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/ /| | / _ \ / ___/ / __ \ / __ \ / / /_ /
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_(__ ) / /_/ / __ /_/ // __/_ / _(__ ) / /_/ /_ / / /_ / / /__
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Aerobiz Supersonic
FAQ/Walkthrough
April 17, 2009
Version 3.0
Written by: Dan Simpson
Email: dsimpson.faqs@gmail.com
When emailing, use this subject: Aerobiz Supersonic v 3.0
Email Policy:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
If you see any mistakes, or have anything that you want to add
please email me! I will, of course, give you full credit for
your addition, and be eternally grateful to you.
Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The most recent version of this FAQ can be found at:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/
Eric Little (elittle04@msn.com) contributed greatly to the content in the
3.0 version. Per his request, I did not tag each addition from him, however
I will summarize the sections he sent, or contributed to, in here: Difficulty
Levels, City Statistics, Airport slots, Plane upkeep, Business ventures and
promotions, Building profitable routes, Inter-regional flights, Regional
flights, Scenarios, and Putting it all together.
If you are a webmaster and wish to post this on your web page, please email
me first. And if you do post this FAQ on your site, please make an attempt
to keep it up to date. There is nothing worse than getting emails from
people who saw an old version asking about things that are already in the
newer versions. Well, maybe there are worse things, but it IS annoying!
This FAQ looks best in Courier New at about 9 points.
This Document is Copyright 1999-2005 by Dan Simpson
Aerobiz Supersonic is Copyright by Koei
I am not affiliated with Koei, or anyone who had anything to do with the
creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as
NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You
may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__________________
What's New in 3.0:
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Eric Little sent in a huge amount of content, which I added where
appropriate. Per his request, I did not tag each contribution, but a
summary of what he sent in can be found above. Added the scenario 4
planes from Marsk Ong.
For a complete Version History, check out the Final Words Section at the end
of the FAQ.
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Table of Contents:
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1. The Scenarios
2. Difficulty Levels
3. The Planes
3.1 Plane Upkeep
4. Game Basics
5. Routes
6. Cities
7. Other Ways to get Money
8. Other Strategies
Final Words...
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1. The Scenarios
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There are 4 scenarios, each has different jets because each is set in a
different time period. Each scenario gives you 20 years to be the best, and
each year has 4 quarters.
1. The Dawn of the Jet Age -- 1955 to 1975
2. Air Travel Takes Off -- 1970 to 1990
3. Airlines Cover the Globe -- 1985 to 2005
4. Supersonic Travel -- 2000 to 2020
For a list of which era has which planes, look in the next section "2. The
Planes" for the list.
After you select your era, you then select a difficulty level, from 1 to 5.
One being easy, five being hard.
Then you select how many human players will play. If this is your first time
with the game, you may want to play on DEMO. You will get to see how the
computer strategizes by watching 4 computer players playing against each
other! For an easier game, select and play more than 1 human player. This
would cut back on actual opponents to compete against.
Note: Due to the amount of wars in the middle east in the "Dawn of the Jet
Age" scenario, it isn't recommended that you have any dealings in
the mid-east in that scenario.
Remember that history is set in stone, and many events like wars and the
Olympics happen exactly the same every time. Each region changes
significantly from scenario to scenario, with the city stats changing each
time. Political events around the world will change relations between
countries and will decide nationality of others. Pay attention to these as
they may have a profound affect on your airline (and may not).
The biggest differences between the scenarios are the cities’ stats. Notice
that in Scenario 4 flights to Noumea, Pappete, and Nandi are fairly good,
while in Scenario 1 they are doomed to failure. Why is this? Because they
haven’t become viable tourist locations yet, they are not yet developed,
something or another. Their stats increase with time, just as Tokyo’s
population changes radically over time. However, the US and European
populations change little between the scenarios because in real life they
have a lower birth rate. Take note of differences such as these between the
scenarios, and realize that not all flights are equally profitable in every
scenario. (Obviously, technology improves with each scenario, and more and
more possibilities come available with new aircraft.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Difficulty Levels
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Aerobiz Supersonic, you have five difficulty levels from which to choose.
Most obviously, the amount of starting cash for each player is decreased as
difficulty is increased, and starting provisions are lowered in terms of
initial slots.
But what else is different about the difficulty levels? My observations are
that the computer works more and more "realisticly" as you move forward in
difficulty level. For example, if you compete with another airline in the
exact same spot (let us choose London—Athens) and you lower the price
significantly, in real life you would get all of the passengers from the
existent airline. That is how capitalism works.
However, in the easier levels, this does not happen—it takes time to
deteriorate “customer loyalty” that is really quite annoying when you are
trying to get that last region. Of course it works both ways—as soon as
Sunrise moves in to New York, you are left on the defensive, and this creates
a situation where prices fall and the airlines lose money.
As the difficulty levels increase, so does the computer’s response to your
actions. For example, if you open a competing route that is a lower price
than the computer’s, the computer will often not react on Level 1 but will
react perfectly in Level 5. Small changes are common on Level 1, with
increasing profoundness as you move to Level 5. On Levels 3 and 4 the
computer begins competing with prices and number of flights. Levels 1 and 2
are marked by the computer just giving up after a couple of turns of a non-
profitable flight. Now this is not all to say that the computer doesn’t ever
change its routes on Level 1 and always does on Level 5, but this is a strong
correlation. Ironically, the computer will never factor in the costs of a
certain plane, in terms of maintenance and fuel. So you will often see
western countries buying those crappy Russian planes after 1985 because they
are cheaper (sometimes). Don’t be fooled!
Have you ever seen the computer promote its businesses? Rare, isn’t it?
Actually, it is quite common if you play on Level 5. What happens is that
they will set up a route that does not profit for whatever reason and its
reaction is to buy a business, usually a very expensive one (like the
pleasure boat in Algiers). Well, when the company is stuck for lack of
money, but still has a bit to do something with, they send their people to
promote that pleasure boat. Usually, they do it every year and they often
profit from doing so.
Placement of computer opponents is another difference between the levels. In
Level 1, you are guaranteed at least one hub (often two) south of the
equator. If you only have one, you are guaranteed a communist capital. You
probably won’t have competition in your own region, but if you do it will be
the easiest ever (like Vancouver in Scenario 4 or Bangkok in Scenario 1).
That means it should be a cake walk, you really can only lose if you yourself
have been placed south of the border and are facing Tokyo or something. The
computer will do that to you, but you would be amazed in Level 1 how many
passengers in SE Asia prefer you as AirNile flying from Beijing. Now in
Levels 2 and 3 you are mostly guaranteed competition in your home region. I
usually allow the computer to take it over, and waste its money building
flights in Africa. I am then building interregional flights that make bang
and when they go broke, I take back the home region in a sweep. Otherwise,
what you end up with is the computer trying to take its home region by making
a flight to EVERY SINGLE CITY in the region. This is really annoying in
Level 5 where cumulative cities in a single region is a factor in passenger
totals and they are easy to sway by the computer’s willingness to shift
prices each and every turn -- who wants to modify every price of every flight
every quarter?
In Levels 4 and 5, the computer is not kidding around. They place the
opposing three hubs in some of the best spots in the game—London, Paris,
Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, LA, Chicago, Sydney. (Sydney is the worst—
because you must compete from Sydney as well because routes from Auckland and
Perth are horrible.) Often they do not place competition in your home region
as the computer often “gangs up” on you in that region, everyone wanting a
piece of you. Especially when you are New York or Tokyo—those flights to
Honolulu, LA, Singapore and Bangkok are yummy. The computer tends to make
very good decisions with international flights in these levels, often adding
unnecessary yet profitable flights like Cairo—New York, Mexico City—London,
even Sydney—New Delhi (amazingly profitable). Ever try Tehran or New Delhi—
New York? Incredible!
