Quick phrases: say hello on the walkie without a microphone
Since this morning the walkie switches itself on and listens, and you can call the tower with Y. One thing was still missing. Plenty of pilots don't want to talk into a microphone to a stranger, or can't, because they're on a train or it's two in the morning. So until now there was no way to answer the person you hear.
Now there is.
Eight phrases, one key
Press U in flight (or Quick phrases in the walkie panel) and pick one with the number keys:
- Roger!
- Hello, Hamburg! (the city you're flying over, or "Hello, everyone!")
- Anyone flying?
- Nice catch!
- Follow me!
- Thanks!
- Good night, all!
- Say again?
Everyone on your frequency sees it above their walkie bar with your name, and hears it read out between two radio clicks. Each pilot gets a voice of their own, so you can tell who's talking. The last few phrases stay in the walkie panel.
Your language, their language
Only the choice travels, not the words. Send "Hello, Hamburg!" and a pilot who plays in German reads and hears "Hallo, Hamburg!", one who plays in French gets "Salut, Hamburg !", in all twelve languages of the game. Nobody can type anything into it, so there is nothing to moderate either.
The small print
- Quick phrases go to the frequency you're tuned to, and only to pilots with
the same scrambler code on a private channel.
- You need an account and the walkie switched on, as with voice. A pilot you
muted is muted for phrases too.
- One phrase every five seconds, twenty in ten minutes.
- The phrase menu and the tower's call menu both use the number keys, so only
one of them is open at a time.
There's a new daily mission too: Say hello on the walkie. A quick phrase counts, and so does holding Z and saying it out loud.
The rest of today's walkie changes are in the walkie is on, and the tower answers when you call.