Finishing off the podium is no longer called a failure
A heat now pays a participation licence to every entrant who cleared its own bar without reaching the podium — and records the result as a finish rather than a failure. Zero progress still fails.
A league used to pay the top three and write everyone else off as failed, however much they had actually built that week. That was wrong for the player who hired their first employee or opened their first new city while the heat was running.
Every heat now has a second tier below the podium. Clear the bar the heat itself asks for — one new hire, one new operating city, one new industry, one completed customer order, one unit produced, depending on the challenge — and finishing outside the top three pays a participation licence: one business licence, valid for 30 days. The result reads as Participated, not as a failure.
- The podium is unchanged and still pays permanent licences: three for first, two for second, one for third. The participation licence expires, which is what keeps third place worth racing for. - Zero progress still fails, as does a score below the heat's bar. The tier rewards doing the thing, not entering. - Forfeiting a heat pays nothing, as it already did.
Heats that were already running when this shipped keep the terms they advertised.