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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 ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Bot LabBot Labdone 1:18 · 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 · 31 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction BotCon botfor Beach sea
    3. Wind
    4. GraverobberGraverobber
    5. Wind
    6. GraverobberGraverobber
    7. GraverobberGraverobberfor Beach sea
    8. Mex
    9. Construction BotCon bot
    10. GraverobberGraverobberfor Pond
    11. Geothermal PowerplantGeodone 3:05 · typical 2:58
    12. GraverobberGraverobberfor Pond
    13. Con turret ×3
    14. Converter ×5
    15. Con turret
    16. Converter
    17. Metal storage
    18. Energy storage
    19. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 4:42 · typical 3:38
    20. HephaestusHeavy transport
    21. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    22. Con turret
    23. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 5:44 · typical 5:36
    24. Wind ×2
    25. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×3
    26. Advanced Geothermal PowerplantAdvanced Geothermal Powerplantdone 7:44 · typical 7:21
    27. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    28. JanusJanus
    29. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:19
    30. Con turret
    31. ValiantValiantdone 8:34
  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 · 22 steps
    1. Con turret
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Con turret
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Con turret ×3
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Con turret
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Con turret
    10. ValiantValiant ×10
    11. FinchFinch
    12. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×3
    13. Con turret ×2
    14. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    15. Con turret
    16. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×7
    17. ValiantValiant ×3
    18. Con turret
    19. ValiantValiant ×4
    20. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    21. ValiantValiant ×6
    22. Advanced Bot LabAdvanced Bot Labdone 10:27 · 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 · 73 steps
    1. ValiantValiant ×10
    2. Advanced Construction BotT2 con botfor Front
    3. TwitcherTwitcher
    4. JunoJuno
    5. Construction BotCon bot
    6. Converter
    7. Advanced Construction BotT2 con bot
    8. Converter
    9. Construction BotCon bot
    10. Converter
    11. DuckDuck
    12. Converter
    13. DuckDuck
    14. Wind
    15. Converter
    16. Wind
    17. DuckDuck
    18. PrevailerPrevailerdone 12:19
    19. Wind ×2
    20. DuckDuck
    21. Wind
    22. Converter
    23. Wind
    24. NemesisNemesis
    25. Wind
    26. DuckDuck
    27. Wind ×2
    28. BedbugCrawling bomb
    29. Converter
    30. Wind
    31. BedbugCrawling bomb
    32. Wind
    33. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 14:22
    34. Wind
    35. BedbugCrawling bomb
    36. Wind ×3
    37. BedbugCrawling bomb
    38. Wind
    39. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    40. Converter
    41. Wind
    42. ManticoreManticoredone 13:44 · typical 13:01
    43. BirdshotBirdshot
    44. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    45. Wind ×2
    46. Converter
    47. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    48. BedbugCrawling bomb ×2
    49. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    50. BedbugCrawling bomb
    51. Wind
    52. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    53. SkuttleCrawling bombdone 14:33
    54. Wind ×2
    55. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    56. Wind
    57. Converter
    58. Wind ×3
    59. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    60. FiendFiend
    61. Wind ×2
    62. FiendFiend
    63. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    64. FiendFiend ×2
    65. Wind ×2
    66. Converter
    67. FiendFiend
    68. Fortification WallFortification Wall
    69. Wind
    70. FiendFiend
    71. Wind ×2
    72. FiendFiend
    73. Fortification WallFortification Wall

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is _Hawkey_'s (58 OS, 11/08/2026); 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

_Hawkey_

58.4 OS · 11/08/2026

Open source match ↗

12 received units · includes a constructor
3382 metal received · 123916 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