08-31-2023, 11:57 AM
Hello All,
I am new to the forums and a new benefactor, still finding my way around, and have a question I don't think I've seen addressed before.
Context about me is probably worthwhile to understand where this question comes from: If there is a spectrum between the thematic (car design, theme park management, industrial development etc.) and economic sides of your typical tycoon game, I am lodged as far as one can go on the economic side of things. I will play just about anything as long as the 'business' side of it is deep, complex, realistic, and challenging. My absolute dream projects are a modern riff on Capitalism Lab and/or Wall Street Raider, a user-friendly commercial version of Vertonomics, and a full-featured nitty-gritty airline sim that is also not an MMO (hello everyone). No amount of economic detail is too much - and I mean that literally.
The absolute closest I have come to scratching the airline itch in the past isn't something like the various airline sim games that are also mostly MMOs. In fact, I want so desperately to like airline sim (https://www.airlinesim.aero/en) that I have signed up and tooled around in it at least ten times, only to want to tear my hair out over the obtuse interface and hours of fiddling only to realize I was one fiddle short when the day resets/updates and I get to do it all again while shuttling zero passengers on zero flights flown. [Honorable mention, however, to a game called Prosperous Universe from the same developer that I've sunk a ton of hours into - the only MMO-ish economy game I've ever played that avoided the pitfalls of the one-a-day turn slog.] No, the closest I have come to getting my airline fix is a plug-in to MSFS called OnAir Company https://www.onair.company/. It dynamically generates passengers, cargo, fuel, staff, funding, and other inputs and outputs that a player can pick up, deliver, and otherwise manage in a dynamic multiplayer world as a layer running behind the flights you simulate. My PC is just decent enough to run MSFS on low settings, but it's not a particularly enjoyable experience to do so and I lack the diligence and available concurrent time to fly 15-hour long-haul flights just to make progress. You can run OnAir stand-alone (i.e. separate from MSFS), but it's pretty hollow to do so.
So, as I finally get around to the point, my suggestion is not very specific and is really more of a plea. My dream for this game is to substitute the 'beefiness' of the car and component design aspects of GC with a robust economic model for AM which takes into consideration not just passenger and route dynamics but also freight, leasing, chartering, codeshares, brokering, the production cycles and reasonable routes for actual cargo types and economic drivers, and fluctuating reactions to supply and demand in not just ticket pricing but the overall economy as a whole. I have no idea if this is reasonable - it's my own personal pipe dream. I have seen Eric state things to the effect that the focus is not detailed plane design, a la GC, which is encouraging as it is consistent with the airline industry and my specific interests. My hope/suggestion is for the enormous front end detail of GC to make its way into the back end of AM, allowing us to apply our own airline scope, scale, and strategy to a dynamic facsimile of the actual worldwide transport and logistics economy. And, to be clear, I respect and admire the degree of back-end detail already present in GC, it's the primary reason I purchased and enjoyed that game as well.
What is the current viewpoint/development path for the financial and non-passenger economy aspects of the game? Is this something that's been discussed prior?
As you can probably tell I am very excited for the game and appreciate this community and the active and meaningful involvement of the Devs. Thanks!!
Jason
I am new to the forums and a new benefactor, still finding my way around, and have a question I don't think I've seen addressed before.
Context about me is probably worthwhile to understand where this question comes from: If there is a spectrum between the thematic (car design, theme park management, industrial development etc.) and economic sides of your typical tycoon game, I am lodged as far as one can go on the economic side of things. I will play just about anything as long as the 'business' side of it is deep, complex, realistic, and challenging. My absolute dream projects are a modern riff on Capitalism Lab and/or Wall Street Raider, a user-friendly commercial version of Vertonomics, and a full-featured nitty-gritty airline sim that is also not an MMO (hello everyone). No amount of economic detail is too much - and I mean that literally.
The absolute closest I have come to scratching the airline itch in the past isn't something like the various airline sim games that are also mostly MMOs. In fact, I want so desperately to like airline sim (https://www.airlinesim.aero/en) that I have signed up and tooled around in it at least ten times, only to want to tear my hair out over the obtuse interface and hours of fiddling only to realize I was one fiddle short when the day resets/updates and I get to do it all again while shuttling zero passengers on zero flights flown. [Honorable mention, however, to a game called Prosperous Universe from the same developer that I've sunk a ton of hours into - the only MMO-ish economy game I've ever played that avoided the pitfalls of the one-a-day turn slog.] No, the closest I have come to getting my airline fix is a plug-in to MSFS called OnAir Company https://www.onair.company/. It dynamically generates passengers, cargo, fuel, staff, funding, and other inputs and outputs that a player can pick up, deliver, and otherwise manage in a dynamic multiplayer world as a layer running behind the flights you simulate. My PC is just decent enough to run MSFS on low settings, but it's not a particularly enjoyable experience to do so and I lack the diligence and available concurrent time to fly 15-hour long-haul flights just to make progress. You can run OnAir stand-alone (i.e. separate from MSFS), but it's pretty hollow to do so.
So, as I finally get around to the point, my suggestion is not very specific and is really more of a plea. My dream for this game is to substitute the 'beefiness' of the car and component design aspects of GC with a robust economic model for AM which takes into consideration not just passenger and route dynamics but also freight, leasing, chartering, codeshares, brokering, the production cycles and reasonable routes for actual cargo types and economic drivers, and fluctuating reactions to supply and demand in not just ticket pricing but the overall economy as a whole. I have no idea if this is reasonable - it's my own personal pipe dream. I have seen Eric state things to the effect that the focus is not detailed plane design, a la GC, which is encouraging as it is consistent with the airline industry and my specific interests. My hope/suggestion is for the enormous front end detail of GC to make its way into the back end of AM, allowing us to apply our own airline scope, scale, and strategy to a dynamic facsimile of the actual worldwide transport and logistics economy. And, to be clear, I respect and admire the degree of back-end detail already present in GC, it's the primary reason I purchased and enjoyed that game as well.
What is the current viewpoint/development path for the financial and non-passenger economy aspects of the game? Is this something that's been discussed prior?
As you can probably tell I am very excited for the game and appreciate this community and the active and meaningful involvement of the Devs. Thanks!!
Jason