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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 · 89 distinct matches · 14 players · 12% of Cortex Pond games · team won 58% of 89 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GunslingerGunslinger from Tech arrives 4:41 · 11% 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 830 metal and 19,000 energy by 5:00; standard pond sends 110 metal and 9,250 energy.

Where those units first fight, in 88 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 (19% 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 89 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 ×10for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Con turret
    5. Wind ×7
    6. Bot LabBot Labdone 4:42 · typical 10:13
    7. GuardGuard
    8. ThistleThistle
    9. Converter ×2
  2. 2

    5:00 to Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−17 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 18 wind, 3 converterdone ~10:13, middle half 9:07–11:11

    Some games also: wind (47%) · con turret (44%) · Thistle (38%) · Guard (33%)

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

    By 10:02 in all: 4 mex · 14 wind (standard 25) · 2 tidal · 1 converter (standard 6) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 148 steps
    1. Converter
    2. Mexfor Suicide front
    3. Converter ×3
    4. TickTick ×2
    5. Converter
    6. TickTick ×2
    7. Converter
    8. TickTick ×3
    9. Wind
    10. TickTick ×2
    11. Wind
    12. TickTick
    13. Wind ×3
    14. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Towerfor Geo sea
    15. Wind
    16. Con turret
    17. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    18. Wind
    19. Energy storage
    20. Construction BotCon bot
    21. Energy storage
    22. Wind ×10
    23. Con turret
    24. Wind
    25. TickTick
    26. Wind
    27. TickTick
    28. Wind
    29. TickTick ×2
    30. Wind
    31. Con turret
    32. TickTick
    33. Wind
    34. TickTick ×2
    35. Wind
    36. TickTick
    37. Wind
    38. TickTick
    39. Con turret
    40. Wind
    41. TickTick ×2
    42. Wind
    43. TickTick ×2
    44. Wind
    45. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Towerfor Geo sea
    46. TickTick
    47. Wind
    48. TickTick
    49. Wind
    50. TickTick
    51. Wind
    52. TickTick ×3
    53. Wind
    54. TickTick
    55. Wind
    56. TickTick
    57. Wind ×2
    58. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    59. Converter
    60. Wind ×2
    61. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:44 · typical 9:16
    62. Wind
    63. Con turret
    64. Wind
    65. Converter
    66. Wind ×2
    67. ShipyardShipyardnot finished by 15:00
    68. Wind
    69. ShipyardEat Shipyardreclaimed for its metal
    70. Wind
    71. Converter
    72. Wind ×7
    73. Converter
    74. Wind ×3
    75. Converter
    76. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    77. Wind ×2
    78. Converter
    79. Wind
    80. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    81. Wind ×4
    82. Converter
    83. Wind ×3
    84. Converter
    85. Wind ×6
    86. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    87. Converter
    88. Wind
    89. Converter
    90. Wind ×8
    91. Converter ×2
    92. Wind ×4
    93. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 12:53
    94. Wind ×3
    95. Converter ×2
    96. Con turret
    97. Converter
    98. Wind ×5
    99. BlitzBlitz
    100. Wind ×2
    101. Con turret
    102. Wind
    103. Converter
    104. BlitzBlitz
    105. Wind
    106. BlitzBlitz
    107. Wind
    108. BlitzBlitz
    109. Wind
    110. BlitzBlitz
    111. Wind ×2
    112. BlitzBlitz
    113. Wind ×2
    114. BlitzBlitz
    115. Converter
    116. BlitzBlitz
    117. Wind
    118. BlitzBlitz ×2
    119. Converter
    120. Wind
    121. BlitzBlitz
    122. Wind
    123. BlitzBlitz
    124. Converter
    125. Wind
    126. BlitzBlitz
    127. Wind ×2
    128. BlitzBlitz
    129. Wind
    130. Converter
    131. Vehicle PlantEat Vehicle Plantreclaimed for its metal
    132. Wind
    133. Con turret
    134. Wind ×9
    135. Converter ×4
    136. Wind ×3
    137. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 14:44
    138. Wind ×4
    139. BlitzBlitz
    140. Wind
    141. BlitzBlitz
    142. Wind
    143. BlitzBlitz
    144. Wind
    145. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantnot finished by 15:00
    146. Wind
    147. BlitzBlitz
    148. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Ling_long's (40 OS, 14/10/2026); 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 Techfirst at 2:32 · in 51% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:24 · in 39% of games
  • Gunslinger1 Gunslinger from Techfirst at 4:42 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:48 · 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

050k100k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

89 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
1:001151150000001631981
2:0027825900000036462395
3:008147440000106060534662
4:001494141100005670114456407
5:00218121300000829109185869254
6:002883294919000011293822816811852
7:003669383096000014894333733313906
8:00445649201486512576017214454982816635
9:0053436389197215965017217874505963619564
10:0066997777263431271850918714536545321978
11:0084429920285471490777419024687216425064
12:001047312520366011401175103219134827349227158
13:001271415014371315711773161219514827940130468
14:001522417131460518142246199519734848277036354
15:001734619909594226142788296819735299826341129
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

Ling_long

39.6 OS · 14/10/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
107 metal received · 82793 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:16Middle 50%: 8:28–10:07 · n=86
Bot Lab10:13Middle 50%: 9:07–11:11 · n=45

Played most by

Boozha39games of this buildDeathkebab33games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro3games of this buildLing_long3games of this buildGoldReasons2games of this build