Ideas I have while playing SimAirport.

[Engioc]

Below are just ideas, likes/dislikes I'm finding as I play Sim Airport...

- Fuel - Well done as it is, but I'd like the option to eventually move the fuel depot below ground, or even above ground via ramps that go up a level. I'd also love to be able to research built-in refuelling so it gets added to the aircraft gate/stand, eliminating the need for trucks. Perhaps these could be new research options.

- Parking - I like how it's been done, but I think it'd be nice to also have the option of ramps that go up from ground level. I personally put mine below ground as there is more space, but some people might like to also want to make use of dead spaces on higher levels. It would give players more freedom in how they design their airport. It would also be nice if I can choose if parking is free, or allow me to set a price, 0 to whatever I like. Potential research items.

- Overhang - I did read this is something you'd like to add, I hope with the use of pillars it will be more than just one or two squares of overhang, so I can put ground crew and associated equipment under there. Once you move up to larger gates with access from level 1, level G becomes largely unused dead space. Also, with the airport I'm building now for example, I built my office area on level 3 right above the main entrance, but I'd like to extend it out beyond level G towards the road. Also a potential research item.

- Conveyors - I wish I could have a two-way conveyor cross over or under another two-way conveyor, not join, but just to cross via a bridge that is either automatically created when I drag one across another, or as an additional piece I can place. I know this can already been done by requires going up/down an entire level, or another expensive Hub. Although I've never seen behind the scenes at a real airport, I can't believe there's no way for two conveyors to cross paths without interacting with each other without going up or down another entire level or use a more expensive piece of equipment. You could always make this another research item players unlock to lower the cost and space of building conveyor systems.

- Ticketing - I wish the current ticketing desks and kiosk needed to be properly linked to the conveyor system. It feels odd that their checked luggage just somehow magically gets to the plane. This is another reason why the above idea would be helpful to allow two-way conveyors to cross paths without interacting with each other, north/south should go over/under east/west conveyors. Ticketing desks and kiosks would simply have a point below ground like all the other baggage related items so the conveyor system can be all connected in a realistic way.

- Admin Staff - We can hire and fire them, but in many cases, even in Career mode, there doesn't seem to be any negative to firing them apart from a small cost. For the most part, once research is completed these people become redundant and most of the research is retained, the only really noticeable item is I no longer get the tax benefits. For example, I just fired my COO, all research was already completed, I lost the ability to control the transport, but buses are still coming every 15 minutes, the LRT is still functioning, nothing has changed beyond my ability to control transport. I'd prefer all benefits be removed if the corresponding Admin staff are fired. In the example, I should be back at the default setting for transport, the item remains "completed" but it would have a cross through it and if I hover my mouse over it I'd get an explanation as to why, in this case I lack the required admin staff.

In many ways, I wouldn't mind seeing the number of Admin staff fleshed out more to include things like a head of security, head of rescue/fire team (I hope the need for rescue/fire team will be added too), ground crew manager. Perhaps a CEO too, someone that represents the player.

In order to receive the benefits of the admin staff, it would also be a requirement that they always have an office to work in, to help ensure that even in times when you want to move their office as your airport grows and changes, it would be nice if there was an option to assign and re-assign staff to specific offices. This could be done in a similar way to how many objects get assigned, click on the staff member and along with the existing "Follow" button there could be a "Assign" and "Re-assign" buttons, I can then assign or re-assign them to any room that meets the minimum requirements for an office.

- Rescue/Fire/Emergency Crew - I'd like to see this get added as something we need to invest in. I'd like the potential for incidents events to occur that require a emergency team to respond, ie a plane has an issue with landing gear, maybe nothing will go wrong, maybe it will, but I need a team out there on standby in case. The better the team/equipment the less likely disasters will occur. Potential research item.

- Disasters - I've experienced a few fires which always seem to be caused by vending machines. While I like having events like this to deal with, I think the way it's done now could be improved. Vending machines, and any other equipment that could cause a fire/flood, could be based on age of equipment. In the case of a vending machine, it requires maintenance, it and every single other item should be on the maintenance page so I can decide how much time/money we spend on maintaining these things, at 100% there is almost no risk of fire, at say 1% the risk of fire should be high, and varying degrees of these two extremes in between. This would also be extended to things like runways where the risk of a plane crashing increases as it deteriorates, as it drops it may also trigger some airlines to complain and eventually even suspend/terminate flights.

- Transport - I'd like to see taxi ranks included. I know taxi's spawn, but I'd rather this be fleshed out by allowing taxi stands/ranks to be placed so taxi's can be waiting for fares. I'd also have a info page that shows the number of PAX potentially wanting a taxi, number of taxi stands I have, and also number of taxi's interested in taking fares. With this info I may for example have 20 people wanting a taxi, stand space for 10, but 15 taxi's would be there if I had enough spaces. Potential research item.

