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StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant
Aaaa, this is bugging me, the little pixel-art "Tu-104" is actually the later, shorter-haul Tu-134, the real life Tu-104 had two engines in the wing roots. :spergin:

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A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger

StandardVC10 posted:

Aaaa, this is bugging me, the little pixel-art "Tu-104" is actually the later, shorter-haul Tu-134, the real life Tu-104 had two engines in the wing roots. :spergin:

Was it fueled with pine tar and recycled cigarettes?

Edit: there's an update on the page before this, for any who missed.

A_Raving_Loon fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Feb 21, 2014

StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant

A_Raving_Loon posted:

Was it fueled with pine tar and recycled cigarettes?

In theory, a jet engine can be made to burn almost anything. The Tu-104 was basically a Tu-16 medium/long range bomber with a passenger cabin, though.

The Casualty
Sep 29, 2006
Security Clearance: Pop Secret


Whiny baby

StandardVC10 posted:

In theory, a jet engine can be made to burn almost anything. The Tu-104 was basically a Tu-16 medium/long range bomber with a passenger cabin, though.

It even had a glass nose for a navigator, a trend which continued in Soviet passenger aircraft for some time!

Here's my strategy for 1957:
1. We won't be seeing better aircraft for another couple years, at least. Instead of further expanding intercontinentally, we should branch out to more places in the regions we already fly to. Right now the range and speed of current aircraft -as well as our public relations- is not good enough for us to properly service the Americas or Australia. However, Europe and Asia do have profitable routes to be tapped, and there's several high-population centers in each region that will undoubtedly be money-makers.

I recommend getting the ball rolling on routes in Paris, Shanghai, Madrid, Athens, Taipei, Calcutta, Algiers, and Tripoli, in approximately that order of priority. Money is certainly getting tight, but it's pretty hard to gently caress up service to these cities, due to their large sizes and economic importance.

2. Opening these routes will probably take most of our resources. Let's limit our spending for new businesses. We must focus on getting the right number of aircraft for these routes. I suspect that our reliability issues will only grow as we acquire more and more Il-14s, we can't afford to be sinking cash into hotels and... pleasure boats, without factoring this in as a cost of doing business!

StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant
Echoing the above, I would hold off on crossing oceans, build up the Rome hub.

the holy poopacy
May 16, 2009

hey! check this out
Fun Shoe

A_Raving_Loon posted:




I also discover the limits of our original local routes. This is about how much we can expect them to earn until competition drives our prices down.

This line of thinking is misleading--routes in Aerobiz do not exist in a vacuum and as you expand your new routes will pull in additional passengers for your old routes as you start connecting people to more places. Unfortunately, we live in a sand-infested shithole and nobody is ever going to want to fly to anywhere in the Mideast anyhow, so we need to focus on expanding in Europe and Asia, which will drive demand for our lucrative Tehran-Rome and Tehran-Hong Kong routes as we provide our people more places to go to escape this rotting hellhole. Europe is probably the more tempting target right now with AirMarx stuck behind the iron curtain, so I vote we limit our Asian expansion to Bangkok for now to nab its tourist traffic and then pour our remaining resources into Europe (Paris and Athens should be our main targets.)

Hedera Helix
Sep 2, 2011

The laws of the fiesta mean nothing!
A part of me wants to see a trans-Atlantic route between Rome and Washington DC, and then establishing a South American hub in Havana, just to see how long it lasts. But, it would probably be wiser to expand our flights in Europe and Asia, in the order of Paris, Shanghai, Athens, Taipei, Vienna, Singapore, Madrid, and Bangkok. Also, if it can be squeezed in, a route to Calcutta might be worth acquiring, if only to use up leftover slots in Tehran's airport.


:gonk:

At least you made some money off of this, right?

The Casualty
Sep 29, 2006
Security Clearance: Pop Secret


Whiny baby

Hedera Helix posted:

:gonk:

At least you made some money off of this, right?

