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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 · 8 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×4
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind ×8
    5. Energy storage
    6. Con turret
    7. Converter ×4
    8. Wind
  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 · 84 steps
    1. Wind ×6
    2. JellyfishJellyfish
    3. Wind ×3
    4. Bot LabBot Labdone 6:36 · typical 10:24
    5. JellyfishJellyfish
    6. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:05 · typical 9:13
    7. Energy storage
    8. JellyfishJellyfish
    9. TickTick ×4
    10. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    11. TickTick
    12. CrossbowCrossbow ×3
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    14. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    15. Con turret
    16. CrossbowCrossbow
    17. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth ×3
    18. CrossbowCrossbow
    19. Con turret
    20. TickTick ×3
    21. PawnPawn ×8
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    23. PawnPawn ×9
    24. TickTick ×16
    25. Construction BotCon botfor Geo sea
    26. Construction BotCon bot
    27. TickTick ×2
    28. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    29. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    30. TickTick ×16
    31. ShipyardShipyardfor Geo seadone 11:41
    32. TickTick ×22
    33. UrchinUrchin
    34. TickTick ×2
    35. Wind
    36. TickTick ×6
    37. Wind
    38. TickTick ×6
    39. Wind
    40. TickTick ×2
    41. RattlesnakeRattlesnakedone 14:27
    42. TickTick ×3
    43. Wind
    44. TickTick ×5
    45. Wind
    46. TickTick ×6
    47. Wind
    48. TickTick ×5
    49. Wind
    50. TickTick ×2
    51. JellyfishJellyfish
    52. TickTick ×6
    53. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    54. TickTick ×6
    55. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    56. TickTick
    57. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    58. TickTick
    59. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    60. TickTick
    61. Dragon's TeethDragon's Teeth
    62. TickTick ×11
    63. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    64. TickTick
    65. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    66. TickTick
    67. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    68. TickTick
    69. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    70. TickTick
    71. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    72. Construction BotCon bot
    73. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth ×3
    74. Construction BotCon bot
    75. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth ×2
    76. TickTick ×2
    77. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    78. TickTick
    79. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    80. TickTick ×2
    81. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    82. TickTick ×2
    83. Shark's TeethShark's Teeth
    84. TickTick ×3

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Ling_long's (40 OS, 13/10/2026); 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

Ling_long

39.8 OS · 13/10/2026

Open source match ↗

9 received units · includes a constructor
332 metal received · 68738 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