doc8179 From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 1 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 3756 times:
First off - please don't take this as advertising - I am not looking for website traffic, I am looking for help from people who have a genuine interest in strategy games.
I have always had a love for flight and flight sim games. Waaaay back in the day I used to play AeroBiz (im sure most of you know it) and I really missed the game. I have to be honest I wanted to improve upon it. I started learning PHP website design and database work and started up a project of my own in hopes to create a massive player version.
I sorta hit a wall with the project and right now lack people to give me feed back and suggestions on what and how to do things....
I found a couple of online games (flash based ) they were similar, one called airline? I couldn't find a working version of it anywhere. I was going to see how they did things and how it worked.
So, what, if any strategy games (airline based) have you played, been playing or really miss and what did the game do right and what did it do wrong?
Help me avoid the bad and include the good and even tell me if this is something that people would enjoy or if i am just wasting my time.
nipoel123 From Netherlands, joined Jan 2011, 173 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 3715 times:
I've been playing Airline Mogul for quite some time, although not that often anymore nowadays. It's great in terms of aircraft diversity; most, if not every plane that has been built is in there. On the downside, creating and replacing routes is one hell of a job, and depending on the size of your airline could take ages to complete. The developers are, however, working on a feature called Hotswap, which allows you do to a one to one replacement of aircraft on routes.
There are other issues too. It's almost impossible to profitably do long-haul; you have to have a good short-haul network in order to cover for the losses on long-haul. This is mainly due to the formula used to calculate how much PAX are willing to pay on a specific route, and the maintenance formula.
I personally miss a more extensive alliance feature, as now you can only use each other's bases to create routes from. There's no such thing as codesharing, unfortunately.
All in all, it's a nice game, but it has it's flaws.
regards,
Nick
one mile of road leads to nowhere, one mile of runway leads to anywhere
notaxonrotax From Netherlands, joined Mar 2011, 359 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 months 3 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 3692 times:
"Airline tycoon" on I-phone is pretty cool.
I haven´t seen an update for a while now........but they used to expand quite a lot on the routes you could open.
No Tax On Rotax
Als vader voorlicht, kan je merken dat hij achter ligt.
jwhite9185 From United Kingdom, joined exactly 5 years ago today! , 206 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 months 2 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 3555 times:
airwaysim - although i keep going bankrupt!! Not too sure how long I'm going to keep paying for it if it carries on!!
On the cards: AMS, FCO, AGP. In the bag: FRA, BRU, DUB, NCE, GLA, JFK
I also play airwaysim, it took a while to understand the game but after a couple of months I was able to run airlines with more than 100 planes and with a value of more a billion USD! It is a very realistic game though is a bit expensive.
"Cathay 018, expect very late landing clearance, 747 departing ahead", tower said.
coopdogyo From United States of America, joined Jan 2010, 172 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3538 times:
Airwaysim is one of the best airline management sims out there. It is definitely one of the most realistic and unlike many sims you can make a good amount of money on long haul. It does cost money but it is definitely worth it.
jwhite9185 From United Kingdom, joined exactly 5 years ago today! , 206 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 3496 times:
Quoting lppr95 (Reply 4): I also play airwaysim, it took a while to understand the game but after a couple of months I was able to run airlines with more than 100 planes and with a value of more a billion USD! It is a very realistic game though is a bit expensive.
Only on my 2nd game world so far, and I'm always wondering how people make mega rich airlines when I'm struggling to make a profit!!
Managed a big airline in beginners world, but in MT6 I've BK'd 3 times already!
On the cards: AMS, FCO, AGP. In the bag: FRA, BRU, DUB, NCE, GLA, JFK
dnstevenson From United States of America, joined Mar 2011, 6 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 3456 times:
Quoting notaxonrotax (Reply 2):
"Airline tycoon" on I-phone is pretty cool.
I haven´t seen an update for a while now........but they used to expand quite a lot on the routes you could open.
