Would there be interest in a virtual Oppo Flying Group?

[bwp240]

I sometimes enjoy a relaxing flight in FSX; however, sometimes it is difficult to figure out what and where I want to fly. I am also a sucker for a good tycoon game and wondered if there was a way to combine the two.

*Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

There is a pair of standalone expansions for FSX called Air Hauler and Air Hauler 2 which look to provide a decent tycoon based expansion that is playable offline. This piqued my interest until I saw that the expansion is still about $50 each; so I kept looking.

Some internet stumbling later and I came across FSEconomy. I wrote a piece previously on FSEconomy and how it changed the way I play FSX. To recap, FSEconomy is a digital world for general aviation travel. It is free to join and works with FSX, X-plane, Prepar3d, and the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. It is impressively simple. Airports generate jobs that you fly to other airports and you get paid. Just make sure you have (or can rent) the right aircraft for the job. Eventually, you can earn enough money to buy your own plane and even your own fixed based operator. You can then expand upon the world creating a network of locations. This is of course, a gross oversimplification and you can browse their wiki to get a better idea of what FSEconomy entails.

*Image Credit: Flickr

FSEconomy specializes in general aviation. Most start out flying Cessna 172s and Piper Cubs around shuttling to small airports. Eventually, you can work your way up to Citations and King Airs. If you want to fly the big planes, you can; however, flying a Cessna Citation with 10 business passengers pays more money/mile. The economy is weighted toward recreational/general aviation aircraft types making midsize aircraft the most profitable. The real goal is for people to enjoy flying what they want to fly and give them some purpose to fly it. In the past couple years I have participated, I have been able to experience several areas I would not have even thought to fly to and many aircraft I probably would not have touched. I find the variety of planes and destinations and challenge of piecing together the equipment/route to complete a job interesting.

*Image Credit: Orbxdirect

One of the features of FSEconomy is groups. Several pilots can band together and form their own group of shared resources, jobs, and aircraft. Would anyone be interested in forming a group? I have a few resources I can put towards the group to get started.

Check out FSEconomy

Wiki

If you need addon airplanes for FSE

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

@bwp240 Can I fly this?

[Vondon302]

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 I know that truck! That a Ford Fxxxing Ranger!

[facw]

@bwp240 I don't think I could go back to FSX after FS2020 (Though I'm still amazed that Microsoft hasn't fixed the terrible autogenerated scenery in DC.)

[jminer]

@bwp240 said in Would there be interest in a virtual Oppo Flying Group?:

It is free to join and works with FSX, X-plane, Prepar3d, and the new Microsoft Flight Simulator

@facw it works with MFS 2020

@bwp240 I'm tempted for sure, but I don't think I have the time to dedicate to this, I've been wanting to spend more flight sim time though so maybe?

[facw]

@jminer Does the economy work across all those games or is it specific to certain ones? Presumably multiplayer stuff doesn't carry over? I have no idea how any of this works...

[jminer]

@facw I have zero idea how this works I was just quoting from @bwp240 on which flight sims this supported

[bwp240]

@facw Yes, it works across FSX, MSFS2020, Prepar3d, and X-plane. There is a client software that you download the runs with the game. It looks like it uses the lat/lon/alt from when you initiate the flight and again when you land and engage the parking brake compared to a map database to determine where you are and if the flight is completed. It also automatically sets the fuel load. I wish it could adjust the payload weight, but since that is not uniform across planes you have to do it manually.

Details can be found in their guide: https://sites.google.com/site/fseoperationsguide/getting-started

[bwp240]

@jminer The good news is that there doesn't need to be a "dedicated" player base. I sometimes get the itch and play for a few days, then stop for several weeks. I just have to make sure that there is enough virtual dollars to maintain my planes.

Essentially the group would work sort of like a flying club does IRL. Anyone in the group can access planes, fuel, and repair facilities the group owns. We can also set our own jobs if it gets active enough. The group takes a cut of the job profits (I would probably set it so it would cover plane maintenance costs) and rest goes to the individual player.

[bwp240]

@facw The good news is it works MSFS2020. The only downside is that there are only a few planes from that game that are compatible; however, the FSE developers look like they are updating the database of planes every so often.

As far as I know all of the base MSFS2020 planes are compatible.

[Taylor Martin]

@bwp240 shit dawg, I have FSX and have never been good enough to consistently fly. Would love to play with someone else though!

[Old Busted Hotness]

Anyone else remember the IFR Simulator for Commodore? Like IFR, it was hard.