The 26.10.1 stages queue in three tiers: ArcadeDB first, existing comparators second, new versions and new arms last #221

The user's queue priority for the 26.10.1 measurement (2026-10-06): every ArcadeDB arm, embedded and served, first; the other engines already in the harness at the version October's rows carry second; new versions and new arms of the other engines last, free to run in November or December. The target is about 90% of the paper's tables by Oct 31.

make_2610_stages.py gains --order tiers (the default; --order paper regenerates the chain launched 2026-10-06 11:22Z). A stage whose roster spans tiers is split into one stage per tier it touches, with the same lane, workloads, scales, guards and environment. The ids are new (qT01...) because a killed stage writes its ALL-DONE marker through the EXIT trap and a chain that reused qRA..qRO would find the old markers in the append-only STATUS.txt and start every stage at once. Tier 3 is deferred, not dropped: its arms stay in the coverage proof.

Tier 2 is still run on the new instrument, not reused, wherever CAMPAIGN section 7 changed the engine's questions or timed statements (rows 2, 11, 12, 14, 17, 55 to 58, 60, 65). Only the version axis of #129 is relaxed.