Okay, so the computer is still AI, and is far from perfect. First off, its
priority is in passengers and not money, which is mistake number one.
Normally what happens is that the airline stuck in Tehran decides it would be
best to expand to Cairo so that it can capture a second region, but in the
middle of creating its desert empire it goes bankrupt (why is the computer
buying those B747s to go from Cairo to Tunis?) This becomes really annoying
on Level 5 because the computer calculates a need for more and more
passengers, resulting in 9 flights between Tokyo and Hong Kong, -50% price
with a B747-400. How do you compete with that?! (See a following section.)
So remember in dealing with the computer in Level 5 that it just wants
passengers, and cares little about earning money (at least with domestic
flights). The other fatal mistake is the use of that Russian aircraft when
Boeing is cheap to western countries. But the computer will never learn.
One final note, the “beggars” usually appear only from non-influential
countries on Level 5, and rarely appear from 1st world countries like Europe,
the US or Japan like on Level 1. If you ever get the chance to do that with
the EU in Scenarios 3 or 4, and you have the cash to spare, it is very worth
it.
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3. The Planes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Old planes do go obsolete, so if you don't see all the old planes, that's
why.
Note: During the era of the Cold War (which is up to 1989) non-russian
airlines cannot buy Russian planes (Ilyushin and Tupolev) and
Russian airlines cannot buy non-russian planes.
Note: When new planes are first introduced, all you get is to see it, they
won't start production on that plane until the next year.
Note: Prices of planes listed is the Initial price, the prices do decrease
over time.
Note: If a given plane has a second year listed, then that means that
while you are playing a scenario that plane will be taken off the
market. Also realize that some planes are only available in certain
scenarios, so don't panic if you don't see something even though it
should have been available.
Plane list is sorted by Builder, then by Years:
* Indicates Supersonic plane
Name: Builder: Years: Range: Seats: Price:
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Concorde* Aerospat. 1976-79 4000 120 110000k
A300 Airbus 1975 3620 350 60000k
A320 Airbus 1982 4180 180 28000k
A300-600 Airbus 1985 5500 370 62000k
A310 Airbus 1985 6000 280 47500k
A340 Airbus 1993 8870 330 99000k
A360 Airbus 2005 3750 500 175000k
A370 Airbus 2008 4500 200 34000k
A700* Airbus 2010 3750 350 155000k
A720* Airbus 2010 2810 200 125000k
B707-120 Boeing 1958 4180 140 42300k
B707-320 Boeing 1960-82 5560 160 45000k
B727-100 Boeing 1964-71 2310 110 21600k
B727-200 Boeing 1967-84 2620 150 33000k
B737-200 Boeing 1968-88 1500 110 24750k
B747-200 Boeing 1970 6750 450 134000k
B747-300 Boeing 1983 6750 500 112500k
B737-300 Boeing 1985 1620 120 34100k
B757 Boeing 1985 2930 200 35750k
B767 Boeing 1985 4060 230 38500k
B747-400 Boeing 1989 7180 550 135000k
B777 Boeing 1995 5500 360 54000k
B2000-HJ Boeing 2007 7500 1000 400000k
B2001-SST* Boeing 2008 4060 300 225000k
B747-500 Boeing 2004 7000 600 195000k
IL14 Ilyushin 1954-60 1870 30 8000k
IL62 Ilyushin 1965 4930 150 24000k
IL62M Ilyushin 1970 5620 160 28800k
IL62MK Ilyushin 1978 5500 170 34000k
IL86 Ilyushin 1981 2560 350 37800k
IL96-300 Ilyushin 1988 6870 300 45000k
L1049 Lockheed 1951 4750 90 19800k
L1011 Lockheed 1972-84 4500 350 72000k
DC6 MDC 1947 4000 80 11200k
DC8-30 MDC 1959 5120 140 43200k
DC8-50 MDC 1961 6060 150 44550k
DC9-30 MDC 1966 1500 120 23400k
DC8-60 MDC 1967 5930 240 40800k
DC10 MDC 1971 5560 350 67500k
MD80 MDC 1981 3560 150 33000k
MD11 MDC 1991 7750 360 102000k
MD12 MDC 1995 8000 400 120000k
MD100 MDC 1998 4680 200 36000k
MD1* MDC 2009 5000 300 196000k
TU104 Tupolev 1955 2500 50 13500k
TU124 Tupolev 1962 3500 40 18000k
TU134 Tupolev 1967 2310 70 17600k
TU154 Tupolev 1972 2430 150 21600k
TU144 Tupolev 1977-79 2620 140 81000k
TU154B Tupolev 1977 2500 160 25200k
TU204 Tupolev 1989 2870 210 26000k
Caravelle Sud 1959-72 1500 80 30000k
Viscount Vickers 1953 1680 70 20000k
Korath sent me the following:
First, in the list of planes, depending on your starting home region
(though your city choice may not matter), your choice at the start of
the game, will affect how much planes will cost you. The prices you
have listed are for a company based in Europe (Africa, Australia,
S.America, and the Mid-east may also have the same prices, as I did not
check prices for companies located in those regions).
My test cities were London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo. I choose London
and Paris to see if there were differences within region, but they were
exactly the same. A Russian city (Moscow for example) may still be
different than London, or Paris, but I don't want to check.
One note, Boeing prices were the same regardless of region.
As an example, starting in the Supersonic age, these are the prices for
companies in these cities:
London/Paris New York Tokyo
A340 99,000 110,000 110,000
B747-400 135,000 135,000 135,000
B777 54,000 54,000 54,000
IL96-300 45,000 45,000 45,000
MD11 102,000 81,600 81,600
MD12 120,000 96,000 96,000
MD100 36,000 28,800 28,800
TU204 26,000 28,600 28,600
So while you shouldn't remove the Price column, it would be recommended
to put a big note that these are Europe (and possibly other region)
based companies (except when it comes to Boeing).
AlbertC79 sent this:
The price of planes is determined by one or both of two factors: The number
of planes from that particular manufacturer you are holding in your stock,
and your company's relations to the country home to said manufacturer. The
following lists the aircraft manufacturers and their homebase countries:
Manufacturer Homebase
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boeing United States
McDonnell Douglas (MDC) United States
Lockheed United States
Airbus France (EC)*
Sud-Aviation France
Aerospatiale France
Vickers United Kingdom
Ilyushin Soviet Union (Russia/EC)**
Tupolev Soviet Union (Russia/EC)**
* After 1993 in Scenario 3, and in the beginning of Scenario 4, France is
a member of the European Community (EC) and EC will be considered the
homebase for Airbus.
** The Soviet Union collapses and becomes Russia in Scenario 3, and in
Scenario 4, Russia becomes a member of the European Community (EC).
As far as how price is affected via the number of planes on your airline's
stock, if your aircraft stock contains more than half of a particular
manufacturer's planes, you will get a 10% discount upon ordering more.
Here's an example: Your company owns 20 planes. They consist of 6 Boeing
B747s, 5 Boeing B737s, 4 Airbus A300s, and 5 MDC DC-10s. The breakdown is 11
planes from Boeing and 9 planes combined from Airbus and MDC. This means
more than half your planes in stock are from Boeing, and if you choose to
order more planes from Boeing, they will give you a 10% discount! However if
you choose to buy 2 more planes from either Airbus, MDC, or another
manufacturer, this will shift the balance of planes in your stock, and you
will have more than 50% of non-Boeing planes, and if you choose to order more
Boeing planes in the future, the 10% discount will no longer apply.
