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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Gunslinger buy

Cortex Pond build order · Supreme Isthmus

Pond buys Gunslingers from Tech from around 4:40, paying heavily for them, sending the skirmish bots to fight in the middle and later building its own Bot Lab for Ticks and Blitz.

#push #team support · 82 distinct matches · 14 players · 11% of Cortex Pond games · team won 60% of 82 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GunslingerGunslinger from Tech arrives 4:40 · 10% of role by thenTech makes it and hands it over.
  • Bot LabBot Lab in 44%16% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 850 metal and 20,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 10,000 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 81 games with kill data: in the middle 94%, on their own side 6%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,454 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into tick (19% of army), blitz (11% of army), Armageddon (11% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Gunslinger handed over by 4:44

  1. Build heavy tidal and wind eco before any lab of your own.
  2. Take Gunslinger skirmish bots handed over by Tech.
  3. Send Gunslingers to the middle as skirmish support for front.
  4. Send Tech metal and energy, 872 metal and 20345 energy, to pay for it.
  5. Put up your own bot lab late for the Tick/Grunt transition.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 82 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  1. 1
  2. 2
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

    Up to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Wind Turbine10Wind+3 vs standard
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal
    • Energy Converter1Converter
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage

    Some games also: con turret (44%)

    By 5:00 in all: 4 mex · 10 wind (standard 7) · 2 tidal · 1 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 7 steps
    1. Tidal ×9for Suicide front
    2. Tidal
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Energy storage
    5. Tidal ×6
    6. Con turret ×2
    7. Wind ×5
  2. 2

    5:00 to Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine3Wind+3 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 16 wind, 3 converterdone ~10:24, middle half 9:16–11:31

    Some games also: wind (50%) · con turret (46%) · Thistle (41%) · Guard (35%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 17 wind · 4 converter

    By 10:07 in all: 4 mex · 14 wind (standard 24) · 8 wind (standard 0) · 2 tidal · 1 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 110 steps
    1. Wind ×3
    2. GuardGuard
    3. Wind ×2
    4. GuardGuard
    5. Wind ×4
    6. GuardGuard ×2
    7. Wind ×5
    8. GuardGuard
    9. Wind ×2
    10. Mex
    11. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:05 · typical 10:24
    12. Mex ×2
    13. Wind
    14. TickTick
    15. Wind
    16. TickTick
    17. Wind
    18. TickTick
    19. PawnPawn
    20. Wind
    21. TickTick
    22. Wind
    23. TickTick
    24. Wind
    25. TickTick
    26. Wind
    27. PawnPawn
    28. GuardGuard
    29. Wind
    30. TickTick
    31. Wind
    32. TickTick
    33. Wind
    34. TickTick
    35. PawnPawn
    36. Wind
    37. TickTick
    38. GuardGuard
    39. TickTick
    40. Wind
    41. TickTick
    42. GuardGuard
    43. PawnPawn
    44. Wind
    45. TickTick ×2
    46. Wind
    47. TickTick
    48. Wind
    49. PawnPawn
    50. TickTick ×3
    51. PawnPawn
    52. TickTick ×3
    53. PawnPawn
    54. TickTick ×3
    55. PawnPawn
    56. TickTick ×2
    57. Mex
    58. TickTick
    59. PawnPawn
    60. TickTick ×3
    61. GuardGuard
    62. PawnPawn
    63. TickTick ×3
    64. PawnPawn
    65. TickTick ×3
    66. PawnPawn
    67. TickTick ×3
    68. PawnPawn
    69. TickTick
    70. Con turret
    71. TickTick ×2
    72. GuardGuard
    73. PawnPawn
    74. TickTick ×3
    75. PawnPawn
    76. TickTick ×3
    77. PawnPawn
    78. TickTick ×3
    79. PawnPawn
    80. TickTick
    81. Con turret
    82. TickTick ×2
    83. PawnPawn
    84. TickTick ×3
    85. PawnPawn
    86. TickTick ×3
    87. PawnPawn
    88. BeamerBeamer ×2
    89. CenturionCenturion
    90. BeamerBeamer ×2
    91. TickTick
    92. Mex
    93. TickTick
    94. Mex
    95. TickTick
    96. PawnPawn
    97. CenturionCenturion
    98. Construction BotCon bot ×3
    99. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 13:01
    100. LazarusLazarus ×2
    101. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    102. LazarusLazarus
    103. Converter
    104. BeamerBeamer
    105. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    106. Advanced Vehicle PlantAdvanced Vehicle Plantdone 14:55
    107. Converter
    108. Vehicle PlantEat Vehicle Plantreclaimed for its metal
    109. Converter ×2
    110. Advanced Construction VehicleT2 con vehicle

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is pyrothraxus's (35 OS, 11/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:19 · in 99% of games

You get

  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Geo or Tech or Suicide frontfirst at 2:33 · in 51% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:24 · in 37% of games
  • Gunslinger1 Gunslinger from Techfirst at 4:39 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:47 · in 99% 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

050k100k150k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

82 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
1:001151150000001712995
2:0027825900000037132365
3:008187370000104060364436
4:001496140900005810113396554
5:002181213000008451131957110268
6:002886294920900011244032762611852
7:00367438291101021014784453567414303
8:00444748741643542648616564534823417340
9:0053416257216122065018917734685735021198
10:0067037661268435071564018664686490822906
11:0084519859317476693483618814687145925778
12:001049712092368011961217107518974827343027224
13:001273414534403315781830166119404827788032595
14:001507216881498418142442199519465328581137744
15:0017268193615834263232612964194654810147941136
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won slightly more often than the standard build with the highest kill-to-loss gap of the three buys by 15:00.

  • + Own metal lost stayed low, 779 by 10:00 vs 755 standard, tightest of the three.
  • + Destroyed 4935 enemy metal by 15:00 vs 3127 for the standard build.
  • − Still a rare line: only 9% of role games buy this early by 4:37.
  • − Metal produced by 15:00 trailed standard, 15981 vs 19066.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

pyrothraxus

35.1 OS · 11/10/2026

Open source match ↗

2 received units · includes a constructor
286 metal received · 44694 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:13Middle 50%: 8:29–10:04 · n=80
Bot Lab10:24Middle 50%: 9:16–11:31 · n=41

Played most by

Boozha38games of this buildDeathkebab30games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro3games of this build[NWP]Kadafi9231game of this buildCommandoMan1game of this build