Ok, like any other sane person, it can get verrrryyy frusterating trying to get into a NR group for merits/cogbucks/JNs/SOs. I was running around the other day, looking at a street filled with cog buildings, and I saw cogs walking in and out of the doorways that replace knock-knock doors. Then I started formulating an idea... what if, after we earned our cogsuit, we could enter these buildings (closing the elevator) and sneak through to take down the building and steal merits/bucks/JNs/SOs.
Basically, you, and up to three other toons if you so decide, although it's possible to do one by yourself would enter this building via the side doors, and clear floors by roaming around in a maze type area- exept instead of a top-down view, you can only see in front of you! Roaming these halls would be Cogs and Goons.
Goons would patrol around like they always do, and damage you if they catch you- but they also take off your cog disguise and send you back to the start of that floor, where you would have to wait a bit to reactivate the cogsuit, and join your teammates.
Cogs would work differently- they are stationary, but they will spot you if you get too close, which will cause them to do the normal closeup you get for a battle, but instead saying something along the lines of 'Hey! Get that toon!', where your cogsuit would be taken off and you would be sent back to the start of the floor with a damaged laff as usual.
So how do you stop them? By solving puzzles and activating switches, of course!
Around the maze are several Puzzle Rooms, which when entered, will alert the rest of your team that "(toon name) is working on a (puzzle name) puzzle!". You and your team (if they stick with you) will have to finish a puzzle to progress to a switch, or even simply escape the room. For example, one puzzle room, when solved, will reveal a switch that will drop a cog guarding the elevator up through a trapdoor, letting you pass, while another is covered in gloomy mist that seals the door shut when you enter, draining your laff over time- forcing you to solve the puzzle to escape! The puzzles can range from DA-like laser puzzles, (with the penalty of being sent back to the entrance if you fail) to tile-shifting puzzles to create a cog face, to the jumping puzzles that you see so often in factories/mints/ect.
Other switches could be found lying around the maze- these can have many effects, from summoning more goons, to creating a temporary pit that drops goons walking over it into the abyss, to causing a door to unlock- some will even open secret treasure chambers with extra merits/ect. in them!
The objective of each floor is to progress through the maze to reach the elevator, which will take you to the next floor- with the exeption of the last floor, where the objective is to reach the final room, (basically the top floor of the normal building) and destroy the boss in a generic toony way, then dance.
Boss fights are as simple as dodging attacks to press a switch, to solving a puzzle while dodging attacks, to grabbing a supply of cream pies and pelting a corporate raider with them! Think of them as mini-VPs/CFOs/CJs/CEOs.
Of course, it's no fun without a reward! By forfeiting the usual gag exp, you gain a whole lot more merits than usual, plus a chance at a bonus reward...
Room Types:
Maze - Just the maze. Compromised of a bunch of narrow corridors with goons roaming around. There are occasionally some larger room-type things, usually right before a puzzle or elevator.
Laser Puzzle - Generic DA-style laser puzzles. Reward is usually a switch to help you progress.
Jumping Puzzle - Fun jumping puzzles, like you see in the mints! Rewards are generally toon-ups/switches.
Lava Tiles Puzzle - A room with a ?x? grid of tiles (harder buildings = larger grid) that float above a pit of lava. Some move, others are stationary pillars. They are large enough that you can only cross to one adjacent to you. Some have switches that will activate when stepped on, possibly raising another platform, making one move, or bouncing you onto another platform. They can also be timed! Rewards are usually Toon-Ups or optional switches..
Trap Room - A puzzle room that is timed- either there is a time limit, if you can't finish in time, you go back to the start, or your laff starts draining and the door closes! Do it quickly, or risk going sad! Rewards are usually high-toonups and extra merits.
Boss Room - The last room in the entire building. The normal 'i'm the boss' guy is fought here in a randomly generated VP/CFO/ect.-esque battle. Rewards are finishing the building!
Hidden Room - Rooms found in secret-passthrough walls or from hidden switches, these well-hidden rooms contain enough toonup barrels to get nearly any toon to max laff, and extra merits!
Giant Pit Room - A room with a giant pit in it. Tricky jumping puzzle that requires good timing. Falling in sends you back to the entrance, as usual. However, this room is notable as the only rewards you get are passage to the next floor or just crossing into another part of the maze.
One thing of note is that based on the difficulty and type of cog, the interior will look different- IE, low level sellbot will be SBHQ-esque oil and ducts, while high level will be carpeted cubicles with sales charts everywhere. This gives players a general feel of the difficulty of the building.
Rewards
The main reward here is a large amount of Merits, but occasionally, (with more chance on harder buildings) you will receive a Cog Medal of the type of building you were in- these will allow you to recieve a special reward on your next cog boss trip. (IE, more pink slips, special unite that restores all gags and laff, ect.) You can also choose not to use it if you like the reward that you'd get in the first place.
If you have any comments/constructive criticism, please give them to me!