Building around your hub

Every line you fly holds a slot at both ends, every week. Your HQ is where most of those slots sit at the start, and a full base opens no new lines. So the first question of any run is how big your HQ really is.

The airport card answers it. MUC (Munich, Germany) is FAIR, a DENSE HUB with 240 slots a week and 39 markets to open in year one. ATL (Atlanta, United States) is EASY, a MIXED HUB with 288 slots a week and 19 markets to open in year one. ACC (Accra, Ghana) is graded IMPOSSIBLE, and its card says why: “Too little here to grow from: thin year-one markets (top five 1 643/wk).” The airports page lists the card of every home airport.

A DENSE hub has many short markets and fills fast. A THIN or REMOTE hub has few, so its growth comes from bases and longer lines. That choice shapes everything after it.

The HOME HUB family

If your HQ is big, the HOME HUB family pays you for leaning on it. There are 10 of them: HUB BANKS, FORTRESS HUB, SHUTTLE, FLAGSHIP ROUTES, HOME HANGAR, SPOKE CITIES, WAVE TIMETABLE, SLOT DISCIPLINE, MEGAHUB and SLOT PORTFOLIO.

HUB BANKS: +1.5% for every line at your HQ (max +39%), divided by your number of bases. Note the last part. Every new base cuts it.

FORTRESS HUB: While your HQ is your only base: 20% more HQ slots (50% at a small hub), and up to +40% as the HQ fills past half. ETERNAL: never sold, and while you hold it you take no other base. Not offered once you have a second base. It is the purest hub play in the game, and it closes the door on bases for good.

SHUTTLE: +2% for every line flown 21 or more times a week that is at least 60% full (max +26%). Flying a line 21 times a week uses 21 slots at each end, so this perk wants a big HQ.

Two HOME HUB perks that really pay add a SET line of +10%, three add +20% and four +35%. On a DENSE hub, four of them is a realistic rack.

When a second base is worth it

A base gives you more slots and new lines from a second airport. It also feeds HUB DENSITY and CONNECTIONS, but only once two of its lines lead to cities that are not bases. Until then it adds nothing to MULT, and if it does not fly at all, 1.0% of the board target is added to every quarter's target.

So open a base when your HQ is close to full and you can fly from the new base at once. A city talks to you about a base when its loyalty reaches 20. Base talks start at only 26, so expect to bank goodwill before the deal comes.

Bases also change which perks pay. MULTI-HUB: +20% for every base besides your HQ (max +40%). Every quarter, +6 loyalty at the city closest to talking about a base, credited with the quarter, and a city that talks is dealt more often. ALLIANCE: +6% for every line that joins two of your bases (max +24%). A rack of NETWORK perks and a rack of HOME HUB perks pull in opposite directions. Pick one early and buy into it.

Slots at harder levels

From CALM up the airports are crowded. Bases start at 75% of their slots and your HQ at 50%, and four won slot rounds take every airport to 120% (+17.5% a round at the HQ, +11.3% at a base). Crowding follows the field's size: an airport of 110 weekly slots or fewer starts where TAILWIND starts, the full crowding applies from 400 up, and every airport takes four equal won rounds to 120%. HEADWIND squeezes them further: Airports start lower than at CROSSWIND: your HQ at 44% of its slots, bases at 66%. The same four won slot rounds still take every airport to 120%.

At those levels a hub run is a slot run. Win the slot rounds at your HQ before you need them. When the hand will not deal you a round, one perk adds slots outright. SLOT SWAP: +14 weekly slots, for good, at a base you choose.

A plan in four lines

• Read the HQ card first: slots, markets, character.
• DENSE and many slots: HOME HUB perks, few bases, more flights on your fattest lines.
• THIN or REMOTE: plan bases early and buy NETWORK or WORLD perks instead.
• Keep the rack. A seasoned perk pays its whole line, and a fresh one pays 1/3.