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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 9,450 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 · 8 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Mex ×3
    4. Energy storage
    5. Mex
    6. Wind ×8
    7. Converter ×2
    8. Wind ×9
  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 25) · 8 wind (standard 0) · 2 tidal · 1 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 41 steps
    1. Wind ×27
    2. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:57 · typical 9:13
    3. Wind ×6
    4. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    5. Wind ×4
    6. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    7. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:21
    8. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    9. Construction BotCon bot ×4
    10. T2 converter
    11. Con turret
    12. GruntGrunt ×6
    13. Con turret
    14. GruntGrunt ×5
    15. GraverobberGraverobber
    16. Con turret
    17. GraverobberGraverobber
    18. GruntGrunt
    19. Con turret
    20. GruntGrunt ×4
    21. ShipyardShipyarddone 12:35
    22. GruntGrunt ×4
    23. T2 converter
    24. GruntGrunt ×26
    25. OrcaSubmarinedone 13:57
    26. GruntGrunt ×4
    27. OrcaSubmarine
    28. GruntGrunt ×2
    29. OrcaSubmarine
    30. GruntGrunt ×4
    31. OrcaSubmarine
    32. GruntGrunt ×3
    33. OrcaSubmarine
    34. GruntGrunt ×3
    35. OrcaSubmarine
    36. GruntGrunt ×3
    37. OrcaSubmarine
    38. GruntGrunt
    39. ThugThug ×2
    40. OrcaSubmarine
    41. ThugThug

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Deathkebab's (34 OS, 05/10/2026); 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
1:001151150000001712988
2:0027826000000037132438
3:008187520000104060364666
4:001496141400005810113396481
5:00218121420000845111195719436
6:002886295120900011243892762611987
7:00367438391101021014784363567414105
8:00444749131643512647316564484823416905
9:0053416340216118565017217734525735019465
10:0067037751268432171551318664616490822262
11:0084519899317474093479618814687145924464
12:001049712351368011421217105418974827343026862
13:001273414910403315751830163719404827788030092
14:001507217209498418372442207319465078581135003
15:0017268199345834262332612966194653110147940760
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

Deathkebab

33.8 OS · 05/10/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
429 metal received · 30675 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