Okay so before I begin I'd like to say that I want an explanation of how these airlines are doing it NOT so I will go out and do it but to see if there is maybe a counter to it. Anyways I noticed recently on Quimby that at ORD there is a large airline based there with an ENORMOUS fleet. Now I understand that this game world has been in existence for almost four months now but its fleet is just simply too large to be legitimate. The only way I knew you could cheat was by having more that one account and having the airline that you want to get money buy aircraft on credit and have two dummy accounts bid on that aircraft and then have the accounts liquidate and repeat that process over and over again until the desired amount of money is earned. I know in March of this year that there was a rule where your return on equity had to be high enough in order to bid from private owners thus patching this exploit. So what are these airlines doing now? Can somebody please explain to me the process on how they are able to get all this money? Once again I'm only trying to find a counter and I'm not trying to ruin the game for other players.
Uh. What means enormous fleet? Specify!
Before this thread goes any further may I please point out to anyone reading or responding to this...
- If you believe someone is cheating then report it via official channels not via the forum
- It is NOT ok to name and shame on the forums
- If you have found a bug it should be reported again via official channels and not the forum
It is very feasible for airlines to become this size in a a new game world if they use a good strategy, research and experience. You will find the best have done their research before the game world starts (on destinations, aircraft type etc), so when the game world starts they are first out of the door, and every single route is making as much money as possible from the off. The ability to research is available to every player and therefore cannot be considered cheating. Generally I have found if you are willing to put the work in outside the game, the more success you will have in the game.
As for this thread I would urge everyone to use caution. To the OP I do not find it appropriate that you want to know how to cheat to counter / copy another player. If you believe someone is using a cheating method, report it, don't copy it. You copy it...you are as bad as the other player. That is not a discussion.
Ian
There are a few airlines in Quimby that are very good in using the right aircraft for the right routes, optimising pricing, aircraft, seating, on-board service, maintenance, etc. in an optimal way for a new server. The point with a new server is that there are no flights yet, meaning that as long as you are the only one providing a flight your almost guaranteed to have it fully booked. If you main strategy is to grow fast and to become the biggest airline than you need to use that knowledge to provide services on routes with good demand but (almost) no supply. Then, doing your research finding those routes, you need to determine which routes make you the most money. A longer router takes more time, meaning that you have fewer flights and thus make less money. Shorter flights have lower prices, thus making you less money and also shorter flights mean more flights and thus also more ground time, which means less time for an aircraft to fly and to make money. Somewhere in-between there is an optimum, the routes that are so long that your aircraft is flying a lot and making a lot of money and not so long that it can't fly enough trips.
Then there are the other factors to consider like seating and on-board service. In the beginning of the server when there is no competition it doesn't really mater what you use as there is more demand for flight than there are aircraft to fly those routes, but already within the first week this is starting to change on the most supplied routes. It's important here to figure out what exact configuration and service to use to optimise for those first days and the period after that, how to optimise it for pricing.
Maintenance is another of these aspects where a better service provider allows you to fly more and make more money, but is also more expensive. It's important to know where the right balance is. That balance can change a lot depending on the aircraft and even on your location. Maintenance is the same for your location, but if you have night-time ban at which you have your aircraft at your hub you don't need a better maintenance provider and if you're located at an island in the Pacific Ocean you won't have many aircraft performing more than 4 flights per day, which has a big impact on the maintenance ratio compared to doing 8 or more flights per day.
I think those airlines that have that enormous growth (and there are only very few that manage that) are perfectly executing most, if not all, of these aspects and a few more.
I don't think they use a "trick" or "cheat" to get this growth, they just know the game, understand the mechanics behind it, put in time to do their research, have a lot of experience in previous game worlds and put that all together with a lot of time to become this big.
And just to give you the numbers, these airlines have a Return on Equity of over 45% per week. Which is a margin of roughly estimated to be about 65%
*edited the Return on Equity to 45% from 145% and added an estimated margin.
RoE 145% :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:
I play not hardball, happy with 55% :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush:
I meant 45%, not 145%. Most companies are having difficulty managing 20% RoE if I take a quick look at the companies on Quimby current running IPOs
Not sure the numbers that airline is running, but under certain circumstances is possible to make AS$382 net profit per passenger (mix short, medium, long haul) or $0.15 per seat kilometer offered (with a mix of cargo included) especially during the gameworld start. That also translates into about 62% profit margin.
Every once in a while I see airlines trading a bunch of the same certain stock back and forward within a few hours, with one airline always selling at a low price and the other one always selling high, obviously resulting in large amounts of cash shifting from one airline to the other. I reported it, but nothing happened. Is this maybe legal?
No, it’s certainly not legal.
So you should of course report any airline profiting from such stock market manipulation.
He did but no reply from support... :-(
It still possible to run 60% Margin on Otto. Just don’t fly Economy passengers and your will profit will increase ^^
I thought you were a staff member Highscore what happened?
I thought you were a staff member Highscore what happened?
Highscore is busy with a new job, but he’s still helping out. 
Highscore is busy with a new job, but he's still helping out. :-)
Congratulations Highscore
Recent trades of an Asian airline stock on Otto:
2018-02-01 15:30 K** ******* ***** Air L** A****** 38,216 250.50 AS$
2018-02-01 15:00 Air L** A****** K** ******* ***** 38,216 205.50 AS$
2018-02-01 14:45 K** ******* ***** Air L** A****** 38,216 250.50 AS$
2018-02-01 12:00 Air L** A****** K** ******* ***** 38,216 210.00 AS$
2018-02-01 10:15 K** ******* ***** Air L** A****** 38,216 240.50 AS$
2018-01-30 17:15 S**** International Ai... K** ******* ***** 38,216 179.00 AS$
2018-01-30 17:15 Air L** A****** K** ******* ***** 100,000 179.00 AS$
2018-01-30 17:00 K** ******* ***** Air L** A****** 100,000 217.00 AS$
2018-01-30 17:00 K** ******* ***** S**** International Ai... 38,216 217.00 AS$
2018-01-29 16:45 Air L** A****** K** ******* ***** 90,471 155.00 AS$
Thats the way the airlines business works these days, I guess. A bit frustrating when I think of how hard I try to squeeze every possible AS$ out of my airline's ops to grow and how other airlines manage their expansions. I always wonder how others can afford so many widebodies in such short time. Now I get an idea of how it works.
Hn. Just posted an anonymized example of how these stock deals seem to work and its been deleted?!
It was not anonymous, it contained direct links to the airline. Direct accusations are not tolerated here (also do not post names like A***. That’s almost like a direct link!).
The forum can’t help (you), at least not more than confirm it’s a forbidden practice. Tell support and it will be dealt with.
Ah, ok. Whatever. It's just a bit frustrating to see competitors grow so quickly and buy loads of widebodies while I try to squeeze every singe AS$ out of my flight ops to afford my next 737.
I know, it's all legal. I'm just not smart enough to make as much profit as these guys do.
Tell support and it will be dealt with.
I told support and it is apparently NOT being dealt with. The involved airlines are still prosperous, up and running, using the extra cash to buy new planes, setting up new subsidiaries (the last one today). One involved airline has 80 (!!) widebodies on Otto, which started only in November. I mean, this is a super-obvious thing. Not something that needs to be carefully "investigated". When two airlines sell stock back and forward within a few minutes or hours, thats not normal course of business.
Please give me an honest answer: Are some users allowed more than others, provided they buy enough credits for their multiple accounts?
No. This game is clearly not a pay to win game.