A plane's price is also affected by your company's relations to the country
that is home to its manufacturer (mentioned above). Your company will get a
10% discount on planes from a manufacturer if you have great relations (green
guys handshaking) with its homebase nation. Here's an example: Your
company's homebase is in Beijing, and you wish to purchase some Boeing
747-400s. Relations between China and the US (Boeing homebase) are average
(orange guys standing apart), so the price Boeing will offer you for a single
747-400 is $150,000K! Pretty pricey, so you'd probably hold off on buying
one. However in your next quarter, a representative from the U.S. visits
you, and asks you to make a contribution. If you accept, relations between
you (China) and the U.S. will improve from average (orange) to great
(green)! (Isn't it amazing how a lowly airline can significantly alter the
course of global PR! If only the real world worked that way ^_^). Now visit
Boeing once more, and you will see the price for a single B747-400 would have
fallen from $150,000K to $135,000K! Maybe those annoying representatives
aren't as bad as we thought. ^_^
Oh and it gets better! Both these discounts can be compounded! If your
company has more than 50% of a certain manufacturer's planes in stock AND you
have great relations with the manufacturer's homebase, then you will get a
20% discount from the manufacturer!
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3.1 Plane Upkeep
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The stats on the airplane itself can also be confusing, at least they were
for me for a while. Obvious are the range, the passenger capacity, and the
name and date of production (and price). Less obvious are the costs on the
plane. The wrench symbolizes maintenance costs and the fuel pump symbolizes
fuel costs. Do not forget that lower numbers are bad; higher numbers are
better and symbolize efficiency. Those L1049s in the first scenario are
sweet because they cost virtually nothing to maintain; however those initial
jets introduced in the early 1960s guzzle gas and require a lot more
maintenance, so use them wisely. Anyways, purchasing planes is covered by
someone else in this walkthrough, yet I will confirm everything they
mentioned, as I was even informed on a few pointers. In case anyone is lost,
the hangar icon symbolizes how many of that type of plane you have in storage
and the plane with starts above it is how many planes you have flying in your
fleet.
Why two numbers for fuel and maintenance, when they could be joined for one
simpler statistic? Two reasons. One can be changed—you can choose to lower
your budget for maintenance but cannot change the amount of fuel required to
fly. (Never do that.) The second reason is that when fuel prices skyrocket
due to war, only the fuel becomes more expensive and the maintenance doesn’t.
A very few planes have very different statistics between gas and maintenance,
but when you buy them you ought to take that into consideration; gas guzzlers
are certain to hurt your profits during wartime, so it is my advice to avoid
gas guzzlers unless you have little option otherwise. Obviously, you cannot
play the game in Scenarios 2-4 without using the Boeing 747, but those are
profit monsters, regardless of how much gas they use you need to use them on
your major routes. But the Russian planes should be largely avoided if
possible, regardless if Ilyushin offers you “the deal of a lifetime.” It
still isn’t a deal my friends, your profitability will suffer and in the long
run you will be worse off. Also wait in Scenario 1 for more efficient jet
planes to come out before upgrading; if you are doing things right, you are
expanding your routes and making enough money to buy two at a time when those
DC8-30s come onto the market.
I suppose the best CEOs would buy planes the one turn before using them, and
no extras. This would prevent buying a large sum of expensive planes but
then running out of money to set up routes. (This really only happens in
Level 5 occasionally.) However, I tend to buy planes in mass if I can afford
it and worry about it later. (I am lazy.)
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4. Game Basics
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first thing that you have to do in the game is to select a Region to
start from. Logically you want a region away from the computer players.
Here is a small breakdown of the Best Regions to start from:
Best Starting Cities:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
1. SE Asia -- Tokyo, Singapore
2. N. America -- New York, Los Angeles
3. Europe -- London, Paris
4. Africa -- Cairo*
5. S. America -- Mexico City
Avoid: Mideast and Australia
* Cairo has some war troubles, but is still the best city in Africa
These are the best because of their size, but more importantly they all have
good locations. Never get a starting city in the middle of the Region as you
won't be able to do any Long/Medium distance routes, and the ones you will do
will be less effective.
After choosing all the starting cities, you will be given an option to change
the names of the companies (i.e. Metlink, Sunrise, UK AIR, etc.) and their
colors. You will then be given your goals by a staff member, and tossed into
the scary world of Airline Management!
____________
The Buttons: (from left to right)
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Top - Create New Route, Adjust Routes, Negotiate for Slots, Order/Sell
Planes, Budget, Business Ventures
Bottom - Create Hub, Advertising, Staff Meeting, Info, Options, End Turn
______
Slots:
¯¯¯¯¯¯
First off, note the numbers under the various cities in your region. Those
are slot numbers. The higher the number, the more flights into that city
you can do. There are a few things to remember with slots:
- They aren't unlimited. Eventually every city will run out of slots at
their airport (given enough demand) and it takes time to build new
slots.
- They aren't free. Slots do cost money, so don't just go around getting
slots everywhere you MIGHT need them. In fact, if you don't use all
your slots after awhile, you may want to return them!
- In determining the Max amount of flights possible, you have to consider
how many slots you have in both cities on the flight route, not just
the city you are flying to. If you are doing a New York to L.A. and
NYC has 2 slots and LA has 8, you can only do 2 flights.
- Remember at the most you can be negotiating for new slots in 4 cities.
To get new slots, push the STAFF icon (it looks like 2 hands), and send a
staff member to a city to negotiate for slots. Depending on relations
between your company and this city, your negotiations could take as little
as 3 months (one quarter) or 12 months (4 quarters). Remember that you
only have 4 staff members! You can, if you want, send 2 staff members on
the same job to speed things up. (Although that doesn't always work)
_____
Hubs:
¯¯¯¯¯
To expand to other areas of the world, you will need new Hubs. They're
like miniature versions of your home base, allowing you to create new
routes from them as you would your home base. Hubs can be created at any
Green city that you already have slots at. Use the same logic in selecting
your hub as you did your home city. (choose large cities, at an edge of
the map, like Paris)
________
Tourism:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Every once in awhile you will see various messages like "Olympics will be
held in XXXX" or "XXXX is experiencing a boom in tourism. Take advantage
of these! They will give you a large bump in traffic. Also pay attention
to warnings about wars about to break out and cut off the route before it
gets cut off for you.
Note: Wars increase the price of oil, which increases your expenses,
which lowers your profits. So don't panic if you see a bunch of
Red Routes after a war breaks out!
_________________
Special "Offers":
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Eventually a country will come up to you and ask you to back their new
proposal with some of your hard earned cash. What do you get? Their love.
Goodie. It will improve relations with that country's cities, but nothing
more dramatic than that. However, this improved relations could mean
something quite useful like a decrease in the time needed to negotiate for
slots/hubs/etc., and even get you into places you can't normally get.
Note: To switch between regions at any time, use the L and R buttons, and
use the Y button to select a region on the world map.
Note: To speed up text as it is scrolling, hold down one of the ARROW
buttons.
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5. Routes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Choosing a new route is always a tricky business. Will there be sufficient
demand on the route to make it profitable? Will you be able to charge enough
to make a GOOD profit? Is there going to be competition on the route? And
once you finish the route, how do you tinker with it to make it even better?
The maximum amount of routes you can have is 40, so you have to choose wisely
where to start a new route.
Airport Slots
-------------
Before we can build routes we need slots. Simply, you will be allowed to bid
for 5 slots in any city in the world in the beginning. You will be allowed
to bid for more (it goes to 14 quickly) once a route of a city type has been
made for one turn in a given region. For example, I am Metlink and I have
made a flight to Tokyo. The next turn I put a hub there and send out my
people to search for slots. In Bangkok, I can bid for 14, but only 5 in
Guam, despite the fact that Guam is my home country. Once I make a flight to
Guam and let it run a turn (sometimes you need 2 turns), all of the minor
cities in SE Asia will allow me to grab 14 slots as well.
