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Geo / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Valiant push

Geo builds an Aircraft Plant almost immediately and uses a light transport to drop Valiant fighters and Whirlwind bombers behind enemy lines from under 4 minutes, well before any T1 lab norm timing.

Usually T2 con from an ally (75%)

#air #drop #rush · 12 distinct matches · 2 players · 3% of Cortex Geo games · team won 83% of 12 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • ValiantT1 air fighters from 3:53 · 3% of role by thenFrom the Aircraft Plant. Only 3% of Geo games have it by then; others who build it get it around 8:28
  • Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant in 100%5% of all Geo games by then
  • HerculesLight transport in 83%4% of all Geo games by then
  • WhirlwindWhirlwind in 75%2% of all Geo games by then
  • GruntGrunt in 75%18% of all Geo games by then

Where those units first fight, in 12 games with kill data: in the middle 42%, in the enemy base 33%, on their own side 25%.

Those units destroy a typical 381 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into Sumo (18% of army), Arbiter (11% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 3:38

  1. Open the standard Geo eco with bot lab and geo on schedule.
  2. Build Aircraft Plant instead of pushing straight to T2 vehicles.
  3. Load a Hercules drop to hit the enemy base early.
  4. Field Valiant fighters to support the drop and hold air.
  5. Transition into Advanced Bot Lab for the usual T2 ground push.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 12 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD GEO
  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 Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor2Mex
    • Wind Turbine4Wind+3 vs standard
    Order
    1. Bot LabBot Lab after 2 mex, 4 winddone ~1:00, middle half 0:57–1:18

    By 0:43 in all: 2 mex · 4 wind (standard 1)

    The example game in this phase · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×3
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×2
    5. Bot LabBot Labdone 1:54 · typical 1:00
  2. 2

    Bot Lab to T1 air fighters

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor2Mex
    • Wind Turbine5Wind
    • Energy Converter2Converter
    Order
    1. Geothermal PowerplantGeo after 4 mex, 7 wind
    2. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 4 mex, 9 wind, 2 con turret
    3. ValiantT1 air fighters after 4 mex, 9 wind, 2 con turret
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Graverobber3 Graverobber
    • Construction Bot1 Con bot
    • Construction Bot1 Con bot for allies
    • Graverobber1 Graverobber for allies
    Army
    • Grunt2 Grunt +2 vs standard

    Some games also: light transport (50%) · whirlwind (33%) · energy storage (33%) · Advanced Geothermal Powerplant (33%)

    By 3:51 in all: 4 mex · 9 wind (standard 6) · 1 geo · 2 converter · 2 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 27 steps
    1. GraverobberGraverobber ×2
    2. Construction BotCon botfor Beach sea
    3. GraverobberGraverobberfor Beach sea
    4. Geothermal PowerplantGeodone 3:36 · typical 2:58
    5. GraverobberGraverobber
    6. GruntGruntfor Beach sea
    7. GraverobberGraverobber
    8. Construction BotCon bot
    9. Con turret ×2
    10. Wind
    11. Con turret
    12. Energy storage
    13. Converter ×2
    14. Con turret
    15. Converter ×2
    16. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 5:50 · typical 5:36
    17. Converter
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Converter
    20. Con turret
    21. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2
    22. Advanced Geothermal PowerplantAdvanced Geothermal Powerplantdone 6:49 · typical 7:21
    23. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 7:00 · typical 3:38
    24. Con turret ×2
    25. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    26. Con turret ×2
    27. ValiantValiantdone 7:11
  3. 3

    T1 air fighters to Advanced Bot Lab

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine3Wind−3 vs standard
    • Energy Converter6Converter−6 vs standard
    Order
    1. Advanced Geothermal PowerplantAdvanced Geothermal Powerplant after 4 mex, 11 wind, 9 converterin 58% of games
    2. Advanced Bot LabAdvanced Bot Lab after 12 wind, 9 converter, 5 con turretdone ~8:26, middle half 8:06–8:56
    Builders
    • Construction Turret3 Con turret
    Army
    • Valiant6 Valiant +6 vs standard

    Some games also: light transport (50%) · whirlwind (42%) · energy storage (33%)

    By 8:02 in all: 4 mex · 12 wind · 1 geo · 1 Advanced Geothermal Powerplant · 9 converter (standard 14) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 16 steps
    1. ValiantValiant
    2. Con turret ×2
    3. ValiantValiant
    4. Wind
    5. ValiantValiant
    6. Wind
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. Wind
    9. ValiantValiant
    10. Wind
    11. ValiantValiant
    12. Wind ×2
    13. ValiantValiant ×5
    14. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×10
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Advanced Bot LabAdvanced Bot Labdone 9:08 · typical 8:26
  4. 4

