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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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Bot LabBot Labdone 1:00 · 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 · 23 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction BotCon bot
    3. Wind
    4. Construction BotCon botfor Beach sea
    5. Wind
    6. GraverobberGraverobber
    7. Mex
    8. Wind
    9. GraverobberGraverobberfor Beach sea
    10. Wind
    11. Mex
    12. GraverobberGraverobber
    13. Wind
    14. GraverobberGraverobberfor Pond
    15. Wind
    16. Geothermal PowerplantGeodone 2:46 · typical 2:58
    17. Con turret
    18. GruntGrunt ×2
    19. Con turret
    20. GruntGrunt
    21. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 3:27 · typical 3:38
    22. Converter
    23. ValiantValiantdone 3:37
  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 · 14 steps
    1. Converter
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Converter
    4. ValiantValiant ×5
    5. HerculesLight transport ×4
    6. Converter ×2
    7. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 5:13 · typical 5:36
    8. Converter
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    10. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexfor Pond
    11. Wind ×2
    12. Advanced Geothermal PowerplantAdvanced Geothermal Powerplantdone 7:09 · typical 7:21
    13. Con turret
    14. Advanced Bot LabAdvanced Bot Labdone 7:39 · 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 · 26 steps
    1. BedbugCrawling bomb ×3
    2. SpectreSpectre
    3. BedbugCrawling bombfor Pond
    4. BedbugCrawling bomb
    5. AugurRadar botfor Pond
    6. DeceiverJammer botfor Pond
    7. SheldonSheldonfor Ponddone 8:33
    8. SheldonSheldon
    9. SumoSumo ×3for Techdone 8:42 · typical 9:29
    10. Converter
    11. SumoSumofor Pond
    12. Converter
    13. SumoSumofor Pond
    14. Converter ×3
    15. SpectreSpectrefor Pond
    16. Converter
    17. SpectreSpectrefor Pond
    18. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    19. Converter
    20. SumoSumo
    21. ManticoreManticoredone 9:58 · typical 13:01
    22. Converter
    23. ArbalestArbalest
    24. ManticoreManticore
    25. Wind ×2
    26. Mexfor Pond

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Chronopolize's (48 OS, 03/08/2026); 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

Chronopolize

47.8 OS · 03/08/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
765 metal received · 68293 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