There are some restrictions to how many slots you can have in a given
airport. This section is of particular interest to those who enjoy the first
scenario, which is known for its slot shortages. In your home city, you may
enjoy 75% of the city’s slots before you are cut off. In your other hub
cities, you can get up to 50%. (A strategy might be to start in SE Asia
since London and New York often don’t have slot problems, if slot shortage is
a consistent problem.) In other cities, you may have up to 14 slots total in
any minor cities provided that they do not total more than 75% of the slots
available. In other major cities, rarely is there a situation where you
can’t get 14 slots—you can normally get more, but avoid this as it obviously
is of no advantage to you. (Slots cost money.) Time is the other factor—
this is dependant on your relations with the country. The best relations are
3 months for hub city, 6 months for others. Good relations will require at
least 6 months for all negotiations with the possibility of 9 months. Bad
relations will sometimes allow for 6 months in a hub city, usually take 9 and
can take 12. Horrible relations are sometimes 9 months, often 12 months and
sometimes impossible. Note that cities in war cannot be entered into
negotiations with until the war ends (and your people get sent home.)
Strangely, I have discovered a glitch that sometimes allows the computer to
carry on with these negotiations and act as if the war isn’t taking place at
all—I have witnessed this only in Scenario 1 with Cairo in that first war.
A final consideration. Especially in Scenario 1 we have a slot shortage, but
even Scenario 4 in cities like Tokyo slots can become scarce (Tokyo is one of
few cities that can make an interregional flight to every other region,
starting in Scenario 3 in 1990.) Whenever you are in cities like Tokyo,
London, New York, and your other major hubs, it may be an idea to bid for
lots of slots in those cities early on, even if you don’t need them right
away. Two reasons—first, to reserve them for you. The $10-50 spent per turn
per slot isn’t as bad as you think it is when you consider what you can do
with them in two years. This is especially important when playing against
human players who might choose to grab all of your slots to stifle you. The
second reason is more common, as it is to trigger airport expansion projects.
Once an airport has more than 50% of its slots taken for a complete turn, it
will begin work on expansion (major cities only). These can take from 4
turns to 10 turns, and always the longer it takes the fewer slots that result
in the end. So it is wise sometimes to grab all of those slots early
(especially if your people aren’t doing anything better) so as to trigger
those projects earlier rather than later so they will be ready when you are.
________________
The Best Routes:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
International Routes -- that is, anything going from one geographic area to
another. Like New York to London, or Los Angeles to Tokyo. There is
always a great demand for these routes, PLUS the distance means it is
economical to use large planes like the 747, which carries a lot of people,
which means lots of money. Also you may be able to charge whatever you
want here if you get 100% capacities.
Note: You can only have one international route into each region, that
is, if you do a Tokyo-Paris, you can't do a Tokyo-London, but you
could do a Tokyo-New York.
Long/Medium Distance Routes -- not quite international, these go from one
extreme end of a geographic area to another. Like New York to Miami, or
London to Athens. Use a medium sized jet here, but have more flights. You
can't charge as much, but the short distance means less expenses. If you
have 3 or 4 of these in every region you are in, you will do fine.
Korath has more to add on this:
International routes are a must. In one game where the company was
based in New York, with my above mentioned New York to London/Cairo to
Tokyo route, I had an extra route into Sydney, and two (unprofitable)
ones going into Mexico, and Tehran. Along with maybe 6-9 medium
distance routes in N.America (and 2 in Australia), and maybe around the
year 2003/4 of the supersonic scenario, I was pulling in $178,000 in
profits from around $300,000 in sales.
In contrast I had another company based in London which had
International routes into Cairo, another into New York, and then to
Mexico. My main routes were Europe in which I had maybe 6-9 medium
distance routes. With tinkering, I was pulling in 200,000+ passengers
quarterly through Europe, though overall my profits were only one-third
of the New York based "International" airline. With about the same
number of routes in North America, the routes pulled in maybe 100,000
passengers.
My advice: "Look almost immediately into building an international
circling route (to the point of focusing soley on slot negotiations, and
possibly business ventures). From the start, gradually build supporting
routes (one at a time) within your home region, but unless you have a
competitor based in the same region, you won't need to worry about
establishing a dominating presence (that comes later).
"Based on the planes available in the different scenarios, in the very
first scenario, you will not have as good a range. In the first
scenario, you will need to establish a 4 city route which goes from
London to Vancover to Tokyo to New Delhi to London. In the last
scenario, you have longer ranged planes available, and thus only require
a 3 city route, which connects (recomended) London to New York to Tokyo
to London.
"Later on, if you want to compete with someone in Oceania (as I have not
found any reason not to, except for possible lower potential for profit
and passengers), extend down into Sydney (in the earliest scenario you
may need to wait for a 5000+ mile ranged plane which would be a DC8-30
(5120 miles) in '59 or a B707-320 (5560 miles) in '61). If you want to
compete in S.America, Mexico city is probably the best (and likeliest
choice)."
Additional Strategy: "With disposible cash, anyone can walk into another
companies backyard (aka home region) and take their business. By using
similar planes/flights/etc, but with around a 20%-30% lower ticket price
than your competitior, you can easily grab the majority of flights after
establishing 4-6 routes in about 4-6 quarters (results will vary
depending on how established your competitor is). I took down MetLink
in N.America in about 6 quarters after establishing my first competing
route, when they had a consistant 30,000+ quarterly passengers (and many
of their routes had a ticket increase by 50%). I had nothing to really
lose, as I wasn't established there except for a hub, and everything to
gain, which I did. Unfortunately, in my focusing of North America,
MetLink took back South America (which they had held until I established
myself there), and UK Air took back Oceania (which like South America,
they had held until I established myself there). As I was based in
London, I had another competitor in Europe that was based in Moscow
(which had only Europe regional flights). About this time they went on
an advertising frenzy which significantly reduced my lead in Europe (to
the extent that they were close to taking over Europe (which they
might've done)). It was all I could do to recover Oceania and South
America, while Moscow played Spoiler in Europe. My cash flow dried up,
and I wasn't able to maintain it. Looking back, I could've (and
should've) gone into Africa which was not established by *anyone* to win
the game (I did have Oceania South America and Europe after all, and it
wouldn't have taken much especially when I believe I had a Cairo hub ;-)
already. As it was, I not only wanted to win, but I wanted one of my #1
regions to be the home region of one of my competitors ;-)"
___________
Bad Routes:
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Short Hops -- these are really bad. Avoid making any routes like this! An
example is the London to Paris route. Sure it may SOUND good, but even if
you get a profit from it, it won't be as much as you would get otherwise on
a better route. Although it will get you people, which can get you market
share. However, I wouldn't waste my planes on a short route, when there
are so many nice Medium Routes to do.
______________________
Tinkering with Routes:
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If your route is at 100% capacity and is raking in the bucks, then you will
want to tinker with it to make it even better at making money!
- Swap to a larger plane
- Add more planes
- Buy new slots at both airports and increase the flights
- Increase the ticket price by 10%
If your route is not 100% and/or is losing money then you need to get it to
be profitable.
- Swap to a smaller plane
- Decrease the amount of planes/flights
- Advertise!
- Cut prices by 10%
Note: A route that is Red is losing money! Often times these Red Routes are
temporary, as in times of war, or Oil Embargoes (which raise your
costs).
Korath has some input on tinkering:
In the Tinkering with Routes Section, another suggestion if the route is
unprofitable and you have done all you have to try to improve things,
suspend the route. It does you no good to continously lose money.
Depending on the cost of the route startup, closing it down completly
may not be worthwhile (you can always try to resume it later).
As an example, I had a company which had a London to Cairo route that
had at best a 6% load (even with a single 200 seater plane, 1 flight,
and rates down to -50%). My main competitor on the route (which
happened to be another company I was managing) has 100% load and had a
couple flights and even more than one plane. Prices I believe were
increased in the area of 20% or so. This is even when Cairo got a boom
in traffic.
