Incorrect Skill Stars Ranking – Request GI to Recalculate

[DarekK]

I've sent this message to GI support:

Hello Airport City Support Team,
I have been playing Airport City for many years and I really enjoy the game and all time‑limited events. However, I have noticed a serious problem with the skill stars ranking that makes the game unfair for long‑term players.
In my profile I currently have:
• 532 Expert destinations
• 2 Master destinations
• 3 Specialist destinations
This gives a total of 1608 skill stars (532 × 3 + 2 × 2 + 3 × 1), which exactly matches the number of stars shown on my main game screen. I have participated in all events and, as far as I know, there have never been more than 537 different destinations in total. Therefore, the absolute maximum number of skill stars that any player could legitimately obtain under the old system is strictly limited.
The issue appears in the neighbors list and global rankings. Many players who started the game earlier than I did show more than 2000 skill stars, even though such a number is impossible with the total number of available destinations. This strongly suggests that in the past the game incorrectly summed stars for some accounts (probably due to old bugs), and these wrong values were never corrected. As a result, the skill stars ranking is no longer accurate or fair.
Today a new version of Airport City was released, which changed the skill system: each destination for planes can now give up to 5 skill stars instead of the previous maximum of 3. To get the 4th and 5th star you need to complete a very large number of flights to a given destination. Unfortunately, the game does not take into account the flights that were already completed before the update. The system simply starts from the current 3 stars and ignores all previously accumulated flights, even if the total number shown in the “total flights” counter would already be enough to receive 4 or 5 stars.
For example, on one of my destinations - Macau I have already completed about 18,400 flights (this value is displayed in the game in the total flights counter for that route - All-time statistics), which should clearly be enough to reach 5 stars with the new thresholds. However, after the update I still have only 3 stars on this destination and the game requires me to perform thousands of additional flights to unlock the missing 2 stars.
This creates two major unfair situations for long‑term players:
• In the past, some players received more stars than were actually possible due to bugs in the system.
• Now, with the new 5‑star system, honest flights made over many years are ignored and do not count towards the new stars.
In addition, I would like to emphasize that you already have all the necessary data on your servers to correct this situation. For every player and every destination, the game stores the exact number of flights performed over the years. Based on these existing databases, you could immediately prepare and run an algorithm that:
• recalculates the correct number of skill stars for each destination and each player (including the new 4th and 5th stars), using the real number of flights already performed, and
• updates the total skill stars value and rankings so that they reflect players’ actual in‑game activity and effort.
This would correct both historical errors and the new problem introduced with the 5‑star system and would restore a fair competitive environment for everyone. Players would once again be able to compete on equal terms, knowing that all stars and rankings are based only on real, legitimately completed flights.
I attach screenshots showing:
1. My profile with the detailed number of Expert/Master/Specialist destinations,
2. The neighbors list where you can see players with more than 2000 stars.
3. Macau flight information board
Could you please forward this report to the development team and let me know if you plan to:
1. Recalculate the total number of skill stars for all players based on their real per‑destination progress, and
2. Recalculate the new 4th and 5th stars using the total number of flights already completed on each destination before the update?
Thank you very much in advance for your time and support.
Best regards,


Do you agree?

 

[ItsRalphy]

I've sent this message to GI support:

Hello Airport City Support Team,
I have been playing Airport City for many years and I really enjoy the game and all time‑limited events. However, I have noticed a serious problem with the skill stars ranking that makes the game unfair for long‑term players.
In my profile I currently have:
• 532 Expert destinations
• 2 Master destinations
• 3 Specialist destinations
This gives a total of 1608 skill stars (532 × 3 + 2 × 2 + 3 × 1), which exactly matches the number of stars shown on my main game screen. I have participated in all events and, as far as I know, there have never been more than 537 different destinations in total. Therefore, the absolute maximum number of skill stars that any player could legitimately obtain under the old system is strictly limited.
The issue appears in the neighbors list and global rankings. Many players who started the game earlier than I did show more than 2000 skill stars, even though such a number is impossible with the total number of available destinations. This strongly suggests that in the past the game incorrectly summed stars for some accounts (probably due to old bugs), and these wrong values were never corrected. As a result, the skill stars ranking is no longer accurate or fair.
Today a new version of Airport City was released, which changed the skill system: each destination for planes can now give up to 5 skill stars instead of the previous maximum of 3. To get the 4th and 5th star you need to complete a very large number of flights to a given destination. Unfortunately, the game does not take into account the flights that were already completed before the update. The system simply starts from the current 3 stars and ignores all previously accumulated flights, even if the total number shown in the “total flights” counter would already be enough to receive 4 or 5 stars.
For example, on one of my destinations - Macau I have already completed about 18,400 flights (this value is displayed in the game in the total flights counter for that route - All-time statistics), which should clearly be enough to reach 5 stars with the new thresholds. However, after the update I still have only 3 stars on this destination and the game requires me to perform thousands of additional flights to unlock the missing 2 stars.
This creates two major unfair situations for long‑term players:
• In the past, some players received more stars than were actually possible due to bugs in the system.
• Now, with the new 5‑star system, honest flights made over many years are ignored and do not count towards the new stars.
In addition, I would like to emphasize that you already have all the necessary data on your servers to correct this situation. For every player and every destination, the game stores the exact number of flights performed over the years. Based on these existing databases, you could immediately prepare and run an algorithm that:
• recalculates the correct number of skill stars for each destination and each player (including the new 4th and 5th stars), using the real number of flights already performed, and
• updates the total skill stars value and rankings so that they reflect players’ actual in‑game activity and effort.
This would correct both historical errors and the new problem introduced with the 5‑star system and would restore a fair competitive environment for everyone. Players would once again be able to compete on equal terms, knowing that all stars and rankings are based only on real, legitimately completed flights.
I attach screenshots showing:
1. My profile with the detailed number of Expert/Master/Specialist destinations,
2. The neighbors list where you can see players with more than 2000 stars.
3. Macau flight information board
Could you please forward this report to the development team and let me know if you plan to:
1. Recalculate the total number of skill stars for all players based on their real per‑destination progress, and
2. Recalculate the new 4th and 5th stars using the total number of flights already completed on each destination before the update?
Thank you very much in advance for your time and support.
Best regards,


Do you agree?

Well done, well put together and worded. Lets see what happens.

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

It is, even though I’m pretty much convinced they did it on purpose.
so I expect their reply to be in line with not taking into account the previously completed flights behind 3stars being meant as a feature…
keep us updated , please, @DarekK

 

[DarekK]

It is, even though I’m pretty much convinced they did it on purpose.
so I expect their reply to be in line with not taking into account the previously completed flights behind 3stars being meant as a feature…
keep us updated , please, @DarekK

I believe that GI will take a fair approach to this problem and fix the star rating system. To obtain VR, ER, EP, and RDF, which are required as additional items for completing flights to several destinations, many players have flown their teddy bears to Caracas, Mogadishu, Pyongyang, and Macau. They deserve to be properly rewarded for completing these flights.
There are still many destinations to fly to – there are 538 in total in the game – so players will continue to have plenty of goals to pursue. I do not believe that anyone in the alliances involved has flown more than the 1,000 flights required for a 3‑star rating on a given destination. The game itself is great, and the idea of adding more stars is also great, but in order to prevent players from quitting, the competitive environment needs to be consistent and fair.

 

[Nayeon]

For real. At the higher levels too, the number of flights needed strains the eyes. There are 12 standard Condor destinations, and I am at 3 stars each. Now, I need to get 3900 more flights for 5 stars? That's 46,800 flights for just the standard destinations (in theory) but 11 also need VR, so it works out to what, 85,800 flights? I'll be an old granny by the time that happens. 👵 😭