Dev Blog 135: The future of Airport CEO

This is a special one! We’re letting you in on the basics of what we have planned for Airport CEO this autumn and… it’s going to be so fun! :airplane: :bookmark:

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What a brill Blog so many new and very exciting features arriving. So glad I have purchased this game and can follow the progression of all the updates coming up, exciting times ahead!

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In the panic update you speak of ‘several weather’, did you mean ‘severe weather’? :face_with_monocle:

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I did, it’s fixed! :wink:

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Great devblog as always! Now I finally have something to be exited for! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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This is just an awesome devblog. You guys are amazing :heart_eyes: So here are my personal thoughs and ideas about future plans;

WARNING The following section contains spoilers from Devblog 135. Read as your discretion

SPOILER ALERT
The Big Bird Update (Alpha 33)
  • I like the update. It is the most logical solution for 3 type of aircrafts size.
  • Isn’t it a good opportunity to implement runway number/naming? I mean 27L, 27C, 27R etc…
  • Since there won’t be runway extensions, crossing runways by extending runways will be impossible? What would happen to already built crossing runways?
  • I see that large runway fits current game world so game world size will stay same?
  • “directional pushback” YES!
The Gameplay Update (Alpha 34)
  • It is also a nice feature. The feeling of “airport tycoon and management game” will be felt way better. It will also create challenging scenarios for players.
  • “That score will in turn more noticeably affect your operations and how your airport is perceived by airlines, suppliers, passengers and the government.” Ohh boy government? :open_mouth:
  • “In addition to these two major changes, we will also look over other mechanics such as improved ATC with number of active flights depending on ATCT size and runway max capacity, realistic routes for airport sizes and aircraft types, improved depot management (fuel, de-icing, catering), economy balancing and much more.”

I will request 1 simple thing for this case, 1 simple personal request from developers; Add country support for modded airlines. For example Airline A has “country: Egypt” codeline in its json file. So this airline will only fly to your airport from Egypt.

This will be the latest piece of reaching to the ultimate realistic airlines modding of AirportCEO.

The Terminal Update (Alpha 35)
  • I hope path finding will handle with these new cool features :smiley:
The Panic Update (Alpha 36)
  • I think this feature will be published in 2020 so there is nothing to say at the moment. But when it comes, like Alpha 34, game will be more challenging.

I want to see the destination of this game on Beta and Full Release. When I came to this forum I knew that this game was going to be a solid “airport indie game genre”. Like ETS2 on trucking, RCT on amusement park tycoon and OpenTTD on transportation tycoon.

Keep up the work our beloved developers, we will be supporting and helping you as much as we can do :+1:

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Really nice, definetly looking forward. But I have to say, I am going to miss the manual runway extension, I really loved this feature because it really helped me when building real-life airport remakes. But I understand why you will be removing it, tho I would also love to see it saved somehow. Also really like the new entry points mechanic. What I would really like to see, and would be just a minor addition, are destinctive runway markings for each of the runway sized, like those shown on the pictures.


(Adding the L/C/R designation would also be pretty neat.)

This would be an example of how a small paved runway could look like:


(I think we can all agree that small planes do not need precicion touch-down points, as it is in real-life.)

Another great thing would be an addable blast pad:

Also make sure to also add grass runway entrances, those concrete and asphalt ones are really bugging me.

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This is so freaking awesome! The future of ACEO is bright indeed. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait for the new content.

Can you imagine to introduce cargo aircrafts/handling one day? Maybe as a chargeable DLC after ACEO was released?

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Hang on while runways are getting an update can we also get this? :smiley:

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I was pretty sure I forgot to mention something… :heart:

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Large aircrafts will also mean planes like the 747, right? I am pretty sure someone once mentioned a while ago these would possibly be in a even larger class or will these also be in the large class?

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Welcome to the community @Plum :wave:

Yes it is true. I think 747, A380, A340-600 and 777-300ER will be counted as “Jumbo” aircrafts and they would be 4th category. But it has never been confirmed.

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Well that was a fun read… It wasn’t directly mentioned but I assume the terminal update will also include passport control/immigration… Also will the gameplay update also look at overhauling the current contract system based on the gameplay changes?i

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Customs was mentioned so think we can take a safe bet that includes immigration.

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I think the larger “jumbos” are actually included in the large aircraft group. The filters have never shown a fourth aircraft size, and the dev log mentions the large stands having dual jetbridge functionality.

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nice :smiley:

I’m excited that for this. It looks awesome. I would ask that you consider a way to limit taxiways to class of aircraft. I’d hate to have a 747 taxiiing through the general aviation area, with it’s wings shadowing over the GA parked aircraft. In real life no every taxiway can be used by every class of aircraft. So maybe a system where for the taxiway lines, we pick small, medium or large - then draw them out as we wish. Then large aircraft will only follow large taxiways. medium will follow large or medium taxiways and small aircraft can take any taxiway.

I find that currently 5 tiles is sufficient for small aircraft wingspan (2 tiles each side of the centre-line tile), 7 for medium aircraft (3 tiles each side of the centre-line tile - though that is tight for the 757). So for large I imagine we will need 9 tiles (4 tiles each side of the centre-line) for the heavy, and maybe more.

I’ve had some discussions about this before. At the moment taxiways are dumb. I designed the GA jet to only use non-grass stands and stands. It will however, use them if that’s the best way for it to go.

I have been using 13 centreline to centreline for ages on my taxiways because of my own experiments with large planes.

But yes I agree, it would be great to get the taxiways class regulated too.

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Pretty cool to see what’s planned! I agree that non-extendable runways are a bit sad because you can’t build real-life airports and also lose some unique look. Besides, additional runway length could have an impact in gameplay, for example planes could still land in bad weather if the runway is longer, while shorter runways sooner get unusable.

One more important thing for me: Is bidirectional runway usage planned? The runway comparison pictures still show one direction for the runways. I’d like to be able to decide whether they’re one-way or two-way. If two-way it should depend on the wind direction which side is used, even changing during the day. Would be really an enhancement for me.

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Very nice Devblog. :grinning:
I‘m so excited for the upcoming major updates!

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