Merging old servers into one

English Boards Suggestions and Ideas
1

I have no fine solution but just bring the idea of merging two/more old serves into one.

Why?

1. People think it becomes boring when too few people is playing in that server

2. People always think he/she is better doing at his world than others, why not compete and see

3. It is a common way of resource redistribution strategy in many other online games

How?

This is the tricky part and need discussion. what I could find the possible issues are name collision and resource over-use.

1. Name collision is easy to solve by renaming.

2. Different worlds with same configuration data may easy to merge

3. Resources like airport terminal space, slot. Welcome discussion on this part, I have a roughly idea about it which I can share.

Add your thought if you like this idea.

2

Well ... I don't see the nesessarity for such a thing as

1. if people thin it's boring or think they are better than others on other gameworld, they are free to start at the other game world.

2. AirlineSim is not like the other online games and that the server will continue (as long this economicly enviroment allows to) is part of the game

3. the how? is unsolvable. It is not only the slots, it would have a deep impact on the passenger transported - just imagine how it would be if there 2 big airlines in Singapore and on a combined server they would have 50% of the same demand as before, but 100% more available flights.

So you may discuss about it, but it won't happen.

3

I have no fine solution but just bring the idea of merging two/more old serves into one.

Why?

1. People think ...

2. People always think ...

who has told you what other people think?

Sorry, but merging servers is a stupid idea. 

4

who has told you what other people think?

Sorry, but merging servers is a stupid idea. 

Thanks for bring your idea. Well, I understand a suggestion is always preferred by some and hated by some.

5

I wouldn't like this idea as well. But in order to sell it you will have to bring something solid on the table....for example how would you solve the slot problem and the demand problem mentioned by sk above?

6

I wouldn't like this idea as well. But in order to sell it you will have to bring something solid on the table....for example how would you solve the slot problem and the demand problem mentioned by sk above?

Thanks for give me chance to bring my idea.

My idea for solving slot/demand is simple:

1. Airport demand keep the same after merge, since this game use real world data

2. Merging slots will cause some slots temporary overbook

    Here, I use a simple example to show slot merge:

       Slot A (everyday, before merge, in game world A): 40%

       Slot B (everyday, before merge, in game world B): 30%

       Slot C (everyday, after merge, in new game world C): 70%(40% + 30%)

       Slot C will be 100% if A + B >= 100%, and cannot add new flights any more

3. Add congestion rate to indicate how much overbook for a airport overall. In new world, the rate can only be keep or go down (See 2)

       Using previous example, congestion rate = average slot usability A + B. In maximum, 200%, if slots in world A, B is both fully booked

4. Compensation for overbooked airport until the airport is back to normal. Depends on congestion rate, same for all player at that airport per flight (the more flight already there, the more compensation you get in total)

       Compensation could be a ratio of airport landing fee or branch office fee, so different for each airport

5. Any player making airport from overbooked to normal will lower all other players' compensation per flight at the airport

       This is a rough idea, how to operate need help from others. I have a simple example:

       After initial merge, all player at airport H get compensation fee S = CR (congestion rate) * (some base). Player Tom moved one of his flight from a overbook slot to free slot, causing congestion rate of H to new CR' which is less than CR. Player Tom will still receive same compensation as before, while all other players at H receive S' = CR' * (some base). Player Tom got his bonus! So do if another player make his contribution too.

6. After airport back to normal (congestion rate is 100%), no compensation for all players any more. 

7

nonsense.

you forgot few airports

FRA

LHR

ORD

JFK

ATL

DFW

LAX

in all servers this airports are 99,9% full slots, there no room for new flight

And explain to me how you will compensate someone who lose JFK and LHR slot????

and guy have 10x A380, another have 5xA380, next guy have 30x 747-8i

What to do with this planes?

flight to farm track?

 
Why should you got and I got lost slot on JFK or LHR or somewhere??

according to which criteria and why?

8

nonsense.

you forgot few airports

FRA

LHR

ORD

JFK

ATL

DFW

LAX

in all servers this airports are 99,9% full slots, there no room for new flight

And explain to me how you will compensate someone who lose JFK and LHR slot????

and guy have 10x A380, another have 5xA380, next guy have 30x 747-8i

What to do with this planes?

flight to farm track?

 
Why should you got and I got lost slot on JFK or LHR or somewhere??

according to which criteria and why?

I am not sure fully understand your question. But let me try to answer all.

For those airports you listed, since they already full before merge, what's the difference with the the full state after merge? They are same, no room for new flight, it is not caused by merge.

And no one is asked to lose his already owned slots, see my post. only you get bonus when you do this, you can choose not to do this. As you said, especially when one has a lot big airplanes like A380, 748, he can always choose to do nothing. 

Your last question is asking when some slots are free, based on what criteria someone else can get this? That's simple, game rule does not change, anyone who saw this first have bigger chance to use the free slot, nothing difference with normal server.

9

Thanks for give me chance to bring my idea.

