Support NeoGAF

[Fuu]

Good to know that having a line of airports is the closest to an optimal setup early on, that's what I have at the moment from Recife to Calgary. Trying to make better combos now, nothing like having a full plane to a single far away destination for dat profit.

Still participating in the event since it's profitable but it's a shame there's that absurd cheat mode by messing with the database. At least the Gafair internal ranking will still be mostly legit (for now, lol).

What happens if we all change our Crew at the last minute?

I'm wondering this too. I guess there are people jumping ship already but no need to do it early if you can just do it at the last minute and rake in the bux.

This is how I envision layovers. I haven't actually done them yet, but I think this is how it works. Basically, you have a mixed bag of people/cargo at the origin airports. You bring all that cargo to one central hub airport. From there you create other flights carrying cargo whose destination is all the same airport. This way you get the 25% bonus for having a plane full of cargo with the same destination. It might cost a big more initially, but the final benefit is definitely worth it on the larger planes.

That's more or less how I'm envisioning it too. On top of that, sometimes I'll have two big planes stationed in a hub with people/cargo on board, and another big one bringing in the exact passengers/cargo the first two need to fill their bonuses.

 

[Tobor]

Ok, now my iPad and iPhone games are out of sync. The iPad game is like a day behind. Argghhhh.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Joined GafAir. Now to play the game.
We are third in the world leaderboards?

 

[VeryGooster]

Who's fourth is what I'm curious about because that's one hell of a gap.

 

[Diablohead]

Berlin to madrid in this game is about 720 miles, my 2 cargo slot plane can do 700 miles, aaah!

Upgrade fuel made it reach, horrah.

I have been closing my black dot airports and only going for blue and reds right now, going big only.

 

[NimbleDave]

Nooooooooooo!!!! Why why why

I wake up this morning to find my entire game wiped out, I spent so much time with it yesterday, it's such a good game and I love it, but why oh why would anyone release this buggy mess of a game?

Dave is this issue going to be fixed soon? I won't play again till it is, thank goodness I didn't invest any money in to this yet, and I fully expect to invest in this game, support the dev, but come on this is just unacceptable and disappointing.

Really sorry, we submitted an update last night that should hopefully fix the issue but there is nothing we can do to help until it gets approved. If you want you can email me dave@nimblebit.com the number at the bottom of the settings screen of your game and I can send you some bux and coins. If you start playing again before our update is approved turning iCloud on should help with the crashes.

 

[MThanded]

I was bored so I went browsing the game folder. Found the database with the player data and gave myself 999999999 coins and bux. Now I can play without the F2P tedium attached to it.

errrrrrr

What's to stop other people on the leader boards from cheating in the competitive challenge?

 

[HBP]

Yeah, I don't get how their at 21,783...

angel fly must be on their team lol.

 

[Meier]

errrrrrr

What's to stop other people on the leader boards from cheating in the competitive challenge?

It sounds like they built some things into the game to detect and punish cheating, but there isn't really a good way to prevent it if it's that easy to do.

@Dave: When it says Flight Crew Details are unavailable, am I still contributing to the total?

 

[gofreak]

How many of you going the 'big airport' route are buying bux?

Trying to save toward Moscow, my first 10.0 airport...still 25k to go :\

 

[Stumpokapow]

Really sorry, we submitted an update last night that should hopefully fix the issue but there is nothing we can do to help until it gets approved. If you want you can email me dave@nimblebit.com the number at the bottom of the settings screen of your game and I can send you some bux and coins. If you start playing again before our update is approved turning iCloud on should help with the crashes.

Let eeen know we're working on getting his account approved today, cheers.

 

[Covfan]

Got a snowstorm in London right now, just warning everyone.

 

[Nugg]

I was bored so I went browsing the game folder. Found the database with the player data and gave myself 999999999 coins and bux. Now I can play without the F2P tedium attached to it.

Oh no! My free game is not free enough! Let's find a way to screw them some more!

 

[Chopper]

Got a snowstorm in London right now, just warning everyone.

D'oh. I'm just about to buy it.

 

[Diablohead]

Got a snowstorm in London right now, just warning everyone.

snow on my game too, I like how it's global to other players too.

 

[Fuu]

Tardis, aww yeah. The green items are so fun, great job.

 

[toythatkills]

How many of you going the 'big airport' route are buying bux?

