Hi all!
While V2 is taking form, I have prioritized items that I can apply to current version w/o a reset.
One thing that is kinda big on the list is the whole airplane assignment system. It currently has 2 major issues:
1. Confusing to new users : I observed that quite a few new users assign more airplanes than it needs to fulfill the frequency.
2. Can only be assigned to one route : In real world, a single a/c can possibly assign to multiple routes
Therefore, I am thinking to implement changes as below to address those 2 issues:
1. Airplanes will now have a concept of "home base". An route can only fulfill by airplanes based in the "from airport" (I know it might make sense to allow airplane based in "to airport", but for ease of logic and coding, I am keeping it to "from airport" only)
2. Airplane will now have a number of flight time per week (it is set as 3.5 * 24 * 60 (minutes)- same as current calculation - so only 3.5 days "flyable" - time is taken off for maintenance and stuff)
3. After selecting the airplane model, the screen will now show a list of airplane instances with free flight time that can at least fulfill 1 round trip
4. Upon selecting the airplane instance, it will now show a new table with the left column as the airplane instance, and the right column a frequency list kinda like the existing one, but instead of a frequency of all the airplanes, it will show the frequency allowed for this particular airplane. At the very bottom of the table, it will show the total frequency
And i am thinking to implement this into the current V1.
The impact I could think of is:
1. Much more welcoming for new and smaller airlines, as they can probably flight to more smaller cities with less airplanes. As for bigger airlines, the benefit is less, as airport slot usually is the limitation. For V2, I believe the limit will more likely be the # of routes allowed in a country
2. Hopefully less confusing to new players for the frequency?
Any thoughts please?