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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 · 1490 distinct matches · 252 players · 80% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1793 · 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 1490 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. Solar ×2
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:27 · 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 · 31 steps
    1. FinchFinch
    2. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    3. Wind ×2
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. Wind ×2
    6. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    9. Wind ×4
    10. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    11. ValiantValiant
    12. Con turret
    13. HerculesLight transport
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Con turret
    16. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    17. Mex
    18. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    19. Wind
    20. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    21. Wind
    22. ValiantValiant
    23. Wind
    24. ValiantValiant
    25. Wind
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. Wind
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Wind ×3
    30. ValiantValiant
    31. Wind
  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 · 55 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Wind
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Wind
    6. ValiantValiant ×2
    7. Wind ×2
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind ×3
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Wind
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Wind
    18. ValiantValiant
    19. Wind
    20. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    21. Wind
    22. ValiantValiant
    23. Wind
    24. ValiantValiant
    25. Wind
    26. Con turret
    27. Wind
    28. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    29. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:24 · typical 6:54
    30. Wind ×2
    31. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    32. Wind
    33. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    34. Wind ×7
    35. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    36. Con turret ×2
    37. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 9:54 · typical 10:53
    38. T2 converter ×2
    39. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 11:01
    40. Con turret
    41. ValiantValiant
    42. Con turret ×2
    43. ValiantValiant ×3
    44. Fusion ReactorFusion
    45. ValiantValiant ×10
    46. Con turret
    47. ValiantValiant
    48. Con turret ×2
    49. ValiantValiant
    50. Con turret ×2
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Con turret ×2
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Con turret
    55. ValiantValiant ×6

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Yamato's (30 OS, 01/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

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

1793 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
6:003706102124
7:005088146167
8:006900190219
9:009279232270
10:0011757292384
11:0014351373540
12:0017061515781
13:00198467811109
14:002269912691689
15:002570018082409
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

Yamato

30.4 OS · 01/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
709 metal received · 77654 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=1793
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1734
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:47–12:18 · n=1147

Played most by

TheGeneraI113games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildMilkdragon51games of this buildAdeus50games of this build