7.0 Update Preview

[Navigata07]

Meh I would rather the game focus on other things than alliance in-game chat. Too much would need to go into that feature...maybe if somehow G! and this forum can reach an agreement to allow this forum to be advertised in the game? No need to invent the wheel when we already have one (and it was just updated too )

 

[Dave]

Meh I would rather the game focus on other things than alliance in-game chat. Too much would need to go into that feature...maybe if somehow G! and this forum can reach an agreement to allow this forum to be advertised in the game? No need to invent the wheel when we already have one (and it was just updated too

It's a great idea. We would love to be the unoffical offical forum for the game. Unfortuantley I can never see it happening as GI have some kind of support forum on their website.

 

[Navigata07]

It's a great idea. We would love to be the unoffical offical forum for the game. Unfortuantley I can never see it happening as GI have some kind of support forum on their website.

If they did a benefit/cost analysis where they look at the use of both forums, the features offered by both forums, the cost of running their own vs. having an external party manage one.....I think it should at least be looked at and considered. We all know Ivan doesn't have to be here if he chooses not to, but everyone including Ivan himself would agree that the link he created along with Ur-quan has been beneficial to everyone involved. We get info about upcoming plans, and he gets valuable feedback (although the rants coat it a bit ). It's a win for everyone, and thats why even though we complain about everything we dont like, we also compliment the things we do like, and let both of them know that they are valued members of this forum.

 

[Duck Airport]

And, anyway, thanks everyone for your feedback about things we've worked on for the last year. I hope we deliver the update that will be worth your time!

Appreciate your time and afford putting your opinion and the companies view forward. It has become an interesting debate which we all want to view our opinions, but I am disappointed about the 100 limit. I have got used to it but as you pointed out those who have grown up with it adapt and do t know any different! I think we will be finding ways to take advantage of different plays in the game and with this forum a lot will be published after v7 giving opinions and the very useful guides.
Loved the video and screenshot of v7 looks more like an airport! Some one mentioned that there would be a restriction with only two runways but the video showed several plans following each other onto the runway!
Thank you free2Play

 

[dtaylor1972]

I appreciate you sharing, and interesting enough, that's a pretty good idea with the depot building. Have you brought up that idea of the depot building to those implementing a limit? I think all forum members would agree that it would be a good compromise, even if you have to pay greenies or gold tokens for it.

But about the "stocking up fuel" for maps, don't you think that there is actually strategy involved with current map flights? Remember, even with a limitless inventory, we still have a limit on passengers. People have to ration out their passenger use and use bonuses to either boost pax production or reset pax availability, while using another bonus to help improve drop rates. I highly doubt any map flyer just opens a map and just flies without any form of strategy. While implementing the limit would certainly make things more difficult, map flying was already one that required great strategy and planning, even with a limitless inventory. Not criticizing...just throwing thoughts out there.

Its a different game than it was a few years ago...not in a good way!

Fuel was pretty easy to get with the many launches going on...and it was easier to get bonuses to help..<before the stupid weather bonuses were added to the duke chests> Drop rates were poor, but with a gold dice and sky capt it was bearable.

Now... There is less launches, less fuel, hard to get bonuses, and generally crappy drop rates even with bonuses!

100 limit will be the death of this...as others have said the long time players will mostly quit, or play much less...Meaning even less launches/ fuel.

I may stick around... It does look like some cool changes, but just with the changes in the past few years...its no longer as much fun...and almost a chore to play...Ill not spend a dime more on it...Thats for sure!

 

[Bob69bob]

I don’t think integration of the forum into the game is the right move. A chat feature and a forum are 2 different beasts. The forum would be too slow for purpose. Ideally, and probably easier for GI if it’s possible to do, would be to allow something like a FB Messenger engine to be usable from within the game. Far less coding, errors and product management from GI and much quicker than using the forum (which would be slowed significantly from the excessive data being pumped through). Just my thoughts.

Ivan, on a not overly important note, when I worked hard to buy my 13 level 7 runways (I can hear the “boo hoos” pouring in) the 13x1.5m=19.5m coins were extreme

 

[Arggers]

I can't see the most important question being answered.......can we finally remove the duty free building

 

[Arggers]

I bet people won't be so quick to whine about a bug/feature if they're profiting from it...

He's said several times you'll keep what you've got until you duck back under the 100 items. If you've got twelvety gazwillion earplugs or F20s then, not being funny, I think you'll be ok. Strategise - it's not as if you've not had warning. All the time apeople have been on here moaning they could have been spending that time reassessing the way you play. This change was first warned about a long time ago - if you've carried on spending real money, whined in the hope that they'll change their mind, and are now asking for a refund, you deserve to be ignored.