The problem with having 1 flight and a 50% discount. You'll sometimes see the AI do this on their own routes, desperately trying to fill too-big plane for a short hop to a backwater town. In my own game one of the AI airlines is trying to get a 747-400 to be profitable on a route between LA and Phoenix. He tries to fit 550 souls onto one flight a week, and gets 40% occupancy at a 50% discount, losing $1.5 million per quarter. If he was using a 737 or A-320 he could do 5-7 flights a week and pull in $2-$3 million in profit, assuming no competition.

In fact, AirRan probably losing a great deal of money. The route will take forever to pay off at this rate. Plus it's an aircraft which can't be used on a more lucrative route. In a vacuum, yes, the route turns a profit, but in this network, it's a tumor.

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger

The Casualty posted:

The problem with having 1 flight and a 50% discount. You'll sometimes see the AI do this on their own routes, desperately trying to fill too-big plane for a short hop to a backwater town. In my own game one of the AI airlines is trying to get a 747-400 to be profitable on a route between LA and Phoenix. He tries to fit 550 souls onto one flight a week, and gets 40% occupancy at a 50% discount, losing $1.5 million per quarter. If he was using a 737 or A-320 he could do 5-7 flights a week and pull in $2-$3 million in profit, assuming no competition.

In fact, AirRan probably losing a great deal of money. The route will take forever to pay off at this rate. Plus it's an aircraft which can't be used on a more lucrative route. In a vacuum, yes, the route turns a profit, but in this network, it's a tumor.

Due to information lost to rounding, there's even odds it is or isn't even earning enough to pay the upkeep on that timeslot. I keep it around as a joke. It's getting axed the moment we need that IL14 somewhere else.

MatchaZed
Feb 14, 2010

We Can Do It!


I definitely support going to Washington, as getting access to South America seems like a priority. I think the Brazil hub is looking cool.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I would actually recommend Cuba as a future South America because 'Murica would struggle to compete with us there due to the national enmity.

Hedera Helix
Sep 2, 2011

The laws of the fiesta mean nothing!

Juvenalian.Satyr posted:

I would actually recommend Cuba as a future South America because 'Murica would struggle to compete with us there due to the national enmity.

Whatever could you be talking about? Batista is a proud ally of the United States. :patriot:

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous

Hedera Helix posted:

Whatever could you be talking about? Batista is a proud ally of the United States. :patriot:

Yeah, there's no way that regime is going to fall. Like, what do you expect, that some rebels just show up in a yacht or something?

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.

StandardVC10 posted:

Echoing the above, I would hold off on crossing oceans, build up the Rome hub.

I also echo the above. We need to start rebuilding capital before we can expand into the western hemisphere. Africa is just not going to make us enough money right now to be worth the expansion.

Connecting the UK friendly locations in Asia and the biggest Chinese cities is a good start

Expanding flights in Europe is also a very good idea, I once again suggest Paris, followed by Berlin and Athens.

I also support a single route from Rome to New York City, which will be a huge money-maker for us.

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger

habeasdorkus posted:

I also support a single route from Rome to New York City, which will be a huge money-maker for us.

This would effectively mean comitting to using New York as our North American hub. America's dislike of up drives startup costs even higher than normal.

The Casualty
Sep 29, 2006
Security Clearance: Pop Secret


Whiny baby
Yes, remember what you guys learned from going into Europe. The game mechanics only allow for the following:
1. ONE inter-regional route per airline, between any two regions. This is why we can't fly Tehran-Rome and Tehran-London simultaneouly.

2. All routes must originate from a hub, and with the exception of your first route into a region (because you obviously haven't built the hub yet), all inter-regional routes must land in a hub.

3. All inter-regional routes must land in a major city (green dot).

If you commit to sending a flight into the US, then it behooves us to make it the city we wish to make our hub in. Otherwise you just waste money because the high route startup costs sometimes take a year or two just to get paid off.

