With the new livery customization feature that has rolled out, there has been mostly groans about the triviality of it as well as the additional cost of purchasing an aircraft before using it. However, I think the idea can be revolutionary and welcomed with a few modifications and additions:
1) Make the livery one that is floating.
This one change alone would revolutionize the idea. What do I mean by floating? The current setup is for a livery to be attached to an aircraft once it is applied. That means if you remove/lose the plane, you lose the livery as well. If the livery is floating, it is not tied to any particular aircraft. The implications of that are given in the following sub-bullets
-If a livery isn't in use, it can be applied to any aircraft so long as it's the same type. For example, you can apply a copper livery to a swift, remove it, and apply the same copper livery to a different swift aircraft. That way, you will always have that livery, but it can only be applied to one aircraft at a time
-If you remove a livery from an aircraft before selling it, you still keep the livery. For example, if you are selling a swift aircraft with copper livery, you can switch back to default livery before selling, therefore retaining it.
2) Create more diversified bonuses to go along with the liveries for sale.
We already have the S1, S2, S3, tropical planes, Rangers, and others that provide a flight time speed bonus, which is great, but there are far more other creative bonuses that can be created, such as those given below:
-Fuel reduction bonuses (-10, -25, -50%)
-Pax capacity bonuses (+10, +25, +50%)
-Coin reward bonus (+10, +25, +50%)
-Reduced bad weather bonuses (-10, -25, -50%)
-Increased good weather bonuses (+10, +25, +50%)
-Permanent Increased Drop Rate (+10, +25,+50%)
-Trigger % Increased Drop Rate (+50, +100, +150%). This would get triggered 20% of the flights)
-Trigger % Auto Fuel Catalyst Speed up (+10, +25, +50%). Works just like the jetpack super bonus, but it uses the trigger % instead
-Trigger % Free Speed Up (+5, +10, +20%). This removes the fuel requirement for instant return flights. Of course l, the trigger % should remain fairly low.
Just by these suggestions, the dimensions of gameplay would expand tremendously, as pilots can get unique liveries and bonuses to help them achieve their goals.
3) Reduce the cost of liveries, or at least make them worth the current costs.
At the moment, we have some liveries with no bonuses costing nearly as much as liveries with bonuses, which doesn't make much sense. With the suggestions from bullets 1 and 2, the costs would at least be more justified. For instance, a normal livery with no bonus should not cost more than 3 greenies. However, a livery that has a permanent increased drop rate of +50% may cost 100 greenies, which would be more than fair considering that the livery would always be available and it is equivalent to having a dice attached to the aircraft.
4) Allow the user to create their own livery.
This should be the end goal. All users would appreciate the ability to select different color combinations to create their own livery. Keep it simple and only allow two colors to be selected. If you want to go a step further, make it that the bonuses are what you purchase, and then the user can create their livery and attach their purchased bonus to the livery. Only one bonus can be applied per aircraft, and it is also floating, so one can reuse it if the aircraft is no longer kept.
Clearly I've given this a lot of thought, as I love the ability for the player to individualize their fleet and hence their game. Not sure how possible it is to incorporate all of this and how software intensive it would be, but if the idea of customization is being explored, it should be developed to the best of its ability to create new gameplay dimensions and to allow the pilot to exercise his/her creativity.
1) Make the livery one that is floating.
This one change alone would revolutionize the idea. What do I mean by floating? The current setup is for a livery to be attached to an aircraft once it is applied. That means if you remove/lose the plane, you lose the livery as well. If the livery is floating, it is not tied to any particular aircraft. The implications of that are given in the following sub-bullets
-If a livery isn't in use, it can be applied to any aircraft so long as it's the same type. For example, you can apply a copper livery to a swift, remove it, and apply the same copper livery to a different swift aircraft. That way, you will always have that livery, but it can only be applied to one aircraft at a time
-If you remove a livery from an aircraft before selling it, you still keep the livery. For example, if you are selling a swift aircraft with copper livery, you can switch back to default livery before selling, therefore retaining it.
2) Create more diversified bonuses to go along with the liveries for sale.
We already have the S1, S2, S3, tropical planes, Rangers, and others that provide a flight time speed bonus, which is great, but there are far more other creative bonuses that can be created, such as those given below:
-Fuel reduction bonuses (-10, -25, -50%)
-Pax capacity bonuses (+10, +25, +50%)
-Coin reward bonus (+10, +25, +50%)
-Reduced bad weather bonuses (-10, -25, -50%)
-Increased good weather bonuses (+10, +25, +50%)
-Permanent Increased Drop Rate (+10, +25,+50%)
-Trigger % Increased Drop Rate (+50, +100, +150%). This would get triggered 20% of the flights)
-Trigger % Auto Fuel Catalyst Speed up (+10, +25, +50%). Works just like the jetpack super bonus, but it uses the trigger % instead
-Trigger % Free Speed Up (+5, +10, +20%). This removes the fuel requirement for instant return flights. Of course l, the trigger % should remain fairly low.
Just by these suggestions, the dimensions of gameplay would expand tremendously, as pilots can get unique liveries and bonuses to help them achieve their goals.
3) Reduce the cost of liveries, or at least make them worth the current costs.
At the moment, we have some liveries with no bonuses costing nearly as much as liveries with bonuses, which doesn't make much sense. With the suggestions from bullets 1 and 2, the costs would at least be more justified. For instance, a normal livery with no bonus should not cost more than 3 greenies. However, a livery that has a permanent increased drop rate of +50% may cost 100 greenies, which would be more than fair considering that the livery would always be available and it is equivalent to having a dice attached to the aircraft.
4) Allow the user to create their own livery.
This should be the end goal. All users would appreciate the ability to select different color combinations to create their own livery. Keep it simple and only allow two colors to be selected. If you want to go a step further, make it that the bonuses are what you purchase, and then the user can create their livery and attach their purchased bonus to the livery. Only one bonus can be applied per aircraft, and it is also floating, so one can reuse it if the aircraft is no longer kept.
Clearly I've given this a lot of thought, as I love the ability for the player to individualize their fleet and hence their game. Not sure how possible it is to incorporate all of this and how software intensive it would be, but if the idea of customization is being explored, it should be developed to the best of its ability to create new gameplay dimensions and to allow the pilot to exercise his/her creativity.