My idea for solving slot/demand is simple:

1. Airport demand keep the same after merge, since this game use real world data

2. Merging slots will cause some slots temporary overbook

    Here, I use a simple example to show slot merge:

       Slot A (everyday, before merge, in game world A): 40%

       Slot B (everyday, before merge, in game world B): 30%

       Slot C (everyday, after merge, in new game world C): 70%(40% + 30%)

       Slot C will be 100% if A + B >= 100%, and cannot add new flights any more

3. Add congestion rate to indicate how much overbook for a airport overall. In new world, the rate can only be keep or go down (See 2)

       Using previous example, congestion rate = average slot usability A + B. In maximum, 200%, if slots in world A, B is both fully booked

4. Compensation for overbooked airport until the airport is back to normal. Depends on congestion rate, same for all player at that airport per flight (the more flight already there, the more compensation you get in total)

       Compensation could be a ratio of airport landing fee or branch office fee, so different for each airport

5. Any player making airport from overbooked to normal will lower all other players' compensation per flight at the airport

       This is a rough idea, how to operate need help from others. I have a simple example:

       After initial merge, all player at airport H get compensation fee S = CR (congestion rate) * (some base). Player Tom moved one of his flight from a overbook slot to free slot, causing congestion rate of H to new CR' which is less than CR. Player Tom will still receive same compensation as before, while all other players at H receive S' = CR' * (some base). Player Tom got his bonus! So do if another player make his contribution too.

6. After airport back to normal (congestion rate is 100%), no compensation for all players any more. 

Okay what you described here is overly simplistic...

Let's say an airport is fairly open on both servers, say it is DWC. In Kaitak it is 40% full and in Nicosia it is 30% full, so technically it is 70% full after the merger. But in both servers, the 12:00 - 12:04 slots are completely taken out by different carriers - how would you solve that?

Also, let's say LHR is 80% full in Kaitak and 95% full in Nicosia, the post-merger airport will be 175% full. You mentioned that no more new flights will be allowed at the airport until the "congestion rate" is back to 100%. But in both servers, the 12:00 - 12:04 slots are completely empty - does it also mean that you won't allow any new flights to takeoff / land during that time after the merger as well?

I appreciate your efforts / ideas but you still haven't provided any compelling evidence showing that merging servers is necessary. All you have been trying to do is to prove that server mergers are viable, and not quite successfully if I am honest...

10

If the demand is the same, many airlines will simply go bankrupt. They couldn't handle the amount of aircraft, staff, and equipment with only 50% of the incoming money. Yeah, it would make those mega-airlines work really hard to keep their holdings, but if I was one of those mega-airlines, and after five years of very intricate and time-consuming work, if AS just said "Well, you have to reconfigure everything in your airline to keep it afloat", I would be extremely upset.

Imagine a little brother or sister coming along and erasing your saved game that you worked extremely hard on for a very long time. How upset would you be?

I agree the older worlds could use some revitalization, but this isn't the way to do it.

11

I think we don't need to discuss this as this will not happen.

12

Okay what you described here is overly simplistic...

Let's say an airport is fairly open on both servers, say it is DWC. In Kaitak it is 40% full and in Nicosia it is 30% full, so technically it is 70% full after the merger. But in both servers, the 12:00 - 12:04 slots are completely taken out by different carriers - how would you solve that?

Also, let's say LHR is 80% full in Kaitak and 95% full in Nicosia, the post-merger airport will be 175% full. You mentioned that no more new flights will be allowed at the airport until the "congestion rate" is back to 100%. But in both servers, the 12:00 - 12:04 slots are completely empty - does it also mean that you won't allow any new flights to takeoff / land during that time after the merger as well?

I appreciate your efforts / ideas but you still haven't provided any compelling evidence showing that merging servers is necessary. All you have been trying to do is to prove that server mergers are viable, and not quite successfully if I am honest...

The slot availability is based on different time slot.

Take your example, on DWC, the slot of 12:00-12:04 will be still full after merge (have more flights than allowed), and all player using this slot will still have it. No problem for that. But you are welcomed (by bonus) to move your flight to another free slot, say 12:05-12:09. Then congestion rate for DWC will be lowered, you will get more bonus than other players using DWC.

More detail: I checked DWC takes 5 flights per slot

before merge:

DWC(server A)

slot 12:00-12:04 60% for everyday(3 flights)

slot 12:05-12:09 40% for everyday(2 flights)

DWC(server B)

slot 12:00-12:04 80% for everyday(4 flights)

slot 12:05-12:09 20% for everyday(1 flight)

after merge:

DWC

slot 12:00-12:04 100% for everyday (7 flights, but no one will lose their flight, though this slot is overbooked)

slot 12:05-12:09 60% for everyday(3 flights)

if there are in total 100 slot-flight(2 slot-flight overbooked for slot 12:00-12:04) overbooked for all slots, the congestion rate is 100/(12*24) = 34.7%(or 34.7% to show over booked)

every player at DWC will receive bonus base * 34.7% compensation for each of their flight

Now player Tom moved his flight from slot 12:00-12:04 to slot 12:05-12:09 after merge, after his move:

slot 12:00-12:04 100% for everyday (6 flights)

slot 12:05-12:09 80% for everyday (4 flights)

congestion rate for DWC is now 99/(12*24) if all other slots does not change, Tom will still have 34.7% rate for his flight, others will have 34.3% rate, hence it is good for Tom.

