Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Fatboy buy

Cortex Pond build order · Supreme Isthmus

Pond pays Tech heavily from before 5 minutes to buy a Fatboy which Tech builds and hands over around 5:15, bringing it to the middle as an early push while still running its own eco.

#push #team support · 68 distinct matches · 20 players · 20% of Cortex Pond games · team won 46% of 68 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT

Fatboy from Tech arrives 5:15 · 19% of role by thenTech makes it and hands it over.
Heavy transport from an ally in 79%16% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 1,200 metal and 12,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 450 metal and 13,000 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 64 games with kill data: in the middle 88%, on their own side 13%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,392 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into grunt (31% of army), tick (10% of army), incisor (9% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Fatboy by 5:15

0:03Open tidals plus mex and wind for your own standard Pond eco.
4:40Receive a heavy transport from an ally to help move it.
by 5:00Send Tech heavy metal and energy to fund the Fatboy buy.
5:15Take delivery of the Fatboy from Tech and send it to middle as a push.
6:02+Get your lab going and keep boosting front through the T2 transition.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 68 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND

10:00
25:38

PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:15 step by step: what to build now, what comes next, and where it goes. At 1× it keeps pace with your own game.

1
Up to the Bot Lab
0:00 – 5:38
Economy
- 4Mex
- 9Wind
- 8Tidalfor allies
- 1Tidal
- 2Converter+2 vs standard
- 1Energy storage
Order
1. Bot Lab ~5:38after 4 mex, 11 wind, 4 converterdone ~6:02, middle half 3:46–6:54
By 5:38 in all: 4 mex · 9 wind · 1 tidal · 2 converter (standard 0) · 1 energy storage
The example game in this phase · 8 steps
1. 0:03Tidal ×2for Suicide front
2. 0:19Tidal
3. 0:27Tidal ×6for Suicide front
4. 1:15Tidal ×2
5. 1:47Mex ×4
6. 2:48Wind ×4
7. 3:16Energy storage
8. 3:32Bot Labdone 3:48 · typical 6:02
2
Bot Lab to 10:00
5:38 – 10:00
Economy
- 1Wind−6 vs standard
Some games also: con turret (47%) · con bot (43%) · grunt (43%) · converter (37%)
The standard build makes here, this one skips: 2 converter
By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 16 wind · 1 tidal · 4 converter · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret
The example game in this phase · 112 steps
1. 3:50Wind
2. 3:52Con bot
3. 4:16Eat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
4. 4:21Wind ×3
5. 4:45Converter
6. 4:55Wind ×6
7. 5:31Converter ×3
8. 5:55Con turret
9. 6:13Converter
10. 6:19Wind ×3
11. 6:32Bot Labdone 6:57
12. 6:35Wind ×4
13. 7:00Grunt
14. 7:02Wind
15. 7:04Grunt
16. 7:06Wind
17. 7:09Grunt
18. 7:09Wind
19. 7:15Grunt
20. 7:16Wind
21. 7:21Grunt
22. 7:23Converter
23. 7:25Grunt
24. 7:27Wind
25. 7:30Grunt
26. 7:34Converter
27. 7:34Grunt ×3
28. 7:44Converter
29. 7:48Wind
30. 7:49Grunt ×3
31. 8:04Wind
32. 8:04Grunt ×2
33. 8:10Wind
34. 8:14Grunt
35. 8:16Wind
36. 8:18T2 mexdone 9:24 · typical 10:04
37. 8:21Wind ×3
38. 8:35Grunt
39. 8:40Wind
40. 8:45Con turret
41. 9:09Grunt
42. 9:18Wind
43. 9:26Grunt
44. 9:31T2 mex
45. 9:31Grunt ×2
46. 9:39Wind
47. 9:41Grunt ×3
48. 10:00Wind
49. 10:05Grunt
50. 10:07T2 mex
51. 10:09Grunt ×3
52. 10:21Wind
53. 10:24Grunt ×3
54. 10:37Wind
55. 10:41Grunt
56. 10:45Wind
57. 10:45Grunt ×2
58. 10:53Wind
59. 10:54T2 mex
60. 10:54Grunt ×2
61. 11:01Wind
62. 11:03Grunt
63. 11:08Wind
64. 11:08Grunt ×2
65. 11:14Wind
66. 11:17Grunt
67. 11:21Wind
68. 11:21Grunt ×2
69. 11:27Wind
70. 11:30Grunt
71. 11:33Con turret
72. 11:35Grunt ×5
73. 11:56Con turret
74. 11:57Grunt
75. 11:58Fusiondone 13:03
76. 12:01Grunt ×4
77. 12:15Wind
78. 12:16Grunt ×2
79. 12:22Wind
80. 12:24Grunt ×2
81. 12:31Wind
82. 12:32Grunt ×2
83. 12:39Wind
84. 12:40Grunt ×5
85. 12:59Wind
86. 12:59Grunt ×2
87. 13:05Wind
88. 13:06Grunt
89. 13:09Wind
90. 13:10Grunt
91. 13:13Wind
92. 13:14Grunt
93. 13:16Wind
94. 13:18Grunt
95. 13:20Wind
96. 13:22Grunt
97. 13:23Wind
98. 13:25Grunt
99. 13:27Wind
100. 13:29Grunt ×4
101. 13:40Energy storage
102. 13:42T2 converter
103. 13:42Grunt ×9
104. 14:13Converter
105. 14:15Grunt ×3
106. 14:23Fusion
107. 14:25Grunt ×2
108. 14:31Trasher
109. 14:32Con turret
110. 14:38Trasher ×5
111. 14:58Bot Labnot finished by 15:00
112. 14:59Trasher