I second Air Tycoon for iPhone. They released a new version a little bit ago - Air Tycoon II. Both are pretty easy to "win", but still fun for a few hours.
jwhite9185 From United Kingdom, joined exactly 5 years ago today! , 206 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 months 2 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 3414 times:
Just having a quick look at AirlineSim (thanks by the way - not heard of this one!) and they both seem pretty similar to me.
Major difference with Airwaysim is that you have set game worlds running from say 1992 to 2019.
On the cards: AMS, FCO, AGP. In the bag: FRA, BRU, DUB, NCE, GLA, JFK
UA744SYD From Australia, joined Feb 2012, 8 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (3 months 1 week 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 3167 times:
airline sim is pretty good, still getting the hang of it though! you can have different airlines on different servers so can try out different strategies at the same time
doug_Or From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 3038 posts, RR: 4 Reply 12, posted (2 months 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 2273 times:
After playing both Airline and Airways sims, here are my impressions.
AW is a much more accessible and polished toy. It has a number of somewhat superficial features (which could be added to AL) that make it mirror the running of a real airline pretty well. AL is more difficult to use and much harder to get a good start at, but the core of the game's engine makes for a simulation that is overall, an order of magnitude more realistic.
For those who have not played either, both allow you to run an airline, procure aircraft, set up and price routes, and try to make a profit in a world populated by hundreds of other competing players. In AW you select a base airport at the beginning of the game to start your airline at. All routes must be roundtrips from that base. You may set up additional bases as your airline reaches various milestones (#of aircraft, months in operation, etc.). There is a set number of passengers on each city pair (which grows throughout the game). In AL you select a base, but all that really matters is your home country. You are free to set up any flights you want (real world traffic rights do apply to international flights). Passengers going between two cities can choose to take non stop options, make connections, or even fly to nearby airports and drive to their destination.
-Slots
Both games have slots at airports, and both operate with a use it or loose it system. In AL all you have to do is assign an aircraft to operate a flight, and you can get an available slot. In AW you must buy slots before you can use them. These slots are non transferable, so changing your schedule by 5 minutes or changing aircraft types can cost you millions of dollars (which is ridiculous if you don't mind me saying so).
-Maintenance
You must maintain your aircraft in both games, but how it is done is very different.
In AW aircraft must under go weekly A checks, monthly B checks, annual C checks, and once every several years, an extensive (and expensive D check). A checks are scheduled into your weekly schedule, but the rest are superimposed on it, so that when the checks come up, the aircraft simply goes out of service and does not operate the flights. Checks are always performed in the aircraft's base.
In AL each aircraft has a maintenance percentage. If this number fall below 50 it is unflyable. When making your weekly schedule any breaks over 2 hours are used to perform maintenance (no matter the location).
---commonality
The AL approach to commonality is rather ham-fisted: you may have up to 3 aircraft types without penalty. After that you pay a hefty surcharge on all MX costs for each additional fleet type. AW is more nuanced; each fleet type has certain costs associated with administration, training, and spares, and as a fleet grows you realize economies of scale.
-Marketing
In AW you can (almost must) operate advertising campaigns to boost your airline's image. This is not currently an implemented feature in AL.
-Aircraft Market
Both games allow you to purchase or lease new or used aircraft.
New aircraft ordered from the manufacturer have a set rate of production in both games. In AL this number is static and only works on a per player basis (even if there are 300 737 orders ahead of you, once you order you will begin receiving a new plane once every 12 hours). In AW manufacturers increase and decrease production base on demand. AW also has a slot system, so that order backlogs are global.
Used prices for aircraft in AL are simple and based on the type and age of aircraft for sale. Only aircraft less than 3 years old are available for lease. You can buy, sell, and lease aircraft with other players, but the sim determines the price. In AW the price of used aircraft on the open market is determined by how popular they are and how long they've been on the market, and individual can set their own selling and leasing rates (within a defined range).
-Finance markets
Both sims allow you do take out loans to grow your business. The amount you can borrow and the rate at which you can borrow depends on your owned assets, the current interest rate, and your credit rating.
AL has a stock market, but their are no AI investors and the anti cheating regulations make it almost worthless for everything except mergers and acquisitions.
