diff --git a/cumulus/CFStack.py b/cumulus/CFStack.py
index d686888..cd77ee9 100644
--- a/cumulus/CFStack.py
+++ b/cumulus/CFStack.py
@@ -12,10 +12,14 @@ class CFStack(object):
     region, template and what other stacks it depends on.
     """
     def __init__(self, mega_stack_name, name, params, template_name, region,
-                 sns_topic_arn, tags=None, depends_on=None):
+                 sns_topic_arn, tags=None, depends_on=None, prefix=None, global_dict=None):
         self.logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+        self.prefix = prefix
+
         if mega_stack_name == name:
             self.cf_stack_name = name
+        elif prefix:
+            self.cf_stack_name = "%s-%s" % (prefix, name)
         else:
             self.cf_stack_name = "%s-%s" % (mega_stack_name, name)
         self.mega_stack_name = mega_stack_name
@@ -31,6 +35,8 @@ def __init__(self, mega_stack_name, name, params, template_name, region,
             for dep in depends_on:
                 if dep == mega_stack_name:
                     self.depends_on.append(dep)
+                elif prefix:
+                    self.depends_on.append("%s-%s" % (prefix, dep))
                 else:
                     self.depends_on.append("%s-%s" % (mega_stack_name, dep))
         self.region = region
@@ -42,6 +48,11 @@ def __init__(self, mega_stack_name, name, params, template_name, region,
         else:
             self.tags = tags
 
+        if global_dict is None:
+            self.global_dict = {}
+        else:
+            self.global_dict = global_dict
+
         try:
             open(template_name, 'r')
         except:
@@ -119,6 +130,12 @@ def _parse_param(self, param_name, param_dict):
         # Static value set, so use it
         if 'value' in param_dict:
             return str(param_dict['value'])
+        # Handle global variable dereference
+        elif ('type' in param_dict and
+              param_dict['type'] == "global" and
+              'variable' in param_dict and
+              param_dict['variable'] in self.global_dict):
+            return str(self.global_dict[param_dict['variable']])
         # No static value set, but if we have a source,
         # type and variable can try getting from CF
         elif ('source' in param_dict and
@@ -126,6 +143,9 @@ def _parse_param(self, param_name, param_dict):
               'variable' in param_dict):
             if param_dict['source'] == self.mega_stack_name:
                 source_stack = param_dict['source']
+            elif self.prefix:
+                source_stack = ("%s-%s" %
+                                (self.prefix, param_dict['source']))
             else:
                 source_stack = ("%s-%s" %
                                 (self.mega_stack_name, param_dict['source']))
diff --git a/cumulus/MegaStack.py b/cumulus/MegaStack.py
index 9ea7aca..d55c9b1 100644
--- a/cumulus/MegaStack.py
+++ b/cumulus/MegaStack.py
@@ -18,8 +18,9 @@ class MegaStack(object):
     Main worker class for cumulus. Holds array of CFstack objects and does most
     of the calls to CloudFormation API
     """
-    def __init__(self, yamlFile):
+    def __init__(self, yamlFile, prefix=None, override_dict=None, highlight_arg=None):
         self.logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+        self.prefix = prefix
 
         # load the yaml file and turn it into a dict
         thefile = open(yamlFile, 'r')
@@ -38,6 +39,10 @@ def __init__(self, yamlFile):
         # that must be the mega stack name
         self.name = self.stackDict.keys()[0]
 
+        # Override highlight-output with argument if present.
+        if highlight_arg is not None:
+            self.stackDict[self.name]['highlight-output'] = highlight_arg
+
         # Find and set the mega stacks region. Exit if we can't find it
         if 'region' in self.stackDict[self.name]:
             self.region = self.stackDict[self.name]['region']
@@ -72,6 +77,12 @@ def __init__(self, yamlFile):
         # Array for holding CFStack objects once we create them
         self.stack_objs = []
 
+        self.global_dict = self.stackDict[self.name].get('vars', {})
+        if override_dict:
+            for override in override_dict:
+                if override in self.global_dict:
+                    self.global_dict[override] = override_dict[override]
+
         # Get the names of the sub stacks from the yaml file and sort in array
         self.cf_stacks = self.stackDict[self.name]['stacks'].keys()
 
@@ -122,7 +133,9 @@ def __init__(self, yamlFile):
                             region=self.region,
                             sns_topic_arn=local_sns_arn,
                             depends_on=the_stack.get('depends'),
-                            tags=merged_tags
+                            tags=merged_tags,
+                            prefix=self.prefix,
+                            global_dict=self.global_dict
                         )
                     )
 
@@ -186,7 +199,7 @@ def check(self, stack_name=None):
                                     bool(stack.exists_in_cf(
                                          self.cf_desc_stacks))))
 
