Change the supposed random breakdown

[Wired Parrott]

I know I am not alone in the belief that this "random" breakdown is anything but especially on
the planes that require greenies to repair. I understand the need for a company to make profits,
irrelevant of the free to play nature. I have regularly bought greenies to support a game I enjoy but these
things make it a bit hard to justify continuing that practice. Below shows what happened to a full 50% of
a group of 8 planes. Though this is higher than usual it is a regular occurrence to have 2 or 3 from a group this size to all go at the same time. In fact I am actually shocked when at least 2 don't go down with every groups arrival. So without further babbling a glorious, for GI, look at this afternoons group.

 

[Bali Hi]

OK, it is unavoidable to have breakdowns, so you need to invest in a few repair slots if you haven't.

However, in my own experience, I have fewer incidence of breakdowns by having a "sacrifical lower level plane".

If you click a lower level plane before you click on your S1/S2 planes, the lower level plane will take the fall and your S1/S2 are less likely to breakdown.

Repairing your low level planes is a breeze, so keep them in unclaimed in your hangar and only click on it at the same time you want to claim a S1/S2 plane. And click on your highest ranked plane last.

I don't have a tally to calculate the breakdown rate reduction, but this is my way to reduce the breakdowns. Try it and see if it works for you.

 

[Wired Parrott]

I did have 3 repair slots already open, unfortunately had to get another as I was
not willing to wait 24 hours for one of them. I will give that a try with the lower level
flight, as I usually just collect them and send them off. In the instance I have shown
here, however, I did land a powerful prop and six jets before any of the higher level
planes. I think I might start keeping a weekly total to figure out the effective percentage
of different planes. Many thanks for the suggestion hopefully I will get some relief using it.

 

[Agent_L]

I hate to state the obvious, but sometimes none, sometimes all, sometimes in between - that's how random is supposed to work.

 

[Wired Parrott]

Well the actual random is what the lower level planes do. From my several months running
only high level it is quite obvious that the random is not quite so random for these pay to
repair planes. As I stated for me it is very rare to have none which would actually show randomness.
With lower levels it was quite common to not have any breakdowns and never did I have more than two,
which in itself was quite rare. Now it is exactly opposite which shows the random has changed with the
planes involved. Kind of like how all collections are random but most if not all have the exact same rare
item which again shows it is not truly random. I have dealt with random generators within PCs back in
my admin days of NT servers in the 80's. It is not uncommon that the actual amount of random generation
can be tweaked.

 

[Wasted Eagle]

It is not uncommon that the actual amount of random generation
can be tweaked.

They can, I'm sure. Same happens during events: in the initial stage of an event the random drop rates will be lower, forcing players to spend . Drop rates change towards the end of the event, dropping more needed items. That means that they can somehow tweak it. Just like casino slot machines! All programmable...No?

 

[Wired Parrott]

Indeed it is not sure exactly the process now but it used to be quite straight forward.
My rant is not advocating removal just a bit of easing on the fairly loose setting of
higher level planes. I might actually even spend greenies on repairs occasionally if
that were the case.
BTW @Bali Hi thanks for your suggestion it seems to help a bit. Of course my sample
size is still pretty small.

 

[Agent_L]

Well the actual random is what the lower level planes do.

First - how do you know that previous rate was wrong and current is right? Maybe there was a bug and they fixed it, and current rate is the intended one.
Second - your planes took less time to repair, there were items to speed it up and you probably had less planes. This, plus confirmation bias we're all prone to, means that it's pretty much possible that the rate is exactly same, you're just perceiving it differently.
Third, there is the problem that "random" in AC is suspiciously time-dependent. IMHO if you're landing them in a group, there is higher possibility that many of them will end with same broken status. So even if you got a week of zero breakdowns, then you suddenly get 4 in a row which is frustrating, so more likely to remember.

I know that there are many quirks. But I believe there is no foundation to call it a foul play.

My strategy is to send 1-2 planes every hour, and land them separately. The breakdowns are manageable with a 3-slot repair base. On the other hand, I have 16 planes available, so my perception of "manageable" is certainly biased in opposite direction because I'm rarely able to keep them all in the air. Grounding of a plane that I don't have fuel for anyway is much easier to go without annoyance.

 

[Wired Parrott]

Perhaps it is my perception but really I believe it to be an attempt to extract more money.
As stated I understand this but feel hard pressed to keep supporting a game I enjoy when
seeing what to me looks pretty obvious. Also I am not calling it foul play it is a deliberate
strategy IMHO.

Sending a couple planes out every couple hours is a nice thought. However I play on a PC
and quite often can not do that. With my crappy eyes I would never have attempted to play
this or pretty much any game on my s5.

In any case I have stated my case not that it will change anything but really just felt
like venting my frustration, getting into another one of these endless discussions will
not change my or your opinion. So kind of a useless point, counter point.

 

[Kesh]

I would like to see that drop rate is related to number of flights. More flights in total - better drop rate but only to some reasonable level (lets call it seldom)

 

[Wasted Eagle]

Of course it's a money issue! The only reason this game doesn't go the way of the dinosaurs is profit margin. Every click on a greenie button in-game is a step closer to a microtransaction, GI's bread and butter.