-Image
Both games have an image rating for your airline that determines how desirable your brand is to potential passengers. In AL your image is determined by the quality of soft and hard product that previous passengers have experienced. In AW your company image is a product of marketing campaigns, reliability, and aircraft age and condition. AW also has route image, which is chiefly determined by how long you have been serving a route.
-Operations
Aircraft in the AL world always depart on time. In AW short turnarounds, random winter weather, unhappy or short staffed employees, and old or poorly maintained aircraft can cause delays or cancelations, which negatively affect your image.
-Alliance/interlining
AW has an alliance feature that takes a certain percent of your income in return for a modest increase in traffic. The alliance feature in AL is purely cosmetic, but the interlining feature is very important. By interlining with other carriers you are able to expand your network without actually flying to all of the far flung corners of the globe. It also allows you to operate as a feeder or regional airline, sending passengers from small towns to connect in major hubs for a bigger partner.
Alright, I'm running out of steam. If anyone is actually reading this I'll finish off Staff, hard/soft product, game navigability, route setup, and the conclusion a little later.
Anyone play Airline 7 (airlinesimulation.com)? It's got a price tag, not sure if it's worth it or what.
I tried Airline Mogul last year when I found it. While it was sorta fun at first, pretty soon the game just got to be annoying (the maintenance and demand formulas are very unrealistic, so that it's never more profitable to fly multiple frequencies on a route than to just fly 1x/day, and use the plane's remaining hours on a different route, you can't possibly make money flying planes larger than 200 seats, long-haul flights are almost guaranteed to lose money over time, an airline flying a turboprop on a 1000-mile route can charge a higher fare than one flying jets, etc.). Changing a plane on a route requires you to close it and relaunch it, with all of the headaches that entails.
Also, a lot of stuff on their "to-do" list (like hotswapping) seems to have been on their to-do list forever, with no real movement on actually getting it done.
Personally, I think it would be cool for someone to port Aerobiz into an online-playable format. I'd be kickass at connecting all 22 cities in the world, flying 767s from Vancouver-Sydney, etc. But anyway...yeah, any reviews on Airline 7 would be cool.
nipoel123 From Netherlands, joined Jan 2011, 173 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (1 month 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1722 times:
Quoting hOMsar (Reply 13): Also, a lot of stuff on their "to-do" list (like hotswapping) seems to have been on their to-do list forever, with no real movement on actually getting it done.
Hotswap is currently in public BETA, and will be released soon. I do agree with the problems with the demand & maintenance formulas.
one mile of road leads to nowhere, one mile of runway leads to anywhere
csturdiv From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 1254 posts, RR: 4 Reply 15, posted (1 month 2 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1580 times:
It is not really an airline simulation game, but a SimCity meets aviation type of game. On my Android tablet I am playing a game called Airport City. You start off with a single prop plane, and have to build up your airport and city to support the airport as it grows. Just a simple time killer.
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 12883 posts, RR: 30 Reply 16, posted (1 month 1 week 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1349 times:
Quoting csturdiv (Reply 15): On my Android tablet I am playing a game called Airport City. You start off with a single prop plane, and have to build up your airport and city to support the airport as it grows. Just a simple time killer.
I had that on my HTC Incredible phone. It was fun at first, but then it became so time consuming and killed my battery it was just not worth it anymore. I couldn't really do much after buying the 3rd plane and 2nd runway. I took it off my phone after one week.
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
adrian26 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2010, 1 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (2 weeks 1 day 7 hours 17 minutes ago) and read 608 times:
Quoting hOMsar (Reply 13): Anyone play Airline 7 (airlinesimulation.com)? It's got a price tag, not sure if it's worth it or what.
I have been using Airline 7 for a while now. Don't really play it anymore, its full of bugs and there has not been a new update for it since November 2011 and it really needs one. It can be fun but the interface is outdated and its not worth the money.
Tried Airline mogul thats fun and free. On Airport city at the minute which is fun too, also Cyber airlines is a good free game.
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 1 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Jan 2011, 173 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined exactly 5 years ago today! 
, 206 posts, 
From Portugal, joined Mar 2010, 93 posts, 
From Australia, joined Feb 2012, 8 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