Inter-regional flights do typically pay more money per flight, this is true. But running a business economically is usually about taking the path of least resistance. We have a lot of options already in reach of us. Let us expand locally and give time for technology to improve before we start crossing the oceans.

I'd also like to remind you of our victory conditions: Become #1 in SIX regions. There's seven total. We might want to think about making ourselves the very best in the rest of the world before trying to tackle North America, because there's very little chance we will overcome Air'Murica's domestic advantage.

The Casualty fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Feb 22, 2014

the holy poopacy
May 16, 2009

hey! check this out
Fun Shoe
The other issue with expanding into another region is that we're going to have a very hard time filling those expensive seats when we don't have a solid network in both Europe and North America--especially since we'll be competing with someone who does. Supporting and expanding our existing inter-regional flights will give us a lot more bang for our buck.

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.
Then let me withdraw my support for any American expansion. Let's focus on making money in Europe and Asia.

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger

The Casualty posted:

I'd also like to remind you of our victory conditions: Become #1 in SIX regions. There's seven total. We might want to think about making ourselves the very best in the rest of the world before trying to tackle North America, because there's very little chance we will overcome Air'Murica's domestic advantage.

And consequently, dominating any two regions is enough to prevent someone else from winning. A strong Mideast/Europe/Asia network is enough secure us against defeat while continuing the build revenue streams.

FH_Meta
Feb 20, 2011
I thought it was in four regions, which is why I was going to ask how many regions there were. But then on looking back, it's just hub everywhere, #1 in home, 1# in four regions, and profit for the year.

And after overthinking it, I think that you can only stall somebody else's victory by holding their home region or by somehow keeping them from posting a profit at the end of the year. Unless, for some reason, your home region isn't counted as one of the four that you need, in which case to win you need dominance in five regions. In that case if you can hold three regions, then you can stall their victory.

But then I'd wonder why the condition screen's worded the way that it is.

The Casualty
Sep 29, 2006
Security Clearance: Pop Secret


Whiny baby

FH_Meta posted:

I thought it was in four regions, which is why I was going to ask how many regions there were. But then on looking back, it's just hub everywhere, #1 in home, 1# in four regions, and profit for the year.

And after overthinking it, I think that you can only stall somebody else's victory by holding their home region or by somehow keeping them from posting a profit at the end of the year. Unless, for some reason, your home region isn't counted as one of the four that you need, in which case to win you need dominance in five regions. In that case if you can hold three regions, then you can stall their victory.

But then I'd wonder why the condition screen's worded the way that it is.

Where are you getting only four regions for victory? That would be too easy. I recreated the current scenario (1955, Mid East start, Turbo difficulty) and got six.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
So basically it doesn't matter that one airline's running away with North America, you can just ignore it and get a foothold in other regions?

FH_Meta
Feb 20, 2011


From the second post in the thread, which I was pretty certain was the only time we saw that in a picture.

Now I'm going through and trying to find another of it in the thread that says a different number.

Edit: And now I'm going and not finding another (OP posted) image like that, so I'm guessing that the actual numbers were in text and the image just stuck with me more.

EDIT: Edit: And looking over the two images again, it's probably something to do with difficulty levels.

FH_Meta fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Feb 23, 2014

The Casualty
Sep 29, 2006
Security Clearance: Pop Secret


Whiny baby

FH_Meta posted:



From the second post in the thread, which I was pretty certain was the only time we saw that in a picture.

Now I'm going through and trying to find another of it in the thread that says a different number.

Edit: And now I'm going and not finding another (OP posted) image like that, so I'm guessing that the actual numbers were in text and the image just stuck with me more.

EDIT: Edit: And looking over the two images again, it's probably something to do with difficulty levels.

Oh, I can see the misunderstanding now! I must have missed that somehow.

