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Front / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard front

Standard Front play: Bot Lab immediately, expanding economy with an Advanced Metal Extractor around 9:00, then defending the wider gap with bots like Thug, Grunt and Aggravator as the middle firms up.

#eco #defence · 170 distinct matches · 59 players · 65% of Cortex Front games · team won 42% of 172 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Bot Lab by 0:40

  1. Take 3 mex, then wind before opening Bot Lab.
  2. Finish Bot Lab, start producing Thug, Grunt and Aggravator.
  3. Send early units to coast first to stop leaks, not straight to mid.
  4. Add Twin Guard and Radar Tower to hold the wider gap.
  5. Bring Advanced Metal Extractor online as army transitions to T2.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 170 GAMES
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
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 the Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor2Mex
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 2 mex, 1 winddone ~0:40, middle half 0:34–0:46

    Some games also: wind (48%)

    By 0:24 in all: 2 mex

    The example game in this phase · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Wind
    3. Bot LabBot Labdone 0:40 · typical 0:40
  2. 2

    Bot Lab to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Bot3 Con bot
    • Graverobber2 Graverobber
    Army
    • Guard2 Guard
    • Thug6 Thug
    • Grunt4 Grunt
    • Aggravator3 Aggravator

    Some games also: con turret (43%) · Radar Tower (35%)

    By 5:00 in all: 6 mex · 5 wind

    The example game in this phase · 34 steps
    1. TrasherTrasher
    2. Mex
    3. Wind
    4. GruntGrunt
    5. Wind
    6. GruntGrunt
    7. ThugThug
    8. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    9. GraverobberGraverobber
    10. Construction BotCon bot
    11. ThugThug
    12. Mex
    13. GruntGrunt
    14. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    15. Mex
    16. Construction BotCon bot
    17. GuardGuard ×2
    18. ThugThug
    19. GraverobberGraverobber
    20. GruntGrunt
    21. AggravatorAggravator ×3
    22. Construction BotCon bot
    23. ThugThug
    24. GuardGuard
    25. GraverobberGraverobber
    26. GruntGrunt
    27. GuardGuard
    28. AggravatorAggravator
    29. GuardGuard
    30. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    31. GuardGuard
    32. AggravatorAggravator
    33. Construction BotCon bot
    34. GuardGuard
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine17Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Graverobber1 Graverobber
    • Construction Bot1 Con bot
    Army
    • Guard1 Guard
    • Grunt7 Grunt
    • Thug1 Thug

    Some games also: aggravator (44%) · energy storage (42%) · Twin Guard (38%) · converter (35%) · Radar Tower (34%)

    By 10:00 in all: 7 mex · 24 wind · 3 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 137 steps
    1. ThugThug
    2. Advanced solar
    3. GuardGuard ×2
    4. GraverobberGraverobber
    5. GuardGuard
    6. GruntGrunt
    7. AggravatorAggravator
    8. Mex
    9. AggravatorAggravator ×3
    10. ThugThug
    11. GruntGrunt
    12. AggravatorAggravator
    13. Mex
    14. Construction BotCon bot
    15. AggravatorAggravator
    16. ThugThug ×2
    17. GraverobberGraverobber
    18. ThugThug
    19. GruntGrunt
    20. AggravatorAggravator
    21. Con turret
    22. AggravatorAggravator
    23. RocketeerRocketeer
    24. AggravatorAggravator ×3
    25. ThugThug
    26. Mex
    27. Construction BotCon bot
    28. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    29. ThugThug
    30. GraverobberGraverobber
    31. ThugThug
    32. GruntGrunt
    33. AggravatorAggravator
    34. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    35. AggravatorAggravator
    36. ThugThug ×2
    37. AggravatorAggravator
    38. Wind
    39. AggravatorAggravator
    40. Wind
    41. RocketeerRocketeer
    42. Construction BotCon bot
    43. RocketeerRocketeer
    44. Wind
    45. Mex
    46. RocketeerRocketeer ×2
    47. ThugThug
    48. Wind
    49. GraverobberGraverobber
    50. RocketeerRocketeer
    51. GruntGrunt
    52. AggravatorAggravator
    53. Wind
    54. AggravatorAggravator ×2
    55. ThugThug
    56. AggravatorAggravator
    57. Wind
    58. AggravatorAggravator
    59. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    60. Construction BotCon bot
    61. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    62. ThugThug
    63. Wind
    64. Mex
    65. ThugThug
    66. Wind
    67. ThugThug
    68. GraverobberGraverobber
    69. Twin GuardTwin Guard
    70. RocketeerRocketeer
    71. Wind
    72. GruntGrunt
    73. RocketeerRocketeer
    74. AggravatorAggravator
    75. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    76. ThugThug ×2
    77. AggravatorAggravator
    78. Wind
    79. Mex
    80. Con turret
    81. RocketeerRocketeer
    82. AggravatorAggravator
    83. Wind
    84. AggravatorAggravator
    85. Mex
    86. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    87. ThugThug
    88. Wind
    89. Con turret
    90. CenturionCenturion
    91. ThugThug
    92. Mex
    93. CenturionCenturion
    94. Con turret
    95. Wind
    96. GraverobberGraverobber
    97. GruntGrunt
    98. AggravatorAggravator
    99. ThugThug
    100. Wind
    101. AggravatorAggravator
    102. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:35
    103. Construction BotCon bot
    104. Con turret
    105. GuardGuard
    106. AggravatorAggravator
    107. ThugThug
    108. GuardGuard
    109. Wind
    110. ThugThug
    111. GraverobberGraverobber
    112. GuardGuard
    113. GruntGrunt
    114. Wind
    115. Construction BotCon bot
    116. GuardGuard
    117. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:54
    118. GruntGrunt
    119. Wind
    120. ThistleThistle
    121. GruntGrunt ×5
    122. Wind
    123. GruntGrunt ×2
    124. Con turret
    125. GruntGrunt
    126. Wind
    127. GruntGrunt
    128. Con turret
    129. GruntGrunt
    130. Wind
    131. GruntGrunt
    132. Mex
    133. GruntGrunt
    134. Wind
    135. GruntGrunt ×5
    136. Wind
    137. GruntGrunt ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is GeeGee's (37 OS, 18/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

Nothing regular.

You get

  • Tidal Generator4 Tidal from Pondfirst at 0:17 · in 66% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Geo or Techfirst at 7:26 · in 67% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build, running totals by minute

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02.5k5k7.5k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

05k10k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

172 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0033100
2:0086700
3:0016368582
4:002700346346
5:003812927944
6:00506916851729
7:00638024952625
8:00767133083691
9:00908139044391
10:001085444245097
11:001279250825936
12:001497752977059
13:001737159477675
14:001987663318706
15:002280570109802
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

This build has the worst win rate of the roles shown and trails Suicide front on kills while losing nearly as much metal.

  • + Produces more metal than Suicide front by 15:00 (22286 vs 18297).
  • + T2 constructor lands slightly faster (7:41) than Suicide front's 8:07.
  • − Loses 9797 own metal by 15:00, close to what it destroys (6775).
  • − Wins only 40% of games, well below every other role shown.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

GeeGee

36.6 OS · 18/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units
1240 metal received · 23376 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab0:40Middle 50%: 0:34–0:46 · n=153
Advanced Metal Extractor9:06Middle 50%: 8:09–10:30 · n=132

Played most by

Hummell19games of this buildwatermeloans19games of this buildiLike2Eco12games of this buildCentientWaffle9games of this buildGeeGee7games of this build