Skydex Tower is on the frequency
Until today Skydex was quiet in all the small moments. The big ones had their own screens: the catch card turning over, a new rank, a seat as mayor. But taking off, coming back after a few days, the tenth card in a collection or crossing a border passed without a word.
Now a control tower keeps you company. It's called Skydex Tower, it calls you by your handle (guests get a callsign like Gull 417), and three people work there. Mia greets you and cheers every catch and record. Sam tells the jokes and lets you know who else is flying. Leo gives the practical tips: where the nearest target is, which bridge to fly under, how close to get. Their name shows in the header of each line, and each one has a voice of their own.
When it talks
- Every take-off. The first one of the day gets a proper hello, with
"good morning" or "good evening" by your own clock. The next take-off that day gets a short "cleared for take-off", and after that the tower lets you fly without one. After three days or more away it notices the gap, and if people liked your photos or followed you meanwhile, it tells you.
- Catches. Your first catch of the day; collection milestones (1st, 5th,
10th, 25th card and on); the first airline, aircraft type, ship type or flag in your collection; epic catches and better.
- Streak days, from day two of a run.
- When something doesn't work. A catch refused as too far gets a hint
with the distance to close. An empty radar gets a suggestion where traffic is busier. Five minutes without a catch, and it tells you where to look.
- Traffic. When a new aircraft comes into catching range, the tower calls
it with its clock position and distance.
- Where to look. After a few minutes without a catch it calls the
nearest target the way a real tower calls traffic: "container ship at your 2 o'clock, 1.8 km". It points out an unflown bridge nearby too, and tells you that flying under it earns XP and the Under the Deck badge.
- Seats. Approaching an airport, it says who is captain there today and
how many visit days you need to take the seat. After a city or airport visit counts, it tells you who the mayor or captain is and how far you are from beating them, or that the seat is still yours.
- Other pilots. When someone else is flying, it tells you where, and when
a pilot takes off it says so straight away, so you can fly over and say hello. When a pilot switches the walkie on, or people are talking on it while yours is off, it lets you know.
- Places. A new country you fly into; in another time zone, the local
time, with the weather if Real weather is on; a city with a tower, where it gives you the frequency. That's the channel the walkie-talkie already uses over that city; the "Talk to pilots" button under the Online list opens it.
- Thirty minutes of flight, a goodbye when you pause after a real flight,
and now and then a joke from a quiet shift.
- Guests with catches waiting. On the second catch the tower reminds you
they're kept for you. More in catching before you sign in.
Achievements, rank-ups and seats keep their own screens.
Local towers
The Skydex Tower isn't the only voice on the air. Over a city, its own tower greets you on the same frequency the walkie uses there ("Hello, Hamburg Tower here, it's 21:40 local"), with the weather if Real weather is on. Crossing a border, the country's control says hello. Each one has its own colour, its own frequency in the header and, where your browser has several voices, its own voice. When somebody is sitting on your city's tower, your country's control or the common 122.800 with an open walkie, the tower tells you who. Private and scrambled channels are never mentioned.
How it sounds
Every line shows as a short text strip under the top bar, so you don't miss anything with the sound off. Your very first greeting, milestones, firsts, epic catches and the goodbye are also spoken (later hellos stay as text): a radio click, your browser's own voice, a closing click. The walkie button shows TWR while the tower talks and keeps its last lines. Voices depend on your device; phones usually sound natural, some desktop browsers sound robotic.
How often
One line per minute at most in your first ten minutes ever, then one per 90 seconds. Up to twelve per session in your first three sessions, then eight. It waits out catch reveals, sign-in windows, races and the pause screen, and the same wording doesn't come back for a week.
In flight on a keyboard, Backspace (⌫) closes a line without leaving the flight; on a phone, tap ✕. The speaker icon on a line turns the voice on or off; "Off" switches the tower off altogether. The tower button next to the walkie (in the top bar on a phone, above the walkie bar on a computer) brings it back, and so do the walkie panel and Settings, under Sound. Signed-in pilots answer other pilots on the walkie by holding Z or the TALK button.