Another situation which may have affected this reduced load is that
(with New York and Tokyo connected on one side, I had a New York to
London to Tokyo route open as well as New York to Cairo to Tokyo route.
Essentially the only difference was one passed through London, and the
other passed through Cairo. I'm thinking that the London-Cairo direct
route failed because of that.
Finding Profitable Routes:
--------------------------
After playing a while, you will get a good feel for what is profitable and
what is not. Always try new combinations (that appear decent)—you will never
stop being surprised at what combinations like Rome—Minsk can do for you.
Remember some key factors in determining a good route are the city stats
(population, economy, tourism, relations), distance, competition and planes
available. The difficulty level and other factors are included as well, but
those often cannot be controlled. Notice that when you change difficulty
levels, flights become more/less popular (as it gets harder to woo those
passengers in Level 5 than Level 1). The main factors are:
City Stats
Distance
Competition
Planes Available
Gas efficiency and maintenance
Initial Cost
Speed
City stats.
Obviously, higher stats and better relations will do a route justice.
Below in the Cities section I have already talked a lot about the stats
individually, so here I will talk about them together, working in tune with
one another.
Economy and tourism go hand in hand, one needing the other; a flight
between two tourist cities or a flight between two cities with high
economy is not as strong as a flight between a city with high economy and
another with high tourism. This is why routes such as New York—Honolulu
flourish. Population in this sense is important with the cities
with high economy stats but not with the tourism city. It never hurts (I
don’t see any problem between London—Athens, and due to an obvious error in
the game Athens has the biggest population in Europe), but it will increase
the price of the flight. Remember, starting costs for flights is based
entirely on population, and nothing to do with economy. For example,
Oceania has the lowest overall population in the game, yet a strong
economy. Flights there cost little and earn little; while the economy is
great, there are so few people to fly!! Tourism is very low as well (a bit
surprisingly so) and therefore no one has incentive to fly.
General rule of thumb here? When you see low stats, like in Africa, Middle
East and S America, realize early that those flights are not very
profitable yet are necessary to win the game. I do not recommend
prioritizing Africa, South America, the Middle East or Oceana until after
you have set up shop in the other three regions as these poorer regions
simply don’t profit like North America, SE Asia and Europe.
Distance.
Distance determines two factors—what kinds of planes you can use and cost
of the ticket. It may seem like the plane factor is more of a concern, but
it is in fact the ticket price that you are concerned about. Flights
between close cities are never recommended, unless you need passengers and
are willing to spend a lot of money only to find you are not profitable.
However, when cities are more distant, they tend to make more money. The
computer does not calculate number of passengers based on the actual ticket
price, but on the percentage above or below average; therefore flights that
are really expensive but at an average price will rake in big bucks since
the people think they are getting “a good deal.” (Ex. Tokyo—New York 6750
miles)
Competition.
What I understand the least in this game is how competition is calculated,
how it works out that one airline is beating another and how the customers
react to price changes. Each difficulty level is different still; as
mentioned before, it is difficult to woo customers from another airline in
Level 5 if they have had a presence before you, despite marking down prices
to -50%. But there are many factors, not just price. Price is important;
people want lower prices. However, the airline with more businesses
present and advertising campaigns is more likely to sway more people.
Also, the number of flights in a region can affect passengers for
interregional flights connected to it. If you are a solid number 1 in both
Oceania and SE Asia, and you have a Tokyo—Sydney route, despite being
marked up you will carry more passengers than AirMex coming in with -30%
flight. Good relations don’t hurt.
Planes available.
Obviously, to make a flight you need a plane that can make the distance and
carry enough passengers to make it worth your while. But when we talk
about profitable routes, we must take the statistics of the aircraft into
consideration—namely, gas efficiency, maintenance, initial cost and speed.
It hardly needs to be mentioned that planes with more seats will carry more
passengers, allowing potential to earn more (or spend more on gas and
maintenance).
Gas efficiency and maintenance.
Remember, higher numbers are better as they represent efficiency.
Propeller planes, smaller jets and modern aircraft usually have good stats.
Early jet planes, large planes and most planes from Tupolev and Ilyushin
usually have lower stats and therefore are costly. In selecting a plane
for a route, it is often a good idea to take this into consideration—if you
have to lower the price significantly due to competition, it is a good idea
to make sure you have a very efficient aircraft chosen so that the flight
still profits. When the computer is using a B747 between Cairo and Tunis
with a -50% price, it is impossible to beat their prices—how do you compete
with this? You create the same flight but with higher efficiency. Open a
flight with a B737 instead with a -50% price tag. You will probably lose
money as well, but the computer will lose much more money and will not
change planes—they will suspend the route in about two turns, and with the
flight suspended, you will get all of the passengers. Easy! Remember,
when competing with the computer, you must often create a more efficient
route to succeed, rather than wasting all of your time with costly business
ventures.
Initial cost.
It goes without saying that the initial cost of the aircraft must be
justified by the amount of profit you are pulling in. To create a flight
between Sydney and São Paulo is cool, but the aircraft cost $110,000 apiece
(this is Scenario 4 obviously) and your flight will barely be half full.
Not to mention the initial cost to create the route—is all of this
justified by this sad profit of $10,000/turn? No. It would take half of
the game before you broke even, and I don’t know about you but I am not
wasting one of my precious 40 flights on a flight between Oceania and South
America.
Speed.
Speed? There is no such statistic on the screen! This is true, but it
exists nonetheless. Very few planes have a speed outside of the standard.
Some prop planes are slower than jets (DC6, for example) and supersonic
planes are faster (Concorde, all those planes in Scenario 4 starting about
2006-2007). Let us use an example. A flight from New York to Chicago, any
scenario. Assign any plane and you will note that it can handle 5 flights.
Well, assign a DC6 (Scenario 1) and it can only handle 3; this is because
it is really slow. Assign a Concorde and it can handle a whopping 7.
Neat huh? Well, speed is not a consideration unless you are in Scenario 1
or 4 or have the money to buy a Concorde in Scenario 2. But speed is the
reason I never use DC6s; I always use the L1049 in Scenario 1 despite its
higher price because it is all-around better, and worth the initial cost.
I personally have not dealt much with the other propeller planes in
Scenario 1, but I imagine that there are others like the DC6, slow and not
worth it. Also, speed is why you might choose to buy those planes in
Scenario 4, and is why they are so expensive. Otherwise they are a rip-
off.
Interregional flights
---------------------
Interregional flights are usually where you make the best money, but not
always. It is important to use the essentials above and logic; for example,
a flight from New York to Tokyo is a guaranteed winner, but Cairo to Baghdad
is less so. The former route is between two heavily populated cities with
incredible stats and very good relations, not to mention it is an incredible
distance (6750 miles). The latter is between two cities of lower population,
bad stats and less than perfect relations, and is less than 1000 miles away.
Interregional flights are almost always very profitable when departing from a
“solid” city: London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, LA, Chicago, Sydney.
Flights between the above cities are incredible, and you should make as many
as you can so as to make more money. Other strong cities for profitable
interregional flights include Seoul, Tehran, Cairo, Rome, Mexico City,
Vancouver. Pretty much, other cities are weak and such flights should be
made only after careful consideration and out of necessity.
Remember that interregional flights are strengthened when your regional
flights of the two regions are strengthened. New York—London is twice as
strong when you are #1 in North America and Europe. It goes without saying,
but interregional flights from your home base are advantaged because of this.
I do not recommend making interregional flights to/from regions where you
have no presence (obviously you have no presence in one region, but to lack
presence in the other is bad as well). Also, if you are having trouble in a
certain region (this always happens to me in the Middle East), I advise
setting up “extraneous” interregional flights there to aid your regional
passenger loads. I would avoid this if you are on the 40 flight limit mark,
but otherwise it is a sure way to beat the competition.
