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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 4:42, paying large metal and energy well before the role norm, and flies/sends them to fight in the middle, sometimes reaching the enemy base.

#push #team support · 93 distinct matches · 15 players · 12% of Cortex Pond games · team won 57% of 93 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GunslingerGunslinger from Tech arrives 4:42 · 11% of role by thenTech makes it and hands it over.
  • Bot LabBot Lab in 44%15% of all Pond games by then
  • HerculesLight transport from an ally in 41%12% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 870 metal and 19,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 10,000 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 92 games with kill data: in the middle 92%, on their own side 7%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,162 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into tick (20% of army), blitz (11% of army), Armageddon (10% 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 93 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 (40%)

    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 ×8for Front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind ×8
    5. Energy storage
    6. Converter ×4
    7. Wind ×6
  2. 2

    5:00 to Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine2Wind−16 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 22 wind, 3 converterdone ~10:19, middle half 9:07–11:33

    Some games also: wind (46%) · con turret (41%) · Thistle (37%) · Guard (32%)

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

    By 10:04 in all: 4 mex · 16 wind (standard 26) · 2 tidal · 2 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 61 steps
    1. Wind ×16
    2. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:46 · typical 9:11
    3. Wind ×9
    4. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    5. Wind ×6
    6. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    7. Wind ×5
    8. Bot LabBot Labdone 9:07 · typical 10:19
    9. Wind
    10. Construction BotCon bot
    11. Wind ×3
    12. Construction BotCon bot
    13. Wind
    14. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    15. Con turret
    16. Wind ×3
    17. Construction BotCon bot
    18. Con turret
    19. Wind ×2
    20. TickTick
    21. Wind
    22. TickTick ×2
    23. Wind
    24. TickTick ×2
    25. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    26. Wind
    27. TickTick
    28. Construction BotCon bot
    29. Wind
    30. Wind
    31. TickTick
    32. Wind
    33. TickTick
    34. Wind
    35. TickTick ×2
    36. Wind
    37. TickTick ×2
    38. Wind
    39. TickTick
    40. Wind
    41. TickTick ×3
    42. Wind
    43. Wind
    44. TickTick ×4
    45. Wind
    46. Wind
    47. TickTick ×3
    48. Wind
    49. TickTick
    50. Wind
    51. TickTick
    52. Con turret
    53. TickTick
    54. Wind
    55. Wind
    56. TickTick
    57. Wind
    58. TickTick
    59. Con turret
    60. Wind
    61. TickTick

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Deathkebab's (35 OS, 15/10/2026); 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 47% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:27 · in 41% of games
  • Gunslinger1 Gunslinger from Techfirst at 4:42 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:39 · 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

01k2k3k
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

93 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
1:0011511500000015181007
2:0027825800000036462395
3:008207370000108059614669
4:001496140900005670114456702
5:002181213000008651091924310136
6:002884294218000011953962853711999
7:003669381194500015144393753914303
8:00446149051486542408617714505055117340
9:0053436257196222965018918084536068119564
10:0066997724255452971251718914686646022545
11:0084609859285488087081719024687294425064
12:001052012114366011961144107519214827403527158
13:001275414558371315781768161219734847943430468
14:001522417113460518602389215019795299500436354
15:0017346197265725261428012968197954810487041129
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

35.5 OS · 15/10/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
489 metal received · 113253 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:11Middle 50%: 8:23–10:05 · n=91
Bot Lab10:19Middle 50%: 9:07–11:33 · n=48

Played most by

Boozha38games of this buildDeathkebab37games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro3games of this buildLing_long3games of this buildGoldReasons2games of this build