[HyperionHK]

Protection is by far the worst part of the game, newbie or veteran alike.

I like the idea, the only think I'd change is make it a 24 hour protection, either have it tick like normal 24 times and give you these 48 "extra" ticks that have to be spent in that 24 hours, or just give you 72 ticks to spend in 24 hours, then the game starts ticking normally. Either way you're in protection for 24 hours. That way you get some time to get IRC set up and get to know your gal a little bit before the crap starts flying.
I would also make an addition to this that the New Player guide needs to be updated and made very detailed as well if you implement this. I say this because if you can just spend 48-72 ticks in a matter of minutes, a brand new player can mess up those ticks very quickly and easily. As it is now a new player can start out poorly, but then get in contact with more veteran galmates and get advice, and correct previous mistakes before too many ticks get lost.

I came back from a many year break this round, and I definitely found the manual and new player guide to be a bit lacking in areas.