What’s the point of joining a launch and not podiuming?

[craigodile]

Is it just to get stars?

I see quite a few people join and not even get bronze place. Seems like a waste of a launch collection!

 

[Arch]

I think over time you can collect more launch prep items (by clicking on neighbours space related buildings) than you can realistically use to join (or create) a launch with enough points required to secure podium positions. I usually do a non QL launch every couple of days with my wife but that means I usually have lots of spare launch prep items.

So jumping into a QL party (thanks to the very generous community) using up surplus launch preps and just putting in small points still means you can get:
- coins and XP
- silver tokens
- fuel
- stars and progress to first 100 launches for the QL reward
- and I think a very small chance of a collection item.

Edit: I'm not sure exactly where some of these rewards no longer apply (e.g. does 5th place still give all of these or not).

 

[Arch]

Space Sets

www.airportcitygame.com

That's the wiki link for the full set of rewards including 8th or lower position

 

[FlyingViking]

Also top 3 in number of launches for each color get big bonus chests

 

[VdW]

Is it just to get stars?

I see quite a few people join and not even get bronze place. Seems like a waste of a launch collection!

For me myself, if I join a normal launch (24H), I wouldn’t bother to join if it’s only for position 6 or below.

Normally, I’d try for position 1-3 (the collection drop for Blue and Red with position 1-3 are really good). Even position 4-5 still get an okay chance for item drop. And the coins are pretty good too.

But for green launch, only position 1 that has highest probability to drop collection for Alien Legacy building, so I def only do green launch and take 1st place myself. Esp because I’m still trying to complete 2 more buildings.

If I join a QL party, then it’s different because with very little points (as little as 0), you can still get the lowest chest (with fuel) and a bit of coins.

When I was just starting, I didn’t care much about the drop and I was busy stocking all the launch preps and only launched very rarely and never captained the launch myself. So for beginners, it’s not a bad idea to just tag along and see how the launches work.

 

[jpm-wv]

I can see an issue with people joining a launch and contributing zero points. The issue I could see is that someone could get fooled into thinking there is no chance for second or third place.

Let's say you have a launch on green. You contributed 9,80 points and the person in second place contributed 500 points (total 1,480. You then get a third person that contributes NO points. If I was looking to see if there is something where I could be second or third place, I would not see this non-contributor and think I was being offered fourth place which I might NOT want. Keep in mind that I probably am not seeing what happened and I couldn't communicate with the person conducting the launch.

And yes, some people would resent a hitchhiker that contributes no points and I would not blame them considering how it may take to actually get point items in addition to the launch prep.

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

I can see an issue with people joining a launch and contributing zero points. The issue I could see is that someone could get fooled into thinking there is no chance for second or third place.
...

It depends on how many games are already in. If your launch already has 3, 4, 5 contributing players, what’s the problem in carrying some hitchhikers?

 

[jpm-wv]

For large numbers, I agree. That is in and of itself but there is a psychological thing (I went through this to get my spot and you are riding free). But for a small launch (one or two people, it is).

It's not always about the numbers but a psychology.

 

[Teboho]

I'm always happy to tag free loaders whenever I'm on pad... Because I loose nothing and I miss nothing.

Unless..., I'm running a ql party with set out rules.

 

[jpm-wv]

I wasn't talking about all situations in my initial reply. I was describing a non-QL launch with one or two people that is public where the person doing the launch may need someone to contribute points. What I said about a non-contributor being there would be a problem and unfortunately, that may be common in launches that see. If there was enough points, I might think when looking at launches from the "waiting room" that I would not have a chance at 2nd or third place when I would.

But for something like QL parties, I would not care in the slightest. At a personal level, just so long as the person doesn't cause a problem, I might NOT care or at most, just find it slightly annoying.

I felt the need to state what I had stated because the original poster had stating how annoying it was be booted off a launch for no points and I wanted to state things from the other side. It's playing devil's advocate.

Different people launch with different rules and those are as different as night and day. In many launches, seizing first place is a big NO-NO that you simply do NOT do but on the other hand, I was in a launch were the person was probably grateful that I had seized first place. A big problem is that in this game, people can't communicate.