Thank you for that truly depressing piece of news, marsm... I was hoping the game designers weren't heartless. I was holding out hope in futility – they are heartless jerks. As soon as you look "behind the game", you start to realize the way they want you to play... by spending real money on air cash and coins to overcome challenges to the one precious commodity to us all – time. However, they've built a few meager carrots to make it not so blatantly obvious they are greedy little piggies.
1) The gift system: we are each assorted for a fixed range of items to share. Some are common (Fuel Drums, Passenger Groups, Air Conditioners), while some are more rare (Ampere Meters and Paper Shredders). The higher we go in levels as players, the more diverse the items we're assorted for. In a move I still don't fathom, you're able to send items you don't have yourself, but you can't send items you have surplus of. So, therein lies the exploit, and why I ask you guys to "Send In Return" – I'm not assorted for Towels, but if you guys need towels, and are assorted for them, you can send them and I can "Send In Return"... Thus, you get them added to your inventory. What I find so terribly frustrating is that there isn't a way to trade or cash in your surplus items.
2) The Bonus system: there are these Collection arrays that we get items to fill from our flights and visits. When filled, they award a coin bonus and experience bonus, as well as some other kind of award, whether it be another collectible for a super bonus array, or a super bonus itself. It's these Timed Bonuses that we are encouraged to use (and purchase... greedy jerks) to multiply our coin incomes or fuel supply or, my favorite, improve the chances of receiving items from flights. That's the _ine_ algorithm I would love to crack – just how they determine when an item drops and which one it is. I've got close to a hundred pairs of sunglasses, but cell phones are rarely showing up. Hmmm... Anyway, my recommendation is to vigorously pursue getting these bonuses (especially Business Class and SpyGlass) so as to use them strategically to improve your income and item obtaining.
3) The Visit / Pickup system: we can visit each others' cities and are enabled (at various times, reloaded each 24-hour period) to perform pickups. Sometimes there are quest items to find (microchips at the car dealerships), while other times we're just after fuel drums. Certain structures, though, have items drop from them, though, that aid you in your collection arrays. Hangars and Stone Castles and Convention Centers are some of the hotspots. I guess what is a consolation, though, is that if someone visits _you_, and does pickups from your city, you get a dividend from it – someone visits your hangar for a forum of fuel, you get a drum of fuel. Nice, huh? This is why I encourage you to have an "attractive" city... Have one that others want to visit and do pickups from because you get a piece of the action! It's been a definite boost to my coin income, let me tell you.
So, thank you for reading this insight... I'm back to wheeling and dealing Power Sources and Ampere Meters (because the next advanced buildings need 'em in spades). Again, thank you for sending stuff... If I don't promptly reciprocate, it's not because I'm ignoring you (unless you sent canopy glass - you know who you are) or don't like you... It's that I'm capped for the day on gifts.
