I think more can be implemented on the corporate finance side of AS, would make the game more dynamic and have more things to look at while developing routes
Introduce ability to park cash in banks for short-term interest (weekly, monthly, …). Just like options provided for maintenance contractors - a similar setup with banks and different periods and interest rates. (Arguably you would say that cash is spent on purchasing/leasing planes and there is nobody holding cash) but some could be saving up to build buildings / upgrade fleets for example - plus just adds a new thing to look at
same for loans - different banks, different loan rates, different loan periods.
I would love to see a whole Treasury Management option introduced to the game…hedge fuel prices, currency hedging across the different stations taking into account the different currencies at play here…but I think that a bit over the top
We’ve actually had this feature a long time ago (not different banks, but interest on cash) and discarded it because it just gives more money to those that already have a lot. Just like reality, not helpful
Similarly, loans are also a bit of a game design issue because they provide so much leverage. Typically, the players who can get loans are those that already have a lot of assets. So loans fuel the growth of these airlines even more. Also not helpful.
This will almost certainly come to the game at some point. This has been requested a lot and sort of makes sense. It’s gambling, if you ask me. But could be fun
that’s a good point regarding deposits and loans. What’s the rationale for not standardizing stock markets / offering them on the newer game worlds?
Currencies is just a far fetched idea, wont work…you use the AS$ - what I meant (theoretically speaking) is airlines get paid in multiple currencies and get converted into the home currency, which could add to the Treasury Management addition to the game. But like i said “a bit over the top”
In theory, the stock market serves three purposes:
Raise capital
Allow ownership transfers
Determine a “market value” of airlines
Number 3 just never really worked because AirlineSim is, well, an airline simulation. People play it to run an airline, not to trade at a stock exchange. Consequently, there was never enough liquidity in the market to arrive at actual prices. Even when we had relatively narrow price bands, the market feature would be exploited for illegitimate purposes, so we ended up setting essentially fixed prices based on book value, rendering the whole thing pointless.
Number 2 is one of those features that actually add very little to the game besides fuelling market consolidation (a negative things for game worlds in the long run) but are quite loved by players. It’s one of the reason the stock market hasn’t been removed altogether yet. But is also enables grey-area practices like holdings for the sole purpose of providing traffic rights to “a friend” etc.
Lastly, number 1 suffers from similar issues as loans: Economic growth is exponential by nature. Pouring lots of additional money into an airline gives it a massive advantage. This is also why experienced players like it, I guess, because they can support existing partners or build up new ones. So the function has its merits but it has to be strictly regulated.
I figure that we’d want to find alternative features for 1 and 2 eventually. But it’s not a priority.