Regional flights
----------------
Aside from the general advice for creating routes, you should take other
considerations in planning and making regional routes. Do realize that not
all regions are equal, and that while some flights profit immensely, others
are doomed to lose money. Interregional flights are largely necessary; you
must have a hub in every region to win, regardless of level. Therefore, the
purpose of interregional flights is to 1) make money and 2) complete the
game. Regional flights’ purpose is to 1) make money and 2) carry more
passengers than other airlines in a given region. The latter is different
because the passenger load is significant, whereas it is not significant with
the interregional flights. Note that the first and foremost important step
is to generate income (see below).
In the beginning of the game, passenger totals take a backseat to
profitability. So in the beginning, we are creating flights based on how
much money they make, not taking into consideration if we are winning the
game yet. It is very possible that you will be #2 in any and all regions
(including your own) because you are not worried about winning, but building
a profitable airline that can later dominate the skies. Focus on profit
first, passengers last. In order to make more money, read the section above
on profitability. In order to get more passengers, read the section above on
businesses, advertising and competition (under building profitable routes).
Strong destinations by region (in no particular order):
North America: Honolulu, San Francisco, LA, Philadelphia, Chicago (however
note that any flight in North America has good potential of
being highly profitable)
South America: Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, São Paulo
Europe: London, Athens, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Moscow, Kiev, Vienna
Africa: Algiers, Tunis, Lagos, Cairo (though note that Africa rarely
profits much)
Middle East: Bombay, Tehran, New Delhi, Karachi, Tashkent (though note that
the Middle East rarely profits much)
Southeast Asia: Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka, Sapporo, Guam,
Saipan
Oceania: Sydney, Melbourne
How to Calculate Passenger Totals (from AlbertC79)
-------------------------------------------------
Have you always wondered how the game calculates passenger totals per route?
Well I finally figured out the breakdown! Presuming the route has a 100%
passenger load, the total number of passengers can be figured out with the
following equation:
No. of seats * No. of flights per week * 12 weeks = Passenger total
The figure "12 weeks" was taken from 12 weeks per quarter
(4 weeks per month * 3 months per quarter).
Here's a good example using the Tokyo-New York route while playing
Scenario 4 (2000-2020). If you are using 3 747-400s (550 seats per plane)
flying 5 flights a week, and you have a 100% passenger load, this would be
the breakdown:
550 seats * 5 flights per week * 12 weeks = 33,000 passengers per quarter
Sometimes switching to a smaller plane but adding more planes and more
flights can help boost passenger loads significantly! Look at the following
example. Say you decide to switch over to the smaller MD-12 (400 seats per
plane) for this route, but you increase the number of flights per week to
14. This would be the new breakdown:
400 seats * 14 flights per week * 12 weeks = 67,200 passengers per quarter
Amazing huh? You've more than doubled your passenger loads using a smaller,
cheaper, more economical plane!
Now let's say you are running low on homebase slots (because those damn
airports can only add so many new slots so often!) and you want to shift
slots over from this route, but you don't want to drop your passenger loads,
then a good suggestion for the above route is to switch over to a much bigger
plane like the B2000-HJ (with a whopping 1000 seats per plane!) and cutting
the number of flights a week from 14 to 7. This would be the new breakdown:
1000 seats * 7 flights per week * 12 weeks = 84,000 passengers per quarter
Really sweet huh? You've increased your passenger loads yet again, but using
less flights! This is a great way to determine what kind of plane to use on
a certain route, and how many flights per week to set.
I know what you're probably thinking now. "But not all flights have a 100%
passenger load, how do you come up with the odd-numbered figures like the
game does?" Well I figured that one out too! Just do the same equation but
in reverse! Here's an example, let's use a different route this time. We'll
use Mexico City-Rio de Janeiro while playing Scenario 3 (1985-2005) for this
example. Say you initially open the route using 3 A300-600s (370 seats per
plane) flying 5 flights a week. Presuming a 100% passenger load, this is the
breakdown:
370 seats * 5 flights per week * 12 weeks = 22,200 passengers per quarter
The flight is set and you let the quarter run through, but you notice that
the Mex-Rio route only had 14,768 passengers for that quarter. Note: Anytime
you have a passenger figure for a route that does NOT end with a 0, that
means that route is NOT at 100% capacity. Normally you would just check the
flight to see the passenger capacity, but I bet I could tell you what it is
without looking at the game. Here is how you calculate a reverse breakdown
to determine passenger loads per plane:
No. of passengers per quarter / 12 weeks / No. of flights per weeks
/ No. of seats = % passenger capacity
Note the game doesn't display decimal percentages (like 52.5%) so the figures
shown would be rounded up to the nearest whole percentage. Using the
equation, plug in the figures from the above example:
14,768 passengers per quarter / 12 weeks / 5 flights per week / 370 seats
= 67% capacity
With a 67% capacity, you might want to consider either downgrading to a
smaller plane like the A310, or decreasing the number of flights. But which
is the more feasible option? Using the first equation is a great way to find
out. This would be the breakdown if you decide to decrease from 5 flights
per week to 3 flights per week with the same plane:
370 seats * 3 flights per week * 12 weeks = 13,320 passengers per quarter
This is not a good solution as you will end up losing more passengers this
way. Let's try keeping the 5 flights per week but switching to a smaller
plane like the A310 (280 seats). Here's the breakdown:
280 seats * 5 flights per week * 12 weeks = 16,800 passengers
This will bring your passenger load up from 67% to 88% which is a more decent
passenger load, which still leaves some room for increase in case something
like a tourism boom or the Olympics should take place.
Note: Switching to a smaller more economical plane on a particular route
actually may yield further benefits. Using the smaller more economical
plane will decrease the costs associated with fuel and maintenance,
which can help cut costs and further increase profits!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Cities
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what effect do population, economy and tourism have on a route? On a hub
city? Profound effects, actually, as those are the statistics that largely
govern the calculations that determine how many passengers you carry. Each
number governs a different idea/concept and has different impacts on
different routes.
Population.
The population governs how much a route costs initially to set up, taking
into equal consideration both the hub and the destination. That is why
flights to/from Tokyo are outlandish while London is much cheaper, yet Mexico
City, a third-world country, takes the cake. Obviously, population also
governs the number of people available to travel at all. Regions that are
more populous will have higher passenger totals than those that are less
populous (compare SE Asia to Europe, especially in the later scenarios).
Population tends to increase during the course of a scenario, though many
cities do not increase in population. Also be aware that the game is fairly
old, and the statistics for the 1990s onward are just a guess. We all know
that Mexico City and São Paulo are more populated than Tokyo in the 2000s,
but they didn’t know it would be like that.
Economy.
The economy statistic (higher is better) governs several things. First and
foremost, the higher the number, the higher percentage of citizens from that
particular city will be able to fly to various places in the world. Densely
populated cities, like São Paulo, with a low economy number do not attract
more passengers and are not always good routes. However, cities with high
populations and high economies are idea locations for routes, especially
hubs. The economy statistic is also responsible for the costs of business
ventures and regional hubs in a city. Notice that when you wish to buy a
business or establish a hub that is experiencing a boom in tourism, the
prices are outlandish. (It is not the tourism number that governs this, but
remember that when there is a tourism boom, both economy and tourism ratings
go up to 100.) Wait until the boom is over to expand your empire.
Tourism.
The tourism statistic (higher is better) governs several things as well.
First and foremost, the higher the number, the more people will want to
travel to the city. Why is Honolulu a good flight with a sorry economy and
population factor? Because of its huge tourism factor!! Tourism effects all
flights, regional and interregional. Purchasing tourism-related businesses
will increase a city’s tourism rating as well, but I believe that is merely
for you and not other players. (I have not confirmed this.)
Relations.
