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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / SIGNATURE BUILD

Tzar rush

Pond rushes straight to an Advanced Vehicle Plant by ~4:00 and pushes a Tzar with Quaker and Fury support into the enemy base from under 5 minutes, skipping the normal boost/lab phase entirely for a fast T2 assault.

#t2 #rush #push · 11 distinct matches · one player ([AFUS]Trotski) · 4% of Cortex Pond games · team won 91% of 11 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • TzarT2 vehicle assault from 4:03 · 5% of role by thenFrom the Advanced Vehicle Plant. Only 5% of Pond games have it by then; others who build it get it around 4:35
  • Advanced Vehicle PlantAdvanced Vehicle Plant in 100%7% of all Pond games by then
  • Vehicle PlantVehicle Plant in 100%7% of all Pond games by then
  • OmenRadar vehicle in 100%6% of all Pond games by then
  • TigerTiger in 91%5% of all Pond games by then

Started with Tzar (91%), Tiger (9%).

Where those units first fight, in 11 games with kill data: in the middle 91%, on their own side 9%.

Those units destroy a typical 12,365 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into tiger (62% of army), quaker (15% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Tzar by 4:45

  1. Open with mex and wind, skip usual boosting, rush Vehicle Plant.
  2. Push straight to Advanced Vehicle Plant far earlier than role norm.
  3. Commit first unit as Tzar heavy assault tank instead of T1 army.
  4. Add radar vehicle (Omen) support right behind the Tzar.
  5. Add anti-air (Fury) then transition into Tiger-led T2 push.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 11 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
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 Vehicle Plant

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex+3 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine4Wind+4 vs standard
    Order
    1. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plant after 3 mex, 4 winddone ~1:19, middle half 1:05–1:42

    Some games also: energy storage (45%)

    By 1:00 in all: 3 mex (standard 0) · 4 wind (standard 0)

    The example game in this phase · 4 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×12
    3. Energy storage
    4. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 2:12 · typical 1:19
  2. 2

    Vehicle Plant to Advanced Vehicle Plant

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex−3 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine3Wind
    Order
    1. Advanced Vehicle PlantAdvanced Vehicle Plant after 4 mex, 6 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~4:02, middle half 3:30–4:27
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret
    • Construction Vehicle6 Con vehicle for allies +6 vs standard
    • Construction Vehicle1 Con vehicle

    Some games also: energy storage (45%)

    By 3:18 in all: 4 mex · 6 wind (standard 4) · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 9 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction VehicleCon vehicle
    3. Wind ×4
    4. Construction VehicleCon vehicle ×2for Beach sea
    5. Mex
    6. Construction VehicleCon vehicle ×2for Geo sea
    7. Con turret
    8. Construction VehicleCon vehicle ×2for Front
    9. Advanced Vehicle PlantAdvanced Vehicle Plantdone 4:31 · typical 4:02
  3. 3

    Advanced Vehicle Plant to T2 vehicle assault

    Order
    1. TzarT2 vehicle assault after 4 mex, 8 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~4:42, middle half 4:20–4:58
    Builders
    • Construction Vehicle1 Con vehicle for allies

    Some games also: wind (45%)

    By 4:03 in all: 4 mex · 8 wind (standard 6) · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 2 steps
    1. Construction VehicleCon vehiclefor Geo
    2. TzarTzardone 5:03 · typical 4:42
  4. 4

    T2 vehicle assault to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine1Wind−7 vs standard
    Army
    • Guard1 Guard
    • Tiger10 Tiger +10 vs standard
    • Quaker5 Quaker +5 vs standard
    • Omen1 Radar vehicle
    • Obscurer1 Jammer
    • Fury1 Fury

    Some games also: Thistle (36%) · Radar Tower (36%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 13 wind · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 32 steps
    1. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    2. OmenRadar vehicle
    3. ObscurerJammer
    4. Wind
    5. FuryFuryfor unknowndone 5:30 · typical 5:30
    6. QuakerQuaker ×3done 5:38 · typical 5:05
    7. QuakerQuakerfor unknown
    8. QuakerQuaker
    9. TigerTigerfor unknowndone 6:32 · typical 6:10
    10. TigerTiger ×8
    11. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    12. TigerTiger ×4
    13. TigerTiger ×3for unknown
    14. Con turret
    15. TigerTiger ×6for unknown
    16. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    17. TigerTigerfor unknown
    18. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    19. TigerTigerfor unknown
    20. TigerTiger
    21. Advanced Construction VehicleT2 con vehicle ×4for Suicide front
    22. Advanced Construction VehicleT2 con vehicle ×2
    23. Advanced Construction VehicleT2 con vehiclefor unknown
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 14:19
    25. Advanced Construction VehicleT2 con vehicle
    26. TigerTiger
    27. TremorTremordone 14:18
    28. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    29. TigerTiger ×2
    30. Advanced solar
    31. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    32. Mex

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [AFUS]Trotski's (83 OS, 24/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Construction Vehicle7 Con vehicle to Beach sea or Suicide front or Geo seafirst at 2:37 · in 100% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine6 Wind from Geo sea or Pondfirst at 0:37 · in 64% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build against the role’s standard build, running totals by minute

  • This build
  • Standard pond

Metal produced

010k20k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

010k20k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

11 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard pondEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard pondOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard pond
1:004091150000
2:009682780000
3:0016238160000
4:00287315100000
5:003562221763000
6:0042362962908000
7:0049263826465128800
8:005586462391901070880189
9:00645555351301715072397591
10:00712766511500321713087899
11:007800825016131269341921360
12:0084381019416131313441921695
13:0084381257416131345441922159
14:0084381466816131382141922820
15:0084381700416131427441923392
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won almost every game and heavily outdestroyed the standard build despite far lower own metal production.

  • + Destroyed 16822 metal by 15:00 vs 4391 for standard build.
  • + Team win rate 92% vs 52% for standard build.
  • − Metal production collapses by 15:00 (7711 vs 16843) if the push stalls.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

[AFUS]Trotski

83.4 OS · 24/09/2026

Open source match ↗

26 received units
9366 metal received · 61134 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Vehicle Plant1:19Middle 50%: 1:05–1:42 · n=11
Advanced Vehicle Plant4:02Middle 50%: 3:30–4:27 · n=11
Tzar4:42Middle 50%: 4:20–4:58 · n=11
Quaker5:05Middle 50%: 4:53–5:28 · n=11
Fury5:30Middle 50%: 4:50–6:11 · n=11
Tiger6:10Middle 50%: 5:43–6:46 · n=11

Played most by

[AFUS]Trotski11games of this build