General game play issue

[JoeControl]

First time posting here so bare with me. This has probably been answered before but are there any plans to make the AI act a little more human and not drive directly into another 100,000 lb hunk of aluminum at 5 miles simply because I did not tell them they might kill everyone doing so?

I am really getting into the sim but this brings me down every time I finally get on a roll only to have a SW 737 T-Bone a a slow moving United 757 that he saw was not going to stop. I am not a RL controller but I do not think this is most airlines SOP.

Overall I love the sim and the subject but there are a few major issues that take away from it significantly, this is just my greatest pet gripe.

Thanks for your work on this and I hope you keep going.

 

[AirborneCDS]

Not sure if you mean this exactly, but my major gripe is landing ac that don't keep rolling to the taxiway.  They slow down way too much and a following ac at 4 or 5 miles may have to be given a "go around".  This can happen quite a bit at KLAS when I have arrivals coming to 25L.  I use A5 as the turnoff (closest one) but they taxi too slow.  

Otherwise, I agree, this is a great sim that has gotten better.  Just a few issues with me.  

 

[JoeControl]

AirborneCDS. What you describe is certainly and issue as well but I am referring to taxing ac not giving way to crossing traffic or stopping so close to each other that it is impossible to clear.

This would NEVER happen in RL. I am sure that there are many situations ever day in RL in which pilots will use their better judgment to stop and request clarification well before they get themselves into a close call let alone and a catastrophe.

Another gripe is that ac never call to 'remind' controllers that they have not been issued a clearance before needing to go around. Again, in RL a pilot is not going to fly a 20 mile final all the way to the runway, NEVER contact tower and then initiate a go-around and again NEVER contact tower. I am a private pilot and would lose my licenses if I did or did not do a fraction of the major airline captains do in the sim (game).

These are huge game play issues that should never be in a ATC sim that was shoved out the door at full retail price unless it was intended as an arcade game.

[crbascott]

I'm sensing a pattern in these posts. As a result I'll steal a line from blipadouzi -- Jim D., this is "not worth the time to respond to".

[JoeControl]

Gee thanks crbascott, I suppose when Feel There says Tower 3D support they mean it.

Seeing as you did not respond to my original post on this matter in any form of a positive or supportive manner I assume that gives you the right to dismiss as just another whiner because you cannot address the issue or just don't like the tone, sorry but frustration will do that. Both of which should lead to stay out of it please. Also, I would hope you sensed a pattern to this post as they are all related to the same subject and I see no response to fixing it. This includes other post on the same or similar subject.

Just of the record are you officially connected to Feel There or one of its agents? If so I am completely done with this sim as it would seem the last line of my last post is in fact the case. Therefore I will close by saying that if the previous question is true this sim is "not worth the time to hope for nor play anymore". 

Congratulations on putting out the first product in aviation sim history with a fan base large enough to dismiss and ridicule. Cash must be rolling in for this product as I suppose there are a lot of suckers like me being taken.

Have a great day and good luck with this product, I mean that. Maybe it will be complete one day.  Just for the record AirBorneCDS, none of this is directed towards you and thanks for at least attempting to address my concern. I do appreciate.

[VenturaGuy101]

@JoeControl I think that you have brought up a legitimate issue with the current game.  There are a bunch of people on this forum that have been here for may years and they probably have seen people come and go with complaints and criticism and blow off some of these posts.  There are many new people coming to this forum since this game was added to Steam.  I am one of these people that did not hear about this game until it was out on Steam.  There are a bunch of new YouTubers playing this game and more people are discovering this game.  Unfortunately they are also finding out about some of the issues.  People have had issues with the voice recognition, adding the Real Traffic/Real Colors addons.   Other people are having issues with some of the game's bugs such as planes getting stuck, some crashes, etc.  For me, I really have not had that many issues and I have to also to say that I feel that FeelThere and Nyerges Design have worked very hard to try and resolve quite a few issues and FeelThere is currently working of patches for Boston, Atlanta, and JFK.  

I agree that the airplane AI really needs an update.  FeelThere has stated that they do not plan to update the existing Tower!3D Pro game and any new features would be added in the next version of Tower!3Dx.  I hope that they would reconsider and try to add a few fixes for the airplane AI.  I have also experienced planes landing and slowing to a crawl on the runway.  They slow down to the taxiway speed while still on the runway.  This is really unrealistic and planes usually travel a bit faster on the runway and slow down as they approach a taxiway.  This becomes an issue at some airports where the spacing of taxiways are further apart and the distance spacing of arriving aircraft overruns the aircraft still on the runway.  We also have no "EXPEDITE TAXI" command to speed up aircraft.  I also encountered an issue where a CRJ that landed on runway 27 at KBOS.  Before I had time to give instruction to exit at taxiway E, the plane AI decided to exit at taxiway C where a 757 was waiting for crossing directions.  I attempted to give commands to have the plane exit ot taxi using taxiway E or K but all I got back was a "negative" response.  There were an additional 5 airplanes behind the 757.  No pilot would turn onto a taxiway already occupied by other aircraft.  I also have seen the issues that you and AirBorneCDS reported.  These airplane AI issues are frustrating and do sometimes break game play.  There really should not need a "Delete Aircraft" button but in this game it necessary.  So once again I would hope FeelThere would consider trying to fix some of the airplane AI issues in a patch with the current Tower!3D game.

Also the only official people on these forums are Vic from FeelThere (FeelThere) and Gabor from Nyerges Design (nyergesdesign).  I do not know if there are anyone from Sim Smith Design on this forum.

[FeelThere_Vic]

Let us see this slowing on the runway issue as this should not happen. If we find the problem we will release an SP for the game.

 

Vic

 

[Pdubya]

Vic:

Have to agree with JC and VG101 here on collisions and taxi issues.

Thinking about the AI decision logic for choosing exit points got me wondering; if planes can stop short automatically when following, why can't they "know" that there is a conflicting flight sitting on taxiway X they are about to exit into from the runway? Doesn't the sim track flight ground location in order to work? - or is it much more complicated than that?

I have noticed that certain taxi approach "vectors" (for lack of a better term) between two planes induce collisions more often than others (not including behind of course).

As an exit issue example, at KPHL one night I had a flight on taxiway M stopped short of 27R (ARR) runway, waiting to head to 27L for departure. The landing flight was given the command "exit at taxiway N". The command was confirmed, but a few seconds later it decided to ignore my tower orders, the blue exit highlight appeared on taxiway M and the plane proceeded to practically collide with the plane on M sitting there.

I will try to remember to create a log when I play KPHL so I have some more useful data for you, but these issues are not our imagination at work (unfortunately).

Thanks for listening.

[VenturaGuy101]

My real concern is once a plane sets its exit taxiway, it cannot be changed.  Sometimes is hard to to get instructions in time if voice commands don't make it in time.  There is also no way to expedite the plane to a taxiway if the next available taxiway is a ways down the runway.  Keeping planes on taxiways from running into each other is the job of ground controller.   You can always stop planes and change the taxi route on taxiways but while a plane is on a runway you cannot change it once it has been set.  I have planes exit the wrong side or skip assigned taxiway because they have not slowed enough to exit then select the next taxiway which has a plane holding there.  If this occurs again I will try and attach a log file.

[crbascott]

Regarding "skip assigned taxiway because they have not slowed enough". The exit at taxiway command will not shorten a plane's landing distance. The plane will only exit after it has passed it's assigned landing distance, not any sooner. Also, keep in mind, you can give the exit at taxiway command anytime after clearing the plane to land. But, as you said, once the plane has landed and determined it's exit taxiway it is too late (pilot responds with "negative").