What is FS Enterprise? Read about it here!

[J Kelly]

FS Enterprise is a plug-in that is being worked on for X-Plane 11 & X-Plane 12, that brings a multiplayer aspect to the game for virtual pilots and business simulation fans. So, not only can you use this for X-Plane and have a virtual pilot career, but you could also own or help run a virtual business without having to own X-Plane. The main focus of this plugin is to bring more to the sim than just flying from point A to B. Also, to bring the flight sim community together to mold the virtual world through player driven corporations and the economy. Other programs or sites that offer something along this line, seem to be single player focused or lacks in certain areas such as focusing on GA flights with little airliner type of play. With FS Enterise, no matter what your style is, we want this plugin to be your go to.

 

Features of FS Enterprise (Some are already done, others are planned or being worked on:

 

• Your pilot starts at rank 0. You're pretty much a student pilot and limited to what aircraft type and MTOW that you can fly. You have two ways to start:
  • Easy Mode - you're able to fly anything that you can afford to buy or rent. You're not tied to the rank in order to fly larger planes. This is so you don't have to work your way through your career to get to the bigger planes. This may come in handy if you only fly airliners. Be aware though, you may not find many airliners for rent since they'll be owned by player corporations.
  • Hard Mode - You start at rank 0, student pilot. You can only fly single engine piston planes with a max MTOW of 3307 lbs. As you increase in rank, you'll have the ability to move to bigger and faster planes with higher MTOW.
• There are ~240 aircraft that you can rent or own. You need to own the plane for X-Plane in order to fly it in the game. We use real world data for each plane to get accurate specs, so they may vary slightly depending on where you get your information. 
• The plugin is website driven. This means you can manage your fleet, buy goods, etc., while not having the game open. In short, check it anywhere at anytime.
• Built in chat system on the website that allows you to chat globally, only to your corp members, or at the aerodrome you're currently at.
• Always find a flight to take. The system generates jobs for you or you can take a job provided by a player. A player may need an aircraft ferried or is in need of product transportation.
• Depending on how much cargo/pax that you're taking, load time of your plane will vary. You can start to load your plane from the site and finish up in the game. This gives you time to load in your flight plan or get your clearance from ground if flying on Vatsim.
• All airports within X-Plane is available to fly from/to with your pilot character. Wherever your character is determines where you fly from. There are alternate ways of travel, but it will cost you some money to do so.
• Planes have conditions for the airframe, avionics, engines, landing gear, electrical, fuel, and anti ice. As the conditions lower, your chance of a random failure increases. Take care of your plane and your plane will take care of you. The more flight hours you have will also effect the conditions accordingly. So, stay up on maintenance and engine overhauls and fly the plane the way it was meant to be flown. A bad landing could cost you or a big bill for the corporation that you're flying for.
• Players will gain skill points for every hour flown. Skill points can be used to increase production, lower exporting cost, cheaper construction cost, earn more on flights. There are more skills that we will be adding, so more on that when it happens.
• Players can start their own corporation. What you focus on is up to you.
  • You can run a virtual airline hauling cargo or pax.
  • Hire other players to manage your business. You can assign titles and roles for each player, along with assigning what aircraft they're able to fly. With the permissions system, you can allow a player to set permissions for other player employees (think of it as a manager type of position), manage the corp bank accounts, manage salaries, AI pilots, setup scheduled & ad-hoc flights, purchase aircraft, buildings, and goods, the ability to repair a plane, and access corporation goods. You can also set the CEO of the corporation. You'll want someone with a fair amount of skill points in the right categories, depending on your focus, to increase your profits. 
  • You can open factories to provide resources or parts to repair and build planes for other player businesses or sell them to the "system" to make money. Anything from simple resources such as steel all the way to parts needed to repair or build planes.
  • Open an aircraft manufacturing operation. The new planes in the world will be produced by players. Along with that, each plane made by a player will be listed with the manufacture to show where it came from.
  • On the note of manufacturing, parts and planes will have different tiers of quality. The corporation that is producing them will have a reputation based on their quality. So, if you put low quality parts into the plane, you may experience failures more often. 
  • You'll also be able to own stores at any location to generate residual income, but you have to keep it stocked up with whatever it is that you decide to sell there.
  • Open a FBO and provide fuel services, repair facilities, earn ground fees, flight gates that produce jobs for player pilots to take, parking/hangars for player planes and more.
  • Any business type that you decide to do will most likely involve using other players services. That is the intent anyway. For example, having a FBO that provide JetA and Avgas will require you to have fuel shipped to your location. If you don't have the right factory setup and producing your own fuel, then you'll have to buy it from another player. Then, you may have to pay another pilot to fly it in if you are unable/unwilling to. It will vary depending on what your goals and how your network is setup.
  • Make money on the stock market. The stock market is made up of player corporations that list their business as public. Be careful though! If you set too many shares for sale, another player could buy you out. Raise money for your corp by selling shares and gamble your money by buying shares or other player corps in hopes they turn a huge profit for you.
  • There's even more planned, but details are still being worked out.
• You can produce and/or move illegal items around. Be careful though, customs randomly checks your plane when you land. If you get arrested, your pilot is out of commission for a little while.
• AI is being built in. There are already system generated jobs and each location has a supply and demand that changes every few days. You'll be able to hire AI pilots to help you move your fleet around, but they don't come cheap. Also, your AI aren't perfect pilots and could wreck your plane just as easily as a player pilot. You'll have to keep them happy with their pay and benefits packages that you choose. If they're not happy, they'll quit on you and leave you high and dry. AI might turn out to be more reliable to fly daily routes and generate revenue, but they won't come cheap.
• If you go the manufacturing route or another business option that requires buildings, be prepared to spend some money on land and construction cost. The buildings aren't magically there and will take a few days for them to be built. Also, there isn't an infinite amount of land to be purchased, so buy what you can at the location you're interesting in because they could be sold quickly at hotspots.
• Shop the salvage market. You can find beat up planes to purchase for yourself, your corp, or to fix up and sell to other players. You'll find some in very poor shape or a very high amount of hours. So, be prepared to put some money into your purchase. The planes could also come missing important equipment like autopilot or IFR equipment, so you'll have to have that installed somewhere if you want it. You could make good money flipping planes or you could lose big time on some. These planes are generated by the system and rotates as other players buy planes or 24 hours have past.
• You can have multiple bank accounts. You could use one for plane purchases, one for real estate purchases. It's really up to you how many you have and what they're used for. You'll also be able to assign what account each plane uses for maintenance and repairs. So, if you want to track each plane's expenses, you could make an account for each plane if you'd like. You just have to transfer some funds in there to cover the bills. Totally up to how you manage your money.

 

There are probably some features that I may have missed or ones that are still in discussion. This post will be updated with new features as we progress or plan to implement. Most features are free to play but some features will be a paid for or subscription base to help fund ongoing development.

 

*All working features and planned features are subject to change.