FH_Meta
Feb 20, 2011
Although, now that I look at it, if the loss conditions for the game included one of the other companies achieving the win conditions then it would actually be easier to lose on lower difficulties than on higher.

Granted from my very, very foggy memories of playing the game, that's not one of the ways to lose. And looking back some posts, that doesn't seem to be one of the ways to lose, either. Wouldn't surprise me if things were different in the original Aerobiz, but also wouldn't surprise me if it was the exact same from one to two.

The Casualty
Sep 29, 2006
Security Clearance: Pop Secret


Whiny baby
The original Aerobiz has some different objectives, due to the fact that it's less detailed. There's only 22 cities worldwide that you can fly to, and you don't have to worry about the whole regional mechanics thing. Instead, you're asked to create routes to every city, and based on difficulty level, carry X number of passengers annually while running a profit of Y dollars.

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger
If anything I say on the subject turns out confusing or at odds with reality, that's probably me being mistake. As far as win/lose conditions goes, keep in mind that Aerobiz does have multiplayer that goes as far as having all four airlines human controlled. The AI is generally treated like any other player, victory included.

And yes, that UK Air screenshot of the objectives was taken on a different difficulty. The very bottom of it mentions "Glider."

Glazius posted:

So basically it doesn't matter that one airline's running away with North America, you can just ignore it and get a foothold in other regions?

It's important in that uncontested control of North America bring in a lot of money that they can put to use elsewhere. Even if we have no chance to of beating them in their home region, a few stabs at their heart can help close the air travel gap.

Things have settled down on the voting front so I'll formalize our business plan and get to playing later today.

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger

Business Plan 1957

Primary Objectives:
pre:
5 - Paris
5 - Athens
4 - Shanghai
4 - Taipei
We’re putting out new hubs to work by digging into valuable cities in Europe and Asia. These highly rated origins and destinations should form a sound foundation for future business.

Secondary Objectives:
pre:
3 - Madrid
3 - Calcutta
2 - Other Far East (China and UK)
2 - Algiers, Tripoli, Afro-Hub
Our efforts will spill over into more development of these core regions, then into anchoring our African possessions if time allows.

Stretch Goals:
pre:
1 - Vienna
1 - Singapore
1 - Bangkok
1 - America
A little more overflow to our primary targets, and the vague distant hope of starting a trans-atlantic route.

Time, and money, will tell which of our plans will see the light of day.

A_Raving_Loon fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Mar 10, 2014

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger
1957 - Building the Nest


Q1 1957

Where last year was about hubs, this year is all spokes. We’re looking to put our remaining millions into drawing the best lines of income we can.




That idle DC6 is doing no good in lazing about the hangar, and neither are our unused slots in Tehran and Rome. There’s healthy demand for THR-ROM, so put assets to actions to see if it’ll pay off.

Our other routes are mostly status quo. An extra slot is thrown at Kuala Lumpur, and I continue fiddling with the fares on THR-HKG.



London carries on being an excellent use of our time.





Round one of bidding is focussed on our European targets. The Greeks are unusually generous with their airport capacity, though it will take 9 months to close with them. Rome’s hesitance is just as weird, six months for five slots as if we’d just met. Nice going, Jerry.



Uh… not now.

Beijing is a fine city, sure to make excellent use of our planes, but we could connect Paris and Berlin. We’ll get back to you later, China.



I pick up extra DC6s in anticipation of those new routes.



Their first short route in Australia, and a quick bid in Pakistan.



And it appears that Vickers doesn’t mind selling to the Russians. Orders of Viscounts and IL14s show a faint glimmer of hope for their choice in aircraft. They also get more busses in Spain.



Negotiations in San Francisco and Austria, and a link to the Middle East.




More fighting in Egypt, more beautiful scenery in New Zealand.





By and large a typical quarter. Slow growth from us, constant back-and-forth with ConAir, and M&M on opposite extremes of the financial spectrum.

