BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
Air / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard air

Cortex Air build order · Supreme Isthmus

Economy-first air build: Aircraft Plant then Advanced Metal Extractor and Fusion Reactor, making transports and scouts for allies while transitioning into fighters and occasional bombers over the whole game.

Usually transports first (78%)

#eco #air #team support · 1496 distinct matches · 252 players · 80% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1799 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 1:24

  1. Open 3 mex and wind, then drop Aircraft Plant early.
  2. Finish Aircraft Plant and start fighters for scouting and defense.
  3. Eat the Aircraft Plant once production needs outgrow it.
  4. Get Advanced Metal Extractor up to scale eco.
  5. Bring Fusion Reactor online and keep feeding transports, scouts, fighters to allies.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 1496 GAMES
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
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 Aircraft Plant

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 3 mex, 4 winddone ~1:26, middle half 1:14–1:35

    Some games also: energy storage (38%)

    By 1:07 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 4 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×6
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:44 · typical 1:26
  2. 2

    Aircraft Plant to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine9Wind
    • Wind Turbine3Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Construction Aircraft1 Con aircraft
    Army
    • Valiant5 Valiant
    • Hercules2 Light transport for allies
    • Finch2 Finch for allies
    • Finch1 Finch
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport for allies

    Some games also: shuriken (49%) · energy storage (45%) · converter (44%) · light transport (40%)

    By 5:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 13 wind · 3 wind · 1 energy storage · 2 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 18 steps
    1. HerculesLight transport ×2for Beach sea
    2. FinchFinch ×2for Beach sea
    3. FinchFinch ×2
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    6. ValiantValiant ×5
    7. Con turret ×2
    8. Mex
    9. Wind
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Wind ×2
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind ×3
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind ×2
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 5:10 · typical 6:54
    18. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine21Wind
    • Wind Turbine5Wind
    • Energy Converter6Converter
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plant
    2. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 19 wind, 18 wind, 7 converterin 58% of games
    Builders
    • Construction Turret3 Con turret
    Army
    • Valiant9 Valiant

    Some games also: shuriken (48%) · fusion (38%) · con aircraft (35%) · light transport (31%)

    By 10:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 25 wind · 20 wind · 8 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 142 steps
    1. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    4. Wind
    5. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 6:18
    6. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    7. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    8. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    9. ValiantValiant
    10. Metal storage
    11. ValiantValiant ×4
    12. Con turret
    13. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 11:04 · typical 10:53
    14. Wind
    15. Con turret
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Wind
    18. Con turret
    19. Wind ×2
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Wind
    22. ValiantValiant
    23. Con turret
    24. Wind ×3
    25. Wind
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. Wind
    28. Wind
    29. Wind
    30. Wind
    31. Wind
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Wind
    35. ValiantValiant
    36. Wind
    37. Wind
    38. Wind
    39. Wind
    40. Wind ×2
    41. Wind
    42. Wind
    43. Wind
    44. Wind
    45. ValiantValiant
    46. Wind
    47. Wind ×2
    48. Wind
    49. Wind
    50. Wind
    51. Wind
    52. ValiantValiant
    53. Bot LabBot Labdone 11:15
    54. Wind
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. TickTickfor Pond
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. TickTickfor Pond
    60. ValiantValiant
    61. TickTickfor Pond
    62. Wind
    63. TickTickfor Pond
    64. Wind
    65. TickTick ×2for Pond
    66. Wind
    67. TickTickfor Pond
    68. ValiantValiant
    69. TickTickfor Pond
    70. Wind
    71. TickTick ×3for Pond
    72. ShurikenShuriken
    73. Wind
    74. Wind
    75. TickTick ×3for Pond
    76. Wind
    77. Wind
    78. ShurikenShuriken
    79. TickTick ×2for Pond
    80. TickTick
    81. Wind
    82. TickTick
    83. ShurikenShuriken
    84. Wind
    85. Wind
    86. ShurikenShuriken
    87. ValiantValiant
    88. Fusion ReactorFusion
    89. Wind
    90. Wind
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind
    93. Wind ×2
    94. Wind
    95. Wind
    96. Wind
    97. Wind
    98. ValiantValiant
    99. Wind
    100. Wind
    101. Wind
    102. Wind
    103. Wind
    104. Wind
    105. ValiantValiant
    106. Wind
    107. Wind
    108. Wind
    109. Wind
    110. Wind
    111. ValiantValiant
    112. Wind
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind
    115. ValiantValiant ×2
    116. Wind
    117. Con turret ×2
    118. Wind
    119. ValiantValiant
    120. Con turret ×2
    121. Wind
    122. CitadelAnti-nukedone 14:17
    123. Con turret
    124. ValiantValiant
    125. Wind
    126. Con turret
    127. Wind ×4
    128. Con turret
    129. Wind
    130. Con turret ×2
    131. Wind
    132. Con turret
    133. Wind
    134. HerculesLight transport ×2for Tech
    135. Wind
    136. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    137. HerculesLight transport ×2
    138. Wind
    139. HerculesLight transport ×3
    140. ValiantValiant
    141. Wind
    142. ValiantValiant ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Private_Gator's (31 OS, 12/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:51 · in 96% of games
  • Hercules3 Light transport to Tech or Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 2:06 · in 99% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Pond or Techfirst at 2:23 · in 72% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:37 · in 64% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 1:42 · in 46% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:23 · in 88% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:05 · in 96% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build, running totals by minute

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

01k2k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

1799 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039200
2:0092300
3:00145600
4:002052051
5:0027635173
6:003705102124
7:005088146167
8:006898190219
9:009278232270
10:0011753292384
11:0014351373538
12:0017061513781
13:00198507811102
14:002270012641689
15:002570818042405
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Standard air play wins less than half its games, with very low combat losses and kills since the role mostly supports rather than fights.

  • + Own metal lost stays very low, only 2701 by 15:00.
  • + Metal production reaches 25740 by 15:00, a strong support economy.
  • − Team wins under half of games (47%).
  • − Enemy metal destroyed stays low at 2097 by 15:00, showing little direct impact.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Private_Gator

31.1 OS · 12/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
980 metal received · 44203 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:26Middle 50%: 1:14–1:35 · n=1799
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1740
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:47–12:18 · n=1151

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildMilkdragon51games of this buildAdeus50games of this build