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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 · 83 distinct matches · 14 players · 11% of Cortex Pond games · team won 60% of 83 · 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 45%15% of all Pond games by then

Paid for by sending allies about 860 metal and 20,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 9,450 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 82 games with kill data: in the middle 93%, on their own side 6%.

Those units destroy a typical 2,352 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 83 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 (43%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 9 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind ×9
    5. Energy storage
    6. Converter
    7. Wind ×4
    8. Converter ×2
    9. Wind ×2
  2. 2

    5:00 to Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−16 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine1Wind
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 17 wind, 3 converterdone ~10:19, middle half 9:13–11:26

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

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

    By 10:04 in all: 4 mex · 14 wind (standard 25) · 7 wind (standard 0) · 2 tidal · 1 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 101 steps
    1. Wind ×22
    2. Converter ×6
    3. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×3done 9:29 · typical 9:11
    4. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:29 · typical 10:19
    5. TickTick
    6. Construction BotCon bot
    7. TickTick ×2
    8. Con turret
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    10. TickTick ×7
    11. Wind
    12. T2 converter
    13. TickTick
    14. Wind
    15. TickTick
    16. Wind
    17. TickTick
    18. Wind
    19. TickTick
    20. Con turret
    21. Wind
    22. TickTick
    23. Wind
    24. TickTick
    25. Wind
    26. TickTick ×2
    27. Wind
    28. TickTick ×2
    29. Wind
    30. Con turret
    31. TickTick ×2
    32. Wind ×2
    33. TickTick
    34. T2 converter
    35. TickTick
    36. Wind
    37. TickTick
    38. Con turret
    39. Wind
    40. TickTick
    41. Wind
    42. TickTick
    43. Wind
    44. Con turret
    45. TickTick
    46. Wind
    47. TickTick
    48. Wind ×2
    49. Con turret
    50. TickTick
    51. Wind
    52. TickTick
    53. Con turret
    54. Wind
    55. TickTick ×2
    56. Bot LabBot Labdone 13:41
    57. TickTick
    58. Wind
    59. TickTick
    60. Bot LabBot Labdone 13:46
    61. TickTick
    62. Wind
    63. PawnPawn ×2
    64. TickTick
    65. PawnPawn ×2
    66. TickTick
    67. PawnPawn
    68. Cloakable Fusion ReactorCloakable Fusion Reactordone 14:51
    69. Wind
    70. TickTick
    71. PawnPawn ×2
    72. TickTick
    73. PawnPawn ×2
    74. Wind
    75. TickTick
    76. PawnPawn ×2
    77. TickTick
    78. PawnPawn ×2
    79. TickTick
    80. Wind
    81. PawnPawn
    82. TickTick
    83. PawnPawn
    84. Wind
    85. TickTick
    86. PawnPawn ×2
    87. TickTick
    88. Wind
    89. PawnPawn
    90. TickTick
    91. PawnPawn
    92. TickTick
    93. Wind
    94. PawnPawn ×2
    95. TickTick
    96. PawnPawn
    97. Wind ×4
    98. T2 converter
    99. TickTick
    100. PawnPawn ×2
    101. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Deathkebab's (35 OS, 06/10/2026); 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 4:40 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:44 · 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

83 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
1:001151150000001697988
2:0027826000000036912438
3:008207520000108059804666
4:001496141400005850114456481
5:00218121420000861111198999436
6:002887295120300011273892763611987
7:00367938391095021014834363576314105
8:00445649131625512577316604484864816905
9:0053436340209018565017217744525800419465
10:0067067751267832171851318714616516722262
11:0084609899308874093379618914687216424464
12:001052012351369911421184105419024827349226862
13:001275414910388815751811163719414827811030092
14:001508917209490718372389207319515078885235003
15:0017277199345942262332312966195153110469540760
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

34.6 OS · 06/10/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
58 metal received · 35511 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:11Middle 50%: 8:27–10:02 · n=81
Bot Lab10:19Middle 50%: 9:13–11:26 · n=42

Played most by

Boozha38games of this buildDeathkebab31games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro3games of this build[NWP]Kadafi9231game of this buildCommandoMan1game of this build