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Suicide front / Armada / Factory first / OBSERVED BUILD

Gauntlet defence

Same lab-first opening as standard, but adds a Gauntlet from around 4:08 to anchor the middle with area defence before transitioning normally.

#defence · 100 distinct matches · 33 players · 5% of Armada Suicide front games · team won 50% of 105 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GauntletEarly defence from 3:55 · 8% of role by thenOnly 8% of Suicide front games have it by then; others who build it get it around 9:09

Where those units first fight, in 101 games with kill data: in the middle 100%.

Those units destroy a typical 1,256 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into rocketeer (17% of army), Rattlesnake (11% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Gauntlet by 4:08

  1. Open Bot Lab then grab mexes and wind, get sentries out for early raid.
  2. Keep making sentries and hold middle, denying leaks with cheap bots.
  3. Commit to a Gauntlet to anchor the line with area artillery.
  4. Mix in Rocketeer and Rattlesnake to hold middle rather than push in.
  5. Transition to T2 constructor once the line is stable.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 100 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD SUICIDE FRONT
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:00 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

    Bot Lab first

    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab done ~0:20, middle half 0:20–0:33

    Some games also: mex (40%)

  2. 2

    Bot Lab to Early defence

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor5Mex
    • Wind Turbine3Wind
    Order
    1. GauntletEarly defence after 5 mex, 4 winddone ~5:23, middle half 4:33–5:48
    Builders
    • Construction Bot3 Con bot
    • Lazarus1 Lazarus
    Army
    • Sentry3 Sentry
    • Beamer2 Beamer +2 vs standard
    • Rocketeer8 Rocketeer −4 vs standard
    • Tick1 Tick
    • Centurion1 Centurion
    Other
    • Radar Tower1 Radar Tower

    Some games also: pawn (33%) · con turret (31%)

    By 3:55 in all: 5 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 37 steps
    1. Mex
    2. Construction BotCon bot
    3. Wind
    4. TickTick ×3
    5. Construction BotCon bot
    6. Mex
    7. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    8. Mex
    9. LazarusLazarus ×2
    10. SentrySentry
    11. Mex
    12. RocketeerRocketeer ×3
    13. Wind
    14. SentrySentry
    15. RocketeerRocketeer ×2
    16. Mex
    17. RocketeerRocketeer
    18. Wind
    19. RocketeerRocketeer
    20. BeamerBeamer
    21. PawnPawn
    22. CrossbowCrossbow
    23. Wind
    24. RocketeerRocketeer
    25. Solar
    26. BeamerBeamer
    27. RocketeerRocketeer
    28. Energy storage
    29. RocketeerRocketeer
    30. LazarusLazarus
    31. Con turret
    32. SentrySentry
    33. TickTick
    34. LazarusLazarus
    35. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    36. RocketeerRocketeer
    37. GauntletGauntletdone 5:00 · typical 5:23
  3. 3

    Early defence to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine18Wind
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Builders
    • Construction Turret3 Con turret
    • Lazarus1 Lazarus
    Army
    • Sentry1 Sentry
    • Beamer1 Beamer
    • Rocketeer3 Rocketeer −11 vs standard
    Other
    • Dragon's Teeth5 Dragon's Teeth +5 vs standard

    Some games also: tick (44%) · con bot (43%) · converter (40%) · Gauntlet (40%) · Sneaky Pete (37%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 2 con bot

    By 10:00 in all: 6 mex · 24 wind · 1 energy storage · 4 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 84 steps
    1. RocketeerRocketeer
    2. LazarusLazarus
    3. TickTick
    4. RocketeerRocketeer
    5. LazarusLazarus
    6. Con turret
    7. Metal storage
    8. Wind ×4
    9. Con turret
    10. Wind ×2
    11. Con turret ×2
    12. Mex
    13. Wind ×3
    14. SentrySentry
    15. Wind ×6
    16. SentrySentry
    17. Converter
    18. Wind
    19. Converter ×3
    20. SentrySentry
    21. Wind
    22. Converter
    23. Wind ×2
    24. Converter
    25. Wind
    26. Converter
    27. Wind
    28. SentrySentry
    29. Converter
    30. Wind ×3
    31. Advanced Bot LabAdvanced Bot Labdone 7:55
    32. Wind ×2
    33. Converter
    34. Wind ×5
    35. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:03 · typical 9:36
    36. Converter
    37. Mex
    38. Wind ×2
    39. SentrySentry
    40. Wind ×2
    41. Advanced Construction BotT2 con bot
    42. Wind ×2
    43. SentrySentry
    44. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    45. Wind
    46. Converter
    47. Wind ×2
    48. ButlerButler
    49. Wind ×3
    50. ButlerButler
    51. Wind ×3
    52. ButlerButler
    53. Converter
    54. Wind
    55. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    56. Wind
    57. SentrySentry
    58. Wind ×2
    59. SentrySentry
    60. Wind ×2
    61. SentrySentry
    62. Converter
    63. Wind ×4
    64. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    65. NettleNettle
    66. Wind ×6
    67. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    68. Wind
    69. Con turret
    70. Converter
    71. Con turret
    72. Wind ×3
    73. Con turret
    74. Wind ×2
    75. Con turret
    76. Converter
    77. Con turret
    78. Wind
    79. Con turret
    80. Wind ×2
    81. Con turret
    82. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 10:14
    83. Wind
    84. Con turret

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Xad's (43 OS, 28/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

Nothing regular.

You get

  • Tidal Generator4 Tidal from Pondfirst at 0:11 · in 74% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Geo or Techfirst at 7:32 · in 69% of games

How it plays out

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

  • This build
  • Standard suicide front

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

05k10k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

05k10k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

105 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard suicide frontEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard suicide frontOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard suicide front
1:002262260000
2:008798880000
3:0019862051130180106106
4:0031393161475658313496
5:004346424390314138151026
6:00546454331348229813061789
7:00661566702317317522502710
8:00787879203111403129843619
9:00915793174050479637444495
10:0010938106994999542643395316
11:0012674122655581590350556054
12:0014780141136007651257856830
13:0016696162226772701370097536
14:0019212181097541769675838373
15:0020756204667948832987319249
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won less often than the standard build and destroyed less enemy metal despite similar production, a defensive line that trades tempo for metal saved.

  • + Own metal lost by 15:00 lower (8980 vs 9208)
  • + Metal produced by 15:00 slightly ahead (20254 vs 19882)
  • − Team win rate well below standard (46% vs 58%)
  • − Enemy metal destroyed by 15:00 much lower (7767 vs 8172)
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Xad

42.9 OS · 28/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
146 metal received · 19076 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab0:20Middle 50%: 0:20–0:33 · n=105
Gauntlet5:23Middle 50%: 4:33–5:48 · n=96
Advanced Metal Extractor9:36Middle 50%: 8:45–10:30 · n=83

Played most by

_X_25games of this buildImmort9games of this buildSoliloqueur8games of this buildTrapCaT7games of this buildPlatinumBlonde6games of this build