Surviving a boss quarter
Every year ends with a boss. How bosses are drawn, how to read the coming one, and how to keep the cash box ready. A strategy article for FARELINE, the free airline strategy game.
The last quarter of every year is a boss quarter. The board target holds level into it, then the boss quarter adds 10% on top, and the boss bends one rule for that quarter only.
The bosses of a run are drawn when it starts, one for each year, and a boss comes at most once a run. You do not have to guess: the shop names the coming boss a quarter ahead, on its own line. That shop visit is where a boss quarter is won.
What each year can bring
Year one draws only from tier 1, the gentlest. Year two adds tier 2. Year three draws only tier 2. Year four adds tier 3, the hardest. Year five ends with a final: OPEN SKIES, CORPORATE RAIDER or ATC STRIKE.
The bosses page lists all 27 with their rules and tiers.
Keep the cash box ready
In most boss quarters the cash box still covers a miss. That makes cash your insurance. A rack bought down to the last coin in the shop before a boss quarter leaves nothing to cover it.
Some quarters take the insurance away. THE COVENANT: The bank freezes your cash box. Miss this target and the airline is finished, whatever you have saved. Every final does the same. At WINDSHEAR the level rule NO ALTERNATE shuts the box in every boss quarter. Before those, clearing the target is the only way through, so spend on what pays this quarter.
Read what it attacks
Every boss card names what it hits. A few common ones and the answer to each:
CREW SHORTAGE: No crews to spare. No hand is dealt this quarter: the network flies as it stands. Build the network in the quarter before, because this hand never comes.
HIRING FREEZE: No new crews. No new-line cards this quarter, upgrades only. Plan the year's new lines for earlier quarters, and keep upgrade cards in mind.
NIGHT CURFEW: A night curfew at every airport. No line flies more than 21 times a week this quarter. Lines flown 28 times a week lose flights. Spread growth over more lines before it comes.
BOARDROOM COUP: A new board cuts your highest-paying perk to half. It pays half its line this quarter. A rack with one big earner is hit hardest. Several paying perks soften it.
SHAREHOLDER REVOLT: The shareholders want a cut of your perks. The target rises 3% for every perk you hold. This one punishes a large rack. Before it comes, sell a perk that pays little.
Perks made for boss quarters
IRREGULAR OPS: +25% in boss quarters. Nothing in other quarters.
PEAK SEASON: +4% for every quarter already flown this year: nothing in the first, +16% in the fifth.
BOARD CONFIDENCE: 7% off the board target in every quarter left this year, and the same 7% MORE for as many quarters at the start of next year: a loan, not a gift. It helps this year and costs you next year, so buy it only for a year you must survive.
None of these replaces a network that clears the target with room to spare. They are what you add when the coming boss is a hard one.