Maybe other players will also move their flights to get better rates. Eventually, it is possible DWC back to normal and congestion rate is 0%.

I didn't say no more flights is allowed to add when congestion rate is more than 100%, as you see from above example, one can still add flights to slot 12:05-12:09 since it is not fully booked. :)

Thank you calvinshuhfc, you helped me bring my idea out. Bear a idea in mind for no one listening is sad. And you also read my words/ideas, thanks again for your comments!

13

If the demand is the same, many airlines will simply go bankrupt. They couldn't handle the amount of aircraft, staff, and equipment with only 50% of the incoming money. Yeah, it would make those mega-airlines work really hard to keep their holdings, but if I was one of those mega-airlines, and after five years of very intricate and time-consuming work, if AS just said "Well, you have to reconfigure everything in your airline to keep it afloat", I would be extremely upset.

Imagine a little brother or sister coming along and erasing your saved game that you worked extremely hard on for a very long time. How upset would you be?

I agree the older worlds could use some revitalization, but this isn't the way to do it.

Thanks for your comments!

The compensation should avoid those mega airlines go bankrupt, it is based per flight, the more flight you fly in a congested airport, the more compensation you get.

Basically if one find a good compensation base, it can make the merge have little impact to the airlines.

>"Well, you have to reconfigure everything in your airline to keep it afloat"  I would be extremely upset.

I think the same with you. That's why I don't like the patch goto old servers, but I can do nothing, AS team is the god in this game, they say yes for yes no matter what others say. see sk's post, he has mentioned his opinion twice, "this will not happen, no need to discuss".

But, as I said, with good compensation base value set, one could keep the same after merge and will not go bankrupt. But the competition will not end, since others will try to get better bonus than you when he moving his flight to reduce congestion rate, if one keep doing nothing for several month, he may go bankrupt. That's one of the purpose of gaming, right, good competition.

I feel relaxed after bringing my idea though someone is not happy with this idea. But don't worry, sk said it would not happen and it will not happen(AS team is the god, right, :) )

14

I think we don't need to discuss this as this will not happen.

Thanks, you said it twice now. I did see it.

As a suggestion/idea to AS, it is dead I knew. My later posts are just for answering other's questions. 

15

Now I see the funny part when reading today's news about new price. I am fine with new price, but you mentioned one reason for increase price is somewhat I cannot agree with:

"We also try to keep legacy game worlds running indefinitely and launch new ones on a regular basis."

The funny part is someone is worried about you cannot support that much servers and supply some ideas to reduce the cost, you now saying:

"Oh, don't worry about the cost, we can increase the price."

:P

16

I'm not sure that you really got the point. There is no way to join gameworlds as written above due to the technical and game design restrictions. So the two options are to keep on running game world "indefinetely" or to close them down. There is no word about the costs.

17

I'm not sure that you really got the point. There is no way to join gameworlds as written above due to the technical and game design restrictions. So the two options are to keep on running game world "indefinetely" or to close them down. There is no word about the costs.

Looks like you are effacing yourself by your own argument in the same announcement.  ^_^

The big potential problem is slot overbook, which you AS have already suggested a solution by yourself in the same announcement:

we will launch our first ever “Beginner’s Game World”! This game world is less restricted than our standard game worlds, which means twice the amount of slots

A technically possible way of solving slot overbook in also shown this topic if you don't want to twice the amount of slots.

And I think merging game world does not violating with running game world "indefinitely", since you did not say you cannot change it which is you are already doing (by constantly applying patches).

18

Two different points - you can not compare a new started max. 8 month old game world with two several years old game worlds. But be sure that we keep merging gameworld in case it is urgently needed and there is no other way (except of maybe closing one).

19

If the demand is the same, many airlines will simply go bankrupt. They couldn't handle the amount of aircraft, staff, and equipment with only 50% of the incoming money. Yeah, it would make those mega-airlines work really hard to keep their holdings, but if I was one of those mega-airlines, and after five years of very intricate and time-consuming work, if AS just said "Well, you have to reconfigure everything in your airline to keep it afloat", I would be extremely upset.

Imagine a little brother or sister coming along and erasing your saved game that you worked extremely hard on for a very long time. How upset would you be?

I agree the older worlds could use some revitalization, but this isn't the way to do it.

One way to alleviate these problems would be to introduce the merged gameworld with 2x the slots and 2x demand initially ( so on day one everything works pretty much as before except for new competitors and enough demand and slots for them too ).

For slots instead of allowing 2x slots everywhere this gameworld would allow up too 200% slots to be occupied where needed for the merge, but not allow you to book any new slots unless they are below 100%.

For demand it could scale down from 200% to 100% very slowly over several months, this to allow even the biggest airlines to adapt and give them a possibility of surviving if they want to.

20

Wow, 4 years later, another price increase for the same reason for the same long term worlds. Just mark it.