I have been playing AS for a few months now. By trial and error, I make decisions that either work, or don't. But there' s no consistency in what works, when it works, when it doesn't, I would really like to have an advisor. This game consumes my time. I play from morning until I just get so burned out, I have to force myself to do something else. Since I started playing AS, I have experimented with several enterprises, in several game worlds.
Currently, I am playing in Quimby (RAW - REEDER AIRWAYS) because there are double slots. I found that I couldn’t really play in the others I tried. I like to fly to and from LAX/ SMX/ SFO/ SBP/ SBA/ SAN/ - Basically providing commuter services. But I do have a jet that I use between mega airports like LAX/DFW/MDW/IAD - That one does good most of the time.
But I really can’t fly to SBP. The game chainsaws my seats from 36 to 24. Had to get rid of that plan. That is just one example of frustration. Everyone tries to tell me to get a turbo prop. Can’t do that. There are either no on auction, or the ones that are go so slow, they have no business flying anywhere. I like to provide customers with a timely way to get places. I could drive on the public roads and highways as fast as some of these turbos go. So I got to use EMB’s and CRJ’s.
Then, there are an indefinite amount of impossible route restrictions. This is due to what AS refers to as “slot blocking” - EVERYONE likes the route restrictions that smaller aircraft are not permitted to take off and land between mega airports. Well I don’t. Personally, I have in real life flown between 2 mega airports in a CRJ. But what Im trying to say is that there’s no way for a CEO to check weather a particular plane has route restrictions between certain airports.
There are so many inconsistencies in this game, that perhaps I don’t understand. I would really appreciate an advisor or consultant even if I have to pay with AS$ for it each week.
This is just about 8 percent of the inconsistencies I have with AS. But I don’t like AWS because there’s no real accounting method, And AE has no way to schedule flights. - the rest of them out there are cartoons! I don’t participate in cartoon games that try to be realistic. It’s not my cup of tea. That is like trying to take the words of a man seriously while he’s sitting on the toilet with his pants down! LOL.
"But what Im trying to say is that there's no way for a CEO to check weather a particular plane has route restrictions between certain airports."
This is not true. On each information site of each singel plane, you can find which routes / airports are allowed for that plane.
Have you read this forum, also searched for "airlinesim for beginners" which will give you very good basics, and on top of this, have you already watched the tutorials on youtube? If not, you shoudl start here.
The catch with this game is you either grow to control over 60% of your hub airport or you die. Period. If you actually want to just run a small airline my suggestion is to go play in a smaller country where no one else will bother you. Just go look at all the older servers....there are very few small airlines in the bigger markets. A few airlines that at minimum control their hub airport in the newer servers. And then there are the mega-airlines like in Nicosia. You have to achieve critical mass or you lose.
As to SBP have you tried a CRJ700nextgen? It seems that that plane could get in and out of that runway. A good tool to learn to use is the "Aircraft Type Evaluation" as you can change the seat settings and stuff and see how many seats will be available on each route and get a feel for what types of gains/losses you might make.
By the way, this game currently punishes those that try to build point to point airlines because of the way connecting passengers are calculated. It is possible that once the next update with the 26 types of passenger types you might be able to run a point to point airline just depending on direct passengers but I'll reserve judgement until I see how it actually works.
But I really can't fly to SBP. The game chainsaws my seats from 36 to 24. Had to get rid of that plan. That is just one example of frustration. Everyone tries to tell me to get a turbo prop. Can't do that. There are either no on auction, or the ones that are go so slow, they have no business flying anywhere.
Place an order for new dash 8 instead of searching on the used market if you really want to do it that way
Having advised multiple people previously but sadly I cant promise you or anyone any help as my time is quite tight. If you play AS from morning till you get burned out I would suggest you to shut down your computer completely and spend your time on other stuff. A computer should in no way consume your life. Try to engage with people, make friends, get a girlfriend (or boyfriend if that is what you are into), travel, party do anything which takes your time away from your computer. Probably you dont either have a job or studies if you play AS from mornings and I suggest you get one of them. Personally I study International Business and do some business on the side to build experience. To be honest I would feel bad for advising you in AS if that truly is your life situation. If you truly want to continue with AS I suggest you read the forums and as Quimby is such a young world I dont really know anyone sitting on a bunch of money who could help you but on any other world there should be players willing to help you. If you attempt on Stapleton I might be able to help you but I dont have anytime to research any other world.