Relations between countries largely govern how easy or difficult it is for
you to work with other countries bidding for slots, buying airplanes, and
setting up hubs. It also has an influence on flights, however; a flight
between New York and Moscow in Scenarios 1 and 2 is doomed to failure,
because the two countries are on bad terms, regardless if you are Cairo, who
is on decent terms with both. That is why the computer usually makes routes
between only democratic or only communist countries (like Moscow—Beijing or
London—Tokyo). Just because your airline’s relations with the countries are
good does not mean that your home country’s relations are as well. You can
change relations by paying the “beggars” when they ask for money, but this is
the only way and I do not recommend it unless you are well-established in the
game and you are at a point where money isn’t an issue. Either way, if you
as Russia give the US money in Scenario 1, even though you can now buy planes
and get slots in 6 months, your flight may not be successful from New York—
Moscow like a flight between communist brothers would be.
Putting it all together.
So how do we take these stats and make killer routes? First determine if the
relations are decent. Normally they are. Hubs with a good economy rating
will flourish with flights to cities with high tourism. For example, Tokyo—
Guam, Saipan and Cebu are usually banking like crazy despite the short
distance. And since the population in those cities is .1 million, the
initial cost of the flight is significantly lower. This is a crucial
consideration in the beginning of the game. Two cities with merely high
economies and low or moderate tourism will be decent, but those Aussies don’t
want to go to New Zealand, they want to go to a tropical resort in Papeete!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Other Ways to Get Money
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__________________
Business Ventures:
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The far right button on the top row is the Business Venture button. You can
buy a business anywhere you want. (you don't need to have flown there) The
idea is mostly to complement your airline, so you want to buy Hotels, or
Bus services. It requires a staff member to buy the Business so make sure
you have one before you attempt to buy, and it also takes time. Not all
businesses are instantly profitable. To check their profitability, call a
staff meeting.
Note: The best businesses for you to buy are those which are deep in your
territory, and which have several routes connecting to them, or one
major route. You can buy a business anywhere on the map, however.
______________________________
Business Ventures and Tourism: (from AlbertC79)
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
On the section of Business Ventures, I noticed that whenever you buy certain
leisure businesses (Amusement Parks, Golf Courses, Ski Resorts, and Pleasure
Boats) and certain cultural businesses (Museums, Arts Pavilions, and Concert
Halls), that particular city's tourist rating actually goes up! The level it
goes up depends on the particular business you purchase and the number of
said businesses that you purchase. I believe the more expensive the business
is, the more it will affect the city's tourist rating. With the city's
increased tourist rating, I noticed a SIGNIFICANT increase in passenger
traffic on all my flights to and from that city! Here's an example I
noticed:
In Scenario 4 (2000-2020), I played a game using Tokyo as my homebase.
Tokyo's initial tourist rating was 50 when I began the game. As the game
progressed, I purchased the Museum in Tokyo (relatively cheap), and within
the next quarter, Tokyo's tourist rating had increased to 52! Later I then
purchased the Amusement Park (VERY expensive) and by the next quarter,
Tokyo's tourist rating had increased to a whopping 72! I also noticed an
increase in passenger traffic on my routes!
I have ascertained that cultural and leisure businesses increase a city's
tourist rating by a fixed amount. Here are the results:
Leisure Businesses
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amusement Park - increase tourist rating by 20
Golf Course - increase tourist rating by 12 or 15(?)
Ski Resort - increase tourist rating by 10 or 12(?)
Pleasure Boat - tourist increase rating by 5
Cultural Businesses
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Concert hall - increase tourist rating by 4
Museum - increase tourist rating by 2
Arts Pavilion - increase tourist rating by 2
I also noticed that the city's economic rating did not change. In the
example above, Tokyo's economic rating never changed above or below 76 as a
result of purchasing those businesses. I also noticed that purchasing other
businesses such as Hotels and Travel Services, and any others not mentioned
above will NOT affect your tourist rating. Also your city's tourist rating
will NOT change further if you have a successful advertising campaign for it,
however passenger traffic to that city will change.
It is important to note that even though this benefit will work for any city
it is implemented on, not all cities will have the appropriate business
ventures to allow for it, but if they do, you should definitely take
advantage!
Business ventures (more)
------------------------
These things crack me up. They are deceiving, and on the whole I recommend
you ignore them. The computer is programmed to buy the Grand Hotel/City
Hotel in all of its hubs if it can, and I don’t know why. Graphing the
results after several years, it is rare to profit significantly and when I
mean “significantly” that means about $5000/year. There are better things to
spend your money on—Arts Pavilions are even better than Hotels as they at
least boost your flights a bit.
Travel agencies will increase your passenger loads for the region, but cannot
be promoted. The three categories of what is left of business ventures are
sports/leisure, arts/culture and travel. I find that the travel ones have a
more profound effect in hub cities and the others do better in your other
cities. I like to buy Shuttle Services in my opponents’ hub cities in a
region and then promote the network—that is a good way to eliminate the
opposition. (A section for competition follows this one a ways down, for
more details.) However, the only time I buy any business ventures is when I
am competing, as otherwise I find they are a waste of time and will not
profit by themselves. Business ventures should never be bought with the idea
of bringing in cold, hard cash. Instead they should be used for promotions,
increasing passenger totals and to compete with your opponents. Business
ventures always require 3 months to purchase, even in Red China. Remember
their costs are dependant on the city’s economic factor and on population.
____________
Advertising:
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Advertising is directly related to Business Ventures and so is listed down
here. You can only advertise when you actually have a Business, because you
are advertising the Business, not your airline. However, your airline reaps
the rewards of the Advertising. Confused? Anyway, there are 3 categories of
Ads, and you can only do the ones that correspond to the Businesses you have.
Also if you increase the amount spent on advertising, it increases the
likelihood that something will happen!
Promotions:
-----------
Ad campaigns are easily overlooked in the game as futile but are actually a
very powerful tool for increasing passenger loads and competing. They cannot
be done on a whim, as you need at least one promotable business venture and
if the promotion is successful, your employee dude will be busy for a full
year running it (not the best plan if all you are promoting is an art stand
in Manila.) Promotions will increase passenger loads in all of the regional
flights within a region, not just the cities directly affected; however,
those cities with the businesses will see a more profound impact. The more
ventures you have of the same type in a region, the more profound the effect
is. I highly recommend that if you decide to use businesses and advertising
in a region that you stick to one type of business (avoiding sports/leisure
if you have any money troubles whatsoever) and go with that; you don’t want
to send three different guys to the same region just to run campaigns, then
you aren’t able to do anything for a year.
Especially in the easier levels, ad campaigns are strong tools for wooing
customers despite their “customer loyalty” to the opposing airline. Also in
Level 5 when the computer insists upon using B747s from Tehran to Bombay with
a price tag of -50%, the only way to beat that is with a more profitable
route (details later) and with business promotion. When venturing into the
south of the equator regions (Africa, S America, Middle East and Oceana) I
recommend you take a look at all of the cities you will include in your
network and see what types of ventures are represented in every city, and
base your decision on ventures on this. For example, there are no golf
courses, ski resorts or theme parks in Africa, so a sports/leisure campaign
is limited to the pleasure boats on the northern coast (Cairo doesn’t even
have one). Perhaps this isn’t the best type of campaign to run in Africa,
where you should instead focus on travel ventures (even Addis Ababa has a
Shuttle Service.)
Prices of promotion is based upon the price of the venture, which is based on
economy ratings. Always pay the most unless you want failed campaign after
failed campaign. Never lower the service funding on your maintenance
toolbar.
