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Standard pond

Cortex Pond build order · Supreme Isthmus

Standard Pond play: eco first with Bot Lab and later Advanced Metal Extractor, boosting the fronts with Tidal Generators and sending Grunts forward; no special catch.

#eco #team support · 91 distinct matches · 38 players · 12% of Cortex Pond games · team won 46% of 91 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Bot Lab by 5:03

  1. Build tidal generators first to start boosting the fronts.
  2. Grab mex and energy storage before committing further.
  3. Put down the bot lab and start sending Grunts forward.
  4. Fill out wind and add a Guard for early defense.
  5. Transition to T2 with an advanced mex once front stabilizes.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 91 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  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 Extractor4Mex
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal−2 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine2Wind
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 4 mex, 3 wind, 2 tidaldone ~3:33, middle half 3:23–4:45

    By 3:14 in all: 4 mex · 2 tidal (standard 4) · 2 wind · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 8 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Tidalfor Geo sea
    4. Mex ×3
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind ×4
    7. Mex
    8. Bot LabBot Labdone 3:25 · typical 3:33
  2. 2

    Bot Lab to 5:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−4 vs standard

    Some games also: con bot (49%) · con turret (45%) · converter (36%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 9 steps
    1. Energy storagefor Suicide front
    2. GraverobberGraverobber
    3. Con turret
    4. Wind ×4
    5. GraverobberGraverobber
    6. Construction BotCon botfor Geo sea
    7. Energy storagefor Front
    8. Con turret
    9. Wind ×2
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine15Wind+15 vs standard
    • Energy Converter3Converter+3 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret

    Some games also: grunt (47%) · con bot (32%) · eat Bot Lab (43%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 24 wind (standard 8) · 2 tidal (standard 4) · 6 converter (standard 1) · 1 energy storage · 2 con turret (standard 0)

    The example game in this phase · 46 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Converter
    3. Wind
    4. Con turret
    5. Converter
    6. Wind ×3
    7. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    8. Wind ×5
    9. Converter
    10. Wind
    11. Converter
    12. Wind ×9
    13. Converter
    14. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:59
    15. Converter ×2
    16. Wind ×6
    17. GruntGrunt ×2
    18. Wind
    19. GruntGrunt ×3
    20. Wind
    21. GruntGrunt
    22. Wind
    23. GruntGrunt ×2
    24. Wind
    25. GruntGrunt ×2
    26. Wind
    27. GruntGrunt ×2
    28. Wind
    29. GruntGrunt ×2
    30. Wind
    31. ThugThug
    32. Wind
    33. GruntGrunt
    34. ThugThug
    35. Converter
    36. ThugThug ×2
    37. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:32 · typical 9:06
    38. ThugThug
    39. GraverobberGraverobber
    40. Converter ×2
    41. Construction BotCon bot
    42. ThugThug
    43. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    44. ThugThug ×3
    45. GraverobberGraverobber ×2
    46. ThugThug

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is gmansawesome's (31 OS, 07/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:14 · in 96% of games

You get

  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:19 · in 79% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build, running totals by minute

Metal produced

010k20k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

91 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0011500
2:0025900
3:0073700
4:00140900
5:00213000
6:00294900
7:00382900
8:0048745486
9:006257220189
10:007661350640
11:009859766836
12:001209211961075
13:001453415781661
14:001688118141995
15:001936126322964
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

This Cortex pond baseline wins under half its games, with enemy metal destroyed just ahead of own losses by 15:00.

  • + Enemy metal destroyed (3099) edges past own metal lost (3482) less than in Armada pond.
  • − Bot Lab finishes later (5:03) than the Armada pond norm (3:41), slower front support.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

gmansawesome

31.3 OS · 07/10/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
1014 metal received · 28127 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab3:33Middle 50%: 3:23–4:45 · n=67
Advanced Metal Extractor9:06Middle 50%: 7:42–10:16 · n=74

Played most by

Yamato18games of this buildzeus_on_god7games of this buildEpicTyrannus6games of this buildEXZoPrimer36games of this buildBoozha5games of this build