As someone said a long way back, the game is ostensibly nothing but a bunch of numbers being shunted around. So they'll be able to run reports. And I'm sure they'll look at the stats/revenue sheets and "balance gameplay" again, if circumstances require.

As noted before - no one is forcing you to play the game. If it's that much of a hardship for you to play in the new state that you have to threaten to stop playing, then stop. But for the love of the gods go out, enjoy the weekend and quit the moaning!!!

 

[Pit1024]

@Arggers I believe it is not your first post when you reply to someone without quoting the original message. It makes all other forum members wondering which comments you are replying. Is it @Bob69bob's one, @dtaylor1972's one or anything else?

 

[Arggers]

@Arggers I believe it is not your first post when you reply to someone without quoting the original message. It makes all other forum members wondering which comments you are replying. Is it @Bob69bob's one, @dtaylor1972's one or anything else?

I'll use reply when I'm replying in particular to one post.

Otherwise I'm using the wider-casting 'you' and preaching to the masses.
There's so many similar misconceptions in this thread that it's easier, and doesn't come across as picking on anyone in particular, to reply in general.

 

[Pit1024]

I'll use reply when I'm replying in particular to one post.

Otherwise I'm using the wider-casting 'you' and preaching to the masses.
There's so many similar misconceptions in this thread that it's easier, and doesn't come across as picking on anyone in particular, to reply in general.

So in order to stop some players moaning about the 100-limit you began moaning about the people who moan

 

[Bigglesbaz]

So that means we don't need hangars anymore?? I just spent over 1M coins on upgrading my hangars!

so did I

Hi!

About a year ago we’ve thought for a while about Airport City’s future. What could be a major new step for it going forward? What could we do to both please most of our current players and hopefully attract lots of new ones? Of all things, which one should we focus on?

It took a few months of pre-production to figure this one out. First art assets for this update went into production in May, 2018. By late August we had the game design documentation mostly done and some of the art, so our engineers started working on the update in September. It certainly took longer than expected for a variety of reasons: we never did such a big update before, it’s built atop existing game (and we supposedly will not break it for everyone with update’s release), and we did a major alteration of art assets midway through, because the whole thing didn’t look good enough when we’ve started to put it together piece by piece.

Anyway, we’re finally getting close to completing it. Right now we’re targeting late June or early July for a beta release, and August for a release for all players. Below are the in-game screenshots from the latest 7.0 test version with only UI being hidden.

View attachment 20184

Update 7.0 Highlights

• There’re now three areas in Airport City: the city on top, the airport in the middle, and tech area on the bottom. The city part remains the same: a sandbox to build a city of your dreams the way you like. Key airport buildings have moved to airport area and are now pre-built or there's a free space reserved for them at certain places so the airport operations can run pretty much like they are run in real airports. Tech area houses the rest of airport buildings, power plants, and other infrastucture buildings like oil refineries and flight catering facilities;
• All planes are now 3D planes, some of them got a major redesign;
• All new Terminals, Control Towers, and Runways, although some of them got to keep their designs;
• Planes will now use a bit of pathfinding to determine who comes and who waits in line, and it’s done in accordance with general rules of aircraft traffic in real airports; no hassle, though, after you start a flight your air traffic controllers will take care of everything for you, so there’s no chance of plane crash (Airport City is a casual simulator, and we want to keep it that way).

Gameplay Changes

• You can build Boarding Bridges to speed up loading of passengers for big planes;
• Terminals can now be expanded with Terminal Sections that speed up the servicing of planes by ground vehicles that are stationed within;
• Terminals can be further expanded with Parking Lots to increase maximum amount of passengers;
• We now have ground vehicles to service planes! If there’s no Terminal Section next to a Stand, those vehicles come from a Service Vehicle Park which takes some time;
• Hangars are no more (except the Reserve Hangars), all planes, both your planes and guest planes, now use the same Stands on the ‘first come, first served’ basis;
• Control Tower is now responsible for a max number of active planes (i.e. planes in use);
• Rebalance of the XP progression through levels: it will be more smooth in the mid game; the total amount of XP needed to reach level 80 remains the same;
• Rebalance of the reputation XP with new reputation levels; the amount of free gifts you can send daily will depend on your reputation; the max amount will be more than 20;
• 100 per item type limit will be enforced for everyone, as I’ve told you previously;
• One level of Runway per plane type, so there’re more levels of runways;
• By default, you need to tap a plane to refuel it, to load passengers, and to start a flight (three taps overall), like it was in the first years of Airport City; however, you can automate it by building a (cheap) Ground Control building, so you just tap a plane once to start a flight — like it works on live version now.