Continuing with transport, the ability to remove the LRT line, and rebuild it in any location, including underground. Perhaps as well as the current LRT we could have a higher capacity train/underground option. More potential research item(s) to enable these.

It would also be nice if we could have better control over transport, for example with buses I might want them to come every 15 minutes during the day, but at night or in the early morning period I may have less or even no flights, so I want buses and LRT to be suspended for that period.

- Taxiway Ramps - It would be nice if it was possible to have ramps that allow ground crew vehicles to go down a level. So obviously planes are at ground level, but ground crew can put down on -1 or even -2.

- Hangars/stands - What I'd like here is the ability to create spaces where for example a private plane owner can store their plane. They pay a fee to keep their plane at my airport. An open space with no cover against the elements would be the cheaper option, but I could also have hangars (or other options) available that provide weather protection for a higher price. This could be extended further by perhaps even attracting an airline to decide to base their aircraft at your airport for a price. This would further extend the purpose of the rating we have with airlines, a major airline is not going to setup base unless you have an extremely high rating. Obviously this would require a way to house their aircraft. More potential research.

This could also be extended by having events where an outbound flight gets cancelled for some reason. It can't stay at the gate because you have other incoming flights, the standby gates might be able to handle that in the short term, but you may also want to have it moved out of the gate entirely to be temporarily housed until whatever issue caused the cancellation is resolved. This could also feed into events where the flight is cancelled because a safety/maintenance issues comes up and the flight is deemed unfit to fly. It fails pre-flight checks. The ground crew would also need vehicles to tow the flight out of the gate for maintenance or to be housed.

- Airline Maintenance - The ability to setup a maintenance facility to service planes. This would be an item that helps attracts an airline to base at your airport, but also a means of making money from all airlines. The maintenance facility could also have its own separate rating for quality of work. Research would enable this, but also open up better tools/equipment/staff to perform that maintenance and achieve a higher rating.

- Cargo - Another idea I think you might already be considering, but I'll list it anyway, it would be great to be able to setup a cargo handling facility. Like with the above idea it would involve research to enable, but also open up better objects to improve the service. It would even be nice if it was possible to do both passenger and cargo, or choose just one and go all in on cargo. Cargo alone would bring its own challenges as well, for example the need to attract customers, eg setup relationships with postal, courier, or other freight handling companies.

- Flight Catering - Would like to see this added so meals need to be loaded onto the plane, both food and drink. For these, and other food/drink/retail related objects, it would be nice if we had two options, building our own kitchen, or sourcing them from an external supplier. An external supplier would need to deliver the pre made meals, and I'd need cold storage to put them in before they can be loaded onto a flight. I'd like to see both options have pro's and cons, ie external is more expensive, but easier at the start of the game. Our own kitchen becomes better long term and perhaps a large kitchen or multiple kitchens would allow a higher quantity or quality of meals.

- Hotel - Kind of pinching an idea you had with Sim Casino, but of course many airports include a hotel, and other facilities. Another potential research list with a whole range of new staff, objects, improvements (via research), etc.

- Angles - It would be nice if objects, especially runways and taxiways, could be built on an angle instead of only north/south, or east/west.

- Events/Flights - To expand on this a little more, it would be nice if all flights (En-route, on approach/landing, departing, takeoff, on route out, etc) could all have the potential to develop an issue of some kind, and include a range of issues in terms of severity. Goes back to the point about having rescue/fire teams, but also then dealing with the plane after the initial incident is resolved, eg the fire is out, or the landed without gear down was completed without a major issue but now you need to tow the plane away for maintenance/housing. Events could also include weather related events, eg a cyclone, severe fog, or some other event that forces flights to be cancelled/diverted, or the airport to be shutdown.

- Gates for roads - It would be helpful to have gates/security barriers that can be installed on roads, so external roads can enter the airport. This would allow fuel stations to be put behind fencing, and also help facilitate other ideas such as providing access for privately owned planes, or to maintenance and freight handling facilities. It would also allow delivery/storage and other similar zones to be moved behind fencing, no real world airport would have these things in a publicly accessible area. I know we can already put them in staff only areas, but there's no way to fence them off due to the lack of a working gate for roads.

- Security camera's - These should be available and work in a similar way to the PA system, although the remote monitoring object should require a security staff member to operate it.

- Naming our Airport - The ability to name our airport, maybe this already exists somewhere, but I've not managed to find it so far. If it's not currently possible, it would be nice if this could be added.

I think that's it for now, I'll expand this list if I think of anything else.