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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard pond

Economy-first Pond that builds tidal generators and wind for the fronts, often receives a Fatboy from an ally early, then adds a lab and sends units forward while boosting eco throughout.

#eco #team support · 102 distinct matches · 28 players · 40% of Cortex Pond games · team won 55% of 104 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • FatboyFatboy from an ally in 43%18% of all Pond games by then

Then transitions into grunt (23% of army), tick (15% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: T2 constructor by 7:57

  1. Drop 10 tidal generators immediately to boost front's wind.
  2. Take 3 mex, then a fourth, and get a bot lab by 3:02.
  3. Layer in wind and a guard for base defense.
  4. Push for your own T2 constructor once eco is stable.
  5. Transition into advanced mex and small bot army like Grunt and Tick.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 102 GAMES
  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
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Wind Turbine8Wind
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage

    Some games also: converter (48%)

    By 5:00 in all: 4 mex · 8 wind · 2 tidal · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 15 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Suicide front
    2. Wind
    3. Tidal
    4. Mex ×4
    5. Bot LabBot Labdone 2:50
    6. Wind
    7. GraverobberGraverobber
    8. Wind ×2for Air
    9. Construction BotCon bot
    10. Wind ×4
    11. Energy storage
    12. Wind
    13. Converter ×2
    14. RocketeerRocketeer
    15. Wind ×3
  2. 2

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine3Wind

    Some games also: converter (45%) · con turret (39%) · wind (33%) · grunt (33%) · con turret (31%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 16 wind · 2 tidal · 4 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 164 steps
    1. Con turret
    2. Wind ×11
    3. Con turret
    4. Wind ×4
    5. Con turret
    6. Wind ×10
    7. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:37
    8. GruntGrunt ×12
    9. Converter
    10. GruntGrunt
    11. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:41 · typical 9:23
    12. GruntGrunt
    13. Converter
    14. GruntGrunt ×2
    15. Wind
    16. GruntGrunt
    17. Wind
    18. GruntGrunt
    19. Wind ×3
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    21. Wind
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    23. Wind ×2
    24. ShipyardShipyardfor Geo seadone 9:57
    25. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 9:55
    26. RascalRascal ×4
    27. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    28. RascalRascal
    29. Con turretfor Geo sea
    30. RascalRascal ×2
    31. Con turretfor Geo sea
    32. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 10:27
    33. RascalRascal ×2
    34. ShurikenShuriken
    35. RascalRascal
    36. ShurikenShuriken
    37. RascalRascal
    38. ShurikenShuriken
    39. RascalRascal
    40. ShurikenShuriken
    41. RascalRascal
    42. ShurikenShuriken
    43. RascalRascal
    44. ShurikenShuriken
    45. RascalRascal
    46. JellyfishJellyfish
    47. ShurikenShuriken
    48. RascalRascal
    49. ShurikenShuriken
    50. RascalRascal
    51. ShurikenShuriken
    52. RascalRascal
    53. ShurikenShuriken
    54. RascalRascal ×11
    55. Wind
    56. RascalRascal
    57. Wind
    58. RascalRascal
    59. HerculesLight transport
    60. Wind
    61. RascalRascal
    62. Wind
    63. Construction VehicleCon vehiclefor Geo sea
    64. Wind
    65. RascalRascal
    66. Wind
    67. RascalRascal
    68. Wind
    69. RascalRascal ×3
    70. Wind
    71. RascalRascal
    72. Wind
    73. RascalRascal
    74. Wind
    75. RascalRascal
    76. Wind
    77. RascalRascal
    78. Wind
    79. FinchFinch
    80. RascalRascal
    81. Wind
    82. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    83. Wind
    84. Energy storage
    85. RascalRascal
    86. Wind
    87. FinchFinch
    88. Con turret
    89. RascalRascal
    90. Con turret
    91. RascalRascal ×2
    92. Wind
    93. FinchFinch
    94. RascalRascal
    95. Con turret
    96. Wind
    97. RascalRascal
    98. ShurikenShuriken
    99. Wind
    100. RascalRascal
    101. Wind
    102. ShurikenShuriken
    103. RascalRascal
    104. ShurikenShuriken
    105. RascalRascal
    106. ShurikenShuriken
    107. Wind
    108. RascalRascal
    109. ShurikenShuriken
    110. RascalRascal
    111. Wind
    112. ShurikenShuriken
    113. HephaestusHeavy transport
    114. RascalRascal
    115. Wind
    116. RascalRascal
    117. Wind
    118. RascalRascal
    119. ShurikenShuriken
    120. RascalRascal
    121. ShurikenShuriken
    122. RascalRascal
    123. ShurikenShuriken
    124. Wind
    125. RascalRascal
    126. ShurikenShuriken
    127. RascalRascal
    128. ShurikenShuriken
    129. Wind
    130. RascalRascal
    131. ShurikenShuriken
    132. Wind
    133. RascalRascal
    134. Con turret
    135. ShurikenShuriken
    136. RascalRascal
    137. Con turret
    138. ShurikenShuriken
    139. RascalRascal
    140. Con turret
    141. ShurikenShuriken
    142. RascalRascal
    143. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    144. ShurikenShuriken
    145. RascalRascal
    146. Wind
    147. RascalRascal
    148. Wind
    149. RascalRascal
    150. Wind
    151. RascalRascal
    152. Wind
    153. RascalRascal
    154. Wind
    155. RascalRascal
    156. Wind
    157. RascalRascal
    158. ShurikenShuriken
    159. RascalRascal
    160. ShurikenShuriken
    161. IncisorIncisor
    162. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    163. IncisorIncisor
    164. Converter

