I recently changed our Extern to 9pm PST to facilitate our players on the East Coast, but there is an issue with players that are #sd#. It appears they can't re-enter the game until midnight PST. Did I miss a setting somewhere for this? Or is a player that is #sd# a seperate entity from Extern?

Just need to be sure I'm not confusing myself...

You bet! They are two separate operations and SD’ed players can’t get back in until Midnight (server time) occurs, (unless the have been used their refreshed Daily Pod Count up between Extern and Midnight, hence the DPC will not reset until the following Extern occurs if they lose any or all of their pods after the Extern of that day)… (I seemed to have learned this the hard way! [;)]
But believe I have finally come to understand it, if so thanks to Traitor and to Mr. Nuss, See definitions below:)


Midnight
This refers to the sequence of events that are initiated daily when the game servers clock literally reaches the middle of the night, i.e. 00:00:00. This is a separate function from Extern, at Midnight the following functions are performed:

1 – All SD’ed players from the previous day recover in sector-1 in a new player Ship once they log back on, (NOTE – A players daily PLC does not reset until Extern has occurred.)
2 – The prices of Fighters, Holds, and Shields prices are adjusted on all Class 0 ports and at the StarDock, (NOTE – Hold prices are additionally adjusted throughout the day on the hour.)
3 – The games duration increases by one day.
4 – Players are eligible to receive an additional point of experience and point of alignment, once they log on for the new game day.
5 – The planetary construction on all citadels advances by one day.
6 – The Underground, located on the StarDock has its daily incorrect password penalty reset.
7 – The Daily Logs are cleared.


Extern
This refers to the daily TradeWars maintenance program that serves to cleanup the game. Extern can be set to occur at anytime as determined by the SysOp or GameOp. The following occurs during extern (in-order):

1 – Check for players with mixed Alignments operating within the same Corporation and apply penalties to all Corporate members as applicable.
2 – All empty Ships left in FedSpace are repossessed, (unless they are locked in tow or in the process of being traded in or sold to the Shipyard.)
3 – Players are towed out of FedSpace for armament violations, (i.e. having more than 100-Fighters shipboard in FedSpace while off-line.)
4 – Check to determine if the number of off-line players parked in FedSpace exceeds the games settings, if a violation is found against FedSpace Regulations then that number of players over the limit are towed out of FedSpace into a random sector, (which players to actually get towed is also a random process.)
5 – Reset each player’s daily Taxation rights (applicable to each player having a 0 or greater Alignment), which is 5-percent of on-hand Credits upon their first login of the new day.
6 – Reset the Grimy Trader’s daily curse penalty, which is issued for cursing at the Grimy Trader.
7 – Each player’s daily Pod count is reset to 2, although SD'ed players are not permitted back into the game until Midnight.
NOTE – If Extern is set before Midnight (using the TWGS’s actual system time) and a Player gets Podded prior to reaching Midnight, their daily PLC will not reset until the next day’s Extern occurs.
8 – Reset the daily Jettison Colonist penalty, which is issued for dumping Colonists into space from your ship.
9 – Reset the daily Alignment loss penalty, which is issued for attempting to break into another Corporation, by guessing their password.
10 – Perform the Clear Busts function (depending on the day, although in MBBS mode, this action occurs daily.)
11 – All NavHaz is cleared from FedSpace.
12 – All Fighters and Mines (both Armid and Limpet) are removed from the MSL's. All Planets remaining within an MSL sector that is greater then Level-2 are downgraded to Level-2.
13 – Perform a check to see if the Planets in overloaded sectors will collide, only two Planets will collide per Extern; each Planet over the maximum allowed per sector (as per the games settings determined by the SysOps or GameOps preferences), increases the chances of a collision occurring by 10-percent. The actual Planets chosen to collide is a random process.
14 – All NavHaz and radiation clears or reduces according to the game settings, (based upon the SysOps or GameOps preferences.)
15 – Destroyed Class 0 and 9 StarPorts rebuild once the radiation level has been completely dissipated.
16 – All StarPort construction advances by one day.
17 – Players and Corporations that have remained inactive are removed from the game, according to the games inactive player settings as determined by the SysOps or GameOps preferences. The removed players remaining assets are then turned Rogue, if all the players of a Corporation are removed then the Corporation’s total assets also go Rogue.

One thing that I am still not sure on though is if a player uses all their Pods up and becomes SD’ed just prior to reaching Midnight yet after Extern occurs; if they get one more ship just to meet the “all SD’ed players are given a new ship” requirement that has been set in the Midnight term, just with no remaining pods for that day, but I do not think so, I think even-still they are SOL until the next day.

Thank you kindly, Rexx. I appreciate the thorough description. I've copied the info for future reference.

Good one Rexx. Nice info.

As have I..I had some players asking the same questions.. thanks for the info.