9 replies to this topic

[ashwinmpillai]

I have been playing AE for quite some time, like 3-4 years. In every season you can see at least one player cheating. he gets all the aircrafts, will be the number one, will get huge valuation. how is this possible? Right now I am playing R6, there one guy with an airline named "Saudia" he owns over 10000 planes, owns 200 gates in almost all the airports of Saudi Arabia. He ranks number 1 in the game world, he is operating flights to routes where demand is not there!!! How is generating revenue? Surely he is cheating or exploiting a bug. Guys any idea why this is happening!?

 

Please find the screenshots attached for your reference

 

 

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[Bonza]

This has been happening for years.

the devs won't do anything about it

[Airboss777]

Have you asked the player? As they say, if you can't beat them, join them.

[TarquinShrapnel-Carruthers]

I have been playing AE for quite some time, like 3-4 years. In every season you can see at least one player cheating. he gets all the aircrafts, will be the number one, will get huge valuation. how is this possible? Right now I am playing R6, there one guy with an airline named "Saudia" he owns over 10000 planes, owns 200 gates in almost all the airports of Saudi Arabia. He ranks number 1 in the game world, he is operating flights to routes where demand is not there!!! How is generating revenue? Surely he is cheating or exploiting a bug. Guys any idea why this is happening!?

 

Please find the screenshots attached for your reference

It is known as spamlining, and is a problem in many of the worlds. It works because the game's model for connecting passengers is unrealistic because it generates extra passengers at every hub. Sadly, the devs have shown no interest in fixing it.

 

Because I don't play like this I am no expert but my understanding is that you need a couple of hubs with pax numbers to start.

 

If you are going down this route, a) please don't and b. I suggest you play in Open worlds. If not, a) good on you, and b. play for reputation rather than value.

 

That said, what a cool route map.

[Abhorsen]

Me. Not a cheat or bug exploit, just a weird game mechanic as per the post above. Wanted to try the strategy and see how it would go.

 

That said, what a cool route map.

[TarquinShrapnel-Carruthers]

Not a cheat or bug exploit, just a weird game mechanic as per the post above. 

 

Not sure how you distinguish between a weird game mechanic and a bug.

[Abhorsen]

Not sure how you distinguish between a weird game mechanic and a bug.

 

Bug would be a genuine programming error on the part of the devs. For instance, if I was able to trick the game into delivering a 737 every week instead of every 2 weeks, that would be a bug. Then again, everyone seems to draw the line just above what they're doing, so maybe some folks around here would be ok with that.

 

The game is working as it's supposed to from a technical perspective. I'm sure the devs didn't expect the strategy to be so strong, and it definitely isn't realistic (like much of this game), but that doesn't make it a bug.

[TarquinShrapnel-Carruthers]

The game is working as it's supposed to from a technical perspective. I'm sure the devs didn't expect the strategy to be so strong, and it definitely isn't realistic (like much of this game), but that doesn't make it a bug.

 

Yes, it works technically but that does not mean it isn't a bug. Whatever the cause - unintended consequence or bug - we agree that it is unrealistic. Certainly there are other unrealisms but this is the only one that really distorts game-play. That all said, we are dancing with the semantics. It is what it is and the devs show no interest in fixing it.

 

Then again, everyone seems to draw the line just above what they're doing, so 

 

I agree with this. For example, I am OK with high price/low quality IFS; my rationale for it being OK is that there is a downside (poor IFS rating, which affects reputation, route take-up, etc.) whereas exploiting the connecting passengers feature does not.

[Abhorsen]

For example, I am OK with high price/low quality IFS; my rationale for it being OK is that there is a downside (poor IFS rating, which affects reputation, route take-up, etc.) whereas exploiting the connecting passengers feature does not.

 

Fair. My rationale is that using connecting passengers doesn't affect the average player who isn't playing for valuation/rank. The strategy makes its own demand, and even on routes where there's competition I usually have 0% (or maybe 1%) market share since my prices are usually ~3x default. And if players are playing for rank but still demanding realism, it feels like they're asking who can make the least realistic realistic airline, since all those unrealistic tricks (scam IFS, 660Y 744s, $7 wages etc) are going to increase your profits and rank. I just don't buy that as an argument and figure that as long as I'm not preventing folks from making their own fun airlines, it's fine.

 

This is also part of the reason I chose to operate in Saudi Arabia - when I joined 5 years after the world started there were no other airlines there, so figured I wasn't unreasonably taking market share from anyone in the setup.

 

Never going to advocate (for example) for the kind of spamlines that operate with $1 fares on routes, though, since that directly affects players who want to operate them. Guess we all have different lines.

[KINGXyro]

And that is why I started playing for reputation lmao