- unstructured schedule that does not favor the transfer of passengers between flights
- mostly international routes rather than domestic
- already four different maintenance categories
- standard seats in Y
...
so, I recommend the same solution as to everyone: read the according threads e.g. this one as one of many )on this msg board, inform yourself about the game mechanics and, preferable, find a less challenged spot to start in.
Controlling 60% of the hub market? On devau I’m based in FCO and controlling 7% of the market. I quite fine, not even close of dying out. Yet. I even have the profit to give vodka and cocaine to my passengers blin
The current AGEX on Devau is over 1,000. That is unusually high thus leading to better results for everyone. When the AGEX falls back into the 700's life will get much more difficult for your airline. Your connecting passengers will probably dry up considerably in that environment and there will be almost 30-40% fewer direct passengers as well. So to stay full you will actually have to TAKE market share and not just ride the wave.
That isn't to say you can't make it but when failures occur after the first week or two of operations it almost always occurs once AGEX is low. (It usually seems to coincide with the summer months (here in the US anyway) for some reason. So grow while you can but be prepared to have to do some changing up then.
This is the main risk for companies that don't control a sizeable portion of their home hub. But it is also why this is the right time to try to get an airline off the ground. With a little luck you could be positioned to completely take over your home market. (All you need is for a bigger player to either quit or go bust...which can and has happened. See the recent big drop out on Idlewild)
Just wondering if someone could provide me basic advice on how the "wave" departure system works. I understand it in theory, where you'll have (for example) a bunch of flights all departing at 1000, 1500, etc. But then how do you ensure that the feeder flights arrive all at the same time? Also, wouldn't this lead to gaps in an aircrafts schedule thus minimizing time in flight? For the most part I've just been scheduling my aircraft to depart as soon as they land and just have a 2-3hr block somewhere at the end of that.
Any suggestions/advice is appreciated! Thanks :ph34r:
Imagine the minimum transfer time at your airport is 1 hour. So if you want planes to leave your airport just after 12:00, you make them all arive at the airport just before 10:59. Therefore, passengers will be coming from all directions into your airport, then have a wide range of connecting destinations to pick from, spending only little more than an hour in transit between both planes. This will make them more likely to choose your hub as a connecting airport than the competition.
Also, wouldn't this lead to gaps in an aircrafts schedule thus minimizing time in flight?
Yes. Wave scheduling usually means a less efficient use of airplanes as they will make fewer flights per week than they would if you made them depart as soon as they landed. The profit you get from connecting passengers usually more than compensates for that, however.
Also, once you get a lot of planes you can use them more efficiently, at least on the major routes, as there will always be one plane coming or going at the right time.
First of all, since this is my first post, I find reasonable to introduce myself.
I've played AS for less than one month and I love it.
After reading some tutorials/tips here and watch a good few videos of AP, I've started in old servers, so I could do some testing, such as trying old vs new planes, wave system, cabin configuration, domestic market... in short, play around.
Now it's the time to found an airline, and hopefully, successful. Although I can find tons of great information here, there are some details that due to the fact of being so specific, would require more experience.
For instance, I've found my company that for now is just covering the domestic market. I still need to cover the small airports. Obviously, the strategy is to cover them before going international.
Should I focus first on the domestic airports with higher demand, or going to small airports so can be used as feeders?
This is a typical question, that in my opinion, where the answer depends on many factors. That's why I would like to ask the support of an experienced player.
Thanks so much for the reading and considering helping me.
I kind of prefer to establish a "reasonable" network as in real life. Though if you want to grow fast(er), I would believe you should concentrate on those routes where you have a good load and increase frequency.
If you have a 100% load on a route, chances are that an additional flight will also get a good load. If you try a new destination, you will not know if you get a good load or not. Drawback is, you probably will not setup a clear wave system and make it less optimal for future flights to connect.
So I guess as with many points in this game, the answer is "it depends".
One thing to consider might be to better concentrate on bigger airports first, to get the remaining slots as long as there still are some available. Smaller airports tend to get filled more slowly. But that is mostly the case for 7/8 bar and up. Airports below should in many cases still have some slots available.
In my situation, my hub is a 7 bar, and I'm connecting only to 4 bar airports for now. The other airports are 3 bar.
As you said, in this game, many of the answers will be... "it depends", as there are no two identical situations. That's why I'm looking for a mentor (in case that this program is still up).