Talk:Merits/@comment-31.54.101.205-20170303002105/@comment-172.219.187.22-20170617220429

The other poster isn't even close to right. Merits do decay over time but not in the way described.

A week's merits are divided in two, then carried to the next week. A pilot joins a Power at Rating 1. So for example, a new pilot joins Archon Delaine, and earns 1500 merits by Undermining. They will be Rating 1 for that whole first week until the cycle 'ticks' during server shutdown on Thursday Morning game time. 

Because they were Rating 1 for that cycle, they're paid Rating 1's salary: 1000 CR for the week. Their merits are then considered, and used to assign the new Rating for the next cycle. 1500 is enough to earn the pilot Rating 4 for the next week, and they get the corresponding bonuses. Their total merits for that week are divided in two and then carried, meaning they start the cycle with 750 merits. 

'IF THE PILOT DOESN'T EARN ANY MORE MERITS', at the next tick they'll be paid for being Rating 4 for that week (5,000,000 CR). Their merits are check again; for next week they'll only be Rating 3. The remaining 750 are divided in two again, and the pilot will start the next week with 375. This continues until the merits are in their fourth week - at that point they're simply deleted. 

IF THE PILOT KEEPS EARNING MORE MERITS, they're added to the 750 carried over from their first week. So if they earn another 750, they'll have 1500 at the end of the week. They still get paid 5,000,000 CR and then are re-assigned to Rating 4 with another paycheck coming at the end of that week.