I recently expanded one of my US-based airlines into a major Northeastern US airport; this is on a temporary server. Before doing this, I did not have an East Coast hub. I operate A330 and 767 aircraft, and my choice of hub allows for these aircraft (which don’t have the long range of 787 or A350 aircraft, which I do not operate) to fly short regional flights between longer transatlantic flights, maximizing aircraft utilization.
A existing user who already had a hub at this airport took serious exception to my expansion. I received threatening messages and DM spam. The user let me know that they had reported me. I compete with lots of airlines across lots of servers. On Limatambo, me and other airlines have been fiercely competing for traffic and slots at DFW, IAD, LAX, ORD and more. On Bleriot, I compete with one other major airline at my main hub.
Is it unfair or damaging to the game if I use my airline’s superior resources (in a temporary server) to develop a hub at an airport in which a smaller airline already operates out of?
I think that’s the sin of economics, isn’t it? There always will be unlimited wants and limited resources.
Everyone will want “hubs to themselves” and everyone will at the same time want “opportunities to expand”. These at some point do become intersecting paths constrained by geography. That is the ugly truth.
Knowing you from our time in Limatambo, you will know there is no major US airport that does not have one or multiple airline hubs. At some point, you US airlines began to encroach on each other. And now you’re left with 3 or 4 main players in that market. It is hard to see a market where consolidation of this kind did not happen this year. Week 1, 2022 and Week 1, 2023 were very different landscapes; again, as you will likely know.
My mistake, in some cases, was engaging with some of these denouncers. I have had nasty conversations over DMs about the “right” of someone to expand that just turn into ad hominem messes. But then again, the idea of perception of what is “expansion” and what is an “attack” are always drawn with invisible ink. One never sees them until they are crossed. I know what my definitions are, but I will never claim to know what the ones of others are.
As for the report, I think you have nothing to be concerned about. Unless you’re hoarding limited unused resources or are breaking ToS in any way, you should be fine. It is far from the first time people get accused of being “unintegral” without having done anything wrong. (Though there are many cases of “unintegrity” that have indeed done something wrong, I want to make that clear).
I do wonder why there’s a recent uptick in these complaints, at least here publicly on the forums. I count at least 5 threads since December, with only 1 thread about this kind of topic in the 3 months prior (and that one was specifically about the IL-18s)…
No. Simple as that.
Nobody is granted an exclusivity in a hub. You can expand in every station you want. In my eyes it is not even unfair.
You competitor who has reported you and sending you threatening pms is behaving unfair. And to be honest - it is a stupid idea to send threatening pms as this will not stop a company with more ressources…
He could have been nice and ask you not to explore “his” hub or ask for an IL. That would make much more sense.
Seems like you have a hard time understanding what a threatening message is- none of which were in any means threatening. My first message was a simple "Hey maybe we can come to an agreement on not expanding operations at this hub and I did indeed include the option to interline. I think it’s of great concern that you have 7$6M in your bank account when there is really no way in which that much FCF (that’s free cash flow) is possible with respect to the limits of the game. Would love to see someone with the game step in and maybe explain out why that is…
76 Million is really not that much. I make around 250 Million a week with my Airline on another server and my fleet is only half as big as his fleet on Otto.
With 700 planes, $76 million on hand is not that much.
Once you reach a certain point, the money just comes in faster than you can spend it. At that point you’re only limited by how much time you feel like spending on scheduling planes each day.
Just buy your 5/6/7/whatever planes a day, schedule them, and the cash just pours in faster and faster.
Mate, get used to being reported or getting spam DMs. Some players will always feel like they are disadvantaged, intead of realising that others are simply better at the game.
With all respect @tannera17, 70$ million FCF is nothing. I have multiple companies making 200$ million turnover every single week. So with all respect to the game mechanics, it’s by far possible. Also within a few months.
What a folly. At the end of the day I’ll take a successful career in the industry over being the best at tiddling my fingers scheduling virtual airplanes. And boy oh boy, such unoriginality it’s almost pitiful.
Not doubting such may be the case, such disconcerting having these behemoths of enterprises coming in and swallowing up any enjoyment there is to be had. May be a point of consideration in future iterations to potentially levelset the realism of growth that’s capable by generating the most “backend code efficient” airline.
I get why it might seem unfortunate that big companies can dominate a market. But the bigger a company gets, the more difficult is it to micro-manage. I find it funny and challeging to enter a saturated market and compete with bigger companies. Build waves, better ORS etc. Do it in smaller airports, and make several regional airports.
