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Suicide front / Armada / Factory first / OBSERVED BUILD

Gauntlet defence

Bot Lab first but committing to a Gauntlet by 4:10, much earlier than usual, to anchor the middle with area artillery before the standard timing.

#artillery #defence · 101 distinct matches · 37 players · 5% of Armada Suicide front games · team won 47% of 106 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GauntletEarly defence from 4:10 · 8% of role by thenOnly 8% of Suicide front games have it by then; others who build it get it around 9:13

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

Those units destroy a typical 1,274 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 101 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 (42%)

  2. 2

    Bot Lab to Early defence

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor5Mex
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    Order
    1. GauntletEarly defence after 5 mex, 4 winddone ~5:29, middle half 4:42–5:56
    Builders
    • Construction Bot3 Con bot
    • Lazarus2 Lazarus
    Army
    • Sentry3 Sentry
    • Beamer1 Beamer
    • Rocketeer9 Rocketeer −4 vs standard
    • Tick1 Tick
    • Centurion1 Centurion
    Other
    • Radar Tower1 Radar Tower

    Some games also: con turret (35%) · Dragon's Teeth (34%)

    By 4:09 in all: 5 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 25 steps
    1. TickTick ×3
    2. LazarusLazarus ×2
    3. CenturionCenturion
    4. Construction BotCon bot ×3
    5. Mex
    6. RocketeerRocketeer
    7. Mex
    8. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    9. RocketeerRocketeer ×3
    10. Mex
    11. Wind
    12. RocketeerRocketeer
    13. SentrySentry
    14. OverwatchOverwatch
    15. Wind
    16. RocketeerRocketeer ×2
    17. Wind
    18. BeamerBeamer
    19. RocketeerRocketeer
    20. Wind
    21. RocketeerRocketeer
    22. BeamerBeamer
    23. RocketeerRocketeer
    24. Wind
    25. GauntletGauntletdone 5:37 · typical 5:29
  3. 3

    Early defence to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine16Wind
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Builders
    • Construction Turret3 Con turret
    • Lazarus1 Lazarus
    Army
    • Rocketeer3 Rocketeer −10 vs standard
    Other
    • Dragon's Teeth5 Dragon's Teeth +5 vs standard
    • Radar Tower1 Radar Tower

    Some games also: Sentry (50%) · Beamer (49%) · con bot (48%) · tick (41%) · Gauntlet (41%)

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

    By 10:00 in all: 6 mex · 23 wind · 1 energy storage · 4 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 69 steps
    1. LazarusLazarus
    2. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    3. Wind
    4. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth ×9
    5. Wind
    6. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth ×5
    7. Wind
    8. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth ×8
    9. Wind
    10. TickTick ×3
    11. Wind
    12. TickTick
    13. Sneaky PeteSneaky Pete
    14. TickTick ×2
    15. SentrySentry
    16. Wind ×2
    17. MaceMace
    18. Wind
    19. MaceMace
    20. Wind
    21. Con turret
    22. Wind ×2
    23. TickTick
    24. LazarusLazarus
    25. Wind
    26. LazarusLazarus
    27. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:33 · typical 9:41
    28. Wind
    29. LazarusLazarus
    30. Con turret
    31. Wind ×5
    32. Advanced solar
    33. Wind ×3
    34. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    35. Wind ×2
    36. Con turret
    37. Wind ×8
    38. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    39. Wind ×8
    40. Energy storage
    41. Wind ×4
    42. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    43. Wind ×2
    44. Energy storage
    45. Wind ×4
    46. Energy storage
    47. Wind ×11
    48. BeamerBeamer
    49. Wind ×2
    50. BeamerBeamer
    51. Wind ×4
    52. Con turret
    53. Wind ×8
    54. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    55. Wind ×3
    56. CatalystCatalystdone 14:15
    57. Wind ×2
    58. Con turret
    59. Wind ×3
    60. Con turret
    61. Wind
    62. Con turret
    63. Wind ×2
    64. Con turret
    65. Wind ×6
    66. JunoJuno
    67. Wind ×6
    68. CatalystCatalyst
    69. Wind ×8

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Espera's (38 OS, 25/09/2026); 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 73% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Geo or Techfirst at 7:47 · in 68% 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

106 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
1:002302260000
2:008848890000
3:002002205613517299106
4:0031883161475660335486
5:004375423688714138501020
6:00549554301332232713091785
7:00661266612197317921762732
8:00782679102835403527573631
9:00915692983644481631844516
10:0010897106884408542640755336
11:0012430122414807589850866080
12:0014297140245797651758286842
13:0016519160426680701369187523
14:0018776179696968768076848336
15:0020948202977865830288359228
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

Espera

38.4 OS · 25/09/2026

Open source match ↗

31 received units · includes a constructor
48 metal received · 40298 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=106
Gauntlet5:29Middle 50%: 4:42–5:56 · n=96
Advanced Metal Extractor9:41Middle 50%: 8:46–10:57 · n=80

Played most by

_X_26games of this buildImmort7games of this buildManBearPig_7games of this buildTrapCaT7games of this buildSoliloqueur6games of this build