scenarios at AirwaySim and this time we shall play from 1965 onwards. We are excited to introduce the cargo features for the first time in a long worldwide scenario in this new game. Several smaller cargo games have been already played but this is the first major game where cargo is enabled.
The cargo systems will run with the new
City Based Demand model making the world more dynamic than before (the passenger demand model still follows the older, tried and tested, more static model).
This game world follows the standard settings for long AirwaySim games:
- Standard difficulty level
- All airports, all aircraft models (including the "prototypes", cargo aircraft and cargo conversion options) and all features are included.
- Time span: 1965 - 2036
- Game's speed is 30 minutes per day.
- Fuel prices are customized and will not always follow real world history.
- Your starting capital is 50% loans and 50% own assets.
- The amount of passenger demand is higher compared to real life statistics at the start of the game (not as high as in current GW#2), and it will slowly approach the normal levels of stats when time goes on.
- Amount of airport slots should be high enough to keep most airports open for business in the first years. The new infrastructure expansion model is not yet active so slot growth follows the old methods.
- The slot prices are initially already rather high, especially on bigger airports.
- The aircraft production rates are initially low but will very soon start to grow.
- The inflation model is again linear, instead of real historical, to give less surprises on price changes over a long time.
The
city based demand system will have drastic effects on how the routes react and how you will play the cargo. It is a new feature and will be improved once more experience is gained, but here are already some things to consider:
- Remember that the cargo demand, which is in city based system, can change up or down.
- Passenger values are calculated using the old system still.
- Familiarize yourself with the new "potential demand" concept (ref. manual). You should look at the potential demand as the best case scenario and it will be only reached if there is no competition on other surrounding airports to the same destination. Thus the actual demand (also shown in the charts) will usually be lower.
- The new system models local economic climate - if a country has a recession the demand values can go down very much.
- All of the data related to city based demand / local economy is not yet shown to players, but during the first 10 or so years there shouldn't be any major economical surprises to the players anyway.
- The changes in demand values are gradual but due to server performance some of the calculations are performed only a 1-3 times per game month for each area (especially now when the system has to deal with both the new and old system). This means there might be jumps up/down in the sale figures.
- There might be, and probably will be, routes where the demand looks funny (assigning the demand from areas to their destinations is tricky and needs still improvements in some areas). Feel free to ask, but remember that demand for cargo is not based on any airport anymore - look at the specs of the surrounding region instead.
For the new cargo features please remember that is only a supplemental and somewhat minor feature (even though it will add a whole new layer and much more depth and realism to the system). Cargo especially in the early era plays a rather small role in the big picture.
- The amount of air cargo is very small in the 1960s and 1970s. Growth can be seen in the 1980s but the market begins to actually develop only in the modern era (late 1990s and onwards).
- The less-developed countries produce less air cargo and hence the outgoing demand from poor countries will be small.
- The amount of domestic vs international air cargo varies very much according to the country. Based of actual real-life stats in some countries, like Finland, the amount of domestic air cargo is very small (< 3% of all cargo). In some countries, like USA or Japan, the share of domestic air cargo is very high (~45%) of all cargo traffic.
- For the purposes of more enjoyable playing the cargo amounts are elevated for the first decades of this game (refer to the note about low amounts of air cargo in real life). But still you should probably not think about an freight-only airline directly at the start (unless going for those few lucrative domestic cargo markets, such as USA).
- Cargo is expected to be only a minor addition to your current revenues. But in the modern era its importance will grow significantly.
- Cargo demand is nearly never the same to/from a destination. This is because cargo is "one-way" and is always "produced" at the originating airport, based on the area's and country's specifications.
- Where cargo is destined from the originating area depends on the factors of the receiving areas (i.e. the specifications of the country and the area), and also a few other factors such as distance. Air cargo is normally carried over long distances rather than short hops (but again domestic and international cargo will vary).
- There are no cargo oversupply rules in the game (nor such are planned since the economic/demand model is so variable).
- Remember that cargo conversions of aircraft can only be performed to the planes you own.
- Some combi aircraft are included in the database but their pax capacity is fixed. There are no "flex-combi" planes where you can alter the space division between pax and cargo compartments.
If it has been a while since you started at early stages in a major AirwaySim games, here are a few reminders and tips:
- The game clock is paused for the first day and will start moving after 24 hrs.
- There are plenty of used aircraft available to begin with, but the used aircraft market will soon become limited and the popular aircraft types are sold/leased very quickly. Take care when picking the aircraft you plan to use. The used aircraft market will refresh several times during the first static 24 hour day.
- Be patient with the route sales figures since your Route Image grows slowly. Do not spend all your cash on planes at once, remember to leave a good reserve. It takes time to gain profits and there might be unexpected early problems..
- Consider joining an alliance from early stages of the game, they are great resources for improving your game play (tips and help from fellow players).
All set! Move over to the Game Area (https://www.airwaysim.com/game/?gView=255#game255) and join the new game!