Cogs Season 3
Welcome once again, ladies and gentlemen! It is time for the Cogs Season 3 to be revealed and for you all to get keen
First of all, Swallow has handed off the running of the Cogs onto myself (Qwerty) and Muse. Additionally, we have heard your complaints about the current system and believe that the start of Season 3 is a great time to revamp the system and give it that fresh feel we all enjoyed in Season 1.
So how do we do that?
Well, the overhaul comes in two major parts;
● The gears rotation system
● The Cogs theme
Swallow created a great themed event, and a GoIO or steampunk feel is essential to the event. WIthout it, it’s just another event, with a funny match system. We saw the success of the Flotsam Dynasty event, which was heavily tied to the lore of Guns of Icarus and we thought, holy hell, we need that.
So here it is: Cogs season 3, in all its glory!
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Planetary Gearing:Yes, we are going to use Wundsalz's planetary gearing system (with his input and permission, of course) which, when originally proposed by him, was met with large support from you, the community.
Why? Because it fixes the issue of the Upcomers' Cog. After Season 2, we totally understand the issue with having 3 weeks off should you lose a best of 1 match, and we have seen it cause huge concerns and lack of interest in the system.
The Planetary Gearing system allows for every team in the system to play every week. This is a lot of matches for the teams, of course. However, we believe that the dedication and tenacity shown by the competitive scene of Guns of Icarus Online (you guys!) proves that this will not be an issue, and that you will rise up and show us the very best GoIO has to offer.
Wait, planetary gearing? What’s that?
Well, let me explain it with an image:
This is planetary gearing. How does it work? Let’s start with the basics.
● Every team fills a spot in one of the cogs
● Every week the B1 cog rotates right, the TBA gear turns right, and the A cog rotates left
● Anywhere a gear is touching is a match between the two teams occupying those spots.
○ eg. Newcomer 1/b3 is a match, so is b1/TBA1, TAB1/A2, A1/Champ
● In any week there will be 6 matches, meaning yes, every team will play.
Those are the basics, but it gets better.
● This system can be expanded, not just when we get enough for a full cog, but any time a team wants to join there is a way to add every single team to this system. In fact, the initial size and amount of cogs will be based on the signup for the event.
● There is now a points system within the Cogs as well. Ending in a each of the different Cogs will give you a different amount of points for that week. Keep reading for details on that.
● The entirety of the Cogs is now tied deeply into the lore and world of Guns of Icarus Online, as teams compete to reassemble the clocktower of Edgar Lusse (see below).
The gears this time around will be seeded by the results of the Season 2 tournament and any further signups we have, as Season 2 was seeded from Season 1.
That is Planetary Gearing and we hope you like it.
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The Clocktower of Edgar Lusse:So the Planetary Gearing is a solid cake, but what about this lore/story stuff I keep harping on about?
Well, that my friends is the delicious icing (What? I’m hungry!).
Here's the setup.
The Clocktower of Edgar Lusse
Coveted across the burnt out world are the writings of Edgar Lusse, whose scholarship has produced more than just publications, but also devoted followers. These followers dedicated themselves to protecting his legacy, and even fewer among them to protect his fortunes. Rumors carried on the wind’s whisper that these followers hid his vast riches where none who looked could ever find it.
The only clue they left behind to identify its location is in an old clocktower, invested in and named after their champion, Lusse himself. The clocktower narrowly avoided destruction in one of Paritus’ many battles. To protect the structure’s expensive workings a scraping guild dismantled its innards, intended to reassemble it after the danger has passed. Now those mechanical parts have gone missing, and the only hope to find the lost treasure is to first find and reassemble the Cogs of the Clocktower.
No treasure will be yours without competition, of course, and there only exist so many pieces to the tower. Thus, you must fight other teams to take their Clockwork Scrap pieces.
There are 4 tiers of combat in the Cogs:
● The Dust Tier
○ The lowest tier of competition. This refers to the Newcomers vs. B3 match.
