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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 · 1522 distinct matches · 253 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1827 · 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 1522 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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:16 · 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 · 22 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinch
    3. Wind
    4. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    5. Wind
    6. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    7. Wind ×2
    8. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    9. ValiantValiant ×2
    10. Wind ×3
    11. ValiantValiant ×4
    12. Mex
    13. ValiantValiant ×2
    14. Wind ×3
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Wind
    17. Con turret
    18. Wind
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. HerculesLight transport ×2for Tech
    21. Con turret
    22. 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 (48%) · fusion (38%) · con aircraft (34%) · 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 · 87 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Energy storage
    4. Wind
    5. ShurikenShuriken
    6. Wind
    7. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    8. Converter
    9. Wind
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    12. Converter
    13. ValiantValiant
    14. Converter
    15. Wind
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Converter
    18. Wind ×2
    19. Converter
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Wind ×2
    22. Converter
    23. Wind ×3
    24. Converter
    25. Wind
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. Wind ×4
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Wind ×2
    30. ValiantValiant
    31. Con turret
    32. ValiantValiant
    33. Con turret
    34. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:02 · typical 6:54
    35. Wind
    36. ValiantValiant
    37. Converter
    38. Wind
    39. ValiantValiant
    40. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    41. Wind
    42. ValiantValiant
    43. Converter
    44. Wind ×2
    45. ValiantValiant
    46. Converter
    47. Wind
    48. ValiantValiant
    49. Wind ×3
    50. ValiantValiant
    51. ShurikenShuriken
    52. Wind ×3
    53. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    54. Con turret
    55. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    56. Wind ×2
    57. ShurikenShuriken ×8
    58. Wind
    59. ShurikenShuriken
    60. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    61. ShurikenShuriken ×7
    62. Wind
    63. ValiantValiant
    64. Wind
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Wind
    67. ValiantValiant
    68. Wind ×3
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 13:10 · typical 10:52
    71. Wind
    72. ValiantValiant
    73. Wind ×2
    74. ValiantValiant ×2
    75. Wind
    76. ValiantValiant ×2
    77. Wind
    78. ValiantValiant ×2
    79. Wind
    80. ValiantValiant ×2
    81. Con turret
    82. ValiantValiant ×10
    83. Fusion ReactorFusion
    84. Con turret ×4
    85. ValiantValiant
    86. Wind
    87. ValiantValiant ×6

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Hunfore's (32 OS, 14/10/2026); 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 2:22 · 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

1827 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
9:009284229270
10:0011758291379
11:0014370366533
12:0017072511779
13:00198667721093
14:002271012561684
15:002574318082429
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

Hunfore

32.4 OS · 14/10/2026

Open source match ↗

15 received units · includes a constructor
150 metal received · 33249 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=1827
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1766
Fusion Reactor10:52Middle 50%: 9:45–12:17 · n=1171

Played most by

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