Question regarding Price and Fill degree

[PzKenny]

Hi All,

I have been following this game for some years now, but never played much. So I consider myself a newbie.

The question I have is regarding the following situation. I started a new airline in 1946. I bought 4 used airplanes and ordered 2 new ones. I created short routes to several airports with 1 plane flying the route as much as the plane can. I did not change the 'Base price' the game suggested. All the routes have a 'Fill degree' of around 5%. Even though this is very low (in my opinion) I make reasonable profits.

Because I wanted to increase the 'Fill degree' (and the profits) I lowered the price by about 50% (from $88 to $48). To my surprise both the 'Fill Degree' and the profits didn't change.

Can somebody explain me why that is? Also having only 5% 'Fill degree' doesn't seem to justify a profit of $50 000 per month.

Another thing I noticed is that the one long(er) range flight I have (2656 km) has the same 'Base price' as my 366 km flight, making it a lot less profitable, but the same 'Fill Degree'. This means that there is no relation between distance and price.

Kind Regards,

PzKenny

[Tjoeker]

Hey PzKenny,

most of the issues you mentioned should be fixed in 2.14. So I hope that will improve your experience.

I'll try to explain why you have these issues and how we (will) have fixed them in 2.14.


-Demand before summer 1959 doesn't work that well. Before this date First class is the only class that exists, but demand for First class is very low.
In 2.13 we calculate how many passengers will try to get into a certain class, and like I said demand for First class isn't that high.
Combined with your high supply the filling degree will be very low.

We fixed this in 2.14 by changing the factors of what classes passengers try to book over time.


-I'm honestly surprised the base price doesn't rise for longer flights. I thought it did, albeit not much?
We do have a new formula in 2.14 for this though.


-Raising or lowering prices indeed doesn't have the desired effect on the filling degree.
We found this bug too, but we figured we didn't have to fix it for 2.13 since we were revising the whole thing for 2.14.



For now, 2.13 is more of a version to play around with scheduling and other features. You can play around a little and make money (mostly if you're playing after 1960), but the economics aren't implemented yet and we haven't done any balancing at all. It's an alpha version after all.

With 2.14 we hit the second alpha phase, meaning that we'll start implementing economics and these kind of game mechanics. So be sure to stay tuned a little longer.

[PzKenny]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I understand the issues and will wait for next version before I start a game in 1946 again.

Up to the Sixties for me then.

Kind Regards,

PzKenny

[TheTiger]

Hello,

I also started an airline in 1946, USA, 8 x Lockheed Constellations configured as 80 seat. The aircraft fly east overnight, west in the morning, and north-south during the day. Normally a pretty economical way to go. Sticking to Largest and Very Large airports with the highest demand, but still losing money. In fact, even the competition is losing money. Advertising has no effect. Reducing ticket price has no effect.

I really love managing a post-war airline. I hope it gets fixed soon.

In the meantime, I'll start an airline in 1960 and see how that goes.

[Tjoeker]

I'm glad I can say all these bugs will be fixed in v2.14.

[PzKenny]

I am a little disappointed I still can not play a 1946 start in the game.

There is still only First class seating possible, which is not realistic (can't get more realistic seating numbers) and still makes my Filling degree very low.

Why the decision to use only F-class seating and not Y-class seating before 1959? I think switching this around will make pre-1959 starts work better.

Kind Regards,

PzKenny

[Tjoeker]

We only have first class before '59 because that's the way it was.
This way the passengers also expect a higher service just like back then.

We still have to update demand before '59 indeed.
We still have to do so many things.

That being said, 2.14 already is an improvement over 2.13.

[PzKenny]

We only have first class before '59 because that's the way it was.
This way the passengers also expect a higher service just like back then.

We still have to update demand before '59 indeed.
We still have to do so many things.

That being said, 2.14 already is an improvement over 2.13.

Hi Tjoeker,

I agree 2.14 is an improvement and can understand the service level at post war flights, but isn't 56 seats max in a Lockheed L-049 on the low side?

Now I am thinking about the demand. I have 12 people flying everyday between Amsterdam and Paris. That might not be so unrealistic for 1946. I think I better buy some smaller airplanes.

Kind Regards,

PzKenny

[Tjoeker]

56 seats is the standard configuration. If you play around with the seat pitch and width you can get it up to 80 seats.
The exit limit is 81, but as it is right now, you can only implement full rows. Later we will change this so you can get to the actual seat limit.

edit: demand will also rise once we implement connecting flights.

[PzKenny]

I have to retract my Disappointment.

Have been (slowly) playing for a few hours now (reached 1949) and I am really enjoying it. Fill rates and capacities feel good.

Historically Lockheed L-749 were used to fly from AMS to New York, but that is not possible in the game. My guess is KLM used lower payloads to increase range and this is not a feature in this game. Luckily the Canadair North star has the range and runway requirements to fulfill this role.

Unfortunately I run into an issue. I have removed all routes from an airliner (All tabs are empty), yet I can not sell the airplane saying it still has assigned routes. In the fleet overview screen it shows assigned routes. Is there a way to sell this plane or am I stuck with it. (will turn it into a cargo plane).

But again, really enjoying the game at the moment.

Kind Regards,

PzKenny