"Edge of Midnight" Calculation

[Steelfeather Rapture 2]

I'm used to acting in this game after "the edge of midnight" as I call it. This occurs when the nation's population updates for the night. I act after it, because the black market acts before it. In order to reduce the black market, which is a priority in all of my nations except Therimenjas, I try to act after the edge of midnight.

Unfortunately, it has today gone from happening at 10:30 PM to happening at an unknown time which has not yet occurred. Could I get the site staff to look at my nations' back-ends again and see what changed so that the point at which my nation's black market activity is calculated was shifted? Preferably, I would like it to process earlier. People who don't care about the black market this way should have late "edge of midnights" in order to facilitate their play-style, while I would prefer an early "edge of midnight" so that I can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

P.S. My nation population seems to have increased in a hidden way, as yesterday the final population AEM (After the Edge of Midnight) was 194, but today the population BEM (Before the Edge of Midnight) is 195.

[The Cordian Isles]

The game updates twice a day. There's the minor update, at noon EST, which usually takes about an hour, and the major update, your edge of midnight, which happens at midnight EST and lasts about an hour and a half. The updates update various stats, determine regions' World Assembly Delegates, and so on. For the record, you can reduce the black market at any time by answering issues, you do not only have to do it after the update.

For whatever reason, today's updates took far longer than usual (they might still be going), which is what you're seeing.

The game updates region-by-region, and individual nations updating at different times would be a whole new feature and would throw off the raiding/defending part of NS, so it's very unlikely to become a thing.

[Merni]

I'm used to acting in this game after "the edge of midnight" as I call it. This occurs when the nation's population updates for the night. I act after it, because the black market acts before it. In order to reduce the black market, which is a priority in all of my nations except Therimenjas, I try to act after the edge of midnight.

Unfortunately, it has today gone from happening at 10:30 PM to happening at an unknown time which has not yet occurred. Could I get the site staff to look at my nations' back-ends again and see what changed so that the point at which my nation's black market activity is calculated was shifted? Preferably, I would like it to process earlier. People who don't care about the black market this way should have late "edge of midnights" in order to facilitate their play-style, while I would prefer an early "edge of midnight" so that I can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

P.S. My nation population seems to have increased in a hidden way, as yesterday the final population AEM (After the Edge of Midnight) was 194, but today the population BEM (Before the Edge of Midnight) is 195.

What you seem to be calling "edge of midnight" is more commonly called the "game update" (specifically the "major update" which is the one at which population changes). This starts at midnight US Eastern time (there is also a shorter "minor update" at noon), and proceeds through each region in a fixed order, updating each nation in the region. Usually, the whole "major update" process takes 90 minutes. However, today, update has been very slow and is taking about twice or thrice as long as usual. So, every nation has been getting updated much later than usual.

You (or site staff) cannot control the time at which your nation updates in any meaningful way; you can, however, move to an early-updating region which will make your nation update earlier within the 90 minute timeframe.

Also, note that you answering issues before/after your nation updates is unlikely to have much of an effect on your stats. The statistical effect of issues (which you can see on the result page after answering an issue) is applied immediately after answering. (This used to happen only at update, but it has been instant for years). At update, only the ranking of nations is recalculated.

[Bears Armed]

This belongs in 'Technical': I've asked the Mods to move it.