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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 · 1508 distinct matches · 252 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1813 · 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 1508 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 ×4
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:29 · 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 · 23 steps
    1. FinchFinch ×2for Geo sea
    2. Wind ×2
    3. FinchFinch
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. ValiantValiant
    6. Wind ×2
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. ShurikenShuriken
    9. Wind
    10. ShurikenShuriken
    11. Mex
    12. ShurikenShuriken
    13. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    14. Con turret
    15. Wind
    16. Con turret
    17. ValiantValiant
    18. Con turret
    19. Wind
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Wind ×5
    22. Converter
    23. Wind ×2
  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 (47%) · 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 · 223 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Converter
    3. Wind ×2
    4. Converter
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    7. Converter
    8. Wind
    9. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 5:48
    10. Converter
    11. Wind
    12. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    13. Wind
    14. HerculesLight transport
    15. Wind
    16. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    17. Wind ×2
    18. Converter
    19. Wind ×3
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×4done 6:58 · typical 6:54
    21. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:12
    22. ShurikenShuriken ×6
    23. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    24. Bot LabBot Labdone 8:47
    25. Construction BotCon bot ×9
    26. Wind
    27. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    28. Wind ×4
    29. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:51
    30. Wind
    31. ValiantValiant
    32. Wind ×4
    33. ValiantValiant ×2
    34. Con turret
    35. Wind ×3
    36. ValiantValiant
    37. Wind ×3
    38. ValiantValiant
    39. Con turret
    40. ValiantValiant
    41. Wind ×4
    42. ValiantValiant
    43. Wind ×2
    44. Con turret
    45. ValiantValiant
    46. Wind ×3
    47. FinchFinch
    48. Wind
    49. Con turret
    50. FinchFinch
    51. Wind ×2
    52. FinchFinch ×2
    53. Wind ×3
    54. FinchFinch
    55. Wind
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Wind ×3
    58. ValiantValiant ×3
    59. Wind ×2
    60. ValiantValiant
    61. Wind
    62. ValiantValiant
    63. Wind ×2
    64. ValiantValiant
    65. Wind
    66. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    67. Wind
    68. ShurikenShuriken
    69. Wind
    70. ShurikenShuriken
    71. Wind
    72. ShurikenShuriken
    73. Wind
    74. ShurikenShuriken
    75. Wind
    76. ShurikenShuriken
    77. Wind
    78. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    79. Wind
    80. ShurikenShuriken
    81. Wind
    82. ValiantValiant
    83. Wind
    84. ValiantValiant
    85. Wind
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Wind ×2
    88. Converter
    89. ValiantValiant ×2
    90. Wind ×2
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind ×2
    93. ValiantValiant
    94. Wind ×2
    95. ValiantValiant
    96. Converter
    97. ValiantValiant
    98. Wind
    99. ValiantValiant
    100. Wind ×2
    101. ValiantValiant
    102. Wind ×2
    103. ValiantValiant
    104. Wind
    105. ValiantValiant
    106. Converter
    107. Wind
    108. ValiantValiant
    109. Wind ×3
    110. ValiantValiant
    111. Wind ×3
    112. ValiantValiant
    113. Wind ×2
    114. Converter
    115. Wind ×2
    116. ValiantValiant
    117. Wind ×2
    118. ValiantValiant
    119. Wind
    120. ValiantValiant
    121. Converter
    122. Wind ×2
    123. ValiantValiant
    124. Wind ×3
    125. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    126. ValiantValiant
    127. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 14:26 · typical 10:52
    128. Wind
    129. ValiantValiant
    130. Converter
    131. Wind
    132. ValiantValiant
    133. Wind ×4
    134. ValiantValiant
    135. Wind ×2
    136. Converter
    137. Wind ×6
    138. Converter
    139. Wind ×4
    140. Converter
    141. Wind ×6
    142. Converter ×2
    143. Wind ×6
    144. Converter
    145. Wind ×2
    146. Converter
    147. Wind ×3
    148. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    149. Wind
    150. Converter
    151. Wind ×2
    152. Converter
    153. Wind ×4
    154. Converter
    155. Wind ×2
    156. ValiantValiant
    157. Wind ×2
    158. Converter
    159. Wind ×2
    160. Converter ×2
    161. Wind
    162. Bot LabBot Labdone 14:05
    163. Wind ×4
    164. Converter
    165. Wind
    166. Converter
    167. Wind ×4
    168. Converter
    169. Wind
    170. BeamerBeamer
    171. PawnPawn
    172. Wind
    173. PawnPawn
    174. BeamerBeamer
    175. Converter
    176. Wind
    177. PawnPawn
    178. Wind
    179. Converter
    180. Wind
    181. PawnPawn
    182. Wind
    183. PawnPawn
    184. ShurikenShuriken
    185. Converter
    186. Wind
    187. Converter
    188. Wind
    189. PawnPawn
    190. Wind
    191. ShurikenShuriken
    192. Converter
    193. ShurikenShuriken
    194. PawnPawn
    195. Wind
    196. Converter
    197. ShurikenShuriken
    198. Wind
    199. Converter
    200. Wind ×2
    201. ShurikenShuriken
    202. Wind
    203. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    204. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    205. Converter
    206. Wind
    207. Converter
    208. ShurikenShuriken
    209. Wind ×2
    210. ShurikenShuriken
    211. Wind ×3
    212. Converter
    213. ValiantValiant ×2
    214. Wind
    215. Converter
    216. Wind
    217. ValiantValiant
    218. Wind
    219. Converter
    220. Wind ×2
    221. ValiantValiant
    222. Wind
    223. Mex

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is zimt's (30 OS, 31/08/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:50 · 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 71% 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 2:22 · 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

1813 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
6:003711102124
7:005089146167
8:006903190219
9:009285230270
10:0011761292379
11:0014370369533
12:0017069512781
13:00198597811101
14:002270412631689
15:002573618082409
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

zimt

30.2 OS · 31/08/2026

Open source match ↗

14 received units · includes a constructor
215 metal received · 21437 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=1813
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1753
Fusion Reactor10:52Middle 50%: 9:46–12:17 · n=1160

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildMilkdragon52games of this build