Trying to save toward Moscow, my first 10.0 airport...still 25k to go :\

I haven't bought Bux yet. Don't forget you can close some smaller airports and you get coins for that, also sell any parts you don't need. It doesn't take too long to save up once you've got a decent spread because the journeys are all worth 300-400 coins per person, so on a fleet of four-seaters you can earn a fair bit.

Play with fewer airports further apart, rather than many airports close together. I'm pretty sure that's the best way to make coins.

 

[chris121580]

I know this may be nitpicking but I really hate that I zoom out on the map, send the plane, go into the next plane to send it somewhere and the map is zoomed in again.

 

[Hypereides]

I wish I had an iPad or iPhone so I could've joined GAF... but thats alright Im caught myself in building my own crime syndicate in Crime City.

 

[Tr4nce]

Ok GAF, I joined in on #GAFAIR.

I'm not feeling this game though. Just installed it, but for now, I don't see where the fun should be coming from. Can anyone tell me? Maybe a few hours in I will start to enjoy it.

 

[enzo_gt]

Is it possible to build a plane and not buy a slot for it and send it back to your hangar? (Say if I have max planes active and don't want to buy a slot?)

 

[Awesome Animals]

Is it possible to build a plane and not buy a slot for it and send it back to your hangar? (Say if I have max planes active and don't want to buy a slot?)

You could always send one plane to the hangar to open up a slot and the new plane could fill in. Then you can send that one to the hangar, and recommission the old plane (but it will cost you 1 bux).

 

[Pastry]

Would any of the more experienced players be willing to write a short FAQ / strategy guide for GAF Air? Things like why layovers can be good; whether investing in airport upgrades/airplane upgrades is worth it in the early-mid game; whether it's best to have airports spread out or clustered; etc.

Maybe Pastry could post it in the OP.

Edit: I realize that the game's only been out a day, so all suggestions are preliminary as we learn more about the game.

Just PM me if anyone has written anything they would like included in the OP. I'm kind of busy right now so I can't do too much myself, sorry.

 

[toythatkills]

You could always send one plane to the hangar to open up a slot and the new plane could fill in. Then you can send that one to the hangar, and recommission the old plane (but it will cost you 1 bux).

The Bux cost increases depending on the plane, too. Not sure what the point of building a plane just to send it to the hangar is though. Either you need it or you don't, and if you don't, sell the parts for coins or wait til later!

 

[Diablohead]

I know this may be nitpicking but I really hate that I zoom out on the map, send the plane, go into the next plane to send it somewhere and the map is zoomed in again.

same, i would love to keep it at least one stage zoomed out, the max zoom is a little too close for me on my ipad

 

[pock3tmonster]

Just installed and joined #GafAir. Shame I can't participate in the Global Event as I started in Australia. Should I start over and choose a new starting location?

 

[Fuu]

I wish scrapping planes wouldn't remove the check mark from the Airpedia, I'm not scrapping any of my older unused ones because I want to eventually have everything checked in there. Lol.

(I'm probably not really going to do it, just indulging my OCD for now.)

 

[nicoga3000]

I'm in the process of closing most of my smaller airports and only having 3-4 large ones spread further out. I'm hoping this helps with income...We'll see!

 

[NimbleDave]

I know this may be nitpicking but I really hate that I zoom out on the map, send the plane, go into the next plane to send it somewhere and the map is zoomed in again.

Hmm don't think it would be too hard to remember the last zoom level, I'll add that to the task list.

The jobs for the global events should be sent off once you are able to connect to the flight crew server, tray restarting the app to help getting it to connect.

About the cheating stuff, we did build in some ways to detect when people do this but it's a lot harder to reliably punish than the clock hacking. We ended up turning off the harsher punishments before launch since in beta testing some people were getting punished without cheating. There are actually some security measures we have in Tiny Tower that we forgot to put into Pocket Plans so those will probably be going in an update in the near future.

 

[enzo_gt]

You could always send one plane to the hangar to open up a slot and the new plane could fill in. Then you can send that one to the hangar, and recommission the old plane (but it will cost you 1 bux).

The Bux cost increases depending on the plane, too. Not sure what the point of building a plane just to send it to the hangar is though. Either you need it or you don't, and if you don't, sell the parts for coins or wait til later!

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Question: What does the little blue dot mean next to the jobs in an airport. I see some passengers or cargo have this dot next to them at times, but not sure what it is meant to indicate. Often those jobs are worth less than some of the others on the list, but I wonder if this ultimately has some other meaning.