Other Changes

• UI Updates: main UI, neighbor visiting UI, neighbor visiting loading screen, and possibly some more;
• Updated terrain in all areas;
• Some nice looking tech: Terminals and Control Towers now reflect the clouds passing above, and planes have shader effects;
• Some of the older planes got new names in line with newer ones;
• One new level of Terminal and two new levels of Control Tower;
• The number of Runways is now maxed at two (a tech limitation), so if you have more than that, there’ll be an in-game compensation in coins for the runways you lose after the update; your two highest level runways are to stay;
• Special event planes will move from hangars to inventory until we update those events to be compatible with 7.0.

View attachment 20185

Of course, we’ll try to make the transition from 6.x to 7.0 as smooth as possible. You keep your fleet and all your airport buildings at their current levels whatever they are at the moment of update.

And... That's all for now! There’ll be detailed guides about everything coming later from @Ur-quan on our official Facebook page, but right now most team members are very busy with bringing this update to you, and the rest do some smaller ones with special events.

Cheers,
Ivan.

OOOH, I like it. I was getting a tad bored and it's only because of my alliance that I'm willing to go another year. It's refreshing to have a revamp. I don't care about limits etc, I just enjoy it as a game--I do have a life to live outside of it and I usually play wargames, but AC has managed to grab me. Well done to your team, Ivan.

 

[DJones007]

Actually, it would be a great new feature I think: A reset-button that will reset your game to the very first day except you keep all your inventory: Coins and Greenies, silver + gold tokens, buildings / bonuses / planes in your inventory. I'm sure there would be people who like this option.

You know, for the level 80 players, it would be nice to add a airline cargo feature. To build an cargo airline with materials and cargo you produce at your factories. It would be an nice added feature to this game. Any comments???

 

[Madge59230]

Ivan, on a not overly important note, when I worked hard to buy my 13 level 7 runways (I can hear the “boo hoos” pouring in) the 13x1.5m=19.5m coins were extreme

Hopefully they will be refunded on a full cost basis not 10%

 

[Bob69bob]

Hopefully they will be refunded on a full cost basis not 10%

I have no doubt that anything removed will get a 100% credit, whether it be coins or greens. The point is that when I accrued them, I worked hard to do so - now I wouldn’t miss them at all if they were not credited.

 

[Arggers]

So in order to stop some players moaning about the 100-limit you began moaning about the people who moan

Fair dues.

I didn't think I was moaning, just trying to get people to see how incredibly repetitive, tedious or pointless they were being.

I've shut up.

 

[Navigata07]

Its a different game than it was a few years ago...not in a good way!

Fuel was pretty easy to get with the many launches going on...and it was easier to get bonuses to help..<before the stupid weather bonuses were added to the duke chests> Drop rates were poor, but with a gold dice and sky capt it was bearable.

Now... There is less launches, less fuel, hard to get bonuses, and generally crappy drop rates even with bonuses!

100 limit will be the death of this...as others have said the long time players will mostly quit, or play much less...Meaning even less launches/ fuel.

I may stick around... It does look like some cool changes, but just with the changes in the past few years...its no longer as much fun...and almost a chore to play...Ill not spend a dime more on it...Thats for sure!

Ill definitely be keeping my eye on it. I've always thought the drop rates could be improved quite a bit, but everyone has gotten used to it by now, and I feel like with this limit, it will be a similar experience. I remembered when golden dice could help with buildings, and you saw a drastic improvement with their use. Those days are long gone, but so long as the fun factor is still there, Ill keep playing. As soon as it becomes a chore and loses the fun factor, then I will retire.

 

[B17 Flying Fortress]

I'm a veteran player from the beginning. Change is inevitable and it won't make everyone happy. The game was really fun, challenging and frustrating in the early years. It's not so much fun now. I have played so long now I don't plan on quitting but it will slow my play a lot. I feel my wings are clipped, lost lift and the game feels like a tail spin. What's the point of having all these planes if you don't have the items to fly. So my new strategy must be to waste time and fuel flying half my planes to get items to keep the others going now. Great. How about changing the subscription to allowing the game to be like it was years ago with better drop rates and such. I have yet to spend one single penny on this game but I may for something like that. But it won't happen. The game is definitely now for new players only. I can't get over how long it will take them to accomplish anything now. It is what it is.

B17

 

[ItsRalphy]

You know, for the level 80 players, it would be nice to add a airline cargo feature. To build an cargo airline with materials and cargo you produce at your factories. It would be an nice added feature to this game. Any comments???

Really like that idea - good call, very like real airports and would add new challenges. Great idea.

 

[Pit1024]

I have no doubt that anything removed will get a 100% credit, whether it be coins or greens. The point is that when I accrued them, I worked hard to do so - now I wouldn’t miss them at all if they were not credited.

Be careful with such comments, Rob. If you decide to play v7.0, you’ll have 1 CT and 2 Terminal upgrades pending and a bunch of new buildings. Are you sure you have all the coins available and you’ll not need to touch your uncollected collections ?