Of course you have the anomalies like the Captain or Husam or my new BFF Melony , but literally all the other players still in the game buy or have bought greenies.

The gaming industry has evolved big time, broadening the target audience: elder players and mostly women, all with extra means to spare, are the new gamers these games are designed for. That's why these games are 'free to play' at first sight: tease, get hooked, buy to keep playing. Always in small amounts so it feels okay to do. What's 5 or 10 dollars, right? In the long run, you've purchased the equivalent of PlayStation 4 games (yes, probably plural) of 70+ dollars, minus the high-end graphics and excellent developpers...

I strongly believe that everything that occurs in this game somehow someway has to do with GI profits, forcing players to spend money to keep playing the game comfortably...

The switch from F20 to P10, the possibility to hire planes, greenie repair cost and random breakdowns, quick skipping of quests and builds, S2 planes, chests to smartstart events, all prereq items for launches and flights... All examples of GI somehow trying to make your pockets lighter.

And the forum doesn't help either! We all feel comfy and connected to eachother, keep playing the game because of this extra dimension, keep spending money with our weak flesh because we like it here too much. Forum users should get a monthly greenie allowance!

This rant is done...

 

[Gt city]

Forum users should get a monthly greenie allowance!

If it would be in my power, believe me, I would do that.

 

[Wasted Eagle]

If it would be in my power, believe me, I would do that.

So you've tried?

 

[Wired Parrott]

Indeed I am quite aware of what the free to play model entails. Though I am older I do not really fall
into your category as I have been gaming since the early 70's. Never bought anything for any PS however
as they pissed me off many years ago and I try my best to avoid them. I will give Sony credit they learned
their lesson from betamax and ensured that would not happen again. That lesson is really the only thing that
has allowed them to dominate the console market. As far as the free to play it is a balancing act, some are
just chock full of shameless money grabs, others do an extremely good job at getting the right combination.
I would put GI in between the two.

I just feel the breakdown frequency of larger planes is a bad place to try and get that money. If you annoy those
that support your game yes you may find replacements. But if you do a better job with the balance you lose far
less long time supporters. In the latter case you also get new players the difference is you now have more players
contributing to the bottom line. More contributors equals bigger profits every time.

BTW I have noticed if you own a specific type of plane you can not pay to send extra planes of that type out. Any that
I do not have no problem pay you can fly there, own one of those planes and no dice. I used to use this on rare occasion
when competing for a top 3 in a destination. Of course with the ridiculous number of flights to place high now I would not
do that anymore, so doesn't affect me.

 

[Kesh]

then don't start playing happy tower. It's real money burner with small transactions.

 

[AJ]

It is all random, I am flying event destination by speeding up Planes, sometimes 7 out of 12 plane's need repair and sometimes there's no plane for repair.
It works absolutely fine.

 

[Agent_L]

If it would be in my power, believe me, I would do that.

I think we already have huge advantage over non-communicating players : )

 

[PeterNL]

Of course it's a money issue! The only reason this game doesn't go the way of the dinosaurs is profit margin. Every click on a greenie button in-game is a step closer to a microtransaction, GI's bread and butter.

Of course you have the anomalies like the Captain or Husam or my new BFF Melony , but literally all the other players still in the game buy or have bought greenies.

The gaming industry has evolved big time, broadening the target audience: elder players and mostly women, all with extra means to spare, are the new gamers these games are designed for. That's why these games are 'free to play' at first sight: tease, get hooked, buy to keep playing. Always in small amounts so it feels okay to do. What's 5 or 10 dollars, right? In the long run, you've purchased the equivalent of PlayStation 4 games (yes, probably plural) of 70+ dollars, minus the high-end graphics and excellent developpers...

I strongly believe that everything that occurs in this game somehow someway has to do with GI profits, forcing players to spend money to keep playing the game comfortably...

The switch from F20 to P10, the possibility to hire planes, greenie repair cost and random breakdowns, quick skipping of quests and builds, S2 planes, chests to smartstart events, all prereq items for launches and flights... All examples of GI somehow trying to make your pockets lighter.

And the forum doesn't help either! We all feel comfy and connected to eachother, keep playing the game because of this extra dimension, keep spending money with our weak flesh because we like it here too much. Forum users should get a monthly greenie allowance!

This rant is done...

it's ok for me..everything costs money..i think this game is a cheap hobby in comparison with many others things

 

[Wasted Eagle]

it's ok for me..everything costs money..i think this game is a cheap hobby in comparison with many others things

True. I feel the same way.
It's a very modern hobby but most people don't grasp the idea of grown-ups playing video games. Still widely considered childish. Let alone paying for those games! A couple of bridges too far...
I always love to see those faces when I tell them the gaming industry has become the biggest branch of the entertainment industry, leaving music and movies far behind. And even thén they don't believe you...

As long as I have opposable thumbs, I'll be doing this s***!!!

 

[Kesh]

True. I feel the same way.
It's a very modern hobby but most people don't grasp the idea of grown-ups playing video games. Still widely considered childish. Let alone paying for those games! A couple of bridges too far...
I always love to see those faces when I tell them the gaming industry has become the biggest branch of the entertainment industry, leaving music and movies far behind. And even thén they don't believe you...

As long as I have opposable thumbs, I'll be doing this s***!!!

I found those casual games best way to get some stress relief from work.