I know it’s probably self evident, but knowing nothing about AH and it’s ilk, how do you actually play it?
The idea of having a purpose in MSFS sounds intriguing. But, as I’m off flying IRL, I can’t see being able to play every day.
Is this necessary? Can you play AH casually?
Also, I gather that there is some association or coalition among Mudspike members? Does that entail joining a company within game or is that just sharing stories on MS?
I know that these are probably silly questions. But, reading the threads here, the conversation level is so past these basic details that I can’t quite divine the underlying structure of the game.
I had AH2 for XP11…I liked it a lot, but it can be kind of dry/serious. And yes, it is relentless…the bills still have to be paid whether you fly or not. I never could get into FS Economy for the same reasons.
In MSFS I tried SkyPark which was ok…but NeoFly has become my favorite. You can play it like a business (which also involves paying bills whether you fly or not), or just use it as a mission generator. It injects assets into the sim too, so for SAR missions you will find crashed airplanes, sinking boats etc. You can do fire fighting (basic at this point but still fun)…then there are the usual freight and passenger type missions. You can try the base product for free and then add the payware DLC modules to make it a richer experience. With all the asset and voice additions it still comes out cheaper than buying Air Hauler. In fact, the Mega-Bundle is just $13 right now in their new year sale.
I did use FSEconomy in the past. the good thing is that its web based, free and is platform-not-dependent so you can use it with almost any civi sim. you can play it in ‘nomad’ mode just picking up jobs around the globe or build your FBOs. for this one we have also active (iirc) M.A.D. coalition. so you can fly for your profit or for the coalition.
I run AH2 co in XP11. its the ultimate Virtual Arline / Hauler co. Manager app (something like Football Manager or F1 Manager games). but is also possible to play it in ‘nomad’ mode (never did it can try for you). its platform dependent so its different purchase for XP, MSFS, P3D. we never did any coalition there (or did we?) so not sure how this works. its user interface is old and boring as mentioned already.
I used NeoFly in MSFS during this XMas flight. is freeware / donationware. it is available only for MSFS. modern user interface. dont know if possible to do any coalition there. can be played in ‘nomad’ mode but I think also FBOs are possible. as mentioned there are the 3D assets so thats very atmospheric.
Recommend to try FSE or NeoFly first as they are free. If there will be anything you will be missing I think you can always look further. But in case you are sure that you want to run VA/CARGO then go for the AH2 straight
and regarding the causality you can always play them that way. e.g. in AH2 you have your monthly overhead so if you earn enough money in few flights then you can leave it for some weeks without activity. or you can hire AI pilots to make good money for your co.
Honestly, the management aspect is sort of “meh” for me. I have literally no entrepreneurial gene.
But picking up interesting missions around the globe sounds like exactly what I’m interested in. I remember you using it on the Christmas Flight and had wanted to ask you about it!
No bills in FSEconomy actually unless you own. I’ve been generating flights with it for a couple of years and never considered doing anything other than rent. I have enough money now to buy a twin Beech or Bell 407 but don’t really see the advantage.
Unfortunately at the moment, I don’t think they are accepting new registrations.
Not to bump my own thread, but I’d be curious as to where you guys are basing your pilots.
I finally got Neofly up last night and found a nice little airfield on the Washington coast.
I had hoped to find a cool Orbx or Aerosoft scenery field to call home, but am I wrong in thinking that they don’t (yet) have the PNW presence that they once did?
I’ve also considered going somewhere completely foreign to me: Scotland, Greece, Norway, Hungary? Someplace with epic scenery.
I haven’t done it yet but I’m thinking about Port Moresby in PNG. Flying through the PNG mountains during the Xmas trek was pretty exciting with all the weather there.
I tested ‘nomad’ style of gaming in AH2 but the job generation as you fly from airport to airport is really bad, very little jobs generated on small airports. maybe its better on the bigger ports (where you can buy and sell also commodities) but the appeal for me are the smaller strips.
here the NeoFly shines. it generates on the fly lot of different jobs at each location where you land. so to answer your question, I liked to have no place to call home, just fly in some general direction and do jobs along the road. so nice feature is also to buy ‘ticket’ and have your pilot travel to different locations and you can also have your plane shipped there.
Before the Christmas trek I spent some time building up my NeoFly business in the Ketchikan AK region. Mostly I was flying the SAR and medical missions in the Widgeon and H145. As Nevo says above, it is easy to move your whole operation if you get bored of a particular area.
I probably will try the Nomad mode at some point. But to start out, I thought it’d be cool to find some really well done airport scenery location to really enjoy the little details. Also, I figured it would be fun to get to know, like Swaziland, like the back of my hand.
Should there be a screenshot thread for AH/Neofly in MSFS? I’d like to see some of the tales of adventure people have.
For AH I based myself out of Norway, the fjords in the winter twilight, or summer night looked pretty good in FSX, I really need to check them out in MSFS.
That sounds awesome! Certainly the Norwegian Fjords were on my short list.
I decided on the area around Orcas Island in Washington state to start with. So far the weather has been dog squeeze, but running the scud between the islands has been pretty breathtaking.
I do think that I’m going to move around here and there. I just need to graduate from my starter Cessna!