We spend a moment on top in Europe.

Q2 1957



Just passing through.



Mostly quiet out west.



They’ve become quite fond of Spain.



It's getting quite lively over here. Our old bid in East Germany clears, I hold off on opening it for the moment. When you try to storm a region like this, you hub will quickly become a bottleneck. Setbacks in Rome mean setbacks for all of Europe.



Success in Rome is good for everyone.





In the case of a minor downturn, we could suspend a route temporarily to avoid losses, and would be able to resume service later without paying to reopen it. Doing that does not free up our plane. Doing this serves an example to the other lines. It also refunded us $9.4 million, a bit under half of our startup cost.



China should have no trouble living up to expectations.



Hong Kong will do its best not to slow us down, with new slots to finish early next year.

War and Tourism continue as before.





ConAir slips ahead, and AirMarx finally posts a profit.

Q3 1957




Boeing enters the scene. Starting next year, these fellows will be up for sale. The dawn of the jet age arrives. Jet aircraft will raise the bar for operating range and passenger capacity over the current generation’s turboprops, but consume far more fuel. The Tu104 suffered from having the drawback of a jet engine without the matching advantages.

More will start to appear over the coming years.



We get out first local competition from another route to Bombay and bidding in Tashkent. ConAir is setting sights on New York, so we may see some chipping away at the great blue monopoly overseas.

Bidding clears in Europe freeing Veronica to scrape up the last 3 slots we can claim in Hong Kong and Jerry to take another shot at winning over the Italians.



Quite.

We open our Franco-Prussian connections for $14.5M and $16.6M. A DC6 on each offer flights at standard fares. Another extra DC6 is ordered to throw after any route which could put it to good use.



Vienna, Rostov, and the game’s first local route in Africa.



:v:



Linking Paris, bidding in London and Pakistan.



Peace at last. We can resume business in Africa.





Not nearly the boost I’d hoped for from two shiny new Euro-flights.

Q4 1957



They keep quiet this round.



Another new route in Africa, a hotel in Austria, and some bidding in Cairo and Barcelona.



Russia. :geno:



So modest. Bids here and out east complete, giving us more time to our name.




We have perhaps overextended. I cut back flights on each route and apply some light discounts. They’re good cities, we just need to find the right setup.

Their slots, and our new DC6, are redirected to Mega-Athens, whose gargantuan population should cause most models of business to break down like the event horizon of a great Aero-Singularity. We pay $34 Million to open service.



Our first taste of competition at home. We won’t get to gouge here anymore. Even then, we were earning more and spending less with our trusty IL14s. Gentle discounts will put us back at capacity.



Damnit, everywhere in China is expensive to open. Another IL14 is put to work on all 5 of those slots.



In accordance with the plan, I send out a final round of bidding. Madrid for 8, Calcutta for 14, and Singapore for 3. Their work will continue into next year.



They bid in New York, Athens, and Hong Kong, and link Vienna.



Great.



Great!





Adequate!

Profits are at record highs, though our margins are tighter. We’re lagging a bit behind ConAir financially, but keeping a bit ahead in passengers.


1957 Year End Review

Only Air’Murrica goes before us, setting up their hub in Mexico.

With $59 Million left in the bank, we have the capacity to throw open a few more routes before we’re completely reliant on our own income. After that, grown will come from investing in more air-time and more planes to fly it on the routes we already hold.

Let’s take a look at them.

Inter-Regionals




Connecting flights like these are typically strong revenue streams. THR-CAI has been at a capacity since we launched it, and THROM came into its own this year. Either could grow by the simple application of more time and planes. THR-HKG is lagging in comparison, with income hovering around $300K-$350K while ConAir’s competing route can fill an L1049. Usage improved a little after we linked Shanghai, leaving the impression that their advantage comes mostly from their more developed eastern network feeding people in.

$2.4 Million, 30% of our quarterly air-revenue, comes from these routes.