 

[RDNinja]

Anyone have a Navigator-M body, Airvan-C body and engine? I have Bearclaw-P controls, Wallaby-P controls, and Wallaby-C controls if anyone is interested.

 

[NimbleDave]

Question: What does the little blue dot mean next to the jobs in an airport. I see some passengers or cargo have this dot next to them at times, but not sure what it is meant to indicate. Often those jobs are worth less than some of the others on the list, but I wonder if this ultimately has some other meaning.

The dot represents the size of the city the job needs to be delivered to. If you look on the map you will see that city is blue.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

The dot represents the size of the city the job needs to be delivered to. If you look on the map you will see that city is blue.

Thanks! Thought it might mean something beyond that, but that makes sense.

Really fun game by the way Dave. Thanks!

 

[Diablohead]

I'm in the process of closing most of my smaller airports and only having 3-4 large ones spread further out. I'm hoping this helps with income...We'll see!

If you have too few the passengers and stock will not replen fast enough to keep up with your planes, so you want 4 or 5 key locations you can fly to IMO, I have 3 and constant playing is too good lol.

I love how strategic this game can be, much more fun then tiny tower.

 

[Chopper]

So, I suppose layovers come into play once you have Class 2 and 3 planes. I just built my first Birchcraft, which is awesome, but it can't land in half of my airports, which is not.

 

[chickdigger802]

I'm sure this would probably mess with design philosophy or something, but fuck would it be great if I could get a notification if parts of something I own appeared on the market.

Current market is too... luck of the draw? Idk.


And some usability suggestions. Have a way to access the menu from any screen would rock. Also have a way to return from 'flight path' screen to 'boarding' screen in 1 click would be cool.

Some good stuff here! Most of the time these freemium games have terrible UI but this one is quite decent (outside of that obnoxious 'speed up flight with a buck!' button ;P).

 

[nicoga3000]

If you have too few the passengers and stock will not replen fast enough to keep up with your planes, so you want 4 or 5 key locations you can fly to IMO, I have 3 and constant playing is too good lol.

I love how strategic this game can be, much more fun then tiny tower.

Currently running San Fran, San Diego, Phoenix, and Mexico City. My next goal is to open Kansas City and start branching that way.

 

[xeris]

Just installed and joined #GafAir. Shame I can't participate in the Global Event as I started in Australia. Should I start over and choose a new starting location?

I started in Africa but bought Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon and built/re-commissioned a couple of planes over there while keeping the majority in my main region.

 

[nicoga3000]

I started in Africa but bought Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon and built/re-commissioned a couple of planes over there while keeping the majority in my main region.

I tried this before my game got erased. It's awesome, except when you get a job that wants to go from your main region to the random little routes you opened.

 

[Evlar]

From my point of view, the Kangaroo kinda sucks... it's way too damn slow. A base speed of 125 versus the 3-seater Anan with 176 means the Anan will be more efficient in coins-per-minute terms. Further, the Kangaroo will be harder to keep full when serving the smaller spoke airports, thus making it less efficient and harder to rack up bonuses. The Kangaroo still enjoys a big advantage in range, but I really don't think I want to be sending such a slow plane across those long distances.

 

[Fuu]

So, I suppose layovers come into play once you have Class 2 and 3 planes. I just built my first Birchcraft, which is awesome, but it can't land in half of my airports, which is not.

I've been doing it with Class 1 planes only, imo if you have a few 3-4 P, C or M planes in your fleet you can already start taking advantage of it. But yeah, looks like it's actually a necessity with the higher class ones. Close to level 10 here so I'll soon be there!

 

[Chopper]

I've been doing it with Class 1 planes only, imo if you have a few 3-4 P, C or M planes in your fleet you can already start taking advantage of it. But yeah, looks like it's actually a necessity with the higher class ones. Close to level 10 here so I'll soon be there!

The problem I have is that I hate having planes just sat on the ground. Taking advantage of layovers involves leaving planes where they are whilst you send other planes your way. Unless I'm doing it wrong.

 

[toythatkills]

From my point of view, the Kangaroo kinda sucks... it's way too damn slow. A base speed of 125 versus the 3-seater Anan with 176 means the Anan will be more efficient in coins-per-minute terms. Further, the Kangaroo will be harder to keep full when serving the smaller spoke airports, thus making it less efficient and harder to rack up bonuses. The Kangaroo still enjoys a big advantage in range, but I really don't think I want to be sending such a slow plane across those long distances.