● The Tower Tier
○ The second tier of competition. This refers to the B1 vs. TBA1 and B2 vs. TBA2 match.
● The Roof Tier
○ The third tier of competition. This refers to the TAB1 vs. A2 and TAB2 vs. A3 match.
● The Sky Tier
○ The final tier of competition. This refers to the A3 vs. Champion match.
So why are these definitions needed? It's simple: the tier of competition determines how much Clockwork Scrap you win should you win your match. Try not to freak out about this, it's just a point system, so that victory can't be taken away on the very last week by some upstart team
.
● The Dust Tier
○ Winner +1 Scrap
● The Tower Tier
○ Winner +2 Scrap
● The Roof Tier
○ Winner +3 Scrap
● The Sky Tier
○ Winner +4 Scrap
The team with the most amount of scrap at the end of the season wins!
So what about the Cogs tournament? Is that scrapped? (see what I did there?) Of course not!
If anything, the Cogs tournament is more integral to the lore of The Clocktower of Edgar Lusse and the Cogs as a whole.
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The Tournament:Cogs has always ended with a two week tournament, and this tradition shouldn’t end. The team which ended the season with the most Clockwork Scrap has successfully rebuilt the Clocktower, and has discovered the location of the lost treasure. The other teams follow them to the treasure’s location and attempt to steal it out from under them.
Whichever team won the Weekly League names a setting. The setting represents where the treasure is hidden, and that setting is where all the games in the Tournament take place. The settings are:
In ‘The Demolished Ruins of Paritus’: Paritan Rumble and The Labyrinth
In ‘The Vast, Unchecked Wilderness’: Northern Fjords and Canyon Ambush
In ‘The Tangled Wreckage of Ruined Fleets’: Duel at Dawn and Battle on the Dunes
Each match in the tournament is randomly picked from those two maps. A bracket is made with every team involved, the winning team found the treasure, and earns an appropriate prize and title.
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Signups:Signups this time around will be slightly different. Match details will be announced in advance like the previous Cogs systems. However, a point of contact has to be given by someone on the team, and this contact is email only.
The signup is as follows:
Team Name:
Team Colors:
Team Logo:
Contact Email: (Can be sent via PM)
That's it. That’s all we want
Simple, isn’t it? There will be no team lists needed at all. There are of course rules for subbing but more on that in the rules section. Speaking of which.
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Rules:Substitutes: Any team can bring a player in to substitute. However, a player can only ever appear on one team every week. You can not fly for the Rhinos in one match then the Brood in another.
Suicide: At the moment, there is no known way to suicide without awarding a kill, so there isn’t really a rule. However, know that should you kill yourself with the express purpose of breaking the game, a hard and fast rule will be decided.
No shows: Teams are given 15 minutes to assemble after the end of the preceding game (or after the scheduled start time of the Cogs). If no contact is received from any team member or reason received for the absence, then the team will automatically forfeit and will lose their scrap to the present team. In the case that neither team shows up, both lose points but hold their spots.
Exploits/glitches: Much like suicides, if a glitch or exploit is used in a match, regardless of the outcome of that game, a hard and fast rule will be decided.
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Maps:So what maps will be in rotation this time around? Well, it will still be a 2v2 event - that is what the Cogs is. Additionally, the matches will still be a best of 1 format; there are no second attempts to get your scrap back.
Seriously though, we feel that with you all playing every week now that to pile a Bo3 or god forbid a Bo5 format on that would just be too much.
Without further ado, the maps:
Battle on the Dunes
Duel at Dawn
Paritan Rumble
Canyon Ambush
The Labyrinth
Northern Fjords
However! I we know that many teams were not happy playing on the same maps every week because of the luck of the draw, so the draw has been changed ever so slightly.
When your maps for the next week are being randomised the 2 maps that each team played on last will be removed from the pool, this will result in a smaller pool but will eliminate repeated maps and keep things fresh and interesting for you all.
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Sides/Colors:Sides are always an issue with competitive events such as this. A bidding system was proposed and shot down like a Spire with Carronades and so a simple system has been decided on. Sides will be randomly decided on prior to the match and announced at the same time as the maps for that weeks matches. These sides will never be fixed or picked ourselves.
