https://www.sayintentions.ai/post/new-partner-program-traffic-injection-and-cabincrisis-released-to-alpha

I would hope they would fix the IFR also, so far it is far from flawless…..

31 minutes ago, rob0203 said:

I would hope they would fix the IFR also, so far it is far from flawless…..

They're still working on it. 

I was following BATC well before SI was a thing. I helped with beta testing SI back in the end of 23 up unto its release. At the time SI was just VFR while BATC was working to be IFR only and with AI planes. I feel like BATC is doing great work in the AI planes side but its been like a rabbit and a turtle difference in what the two different companies are doing as far a new features, releases and products. The voices of Say Intentions in my opinion is far better than any and all BATC voices I've heard on the many videos that they have released.

The shear amount of improvements and new features SI has built and released in 2024 is more than impressive. Even more so when compared to what we've seen from BATC. For awhile, I was hoping that BATC and SI would be able to work together since BATC had a good start on the AI planes while SI is dominating in the voices and feature areas. Now that SI is working on releasing their own AI planes that work with the AI ATC, I have full belief that SI will blow past BATC in that area in no time. I have no ill will for BATC, the more companies we have as options the better we are all. However, based off of a track record, I can easily see SI becoming the #1 go to AI ATC and Plane services winner.

SI is not perfect but the team there is hyper focused on moving quickly in that direction. Just remember when MS released AI planes, the wheels didnt even roll and their AI ATC has never been anything to showcase as a major feature.

Edited October 19, 20241 yr by Ident

SI is adding constantly new feature, instead of fixing long existing bugs, like vectors to final, which are still hit and miss.

Yes, their voices are superiors and their added features, like cabin announcement and copilot are nice.

 

3 hours ago, Silicuss said:

SI is adding constantly new feature, instead of fixing long existing bugs, like vectors to final, which are still hit and miss.

Yes, their voices are superiors and their added features, like cabin announcement and copilot are nice.

 

I couldn’t agree more. Basic ATC is still not good enough to warrant all these new developments. Clumsy vectoring, different altitude restrictions being given by different subsequent controllers, constant handoffs to different centers and the list goes on. The potential is definitely there though. 

Pay 50 bucks or quid to be an alpha tester for a program in the embryonic phase of traffic injection-thanks but no thanks

Hello, new here (long time casual flightsimmer/forum lurker), I need to tell this elsewhere than on SI's discord, and I'm not even writing this to enter their raffle and earn a price, I simply tell it because that's my truth.

As an almost beginner in ATC comms (had a few tries on VATSIM/IVAO), I was blown away by SayIntentions when I tried their demo.

The ability to ask anything either at ATC or the mentor gave me the help I needed to really get started in voice comms.

I think there is not enough emphasis on the mentor aspect, you can ask anything about your aircraft, flight or aviation related, this is so helpful.

 

For the time being, I'm doing VFR flights in Florida from towered airport to towered airport, requesting flight following along the route. Added to this the real time and historical ATC comms around me as well as FSLTL traffic, the experience feels already awesome.

What will it be with full SI AI traffic and more... ?? 

 

I reckon I'm not fond of the way they introduced the partner program, I would have prefered that they would have turn the things around : "you want access to alpha features ? Join the partner program, you'll get access and this will help us get more funds" because I believe that's all it is about. I might join it anyway at some point for traffic because the experience I'm having with SI so far is awesome and their discord is very reactive and helpful.

I'll sit back with FSHud which vectors me to finals pretty much each time, fills the skies with aircraft, with separation, and doesn't ask me for a monthly subscription.  Thanks but no thanks.  

Agree at all.

I guess different people/teams are working on different areas of the products based on their skill set. That's why vectoring hasn't been perfected before new features like traffic injection are added.

I'm still sitting on the fence but at the current state of development I think FSHud v2 seems to be the best 'all-rounder' right now. I can't see the point of paying for an ATC  program unless it does a good job of controlling AI traffic otherwise you end up with multiple aircraft on the same approach which is a worse immersion killer for me than having no AI at all. Radar Contact could do this reasonably well twenty years ago.

Once SI get the traffic and vectoring up to scratch, it's likely to be the king of ATC products for those that can afford it.

 

This is starting to be a growing trend, wanting more money for a beta product while it is in development. Reminds me of a type of  "go fund me" program.  

Edited October 19, 20241 yr by Bobsk8

What is interesting is they not-so-subtly dragged BATC over putting the early stages of traffic behind a supporter's pack paywall. Now, a couple months later they put the early stages of traffic ... behind a supporter's pack paywall.

Now, I admit, it's not a 1:1 comparision. You get more side benefits with SI's program, including voting on features etc. But bullet item #1 on the annoucment was "Early "preview" access to new features, such as Traffic Phase-1, 2, and 3 (When ready)". And, the early stages of traffic anyone is going to be getting is enroute only (no ground). Especially with the great unknown that is MSFS24, it's a smart move to just inject enroute.

What I do respect is Brian put hard dates behind when these features will roll downstream to non-Partner's.  I also understand he's using this to announce stuff earlier than he usually does, which as a non-partner it's nice to see what's in the pipeline. Before now, you'd get the annoucement on a Thursday's live stream for a release the following week.

In full disclosure, I did pay for the BATC supporter's pack and feel I've gotten my money worth. I will not be getting the SI Partner pack. The sub to SI is one I cancel the day after I renew because I want to make sure each month I intentionally click renew after giving it some thought. I don't use it every flight, and likely use BATC more.

 

5 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

This is starting to be a growing trend, wanting more money for a beta product while it is in development. Reminds me of a type of  "go fund me" program.

But for $100, you get a T-shirt!!

So now you pay $20/month...plus another $30 for their standalone and now $50-$100 to be a supporter (???).... for a program that still cannot properly vector you for an approach and getting the same 2-3 voices the entire flight......😆

2 minutes ago, Flic1 said:

.plus another $30 for their standalone

To be fair, the standalone is for non-subscribers. All the stuff in Entourage is included in your sub fee.

I don't even think you can buy it as a subscriber.

I don't blame them for doing this, tbh. Their Discord is full of people who actually do just want to give them money. As a business, when someone wants to give you more money, you make it easy for them do to so.