Just a reminder: Today is the day scheduled for the end of Phase 1 and the reduction of cartels from 8 to four. I'll be working on this all evening tonight. The outtage is scheduled to be from 8 AM Monday until 8 AM Tuesday, so that all time zone players are equally affected. If you look at the time it is up, this means there are three "weekend" periods per week (Fri, Sat, Sun) and three "workday" periods per week (Tue, Wed, Thur) so I think this is the best we can hope for in regards to balancing day/night shift and weekend/weekday play time.
My very sincere thanks to everyon who has participated so far. I hope you are having fun, and I hope you've enjoyed watching the econ and planets on the map change as much as I've enjoyed being able to change them.
I want to give a very special thank you to those who volunteered for Overlord duty, especially those who volunteered to run the smaller cartels who knew the balance was stacked agains them, yet kept up a very active role anyway. Your clever decisions made a lot more money for your cartels than you would have otherwise and your new partners should be very grateful for the riches you bring to your new organization.
No exec would ever be caught dead without a golden parachute (in your case, buried under 16 dead men to keep it safe); so I'm going to try to work out a severance package for you guys to thank you for your efforts.
I hope to see you all around again for phase two. Until then, do some chores around the house and get a good night's sleep.
-Herr Burt