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8. Putting it all together
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First is choosing a winning starting location. It is interesting and fun to
play as Manila, Perth or Tunis—however, you are going to have a tough time
winning even at Level 1. If you wish to play on Level 5 or against humans,
I recommend starting on at least even ground. For example, when you choose
Level 5 the computer will usually choose New York, Tokyo, London, Sydney and
the like. To compete, you need to choose a city that is comparable (remember
your other 6 hubs can be placed anywhere that you can fly to). This is
especially important if the computer gives you competition in your home
region; you don’t want to go up against Sunrise if you are Chinair. If you
play against humans, and you wish to choose Amsterdam, Atlanta and Havana,
make sure everybody starts on the same ground as it would be unfair to go up
against London if you were Amsterdam. Unless you really want a challenge.
As stated above, though it is worth mentioning again, profit is first and
foremost in this game, and passenger loads are a distant 2nd in priority.
Create a lot of interregional flights right off the bat and create flights to
the three most profitable regions—North America, Southeast Asia and Europe—in
order to set up hubs there and make profitable regional flights. Do not
waste time on your home region if it is not one of the above regions; set up
a couple of decent flights and get on with it. If you lose #1 position
there, do not fight, especially if it is also the computer’s home region, as
the computer will compete and compete until it has victory in its home
region, creating flights to each and every city until it wins. Also, avoid
becoming #1 in other airlines’ regions until they have run out of money,
because they will spend it all regaining #1 in that region. Africa’s
profitability is already very low and flights there can get ugly; don’t make
things worse by fighting with AirNile earlier than you have to. If you are
going to compete, do so when you have a steady income each turn and the
computer is largely broke.
So once you are profitable, you must compete for passenger loads. Cut
prices, add flights/upgrade to larger planes, buy businesses and run ad
campaigns to woo the passengers to take those #1 positions. When you are low
on slots, upgrade to larger planes and lower prices further to get close to
100% capacity (if you are at 100% you need to keep upgrading; when trying to
win a region, and money doesn’t matter, you don’t want to raise prices).
When you are competing in a region, remember that your work is two-fold; your
goal is both to increase your passenger totals and decrease your opponent’s.
Even if you built your hub in Seoul, your flight to Guam at -50% is going to
put pressure on the computer’s flight from Hong Kong to Guam. I find that
targeting the computer’s routes is the best way to gain a strong #1 in a
region. I also recommend purchasing business ventures of the same type (pick
your poison) in 1) your hub, 2) the computer’s hub and 3) the major cities
that you share in common. Advertise, lower prices to -50% and enjoy your
retirement as you easily win the game. This strategy works in all 5 levels
and in all 4 scenarios.
Review of general strategy:
1) Pick a good starting point and appropriate difficulty level.
2) Create profitable routes, interregional and regional. Make lots of $$.
3) Capture #1 position in each region, beginning with regions where the
computer has not placed its starting location.
4)Do not forget the principles in this guide.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Other Strategies
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Hall sent me this neato strategy:
"If you base your carrier in North America, there’s no point whatsoever into
paying money to the various foreign representatives who show up hat-in-hand.
However, if you ever feel like a challenge and use Moscow or Berlin as your
headquarters there’s indeed a benefit I’ve spotted. IF (and this is a big
if) the folks asking for money are from the United States and you’re Moscow
or Berlin (and as the flag shows, that’s East Germany’s Berlin) based, after
you see the "relations with the United States have improved" dialog you can
buy US-built planes. Even BEFORE Perestroika. I stumbled upon this trying
to keep my Moscow-based carrier Jetflot alive in a scenario II game. Since I
was actually trying to bankrupt it (so I could start again with some fresh
cash) I had no qualms about sending some money to help clean-up the pollution
around Dallas airport. But when I went to check out airplane sales instead
of the cursor starting on Tupolev, it was on Douglas. Indeed, I could buy
anything offered, so I stocked up on Boeing 727-200s in place of
economical(ish) but tiny Tupolev TU132s and fuel guzzling TU154s. And that
was only the start.
"I set up another game with Berlin (also restricted as a Warsaw-pact state in
the earlier scenarios) and eventually had the same thing happen, so there are
benefits to paying these beggars. A sideline is that those 12 month
negotiation periods for slots in New York shortened to six, and when I set up
a hub there it was only a three-month wait. A real improvement."
===============================================================================
Final Words...
===============================================================================
There is a small "Bonus Game" in Aerobiz Supersonic, and it is a "Flag" game.
Find the icon that looks like the SNES controller, and press A then SELECT to
get into the game. It will show you a flag, then give you 4 options as to
which country it belongs to. Simple.
-- from GameSages -- http://sages.ign.com/codes/12/8227.html
This FAQ was writen entirely using the GWD Text Editor: (shareware)
http://www.gwdsoft.com/
ASCII Art created using SigZag by James Dill: (freeware!)
http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/marina/4942/sigzag.htm
_________________________
Shameless Self Promotion:
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I am Dan Simpson (dsimpson.faqs@gmail.com) and have also written FAQs for:
NES: Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Final Fantasy -- Magic FAQ
The Legend of Zelda
SNES: Aerobiz
Aerobiz Supersonic
Utopia: Creation of a Nation
Genesis: StarFlight
PSX: Thousand Arms -- Walkthrough
-- Forging/Dating FAQ
PS2: Madden NFL 2001
XBOX: Star Wars: KotOR II: The Sith Lords -- FAQ/Walkthrough
-- Influence Guide
PC: AD&D Rules FAQ, 2nd and 3rd Editions
Baldur's Gate & Tales of the Sword Coast -- FAQ/Walkthrough
NPC List
Creature List
Baldur's Gate II & Throne of Bhaal -- FAQ/Walkthrough
-- Items List
-- Class FAQ
-- Creature List
Civilization III (incomplete)
Colonization -- the Single Colony Strategy Guide
-- the Cheat Guide
Drakan: Order of the Flame
Dungeon Hack
Icewind Dale & Heart of Winter -- FAQ/Walkthrough
Items List
Kresselack's Tomb Map (JPG)
Burial Isle Map (JPG)
Shattered Hand Map (JPG)
Icewind Dale II -- Items List
Master of Magic (revision)
Messiah
Pharaoh (currently being edited by Red Phoenix)
Planescape: Torment -- FAQ/Walkthrough
Items Listing
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
The Sims
Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar
Ultima 7: The Black Gate
Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle
Ultima Underworld -- Keyboard Commands
Ultima Underworld II -- Keyboard Commands
-- Spell List
All of my FAQs can be found at:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/2203.html
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________________
Version History:
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Original Version (6-5-99, 15k)
STILL TO DO: Finish listing all the planes!
Changes in 1.1 (7-30-99, 17k)
Added the Other Strategies section complete with 1 strategy!
Some Small Changes and Addendums
Changes in 1.2 (10-1-99, 21k)
Small format Changes
Small Changes
Changes in Version 1.3 (2-29-00, 24k)
Pretty much the same as 1.2, Small Changes and Small Format Changes
Changes in Version 1.31 (4-26-00, 25k)
Updated the format some
Small Changes
Version 2.0 April 18, 2001 32k
Reformatted and updated a little. Then added lots of good information from
Korath.
Version 2.1 January 17, 2005 32k
Changed my email address, and updated the format.
Version 2.2 January 22, 2005 38k
Added quite a bit of new information from AlbertC79 on the cost of planes,
and the effect of Business Ventures.
Version 2.3 January 23, 2005 44k
Added quite a bit of new information from AlbertC79 on Passenger Totals
in the Route section.
Version 3.0 April 17, 2009 83k
Eric Little sent in a huge amount of content, which I added where
appropriate. Per his request, I did not tag each contribution, but a
summary of what he sent in can be found above. Added the scenario 4
planes from Marsk Ong.
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This Document is Copyright 1999-2009 by Dan Simpson
Aerobiz Supersonic is Copyright by Koei
I am not affiliated with Koei, or anyone who had anything to do with the
creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING
IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You may not
charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ.