Missions
The mission board is the heart of FS Kingpin. It is where you pick a contraband run to fly: a cargo, a destination, a payout, and the XP that levels you up. This guide covers how the board works, how to read a mission, and the bonuses that change what a run is worth.
The board
Missions is the second tab in the left sidebar. Every mission starts from the airport you are currently at, so where you are decides what you can fly next. You get a full board of options to choose from (around a dozen early on, and more as you unlock higher tiers), and there is always at least one short, easy starter run in the mix.
Press REFRESH BOARD for a fresh batch at any time. It is free. The board also regenerates on its own after you complete or abandon a mission, so you are never stuck with a board you do not like.
Reading a mission
Each mission shows you everything you need before you commit:
- Cargo and tier: what you are carrying and how hot it is (see Tiers below).
- Route: the origin airport, the destination, and the distance in nautical miles.
- Payout and XP: the cash on delivery and the experience it grants.
- Cargo weight: how heavy the load is. If it is heavier than your aircraft can carry, the run is flagged TOO HEAVY.
- Aircraft: the class the run is built for. It reads RECOMMENDED instead of required when Free Skies is on.
You may also see small badges on a card:
- NEW means you have not landed at that destination before.
- HOT (Level 15+) marks a destination where the market is paying a premium.
- CONTESTED means a rival controls the destination. It pays more for the extra risk.
- A challenge chip (see Modifiers) or a bonus chip (see Built-in bonuses).
Tiers
Every run has a tier. Higher tiers carry more valuable contraband: they pay far more cash and a little more XP, but they also unlock later and cost you more if you crash (see the Crashes guide).
| Tier | Relative payout | Unlocks at |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 · Street Level | baseline | Level 1 |
| Tier 2 · Organized | about 1.5x | Level 8 |
| Tier 3 · Cartel | about 2.5x | Level 15 |
| Tier 4 · International | about 4x | Level 22 |
| Tier 5 · Black Ops | about 7x | Level 32 |
XP does not climb anywhere near as steeply as cash across the tiers, so a Tier 5 run is a big payday but not a shortcut through the levels. The crash penalty scales the other way: the higher the tier, the more a bad landing hurts.
Distance grows with your level
Early on you fly short hops. As you rank up, the board offers longer and longer runs, which pay more. Rough guide:
| Level | Typical distance |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | about 20 to 100 nm |
| Level 10 | about 70 to 460 nm |
| Level 20 | about 130 to 860 nm |
| Level 30 | about 190 to 1,260 nm |
| Level 48+ | up to 2,000 nm |
Filters and sorting
Three filters sit above the board:
- Tier filters to a single tier. Locked tiers show the level you unlock them at.
- Distance: Any, Short (under 200 nm), Medium (200 to 500 nm), Long (500 to 1,000 nm), or Extreme (1,000 nm and up). These open up at Levels 1, 1, 4, 11, and 24.
- Region narrows the board to part of the map. The options depend on your faction and widen as you level (see below).
You can also sort the board by payout ($), distance (NM), cargo weight (KG), or reward (RISK, which orders by XP). Tap a sort button again to flip between high-to-low and low-to-high.
Regions open up as you rank up
You start out flying around your faction's home region. As you level, the board reaches further: first into neighbouring countries, then across the wider continent, and eventually worldwide. The exact ladder depends on which faction you joined, so two players at the same level can have very different maps to work.
Accepting a run
To take a mission, you need to be in the right place with the right plane:
- You must be at the mission's origin airport. If you are somewhere else, you will get a wrong-location prompt.
- If you do not own a suitable aircraft, you will see a one-time rental fee prompt for the run. You can pay it, or switch to an aircraft you already own instead.
- The aircraft class on the card is a hard requirement unless Free Skies is turned on, in which case it becomes a recommendation.
- If the cargo is heavier than your aircraft can carry, the run shows TOO HEAVY and cannot be accepted until you bring a bigger plane.
Flying an active mission
Once accepted, the run becomes your active mission. The banner at the top shows the route, the reward, and a COPY ICAO CODES button that drops the origin and destination straight into the MSFS world map search so you can set up your flight plan. A step-by-step "how to fly this" list and a route map walk you through it.
Fly the run in Microsoft Flight Simulator and land at the destination to complete it and collect the payout. If you change your mind, ABANDON drops the mission. There is no cash penalty for abandoning, you simply forfeit that mission's reward and the board refreshes.
Modifiers: optional XP bonuses
Some runs come with a challenge attached that is worth extra XP if you pull it off. You will see a chip on the card and a live status while you fly.
| Challenge | XP bonus | From | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low Altitude Run | +25% | Level 6 | Stay under the altitude ceiling for the whole flight. |
| Rough Conditions | +20% | Level 5 | Fly through bad weather for most of the flight. |
| Night Run | +20% | Level 11 | Depart after dusk and land before dawn at a lit airport. |
Built-in bonuses
Some cards are sweetened before you ever pick them up. Keep an eye out for a doubled-value job, a hot tip, a long transatlantic run, a Patron's Run, or a market price tag (a destination paying hot, or running cold). Contested destinations also pay extra for the added risk of flying into rival ground.
Special missions later on
From around Level 20, the board starts mixing in one-off jobs alongside the regular runs: hits on rival members, story runs straight from your patron, and long ocean crossings once you have the range and the aircraft for them. They work like any other mission, just with a bit more story behind them.
How pay and XP are worked out
Payout grows with the distance you fly (a little faster than a straight line), the tier of the cargo, and how much weight you are hauling, plus a small natural variation from run to run. That is why a long, high-tier, heavy run is the big money.
XP comes mainly from the flight itself. Distance is the biggest driver, the tier adds a softer boost, and heavy cargo helps your cash more than your XP. On top of that, a clean landing and good fuel and time efficiency stack extra XP bonuses, so flying well is rewarded. See the Crashes & Landings guide for how landings are graded.