Yo, pilots! Welcome back to the second Cartel Pilots Devs Diary ✌️
Last time we showed you the islands. This time we're letting you break things on
them — and we finally taught the game to explain what's going on before you plant
a wing in a palm tree.
🎓 Your First Flight, Handheld
The intro is fully reworked. The game now walks you through the entire first run:
meeting your first client, loading the crates, taking off, landing on the island
next door. Prompts, explainer cards, a direction arrow and a compass — nobody gets
dropped into a cockpit and left guessing.
And yes, there's a dedicated "what if I crash" branch. Instead of leaving you
stranded in the jungle, the game either teaches you to patch the plane up on the
spot, or recovers you and puts you back in play.
💼 Clients, Cargo and Grey Areas
Clients are split into three groups now: civilian traders, the cartel, and an
underground fence. Legal cargo is accepted by everyone, contraband only by the
fence — so a "grey" run became a choice you make, not an accident you stumble into.
Jobs also stopped bouncing you between the same two neighbouring islands. We drew
up a proper trade map of the archipelago — who produces what, who needs it — so
routes now add up into chains that actually make sense. On top of that: flavour
lines from clients depending on what you're hauling, a job selection window, and a
dialogue for the fence.
There's also a cash ceiling now. Anything above the limit has to go to the bank or
you risk losing it in a crash — and the moneybag is a physical object you can carry
around and drop 💰
🏝️ A Bigger, Busier Archipelago
One brand-new island, plus a rework of several old ones: terrain, runways,
dressing, borders. We built a motel and a fuel hangar, and gave the village a full
pass.
New locals moved in, properly dressed for the job: a cartel trader, an aircraft
dealer, a treasure hunter.
The ocean came alive too — five types of vessels running their own routes, jumping
dolphins, and flocks of seagulls minding their own business… right up until they
meet your propeller 🐦
🛬 Landing Assist That Finally Works
A few miles out you'll see a chain of gates going down the glideslope, each one
telling you the speed and flap setting you need. One button hands it to the
autopilot: it brings you onto the glideslope, bleeds off excess speed in an orbit
if you arrived too hot, and gives control back on short final — while telling you why.
Cargo in the cabin actually weighs something now, and you'll feel it. A loaded
plane accelerates slower, climbs worse and eats more runway. There's a load
indicator, an overweight warning, and a flap position indicator.
We also fixed the collisions that let you fall through the terrain. Apologies to
everyone who enjoyed touring the inside of an island.
🔧 Aircraft Damage: Two Dozen Ways to Suffer
Our favourite part. The plane is split into two dozen separate parts — wings,
control surfaces, flaps, cowl, engine, propeller, struts, wheels — and each one
breaks on its own: from an impact, a hard landing, an overload, overspeed or
overheating.
Metal properly dents and tears, torn-off pieces fly away as debris, the engine
trails smoke, and a silhouette in the corner of the screen shows you exactly what
took the hit.
And none of it is cosmetic. A battered wing pulls you to one side, the controls get
sloppy, the engine loses power but keeps running hot. You can push it and destroy
it, or ease off and limp home. Damage stays until it's repaired and survives a
save/load — so no, reloading won't grow your wing back.
That's the batch. Which one do you want to hear more about — the damage model or
the new economy? Drop a comment and tell us what should go into Devs Diary #3.
See you next time 🛩️💨