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [Grump]Matsuri's (39 OS, 25/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:09 · in 100% of games

You get

1 Heavy transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:40 · in 79% of games
1 Fatboy from Techfirst at 5:14 · in 100% of games
1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:16 · in 93% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build against the role’s standard build, running totals by minute

This build
Standard pond

Metal produced

010k20k

0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02k4k6k

0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k

0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Metal sent to allies

01k2k

0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Energy sent to allies

020k40k60k

0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

68 games.

Show as table

By	Metal produced: This build	Metal produced: Standard pond	Enemy metal destroyed: This build	Enemy metal destroyed: Standard pond	Own metal lost: This build	Own metal lost: Standard pond	Metal sent to allies: This build	Metal sent to allies: Standard pond	Energy sent to allies: This build	Energy sent to allies: Standard pond
1:00	115	115	0	0	0	0	0	0	1037	1052
2:00	275	285	0	0	0	0	0	0	2340	2848
3:00	833	822	0	0	0	0	0	0	4017	4945
4:00	1522	1494	0	0	0	0	455	43	6361	8188
5:00	2271	2257	0	0	0	0	1179	448	12416	13143
6:00	3080	3137	0	0	0	0	1434	730	17721	17257
7:00	3957	4016	115	0	0	70	1553	976	19803	20608
8:00	4675	4850	1071	249	161	161	1685	1027	21552	28447
9:00	5507	6323	1768	555	618	511	1704	1027	23714	29716
10:00	6452	8183	2567	1240	1140	859	1710	1027	23714	30120
11:00	7716	9792	2974	1546	1669	1231	1728	1027	25618	31305
12:00	9083	12074	3424	1697	2258	1405	1749	1027	27531	34728
13:00	10539	14032	3947	1886	2778	1586	1752	1027	28524	42543
14:00	12629	16391	4381	2463	3228	2530	1756	1027	29760	45040
15:00	14880	18652	4862	3010	3858	3482	1807	1027	30153	49057

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won slightly less than the standard build despite the Fatboy destroying a similar amount of metal by 15:00.

+ Enemy metal destroyed at 10:00 is roughly double the standard build (2567 vs 1240).
+ Early heavy transport arrives by 4:40 in 79% of games, far above the 16% role norm.

− Own metal production falls well behind standard by 10:00 (6452 vs 8183).
− Own losses by 15:00 run higher than standard (3858 vs 3482).

THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

[Grump]Matsuri

38.5 OS · 25/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
376 metal received · 13014 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Bot Lab6:02Middle 50%: 3:46–6:54 · n=41

Advanced Metal Extractor10:04Middle 50%: 9:22–10:47 · n=64

Played most by

[Grump]Matsuri17games of this build zeus_on_god10games of this build MischievousDragonGF8games of this build Nazarid8games of this build JustSomeGuy4games of this build

Supporting games

Pick a game to read and play it above.

JustSomeGuy06/10/2026 · 41 OS↗JustSomeGuy06/10/2026 · 41 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri05/10/2026 · 38 OS↗s0uthy05/10/2026 · 39 OS↗zeus_on_god04/10/2026 · 38 OS↗zeus_on_god04/10/2026 · 38 OS↗zeus_on_god02/10/2026 · 38 OS↗s0uthy02/10/2026 · 38 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri25/09/2026 · 39 OS↗

32 more of 60, the most recent

Supreme Isthmus v2.1
Beyond All Reason test-31405-aa9c710
Naval balance tweaks on

Fatboy buy

Phase by phase

Up to the Bot Lab

Bot Lab to 10:00

Team trades

You hand over

You get

How it plays out

Metal produced

Enemy metal destroyed

Own metal lost

Metal sent to allies

Energy sent to allies

[Grump]Matsuri

Typical milestones

Played most by

Supporting games