Middle East




Our home roots in Iraq, India, and the Uzbek SSR remain strong. The arrival of competing flights means our inflated prices will have to pop, but also prove the existence of more demand for travel which we could tap into with some extra bids. Precedent from existing routes suggests that Karachi and New Delhi would give similar performances, backed by several AI airlines going after space in Karachi. Calcutta is just a bit outside IL14 range, so if we link them it will have to be with one of our larger planes.

$1.8 Million, another 21% of our sales are from the middle east.

SE Asia



Our far east connections are paying off. They hunger for more flights and Hong Kong will soon have more time to give them. Our slots in Beijing would be expensive to activate, but nigh-guarantee another successful route.

$1.3 Million, 16% of sales come from just these two links.

Europe





London remains a credit to our network. Underperformance in Paris and Berlin kinda baffles me. Perhaps their close proximity to Rome is muffling their demand for air travel. loving Trains. Switching them over to smaller planes could improve margins while we wait for the routes to become more desirable, and free of big planes to pile onto more successful routes. Athens demonstrates the power of a large population to overcome all odds. Their abnormal size is easily filling our initial outreach and is sure to sustain more.

Despite setbacks with the French and Germans, $2.7 Million, a plurality of 33% of our air revenue, comes from Europe.



Our current fleet. 3 IL14s sit idle for want of places to go or time to fill, and two of those DC6s are being under-used on the Franco-Prussian triangle. Our increased stock of DCs is not yet enough to earn us any discounts, and hasn’t disrupted our brand-loyalty discount from Ilyushin.

Slowing Growth

Over the course of 1957 we brought in $20.9M in operating profits, with quarterly performance peaking at $8.2M on our last turn. Our air sales have consistently improved and expanded over time, and our businesses had more ups than downs. If those trends hold, it means we’ve hit the point where our airline can pay for a new route or a couple of planes each year. If we chose the right places to apply that money, we can begin to generate some nice positive feedback to ride into the midgame. Many of our existing routes are not even tapped out yet, and could grow substantially for the minute cost of a round of bids or a fresh set of wings.

Time to make some changes for the sake of better business. Build our Plan for 1958.

A_Raving_Loon fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Mar 5, 2014

MadcapViking
Jan 6, 2006
Single malt Pork Baron
I say we expand operations at home by getting more slots in Tehran, activate Beijing to build our Eastern network, and get in on the Africa game; the hub of choice will depend on relations; reviewing the thread leads me to believe that Tunis or Nairobi would be good choices (or, if Cairo is already our hub, the would both make excellent spokes).

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous
Isn't there an option to improve aircraft maintenance? I remember there being one.

A_Raving_Loon
Dec 12, 2008

Subtle
Quick to Anger
Yes, by default it's set to max investment and tries to grow as quickly as it can. I've left it there since we started.



I'd planned to introduce these later on we get deeper into the fiddly bits of the game.

They can be set to improve our ratings in these areas, maintain them, or allow them to slip back.

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.
I would like everyone to pay attention to the overhead projector. If one of the secretaries could dim the lights.

1) Switch to smaller planes in Europe as warrants.

2) Use those larger planes to either expand current routes or open routes in Asia that project to be the most profitable.

3) Focus on maximizing the potential of our current routes over expansion to any other new cities for the coming year. When we move into new areas we'll we want to be able to set up rapidly rather than piecemeal.

4) Dividend me some cash. I, uh, have expenses in Monte Carlo.

the holy poopacy
May 16, 2009

hey! check this out
Fun Shoe

MadcapViking posted:

and get in on the Africa game

What, the "giant money hole" game?



Yeah, let's get in on that.

Still voting for Bangkok as our next expansion. It's the highest tourism destination in Asia and will drive a lot of sales.

Jazerus
May 24, 2011


Paris and Berlin are pretty underwhelming to be honest. They will never be fantastic money-makers.

