Spirit does all the game balancing/timing... I just make it work :-) As far as the pace of the game, we basically enjoy this kind of game and we appreciate people have other things to do (like life) so we've tried to make it more accessible by having longer build times and such like. We think, based on the feedback we've had, we've got it about right.

As far as protection when you're sleeping, nope, afraid not... the sleep thing... we all do it :-) So we are all subject to the possibility of attacks during off hours. Again though... friends... this is what drives games like this. The more people you know, the better the chances of getting defence when you need it.