-    def create(self, stack_name=None):
+    def create(self, stack_name=None, compact_body=False):
         """
         Create all stacks in the yaml file.
         Any that already exist are skipped (no attempt to update)
@@ -214,10 +227,15 @@ def create(self, stack_name=None):
                 stack.read_template()
                 self.logger.info("Creating: %s, %s" % (
                     stack.cf_stack_name, stack.get_params_tuples()))
+                stack_body = stack.template_body
+                if compact_body:
+                    self.logger.info("Stack size: %u" % len(stack_body))
+                    stack_body = self.pack_body(stack.template_body)
+                    self.logger.info("Packed size: %u" % len(stack_body))
                 try:
                     self.cfconn.create_stack(
                         stack_name=stack.cf_stack_name,
-                        template_body=stack.template_body,
+                        template_body=stack_body,
                         parameters=stack.get_params_tuples(),
                         capabilities=['CAPABILITY_IAM'],
                         notification_arns=stack.sns_topic_arn,
@@ -513,6 +531,12 @@ def watch_events(self, stack_name, while_status):
             time.sleep(5)
         return status
 
+    def pack_body(self, body):
+        """
+        Pack the body by removing human readability chars like spaces and newlines
+        """
+        return simplejson.dumps(simplejson.loads(body), separators=(',', ':'))
+
     def _describe_all_stacks(self):
         """
         Get all pages of stacks from describe_stacks API call.
diff --git a/cumulus/__init__.py b/cumulus/__init__.py
index 16ab438..19379b8 100755
--- a/cumulus/__init__.py
+++ b/cumulus/__init__.py
@@ -35,6 +35,26 @@ def main():
         dest="stackname", required=False,
         help="The stack name, used with the watch action,"
              " ignored for other actions")
+    conf_parser.add_argument(
+        "-c", "--compact",
+        action="store_true", dest="compactbody", required=False,
+        help="Compress each template body by removing spaces.")
+    conf_parser.add_argument(
+        "-p", "--prefix", metavar="PREFIX",
+        dest="cf_prefix", required=False,
+        help="The prefix of the created stacks. Default is the name of the mega stack.")
+    conf_parser.add_argument(
+        "-o", "--override-global",
+        action='append', dest="override_global", required=False,
+        help="Override a global variable. Example: --override-global \"globalVariable=newValue\"")
+    conf_parser.add_argument(
+        "--highlight",
+        action="store_true", dest="highlight", required=False,
+        help="Highlight output. This takes precedence over highlight-output in the yaml file.")
+    conf_parser.add_argument(
+        "--no-highlight",
+        action="store_false", dest="highlight", required=False,
+        help="Don't highlight output. This takes precedence over highlight-output in the yaml file.")
     args = conf_parser.parse_args()
 
     # Validate that action is something we know what to do with
@@ -66,8 +86,17 @@ def main():
         exit(1)
     logging.getLogger('boto').setLevel(boto_numeric_level)
 
+    if args.override_global:
+        try:
+            override_dict = dict(k for k in (x.split('=') for x in args.override_global))
+        except ValueError as exception:
+            print "Illegal global override parameter in: %s" % args.override_global
+            exit(1)
+    else:
+        override_dict = None
+
     # Create the mega_stack object and sort out dependencies
-    the_mega_stack = MegaStack(args.yamlfile)
+    the_mega_stack = MegaStack(args.yamlfile, args.cf_prefix, override_dict, args.highlight)
     the_mega_stack.sort_stacks_by_deps()
 
     # Print some info about what we found in the yaml and dependency order
@@ -80,7 +109,7 @@ def main():
 
     # Run the method of the mega stack object for the action provided
     if args.action == 'create':
-        the_mega_stack.create(args.stackname)
+        the_mega_stack.create(args.stackname, args.compactbody)
 
     if args.action == 'check':
         the_mega_stack.check(args.stackname)
diff --git a/examples/legostack/legostack.yaml b/examples/legostack/legostack.yaml
index c6423c6..43ca655 100644
--- a/examples/legostack/legostack.yaml
+++ b/examples/legostack/legostack.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ legostack:
   # Working on N.California. You can change it just remember to also update availablilty zones below and AMI ids
   region: us-west-1
   highlight-output: true
+  # Add global variables
+  vars:
+    globalInstanceType: 't2.small'
   # Tags defined here are spread across every resource created by sub-stacks
   tags:
     globaltag: tagvalue
@@ -125,7 +128,8 @@ legostack:
         - dmz-sub
       params:
         ParamInstanceType:
-          value: 't2.small'
+          type: global
+          variable: globalInstanceType
         ParamUseElasticIP:
           value: 'true'
         ParamInstanceAMI:
@@ -198,7 +202,8 @@ legostack:
         - nat
       params:
         ParamInstanceType:
-          value: 't2.small'
+          type: global
+          variable: globalInstanceType
         ParamInstanceAMI:
           # Ubuntu 12.04 Precise HVM EBS
           value: 'ami-0dad4949'