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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

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 · 94 distinct matches · 38 players · 13% of Cortex Pond games · team won 47% of 94 · 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 94 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, 2 tidal, 2 winddone ~3:32, middle half 3:21–4:35

    By 3:13 in all: 4 mex · 2 tidal (standard 4) · 2 wind · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 4 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×3
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Bot LabBot Labdone 3:02 · typical 3:32
  2. 2

    Bot Lab to 5:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−4 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Bot1 Con bot

    Some games also: con turret (47%) · converter (37%) · Graverobber (32%)

    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 · 12 steps
    1. GraverobberGraverobber ×2
    2. Construction BotCon bot ×6
    3. Wind ×5
    4. Construction BotCon bot
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Construction BotCon bot
    7. Wind ×2
    8. Construction BotCon bot
    9. Wind ×3
    10. Construction BotCon bot
    11. Wind
    12. Con turret
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine18Wind+18 vs standard
    • Energy Converter4Converter+4 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret

    Some games also: grunt (48%) · con bot (33%) · eat Bot Lab (45%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 25 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 · 268 steps
    1. Wind ×2
    2. Construction BotCon bot
    3. Wind
    4. Converter
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Converter
    7. Wind
    8. Converter
    9. Wind ×2
    10. Converter ×2
    11. Wind ×3
    12. Converter
    13. Wind
    14. Converter
    15. Wind
    16. Converter
    17. Wind ×2
    18. Converter
    19. Wind
    20. Converter
    21. Wind
    22. Construction BotCon bot
    23. Wind
    24. Converter
    25. Wind ×3
    26. Construction BotCon bot
    27. Converter
    28. Wind ×2
    29. Construction BotCon bot
    30. Wind
    31. Converter
    32. Wind ×2
    33. Converter
    34. Wind ×2
    35. Converter
    36. Wind ×3
    37. Converter
    38. Wind ×2
    39. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    40. Wind
    41. Converter
    42. Wind ×2
    43. Converter
    44. Wind
    45. Converter
    46. Wind
    47. Converter
    48. Wind
    49. Converter
    50. Wind
    51. Converter
    52. Wind
    53. Converter
    54. Wind
    55. Converter
    56. Wind
    57. Naval Energy Converter
    58. Converter
    59. Wind ×2
    60. Converter
    61. Naval Energy Converter
    62. Wind
    63. Converter
    64. Metal storage
    65. Wind
    66. Naval Energy Converter
    67. Wind ×3
    68. Converter
    69. Wind
    70. Tidal
    71. Wind
    72. Converter
    73. Wind
    74. Converter
    75. Wind
    76. Tidal
    77. Wind
    78. Converter
    79. Wind
    80. Tidal
    81. Wind
    82. Converter
    83. Wind
    84. Converter
    85. Wind
    86. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:26 · typical 9:07
    87. Wind
    88. Converter
    89. Wind
    90. Converter
    91. Wind
    92. Converter
    93. Wind
    94. Converter
    95. Wind
    96. Converter
    97. Wind ×2
    98. Converter
    99. Wind
    100. Converter
    101. Wind
    102. Converter
    103. Wind
    104. Converter
    105. Wind
    106. Converter
    107. Wind ×2
    108. Converter
    109. Wind
    110. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    111. Con turret
    112. Wind
    113. Converter
    114. Wind ×2
    115. Converter
    116. Wind ×3
    117. Converter
    118. Con turret
    119. Wind ×3
    120. Converter
    121. Con turret
    122. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    123. Converter
    124. Con turret
    125. Wind ×2
    126. Converter
    127. Con turret
    128. Wind
    129. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:35
    130. Wind
    131. Converter
    132. Wind ×2
    133. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 10:45
    134. Construction BotCon bot
    135. Wind
    136. Converter
    137. Wind
    138. HalberdHalberddone 10:59
    139. Construction BotCon bot
    140. Wind ×3
    141. HalberdHalberd
    142. Construction BotCon bot
    143. Wind ×3
    144. Construction BotCon bot
    145. HalberdHalberd
    146. Wind
    147. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    148. Construction BotCon bot
    149. Tidal
    150. Wind
    151. Tidal
    152. Wind
    153. Tidal
    154. Converter
    155. Wind ×2
    156. Construction BotCon bot
    157. Tidal
    158. Converter
    159. Wind
    160. Converter
    161. Tidal
    162. Wind
    163. HalberdHalberd
    164. Construction BotCon bot
    165. Wind
    166. Converter
    167. Tidal
    168. Wind
    169. Converter
    170. Wind
    171. Tidal
    172. Converter
    173. HalberdHalberd
    174. Wind
    175. Construction BotCon bot
    176. Wind
    177. Tidal
    178. Converter
    179. Wind
    180. CitadelAnti-nukedone 14:13
    181. Tidal
    182. Converter
    183. Wind
    184. HalberdHalberd
    185. Construction BotCon bot
    186. Wind
    187. Tidal
    188. Converter
    189. Wind
    190. Tidal
    191. Converter
    192. HalberdHalberd
    193. Wind
    194. Construction BotCon bot
    195. Converter
    196. Tidal
    197. Wind
    198. Converter
    199. Tidal
    200. Wind ×2
    201. Converter
    202. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    203. Tidal
    204. Wind
    205. HalberdHalberd
    206. Wind
    207. Converter
    208. Tidal
    209. Wind ×2
    210. Converter
    211. Tidal
    212. Wind ×3
    213. Tidal
    214. Converter
    215. Wind ×2
    216. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    217. Converter
    218. Wind
    219. Tidal
    220. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    221. Wind
    222. Converter
    223. Wind
    224. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    225. Tidal
    226. Wind
    227. Converter
    228. Wind
    229. Tidal
    230. Wind
    231. Converter
    232. Wind
    233. Tidal
    234. Wind
    235. Converter
    236. Wind ×2
    237. Tidal
    238. Converter
    239. Wind
    240. T2 converter
    241. Wind
    242. Tidal
    243. Converter
    244. Bot LabBot Labdone 14:36
    245. Wind
    246. Hovercraft PlatformEat Hovercraft Platformreclaimed for its metal
    247. Wind
    248. Tidal
    249. Converter
    250. Wind
    251. Construction BotCon bot
    252. Wind
    253. Construction BotCon bot
    254. Converter
    255. Tidal
    256. Wind
    257. Construction BotCon bot
    258. Wind
    259. Construction BotCon bot
    260. Tidal
    261. Wind
    262. Converter
    263. Construction BotCon bot
    264. Wind
    265. Construction BotCon bot
    266. T2 converter
    267. Converter
    268. Tidal

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is RollingBread's (34 OS, 22/09/2026); 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 7:22 · in 80% 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

94 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0011500
2:0026000
3:0075200
4:00141400
5:00214200
6:00295100
7:00383900
8:0049135173
9:006340185172
10:007751321513
11:009899740796
12:001235111421054
13:001491015751637
14:001720918372073
15:001993426232966
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

RollingBread

34.1 OS · 22/09/2026

Open source match ↗

1 received units · includes a constructor
549 metal received · 75985 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab3:32Middle 50%: 3:21–4:35 · n=70
Advanced Metal Extractor9:07Middle 50%: 7:43–10:16 · n=77

Played most by

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