Bangkok and Beijing are the way to go. We have an opportunity to knock ConAir for a loop in their home territory and we should take it.

CommaToes
Dec 15, 2006

Ecce Buffo
Expand in SE Asia and move to Oceania in the near future.

Then corner the South American market in the most backwards way possible.

We're not gonna win this game by doing things the conventional way.

MiltonSlavemasta
Feb 12, 2009

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
"When you coming home, dad?"
"I don't know when
We'll get together then son you know we'll have a good time then."
1. Go in on Asia. Asia has multiple huge moneymaker cities we have yet to integrate. We need time in Beijing especially, and I think a long-term strategy should be to keep Conair out of our backyard in the ME. If we can keep them expanding into the ME unprofitable and we expand into Asia, they should suffer from being boxed-in.

2. Gradual growth in Europe. Buy boats in Rome. Rome is working really well as a Euro-hub, but expanding into rinky-dink third and second-tier European cities seems like a losing proposition. I think we should maintain and grow our routes between Rome and the bigger European cities. While we do not need to buy boats immediately, my instincts say that We should buy a boat business in Rome before the 1960 Olympics. Rome has beaches, and not everyone can get actual tickets to all the Olympic events. I would also say that we should Focus on expanding our profitable routes until they reach the point of diminishing returns.

I am thinking about the long-game here; If we achieve a lead in Europe, don't let our guard completely down in the ME, and become the leader in Asia, even if we get a surprise usurpation in one region we cannot lose the game. Once significantly more money is rolling in and better planes are available around 1961, we can consider trying to slay The Great Satan.

Edit: Also, we can't ignore that opening new routes directly takes money that could be used on expanding good routes and buying new/better planes. If we spend all our money bidding on every crap-tier city, we won't be able to take the big routes to our regional hubs up to the level that makes maximum profit. So I am explicitly casting a vote for No new European routes this year.

MiltonSlavemasta fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Feb 25, 2014

Krysmphoenix
Jul 29, 2010
The only thing that is really concerning me is Murica. They are a huge juggernaut that we need to start taking down or crippling, although I haven't the foggiest idea how. It seems like this game is mostly playing around each other and trying to fill up a limited number of slots, without any direct offensive actions against each other.

MiltonSlavemasta
Feb 12, 2009

And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
"When you coming home, dad?"
"I don't know when
We'll get together then son you know we'll have a good time then."

Krysmphoenix posted:

The only thing that is really concerning me is Murica. They are a huge juggernaut that we need to start taking down or crippling, although I haven't the foggiest idea how. It seems like this game is mostly playing around each other and trying to fill up a limited number of slots, without any direct offensive actions against each other.

I think Air'Murica is making so much money because it has deeply invested in a smaller number of profitable routes. We and ConAir have followed similar strategies, I think, of a lot of expensive expansion that doesn't always immediately provide returns. Now that we have a lot of routes, I think we need to spend time consolidating if we want to make that Air'Murica kind of money.

Edit: I've decided to make a list of our relations with governments with help from the author, because that keeps tripping me up and changing my suggestions:

pre:
Red: Worst Relations
None

Orange: Bad Relations
North America:
USA
Canada

Europe:
West Germany

Asia:
Japan

Oceania:
Australia
New Zealand

Blue: Good Relations
Essentially all not otherwise listed.

Green: Best Relations
Home Area

United Kingdom+Possessions
 

MiltonSlavemasta fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Feb 25, 2014

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StandardVC10
Feb 6, 2007

This avatar now 50% more dark mode compliant
Did ConAir set up a hub in Tehran? Or just someplace nearby? Regardless, we must make them pay for their impudence. Take the DC-6s out of Europe that aren't being filled, and move them to Hong Kong.

It would be great if we could get in on some jets, but historically the 707-120 was superseded pretty quickly by the 707-320, DC-8, and so on - what's the schedule for the next jets to become available?

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