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Match Announcements:Practice is integral to any team and knowing the map like the back of your hand is as important as knowing your enemies every strategy, play and build. This knowledge and practice takes time however and we want to give you more of it.
Thus each teams matches for next week will be announced on the
Same day as the Cogs. They will obviously be released AFTER the Cogs (I need the results from that week) and will be done later in my (Qwerty's) day so it may be 'tommorow' for some of you (sorry if it is). This will give each of you more time to prepare for the next gruelling match.
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Seeding:There have been many complaints about seeding. Some have said that seeding of the last tournament isn't fair and many say the same about first come first served. That and a few of the teams that were meant to be seeded have scrambled their crews and formed new teams means that the following decision has been reached.
Much like the first season of The Cogs, the starting positions for The Cogs Season 3 will be randomised. Now obviously this makes it ever so slightly unfair to the teams placed higher, thus the first week of the Cogs will have a 0 point worth for everybody.
PLEASE NOTE * This is not final, I would like some feedback quickly here, this is the fairest system I could think off without having a seeding tournament *
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Casting:The Grand Anvalan Broadcast Association (GABA) shall as ever broadcast these events as they unfold. However, with the expected increase in events due to the fights over the Clocktower, the GABA shall be expanding their crew. Prepare for hours of entertainment as our team of talented casters bring you all the action!
Seriously though, there will now be an estimated 6 battles a week, which means it will just take too long to cast one at a time. So there will now be 2 teams casting 3 games each to provide not only speed to the battles but a choice in casters should some of you prefer some over others.
Team 1: Myself Qwerty (freaking obviously) and Swallow
Team 2: To be decided. I want to talk to PapaParadox and Brick Hardcastle. If you have other suggestions be sure to let me know.
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Staffing:Remember when things didn’t run smoothly due to handovers in leadership and general disorganisation every week? The Cogs team remembers.
We are putting out an open call for help. We want quite a bit of staff. To set up matches while the casters are doing their work, to make sure teams are ready, to maybe make some updates to forums and to help solve rules disputes should there be any.
There have been a few offers of help. However, we could always use more as some might be unavailable.
If you feel like helping, we would love to have you. Send me a private message and we’ll fill you in on what your needed for.
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Times:Cogs will be back at the same time and the same place: 4pm EST every Saturday.
Things are slightly different here, however.
The season for the Cogs alone will be 9 weeks long. 8 weeks of fierce, nail biting competition, and one break week in the middle for you all to cool your heels.
This break week will occur on week 5 of the Cogs, after 4 weeks of Cogs competition and with 4 weeks remaining. During this break will be a halfway cast in which no games will be played. This will be a recap of the best games, the best moments, crazy builds, amazing costumes and maybe even some commentary from prominent members of the community.
So remember people, book that time: 4pm EST on Saturdays.
What about the date?
Well.
Cogs Season 3: The Watchtower of Edgar Luse comes to you on January the 18th.
Get ready.
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Have Fun:Seriously.
This is what it’s all about. A competitive scene is amazing, and this group we have in GoIO is an insanely great group despite our differences sometimes (it takes all sorts, after all). However, in the end everything should be put aside for fun.
Season 1 of the Cogs was release with dewy eyed pride by Swallow and I was an honored newbie caster looking for a lucky break. It had its issues but it was the first like it and despite the complaints, in the end people loved it and we left feeling great.
Season 2 was less successful. We decided to give the current system another run, see if people would still stick with it. Then I (Qwerty) got super sick and Swallow decided he wanted to step aside. Muse picked up the slack and, many thanks to them, kept it alive for me to come back and cast an amazing finals.
Season 3 will be big. Season 3 will be bold. Holy hell, I thought there wouldn’t be a Season 2 let alone a Season 3. But here we are, staring up at The Clocktower of Edgar Lusse, ready to take on every comer.
Good luck, you brave, crazy bastards!