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is MischievousDragonGF's (41 OS, 16/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:11 · in 97% of games

You get

  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Geo or Beach seafirst at 2:27 · in 35% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:42 · in 37% of games
  • Fatboy1 Fatboy from Techfirst at 5:18 · in 43% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:47 · in 94% 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

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

104 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0011500
2:0027800
3:0081600
4:00151000
5:00221700
6:00296200
7:0038262880
8:0046231070189
9:0055351507591
10:0066512171899
11:00825026931360
12:001019431341695
13:001257434542159
14:001466838212820
15:001700442743392
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Standard pond wins slightly more than half its games while producing far less metal than most roles, matching its support job.

  • + Team win rate at 52%, the highest among the six standard builds shown.
  • + 42% of games receive a Fatboy from an ally by 5:17, well above the 18% role norm.
  • − Metal produced by 15:00 is only 16843, the lowest of all builds listed.
  • − Own metal lost climbs to 3271 by 15:00 despite the defensive role.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

MischievousDragonGF

41.3 OS · 16/09/2026

Open source match ↗

3 received units · includes a constructor
497 metal received · 41830 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:23Middle 50%: 8:39–10:27 · n=99

Played most by

[Grump]Matsuri24games of this buildDeathkebab11games of this buildBoozha9games of this buildEXZoPrimer37games of this buildNazarid7games of this build

Supporting games

Pick a game to read and play it above.

Boozha25/09/2026 · 36 OS↗JustSomeGuy25/09/2026 · 38 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri25/09/2026 · 39 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri25/09/2026 · 39 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri25/09/2026 · 39 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri25/09/2026 · 39 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri25/09/2026 · 39 OS↗Boozha25/09/2026 · 36 OS↗MischievousDragonGF16/09/2026 · 41 OS↗
32 more of 96, the most recentCommandoMan25/09/2026 · 35 OS↗Deathkebab24/09/2026 · 36 OS↗Boozha24/09/2026 · 36 OS↗[Cookie]Maco23/09/2026 · 53 OS↗Deathkebab23/09/2026 · 36 OS↗Deathkebab23/09/2026 · 36 OS↗PongoPygmaeus23/09/2026 · 36 OS↗zeus_on_god23/09/2026 · 37 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri23/09/2026 · 39 OS↗CommandoMan23/09/2026 · 35 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri22/09/2026 · 40 OS↗hihimik21/09/2026 · 35 OS↗zeus_on_god21/09/2026 · 38 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri21/09/2026 · 39 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri21/09/2026 · 39 OS↗Boozha20/09/2026 · 36 OS↗Espera20/09/2026 · 38 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri20/09/2026 · 41 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri19/09/2026 · 41 OS↗zeus_on_god17/09/2026 · 37 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri17/09/2026 · 40 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri17/09/2026 · 40 OS↗[Grump]Matsuri17/09/2026 · 40 OS↗Boozha16/09/2026 · 38 OS↗Boozha16/09/2026 · 38 OS↗[Cookie]Maco15/09/2026 · 52 OS↗MischievousDragonGF15/09/2026 · 42 OS↗MischievousDragonGF15/09/2026 · 42 OS↗MischievousDragonGF15/09/2026 · 42 OS↗EpicTyrannus15/09/2026 · 42 OS↗EpicTyrannus14/09/2026 · 41 OS↗
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Naval balance tweaks off