The Cogs is a ten week competitive event of tournaments and matchups to determine the best captains and crews in the GoIO community. While skill and co-ordination are vital for a team’s continued survival, the true test of a team’s skill is in their ability to thrive and flourish under pressure. Pushed to their absolute limits, a team needs far more than a couple of good engineers and a half decent pilot to survive against some of the most painful enemies in the brutal one-chance matchups that The Cogs is renowned for. Welcome to Season 2. Are you prepared?
Seeds
Based on the results of Season 1, positions #1 - #2c from the Finale are seeded automatically into slots #1, #2a, #2b and #2c. Teams that made it into the Finale quarter finals are seeded into Week 0’s first round robin event.
Week 0
Week 0 consists of two round robin events to seed the five slots (#3a - #3e) on the Upcomer’s Cog.
The first of these round robins will feature the teams from the Week 9 Quarter Finals placed against each other for slots #3a, #3c and #3b. In the event that one or more of the quarter-finalists are unwilling to participate, an additional team will be added to the Newcomer’s robin.
The second half will be first come first serve newcomer round robin for the remaining slots on the third cog. In the event of a full roster, there will be one more newcomer team than slots. For instance, if there are two slots available for newcomer teams, three newcomer teams will be permitted to participate in Week 0.
Week 1-7
These weeks feature standard Cog matches, as described in “The Cogs Standings” below. At the end of Week 7, the team in the Champion Cog are crowned the Weekly Champions of The Cogs.
Week 8
Week 8 is a open qualifier tournament, in which any team in any standing may compete for a position in the week 9 finale. The overall format of this tournament may change dramatically depending on the number of participating teams, though. More details on each season’s Week 8 is posted on the forums in advance. Either three or six teams will advance from Week 8.
Finale (Week 9)
Week 9 is the Finale, the final week of a season. Set up to include either seven or ten teams, depending on Week 8’s format, teams face off in a single-elimination grand tournament, including a match for third place.
Seeds #1 - #4 will be claimed by the teams in the Champion and Challenger Cogs
Seeds #5 - #7 (Or - #10) will be claimed by those that qualified for inclusion in the Finale during Week 8.
The victor of this tournament are granted the Tournament Champion title. In the event of a team claiming both the Weekly and Tournament Champion titles, they gain the Grand Champion title.
The Cogs Standings (Week #1 - #7)
Currently split into three distinct 'tiers', plus two newcomer spots that aren't officially part of The Cogs, the Standings look a little confusing on first glance... But let's break them down.
Tier One is the simplest. The Champion's Cog; This is spot #1. This tier does not rotate and the Champion team play every week to maintain their position and assert their dominance against everyone and everything the community can throw at them.
Tier Two contains the Challenger teams. These are the top tier teams that are contenders for the Champion's Cog. Positions #2a, #2b and #2c are present in this Cog and rotate on a weekly basis to determine which of the Challenger teams play to advance or defend their spot on a given week.
At the end of the week a team's Spot is rotated along. (#2a -> #2b, #2b -> #2c)
The team currently at #2c will be moved to #2a
Tier Three is the Upcomer's cog, and features five slots ranging from #3a-#3e. This is the lowest official spot in The Cogs, but is certainly not to be sniffed at. Once again, this Cog rotates weekly to determine which two teams play that week.
At the end of the week a team's Spot is rotated along. (#3a -> #3b, #3b -> #3c, #3c -> #3d, #3d -> #3e)
The team currently at #3e will be moved to #3a
The Newcomer's slot is split into two positions. #4a and #4b. Both of these teams should be capable of playing on the week, and the position is granted based on a first-come, first-serve signup list in The Cogs forum.
Advancement and Dropping
Each standard week, four matches will be played. They are as follows:
Match 1: Newcomer's Proving Ground
Spot #4a vs Spot #4b. Winner plays in “Breaking Point Ejection”
In the event that #4a can't play, #4b advances
In the event that #4b can't play, #4a advances
Match 2: Breaking Point Ejection: Spot #3e vs The victor of “Newcomer’s Proving Ground”. Winner advances. Loser is ejected from The Cogs
In the event that #3e can't play, the victor of “Newcomer’s Proving Ground” advances. In this instance, #3e is ejected from The Cogs
In the event that The victor of “Newcomer’s Proving Ground” can't play, The loser of “Newcomer’s Proving Ground” will play #3e instead. The victor of “Newcomer’s Proving Ground is ejected from The Cogs.
Match 3: Upcomer's Advancement: Spot #2c vs Spot #3a. Winner advances.
In the event that #2c can't play, #3a and #3b will play for spot #2c instead. In this instance, #2c will be moved to spot #3a
In the event that #3a can't play, #2c and #3b will play for spot #2c instead. In this instance, the loser will be placed in spot #3b
Match 4: Champion vs Challenger: Spot #1 vs Spot #2a. Winner advances.
In the event that #1 can't play, #2a and #2b will play for spot #1 instead. In this instance, #1 will be moved to spot #2b.
In the event that #2a can't play, #1 and #2b will play for spot #1 instead. In this instance, #2a will be moved to spot #2b
Greasing The Cogs
In the event that multiple matches are dropped or there are deemed to be too many fractured or impotent teams within The Cogs, the season will be cut short and the Week 9 finale will be brought forward. Teams will be seeded with the positions gained within The Cogs. The tournament results will kickstart a fresh season.
Maps
Maps are randomly selected from the current pool of 2v2 maps. In the event of additional 2v2 maps being added, they will be assessed and if no significant competitive issues are discovered, they'll be added to the map pool.
A map may not be randomly selected more than once per week except in special circumstances. This means that Match 1 could be on any of the five current maps. Match 2 could be on any of the remaining four maps, Match 3 could be on any of the three not yet selected and Match 4 could be either of the two remaining maps. The maps are selected using a RNG and revealed three days before they are due to be played.
Match Specifics
Currently we do not enforce any ship or weapon-related mandates. A team is permitted to switch their builds and roles right up until the last second of the lobby's countdown timer. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL. If a ship is incorrectly fitted due to last second switching, the match WILL NOT be restarted. You have been warned.
There are currently no plans to include a time limit. This relies on the players and teams not exploiting this to ridiculous proportions. If it is deemed appropriate at a later stage, reasonable countermeasures to team-dickery will be put into place. Likewise, repeated use of areas, tricks or glitches deemed unfair by Muse consensus will have consequences. Play it straight.
Each match is played to five kills, standard deathmatch rules, on an American server. To prevent ghosting and ensure that at least one slot is free for team switching, the spectator slots are limited to unaffiliated Cogs casters and match referees only. This includes crew CAs and mods as well as non-refereeing Muse devs. You know who you are.
Crew and Substitutes
Failure to provide Swallow with a team roster a day before the match via Steam or Skype will lead to an automatic forfeit for that match.
The format is as follows:
Ship 1
Role - Nationality - Name
Role - Nationality - Name
Role - Nationality - Name
Role - Nationality - Name
Ship 2
Role - Nationality - Name
Role - Nationality - Name
Role - Nationality - Name
Role - Nationality - Name
Substitutes
A team must make its roster with a maximum of 4 substitutes a day before the match. A player is only allowed to play on one team per week. If the player is on the roster as a substitute, but does not play, then the player can be a possible substitute for another match. However, if the player does play in a match, then they cannot substitute in another regardless of whether they are on the substitute roster or not.
(Crew and Substitutes edited by -Muse- Cullen)
Note by Ataris: slightly edited by author's request