    Advanced Bot Lab to 10:00

    Builders
    • Spectre2 Spectre +2 vs standard
    • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot for allies

    Some games also: Sumo (42%) · converter (33%) · Twitcher (33%) · Arbiter (33%) · crawling bomb (33%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 13 wind · 1 geo · 1 Advanced Geothermal Powerplant · 13 converter (standard 18) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 68 steps
    1. ValiantValiant ×9
    2. Advanced Construction BotT2 con botfor Front
    3. ValiantValiant ×2
    4. SkuttleCrawling bombdone 9:52
    5. ValiantValiant ×8
    6. SpectreSpectre ×2
    7. DeceiverJammer bot
    8. TwitcherTwitcher
    9. DeceiverJammer bot
    10. AugurRadar bot
    11. ArbiterArbiterdone 10:40
    12. Wind
    13. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    14. ArbiterArbiter
    15. Wind
    16. ArbiterArbiter
    17. Wind
    18. Construction BotCon bot
    19. SumoSumodone 11:03 · typical 9:29
    20. Wind
    21. Construction BotCon bot
    22. Wind ×2
    23. SumoSumo
    24. Construction BotCon bot
    25. Wind
    26. SumoSumo
    27. Wind ×2
    28. JunoJuno
    29. BirdshotBirdshot
    30. Converter
    31. SumoSumo
    32. Wind ×3
    33. Mexfor Beach sea
    34. Wind
    35. Converter
    36. Wind ×2
    37. SumoSumo
    38. Wind ×4
    39. Converter
    40. SumoSumo
    41. Wind ×2
    42. Converter
    43. Wind ×2
    44. SumoSumo
    45. Wind ×2
    46. ManticoreManticoredone 13:20 · typical 13:01
    47. Wind ×5
    48. Converter
    49. SumoSumo
    50. Wind ×5
    51. SumoSumo
    52. Wind ×3
    53. Con turret
    54. Converter
    55. Wind ×3
    56. SumoSumo
    57. Wind ×5
    58. Converter
    59. Con turret
    60. SumoSumo
    61. Wind ×7
    62. CommandoCommando
    63. Converter
    64. Wind ×3
    65. Converter
    66. ManticoreManticore
    67. Wind ×2
    68. CommandoCommando

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is _Hawkey_'s (58 OS, 03/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Construction Bot1 Con bot to Beach seafirst at 2:33 · in 100% of games
  • Graverobber1 Graverobber to Beach sea or Pondfirst at 2:58 · in 92% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot to Front or Suicide front or Beach seafirst at 9:17 · in 75% of games

You get

  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 4:55 · in 100% of games
  • Advanced Metal Extractor1 T2 mex from Tech or Frontfirst at 5:10 · in 42% of games

How it plays out

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

  • This build
  • Standard geo

Metal produced

020k40k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

05k10k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02.5k5k7.5k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

12 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard geoEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard geoOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard geo
1:003323350000
2:007528590000
3:00152414970000
4:00286726620000
5:00433737567301020
6:005520567439304150
7:008097798668706770
8:00107961103483707100
9:00136691408010823179474
10:00167101692216113341125258
11:002030819769225412551504720
12:0022875226482794249929981538
13:0024759255123167431630652629
14:0027868284974591600337214360
15:0031110317477520826448956299
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won far more often than the standard build while losing noticeably less metal by 15:00.

  • + Team won 83% of games vs 45% for the standard build.
  • + Lost only 4895 metal by 15:00 vs 6290 for standard.
  • − Destroyed slightly less metal by 15:00 (7520) than standard (7969).
  • − Sample is only 2 players, so results may not generalize.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

_Hawkey_

58.4 OS · 03/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
247 metal received · 140537 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Bot Lab1:00Middle 50%: 0:57–1:18 · n=12
Geothermal Powerplant2:58Middle 50%: 2:48–3:07 · n=12
Aircraft Plant3:38Middle 50%: 3:29–5:15 · n=12
Advanced Metal Extractor5:36Middle 50%: 5:24–5:49 · n=12
Advanced Geothermal Powerplant7:21Middle 50%: 7:07–7:44 · n=12
Advanced Bot Lab8:26Middle 50%: 8:06–8:56 · n=11
Sumo9:29Middle 50%: 8:48–10:19 · n=9
Manticore13:01Middle 50%: 11:57–13:31 · n=6

Played most by

Chronopolize8games of this build_Hawkey_4games of this build