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Various Newbie Questions


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#1
ChrisInSD

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So I've recently completed my first AE experience in the sandbox world.  I'm pretty pleased how it ended up and have figured a lot of this out.  But I have a few questions I don't really have answers to I am hoping someone can help as I start my first airline in a "normal world."

 

1. I have seen the phrase "Scam IFS" on these forums.  What does that mean?  I also don't understand really what to do with the IFS.  I saw one poster who said you should "maximize profit" on IFS when starting out.  Does this mean offering all the options and charging the maximum amount?  I really don't know how to set this up optimally in this game.  (I intend to operate a 3 class airline, not LCC)

 

2. I have seen the phrase "Spam Airline" on these forums?  What does that mean?  I have assumed it means the experience I had with my last airline--I am nicely serving a route with a 300 pax demand and some crazy man or woman comes in and dumps 35 747s a day on it.  Does it mean that, or something else?  And how do these people make any money doing that?

 

3. Russian airplanes--there have been comments on these forums that "Russian airplanes don't work in western countries" or "they are unreliable" or "they work better in Soviet bloc places compared to other places."  This doesn't make any sense to me--isn't this just a giant database table where the factors of pax, speed, fuel flow, range etc are combined to produce a resulting profit or loss?  Or is there some algorithm that causes Russian planes to have vastly higher maintenance costs or use more fuel if operating in North America vs Russia?  Essentially, is this just real world bias people are making in these comments, or is there something in this game that makes these planes worse than their specs already suggest?

 

4. Employees--there was a comment on these forums that you should cut employees pay and reserve employees etc to nothing to max profit and it has no effect.  Does this have an effect on the frequency factor?

 

5.  Bonds--when is it a good idea to take debt financing?  I cannot figure out when I will have to pay back to the bonds and the amount of the payments/repayment period.

 

I appreciate your help.



#2
Delta-Northwest

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Hi ChrisInSD and welcome to AE! :)

 

I shall try to give a reply to your questions, so you get the hang of things ;)

 

* "Scam IFS"

Scam IFS is a setup for your In Flight Service in order to maximise profits from each passenger in order to get a higher profit margin wich will enable you to grow faster, while it may not be the most ethical thing to do.

if you want to try out ScamIFS there is a few topics on the forum that explains how to maximse it.

the best advice i can give you on IFS/IFE is try it out and see what works best for your gameplay experience :)

 

*Spam Airline

Spam airline, is an airline that may operate 10 times as many frequencies on a route than it is demand for, or an airline that have 1000+ planes flying litterally everywhere, just like you can say someone would spam a chatroom or forum with words.

 

* Russian planes

Russian planes have no real disatvantages in game, however most like to play realisticly and therfore not use russian aircrafts in the western world.

 

* Employees

There is a trend to dump pay for employees and while the direct salary costs go down to a bare minimum, you pay much greater in training fees and in morale hit wich do effect your airline rating ;)

 

* Bonds

Bonds are paid automaticly and you do not have to do anything with them!

They can be a great way to finance the last bit for a aircraft purchase but be aware that it does affect your credit rating (Wich determines how many aircrafts you may lease at a given time)

so use bonds with caution ;)

 

 

Also there is great tutorials and loads of information available at our beginners tutorial and game refference pages! (Linked below, as well as in the menu bar on the site under "Guides and refferences"

 

http://www.airline-e...our-first-a-r14

 

http://www.airline-e...e/articles.html

 

 


Delta-Northwest  :viking: 

 


#3
ChrisInSD

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Thanks!  I already have been through the basic tutorial, which doesn't cover any of these items.  I will check the other page on Employee training costs.  It's too bad there isn't an article on that page about IFS or bonds. 

 

Re bonds, the payments may be automatic, but what is the payment amount and repayment period?  How do I know this so I can judge whether or not I can afford them and in what amount?

 

Regarding the Russian planes, that's helpful--however, I suspect the Russians would have been thrilled if customers from other countries had actually bought their planes so I don't see why we have to do everything that real life airlines do.  The "spam airline" thing is another matter though, and is extremely irritating.  I am still unclear how these airlines make money when they overfill a route--it would suggest their planes are flying empty meaning they would go out of business.  Instead, in many cases, they seem to be the biggest airlines.



#4
Delta-Northwest

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Bonds are paid back over 5 years if i remember correctly, with a interest rate equal to your credit rating.

The bonds themself are beeing paid back at the date you took it so even if you have a negative cash balance you will still be debited and therfore lead you into even more red numbers.

 

Well, different people have different playstyle so while some choose planes just based on their needs, others like to choose a bit more realisticly for example all Boeing fleet or All Airbus fleet etc.

 

Spam airlines is sadly a problem for realistic gameplay, however at this time with the way the site works it is not practically possible to limit theese airlines.


Delta-Northwest  :viking: 

 


#5
v35n

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I highly do not recommend bonds as they are a big threat. Once you cannot pay off the bonds your airline will go bankrupt.
Russian aircraft tend to be a bit not fuel efficient or they just have terrible stats
Dumping pay for employees is good at the beginning of the game but lowers reputation later

#6
Pasti

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I highly do not recommend bonds as they are a big threat. Once you cannot pay off the bonds your airline will go bankrupt.


I’m assuming you’re having these bad experiences with bonds because you’ve probably taken out too many $5,000,000 loans and weren’t able to pay them all back.

Bonds are great for starting off, as they can give you a decent boost in your expansion capabilities earlier in the game, especially if you’re not running a spamliner and have to deal with lower profit margins as a result. However, be reasonable with them, as bonds =/= free money. You will need to pay them back, and the more money you take out, the more you’ll have to pay back (annual interest percentage is the same for all bonds, but it’s proportionate to the amount of money being loaned). I’d suggest a few smaller bonds so interest and the lowered credit rating don’t hurt you as much.

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#7
tehsuigi

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I usually get a 5M bond or two when I'm starting out just to finance an airline lease arrangement. Once I'm up and running with a healthy DOP, I don't bother.

 

@OP: I usually stay away from worlds where spamliners dominate, or I don't try to win and have fun with themed playthroughs.



#8
ChrisInSD

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Thanks guys, helpful.



#9
Maple_MK

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So...
What's the difference between range and max range?
I want to buy ERJ-145ERs but the range is too short for my routes, but the max range is more than enough.
Does max range mean least amount of pax onboard?
If so, i'll have to buy XRs but i don't want to if the max range works because it's way too much.
Thanks!

#10
sound_guy0918

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Max range is the range with basically 1 PAX.  In most cases if you use typical FCY layouts, you can add ~100 miles to the base range.






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