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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard pond

Pond boosts front's economy with wind or tidal generators, gets an Advanced Metal Extractor by 9:23, and transitions into supporting units like Grunt and Tick to help hold the middle until T2.

#eco #team support · 110 distinct matches · 30 players · 40% of Cortex Pond games · team won 53% of 112 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • FatboyFatboy from an ally in 42%19% of all Pond games by then

Then transitions into grunt (22% 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 110 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 (46%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 11 steps
    1. Tidal ×8for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×2
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind ×6
    5. Energy storage
    6. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 3:43
    7. Construction AircraftCon aircraft ×2
    8. Wind
    9. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    10. Con turret
    11. Wind
  2. 2

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine3Wind

    Some games also: converter (44%) · con turret (38%) · wind (36%) · con turret (33%) · grunt (30%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 15 wind · 2 tidal · 3 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 101 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Con turret
    3. Converter
    4. Wind
    5. Converter
    6. Wind
    7. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:20 · typical 9:23
    8. Converter
    9. Wind
    10. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×3
    11. Wind
    12. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    13. Wind ×2
    14. Con turret
    15. Wind
    16. Con turret
    17. Wind ×6
    18. Wind
    19. Wind ×2
    20. Wind ×2
    21. JunoJuno
    22. Wind ×10
    23. Bot LabBot Labdone 9:58
    24. Wind ×2
    25. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:09
    26. Wind ×2
    27. Con turret
    28. GruntGrunt
    29. Wind
    30. GruntGrunt ×2
    31. Con turret
    32. GruntGrunt
    33. Con turret
    34. Wind
    35. GruntGrunt ×2
    36. Con turret
    37. GruntGrunt ×3
    38. Wind
    39. GruntGrunt ×10
    40. Wind
    41. GruntGrunt ×3
    42. Converter
    43. GruntGrunt ×7
    44. Wind
    45. GruntGrunt ×14
    46. Wind
    47. GruntGrunt ×2
    48. Wind
    49. GruntGrunt ×6
    50. Wind
    51. GruntGrunt
    52. Wind
    53. GruntGrunt ×7
    54. Converter
    55. Wind
    56. GruntGrunt ×2
    57. Wind
    58. GruntGrunt ×7
    59. Wind
    60. GruntGrunt
    61. Wind
    62. GruntGrunt ×7
    63. Wind
    64. GruntGrunt
    65. Wind
    66. GruntGrunt ×7
    67. Wind
    68. GruntGrunt
    69. Wind
    70. GruntGrunt ×8
    71. Wind
    72. Converter
    73. GruntGrunt ×2
    74. Wind
    75. GruntGrunt ×4
    76. Converter
    77. GruntGrunt ×3
    78. Wind
    79. GruntGrunt ×3
    80. Wind
    81. GruntGrunt ×9for unknown
    82. Wind
    83. GruntGrunt ×4for unknown
    84. GruntGrunt ×6
    85. Wind
    86. GruntGrunt ×10
    87. Wind
    88. GruntGrunt ×14
    89. Wind ×2
    90. GruntGrunt ×4
    91. Wind
    92. GruntGrunt ×4
    93. Wind
    94. GruntGrunt ×3
    95. Wind
    96. GruntGrunt ×4
    97. Wind
    98. GruntGrunt ×3
    99. SAMSAM
    100. GruntGrunt ×3
    101. SAMSAM

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Espera's (39 OS, 28/09/2026); 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 sea or Techfirst at 2:28 · in 38% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport from Air or Techfirst at 4:41 · in 36% of games
  • Fatboy1 Fatboy from Techfirst at 5:18 · in 42% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:47 · in 95% 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

112 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0011500
2:0027800
3:0081600
4:00150900
5:00221600
6:00296000
7:0038172930
8:0046211058176
9:0055351507591
10:0066702117899
11:00825026521350
12:001015630711664
13:001249534192143
14:001447138202820
15:001685141903522
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

Espera

39.0 OS · 28/09/2026

Open source match ↗

26 received units · includes a constructor
693 metal received · 105634 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Advanced Metal Extractor9:23Middle 50%: 8:37–10:27 · n=107

Played most by

[Grump]Matsuri25games of this buildBoozha13games of this buildDeathkebab11games of this buildEXZoPrimer37games of this buildNazarid7games of this build