Maximize your ROI on Helicopters

[Captain Goren Fox]

When I started playing, helicopters seemed like a ton of work for minimal return. It took a while to figure out how to get a good return on investment but once I did, they became an enjoyable and lurcrative part of my gameplay. Below are my thoughts on making helos pay. Please add your thoughts/suggestions.....

1) It’s all about the boosts! I run helos when I have a block of time to play. I throw on a business class (or sky captain) to boost coin and xp production (flight manual will also boost xp), a golden dice or spyglass (improves item drops) and a weather vane (cuts flight time so you can run more flights while your boosts are active). They’re other threads with exact figures on the benefits so check them out if you want specifics.

2) it’s all about the parts! Helos need constant parts and I’ve discovered you burn through them quite quickly. I run a 4/6/6 parts system. 4 resource bases, 3 slots in each. 6 mechanical plants and 6 hi-tech plants with 3 slots in each. I can produce 3 of each of the four resource base parts at a time (one type of part per base, 3 at a time). Mechanical and Hi-tech produce 6 different parts so I run one part type per plant (3 of the same part in the que for each plant). Unlike resource bases which produce multiple parts simultaneously, both plants run a que producing one part at a time. Use the time you are on and off the game to produce and stockpile all of the parts. You can never have too many and it sucks to run out of parts and waste boost time because you don’t have enough parts for continuous flights (learned this the hard way)

3) It’s all about the fuel! Upgrade Fuel Station H to give yourself a huge capacity of fuel and bigger fuel production runs using your on/off game time to fill this massive tank to full! Helos are very fuel efficient and storage is huge (compared to planes) so you can get a ton of runs done back to back before you exhaust your fuel, especially if you start with a full tank and keep producing fuel while running.

Once your fuel and parts are maxed, throw on those boosts and run, run, run!!!!! You will get...
-a ton of coins and experience
-loads of items for useful free buildings
-lots of aircraft repair parts for your planes
-many stars quite quickly since flight times are short

Hope this helps new players who are where I was a couple months ago!

 

[Arch]

I started Crossbills before I really knew the economics and level of management required and though I'm now committed to making it work not convinced I would do it again (or at least not until later).

I'm running them with 1 resource plant (3 slots) and 3 mechanical plants (3 slots) with the 50% alliance gold boost can make around 420 to 450g/hr of flying. I find with this set-up that I produce the flight items only slightly faster than I consume them so don't bother with a flight speed boost. As soon as I launch a flight I look at items needed for next one and start queuing them up. Always trying to keep a decent reserve (+20) of the resource plant items so they are never a constraint (normally just circle through them but check inventory every now and again to see if need to prioritise a specific item).

Worked out that by the time I 3 star the 5 flight destinations will have made just under 130k profit. The heli pad, repair and helicopter cost specific for Crossbill is around 90k so in the long run will make that money back and be in pure profit. The mechanical plants are another 8k each but if I continue with the next level helis they would be required anyhow.