17 replies to this topic

[miller22 (inactive)]

The rankings page has been updated. There is a major change you should all be aware of:

You will now be ranked according to your lifetime profit, rather than your valuation. This should help with some of the cheating issues, and will set us up for some exciting competitions in the near future.

[Glennos]

Nice to see some progress at last but what does this mean exactly?

How do the rankings work now?

What is Lifetime Profit and how is it calculated?

At this time I see myself ranked

Current Ranking: 496/512

Which I can live with seeing as I'm not playing and have 2 j31's , however I am higher up the rankings than someone with hundreds of planes and alot more income than my 0$

[miller22 (inactive)]

Lifetime profit is calculated just like you'd expect. We add up all revenues and subtract all expenses throughout the lifetime of your airline. This will create a different dynamic because now it's not about how big your airline is, it's who much money you make.

You're seeing a lot of $0 profits because the database hasn't been updated for everyone yet, only those who've logged in since I updated it. Once the month changes over, all profits will be accurate.

[Glennos]

Having said that I am still somewhat confused because my airline has made alot of profits over the years and is still way behind other airlines who have made alot less "Lifetime Profit" which of course would be normal seeing as they just stared playing the game. I would expect then in this case all high airline ID's to be at the lower end of the rankings

If this is the case then I think that this ranking mechanism is flawed becaused why should new airlines be penalised just because they started playing the game later?

Or maybe you still have to adjust some things I don't know. A good reason to keep everyone in the loop about the changes being made me thinks!

Anyway good that at least something is being done!

[miller22 (inactive)]

When we were using valuation as a ranking method, the same issue of older airlines having an advantage existed. The longer you've been around, the more assets you're going to have.

I would consider a latest monthly profit as a ranking number, but the problem with that is you could see one airline have a bad month and end up at the bottom. That wouldn't be an accurate representation of how well they played the game as a whole, and it could allow players to artificially boost their profits for one month by selling everything to show a quick profit.

There is a definite benefit to joining the game right at reset. There's really no way around it.

[fish10]

I'm not sure if its calculating correctly, I went back to the main page to have myself updated and its showing me with the same lifetime profit as Twister, but mine should be a little over 600 million higher according to the info I see.

When by the way did the lifetime profit start calculating? Looks like about game month October Year 2?

[miller22 (inactive)]

A good way to check it would be to go to your finance page and add up your year to date profits and your last year profits. Remember, this isn't just your DOP. That includes only aircraft variable expenses.

Lifetime Profits includes all fixed costs, such as gate leasing, aircraft deprectiation, etc that you've ever paid. DOP is such a poor indicator of an airline's situation that it's unheard of outside airline management sims.

[Glennos]

Well this is quite a big change so maybe we can have a reset soon it would be a good test of how it works. There's no shame in resetting often if "big" changes are made often.

The former ranking style on valuation was in my opinion not too bad, you need to sort out all the stuff around it to stop the cheating. Buying selling planes cheap.

The present used market is not foolproof, for example you can sell to other airlines you own if you set the prices right. Just getting rid of that buying / selling @ 50% would fix a big hole to start with. Anyway I'm getting off topic.

We'll see when the reset is as to how the ranking works out. Some sort of ranking is necessary otherwise there's no point in playing the game ;-)

[markiemark]

Well, in my eyes I think this ranking looks more fair as before. For sure Royal Khmer Airlines should be a lot more in value as me, and is the correct nbr 1 :sniff:. Especially that he made a lot more profit in the beginning as me.
I only do not understand why the cash in hand is not calculated with the value. Somebody can have 3 or 4 billion cash, but if its not calculated with the value, he will drop down on the list very far. Maybe its a good idea to add that either in a next update.

[flightsimer]

so people with a higher profit margin, should be higher correct?

[fish10]

Well, in my eyes I think this ranking looks more fair as before. For sure Royal Khmer Airlines should be a lot more in value as me, and is the correct nbr 1 :sniff:. Especially that he made a lot more profit in the beginning as me.

You and I both have made a whole lot more than the 2.5-3 billion in profits that its showing, this just started calculating in the last couple of game months, in recent months, we've actually been pretty close. Its still not correct, on the ranking page I'm seeing both of us with exactly the same lifetime profits, which isn't true.
I'm curious to see where British Airways and Skystar fall in, they haven't went back to the home page yet to reset their ranking.

[markiemark]

Okay, that's for sure true. And I can agree that its impossible to have exactly the same profit by hte $ in the same period. But in a sort of way its also probably a very difficult process with how to calculate. You can not put the one with the highest profit a month on the nbr one ranking, as their real value could be a lot lower. And someone with a bad month can also not lose his rank, as probably he still can own a lot of airplanes with a lot of value.

But what I was meaning is that your available cash money is also a part of the companies value, its called cash flow. These days companies can not run without it. But for sure not a ranking by profit a month.

[fish10]

You can not put the one with the highest profit a month on the nbr one ranking, as their real value could be a lot lower. And someone with a bad month can also not lose his rank, as probably he still can own a lot of airplanes with a lot of value.

I'm pretty sure the idea is to make it the profit of the entire round, it just so happens that we're already in year 3 of the game and it only started counting a few days ago... however its still not counting right. Royal Khmer and Twister both still show the same for lifetime profit, even after the month change.

I think because of the ranking bug in the old system this will be more fair as long as it starts working. It would be even nicer if it included the profits from the entire round as I'm sure it was intended to.

But what I was meaning is that your available cash money is also a part of the companies value, its called cash flow. These days companies can not run without it. But for sure not a ranking by profit a month.

I'm pretty sure an airline's cash on hand is calculated in the old Valuation system but it was bugged and only displayed the correct value on the rankings page when you logged in and went through the main screen.

[Maestro69]

Nice to see a change to the rankings. Hopefully this will result in a more fairer judgement of how the competition is doing compared to your airline and vice-versa.

Even though this current round is far from finished, im sure we will see the true extend of this change in regards to the rankings once a new round starts.

[Glennos]

after waiting a while and maybe it's too soon but the current changes are in my opinon absolutely worthless.


1) They are supposed to make the ranking more fair
In my opinion it's more complicated , fix the simple things first!

2) If you are going to make a change on this scale, then inform everyone first how it should / work! Yes I know it's free but that is no excuse, I have many free software products on my pc but when they are updated I know why and what the changes are!

3) There has been absolutely NO feedback on what has been mentioned before as bugs or enhancements! If you are not interested in the players opinions then please say so!

Yes this may seem like I'm a moaning person but I think I have a right to, I have been playing this game for 3 years with little progression until now.

[fish10]

Glennos, see my most recent thread in the Game Discussion forum, there was a pretty major change that I am pretty sure you're not going to like. Miller forgot to include it in the changes thread today. I was going to PM you but your account here doesn't allow PM's now.

[travelhouse]

Well take a look at the rankings now Last place

Just mothballed my airline had enough of the issues and thought best to leave and find another game to play.

My lifetime value is :puzzled:

Bye Bye all enjoy this and hope to look into AE now and again to see if you are all still here.

[miller22 (inactive)]

Due to the complaints I switched it back to valuation, which we can do rather quickly. We'll be moving to a lifetime profit ranking system after the next reset, so make sure you know how to make money, not just spend it.