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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Fatboy buy

Cortex Pond build order · Supreme Isthmus

Pond pays Tech heavily from before 5 minutes to get a Fatboy handed over around 5:12 and flown to front by heavy transport, fighting in the middle while Pond's own eco continues behind it.

#push #team support · 147 distinct matches · 42 players · 20% of Cortex Pond games · team won 53% of 147 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • FatboyFatboy from Tech arrives 5:10 · 18% of role by thenTech makes it and hands it over.
  • HephaestusHeavy transport from an ally in 77%14% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 1,100 metal and 13,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 10,000 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 141 games with kill data: in the middle 89%, on their own side 11%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,570 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into grunt (28% of army), tick (9% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Fatboy handed over by 5:10

  1. Drop tidals, mex and a bot lab while boosting wind for front.
  2. Send Tech heavy metal and energy to fund the Fatboy buy.
  3. Take the Heavy Plasma Bot 'Fatboy' handed over by Tech.
  4. Fly the Fatboy to the middle to push alongside front.
  5. Keep bot lab output of Grunt and Tick going as the real transition.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 147 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  1. 1
  2. 2
PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:10 step by step: what to build now, what comes next, and where it goes. At 1× it keeps pace with your own game.

  1. 1

    Up to the Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Wind Turbine8Wind
    • Tidal Generator1Tidal
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 9 wind, 4 converterdone ~5:58, middle half 3:38–6:56

    Some games also: converter (45%)

    By 5:36 in all: 4 mex · 8 wind · 1 tidal · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 19 steps
    1. Tidal ×2for Suicide front
    2. Tidal
    3. Tidal ×6for Suicide front
    4. Tidal
    5. Tidal ×2for Geo
    6. Mex ×4
    7. Energy storage
    8. Wind
    9. Wind
    10. Wind ×2
    11. Con turret
    12. Converter ×4
    13. Wind ×4
    14. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    15. Wind
    16. GuardGuard
    17. Wind
    18. Bot LabBot Labdone 6:04
    19. GuardGuard
  2. 2

    Bot Lab to 10:00

    Some games also: wind (46%) · con turret (39%) · grunt (37%) · con bot (37%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 14 wind · 2 converter

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 15 wind (standard 24) · 1 tidal · 3 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 122 steps
    1. GuardGuard
    2. TickTick
    3. Converter
    4. GuardGuard
    5. TickTick ×2
    6. Converter
    7. TickTick
    8. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    9. TickTick
    10. Converter
    11. GuardGuard
    12. TickTick ×2
    13. Converter
    14. TickTick
    15. GuardGuard ×2
    16. TickTick
    17. Wind
    18. TickTick ×2
    19. Wind
    20. TickTick
    21. GuardGuard
    22. TickTick
    23. Wind
    24. TickTick
    25. Wind
    26. TickTick ×2
    27. Wind
    28. TickTick
    29. Wind
    30. TickTick
    31. Wind
    32. GuardGuard
    33. TickTick
    34. Wind
    35. TickTick ×2
    36. Con turret
    37. TickTick
    38. GuardGuard
    39. TickTick ×2
    40. Converter
    41. TickTick
    42. Mexfor Suicide front
    43. Converter
    44. TickTick ×2
    45. Converter
    46. TickTick
    47. Converter
    48. TickTick ×3
    49. Wind
    50. TickTick
    51. Wind
    52. TickTick
    53. Wind ×2
    54. TickTick
    55. Wind
    56. TickTick
    57. Wind
    58. TickTick
    59. Wind
    60. TickTick
    61. Wind
    62. TickTick
    63. Con turret
    64. GuardGuard
    65. TickTick ×7
    66. LazarusLazarus
    67. Wind
    68. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:43 · typical 10:05
    69. LazarusLazarus
    70. Wind ×2
    71. LazarusLazarus
    72. Wind ×2
    73. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    74. LazarusLazarus
    75. GuardGuard
    76. Wind
    77. GuardGuard
    78. TickTick
    79. Wind
    80. TickTick ×2
    81. Wind
    82. LazarusLazarus
    83. Wind
    84. LazarusLazarus
    85. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    86. Wind
    87. TickTick ×8
    88. Wind
    89. TickTick ×6
    90. Wind
    91. TickTick ×2
    92. Wind
    93. TickTick ×2
    94. Wind
    95. TickTick ×3
    96. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    97. TickTick ×6
    98. Wind
    99. TickTick ×8
    100. Wind
    101. TickTick ×9
    102. Wind
    103. TickTick ×9
    104. Wind
    105. TickTick ×2
    106. Con turret
    107. Bot LabBot Labdone 14:21
    108. TickTick ×2
    109. Con turret
    110. GuardGuard
    111. TickTick ×2
    112. GuardGuard
    113. Con turret
    114. TickTick ×12
    115. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    116. TickTick
    117. GuardGuard
    118. TickTick ×7
    119. Wind
    120. TickTick ×4
    121. Wind
    122. TickTick ×3

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [Grump]Matsuri's (39 OS, 10/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:11 · in 99% of games

You get

  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:50 · in 77% of games
  • Fatboy1 Fatboy from Techfirst at 5:10 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:13 · in 94% 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

147 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard pondEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard pondOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard pondMetal sent to allies: This buildMetal sent to allies: Standard pondEnergy sent to allies: This buildEnergy sent to allies: Standard pond
1:001151150000001089995
2:0027325900000027692365
3:0081573700000047664436
4:00149514090000440073616554
5:0022432130000010991131345710268
6:0030132949000014144031857611852
7:003856382921000015294452199614303
8:00465248741065541298616224532332817340
9:0054696257201422049218916804682561721198
10:0064217661286135094164016984682780622906
11:00755898593115766145383617094682877325778
12:00900412092358411961896107517364822959527224
13:001051814534452915782405166117594823026932595
14:001247016881490818143032199518395323240637744
15:001464519361539626323375296419055483431541136
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won more often than the standard build and destroyed more enemy metal by 15:00 despite producing less metal itself.

  • + Destroyed 5282 enemy metal by 15:00 vs 3127 for the standard build.
  • + Fatboy and heavy transports line up: 79% of games get a Hephaestus by 4:39.
  • − Own metal lost by 15:00 rose to 3713 vs 3070 standard.
  • − Metal produced lagged badly at 10:00 and 15:00 (6422/14880 vs 8366/19066).
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

[Grump]Matsuri

38.6 OS · 10/10/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
215 metal received · 42334 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab5:58Middle 50%: 3:38–6:56 · n=80
Advanced Metal Extractor10:05Middle 50%: 9:18–10:49 · n=138

Played most by

[Grump]Matsuri24games of this buildFrontLiner69er13games of this buildzeus_on_god11games of this buildDouglasBacon10games of this buildMischievousDragonGF8games of this build