I mainly use the Kangaroo for it's equal Cargo/Passenger rate. I kept getting annoyed having some planes that were 1/2 and some that were 2/1 so I'd always keep trying to load up on the wrong thing or get annoyed because it turns out I've got the wrong plane in the wrong place. I always know where I am with a Kangaroo-M.

That's what I say when I advertise an airport. "GAFair; you always know where you are with a Kangaroo-M."

And the range, too, yeah. I don't care about the speed that much, means I can leave it doing its thing a bit longer, which is probably not good for my coins but is better for my sanity

The problem I have is that I hate having planes just sat on the ground. Taking advantage of layovers involves leaving planes where they are whilst you send other planes your way. Unless I'm doing it wrong.

The layovers stay at the airport rather than on the plane, so you can drop 'em off and fly somewhere else, then pick them up later.

 

[eznark]

Anyone have Airvan C controls?

 

[Chopper]

IThe layovers stay at the airport rather than on the plane, so you can drop 'em off and fly somewhere else, then pick them up later.

But how do you coordinate it? I can't imagine using the system without just sacrificing coins to get cargo to where it needs to be for picking up.

 

[Fuu]

From my point of view, the Kangaroo kinda sucks... it's way too damn slow. A base speed of 125 versus the 3-seater Anan with 176 means the Anan will be more efficient in coins-per-minute terms. Further, the Kangaroo will be harder to keep full when serving the smaller spoke airports, thus making it less efficient and harder to rack up bonuses. The Kangaroo still enjoys a big advantage in range, but I really don't think I want to be sending such a slow plane across those long distances.

Good points, I've been thinking about this too. I may just get Airvans instead though, I'm trying to get a minimum of 800mi in range and the Anan is below that.

The problem I have is that I hate having planes just sat on the ground. Taking advantage of layovers involves leaving planes where they are whilst you send other planes your way. Unless I'm doing it wrong.

In my case it does involve some sitting around sometimes, but mostly because I ike to take advantage of the airport's quick job shuffle (I only really do this when I'm able to keep checking and can get it done in a couple of minutes).

But like toythatkills said, you can just leave people at certain places on the side, so in the meantime I keep building a "stock" at some airports. Eventually there are 3 to 4 layovers all headed to the same place at those, then I route a big plane with that place as the final destination so it can get them all at once.

I try to avoid making non-profitable flights so what I do is board people to, say, Georgetown, but one of them will be headed to Calgary. Then I just drop the Calgary one at the Georgetown airport and he'll sit there as a layover, waiting until there are enough layovers also heading to Calgary so I can make a full bonus flight there.

Still experimenting a lot though, the micro-management in the game can get pretty fun.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Okay, I'm part of GafAir, how does this global event work? I'm close enough to Calgary that I could probably add it if I add Salt Lake City first.

 

[Chopper]

I try to avoid making non-profitable flights so what I do is board people to, say, Georgetown, but one of them will be headed to Calgary. Then I just drop the Calgary one at the Georgetown airport and he'll sit there as a layover, waiting until there are enough layovers also heading to Calgary so I can make a full bonus flight there.

Still experimenting a lot though, the micro-management in the game can get pretty fun.

yeah, this is what I have started doing. Out of necessity really, considering the fact I have a Class 2 plane. It's messing with my brain a bit, but I'll see how I get on.

 

[Evlar]

But how do you coordinate it? I can't imagine using the system without just sacrificing coins to get cargo to where it needs to be for picking up.

That's the genius of it; given these conditions, a hub-spoke arrangement just naturally pops out as an efficient solution. You pick two airports to act as hubs, the Blue airports work naturally for this, but you can pick whichever you like. Then, the airports near those "hubs" become the end-of-the-line "spokes". You have one or two planes who are dedicated to ONLY ferrying stuff between the hubs, nothing else; they never go to the ends of the line. Anyone who is traveling to one of the hubs just naturally gets off, everyone else you just put in layover. Then you pick up everyone in layover who is headed to airports near the other hub and run the other way.

You have a couple planes carrying the passengers from the hubs to the spokes exclusively, and then carrying whatever is flying out from the spokes back to the hubs and putting them back in layover.

If you keep everything balanced (speed and capacity of the respective types of flights, number of planes, number of hubs and spokes, length of flights) it SHOULD result in a very efficient system for minimizing empty space on the planes and racking up bonuses.