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 · 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 · 2 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 0:53 · 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 · 41 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    3. Wind
    4. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    6. Wind ×3
    7. Energy storage
    8. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    9. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    10. Con turret
    11. FinchFinch
    12. Con turret
    13. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    14. ValiantValiant ×2
    15. Mex
    16. Wind
    17. ValiantValiant
    18. Wind
    19. Wind ×4
    20. Wind
    21. Wind ×4
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. ValiantValiant
    25. Wind
    26. Wind
    27. Converter ×2
    28. Wind
    29. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    30. Con turret
    31. Converter ×2
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Wind
    35. Wind
    36. Converter
    37. Wind
    38. Wind
    39. Wind
    40. Converter
    41. 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 (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 · 258 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Wind
    3. Wind
    4. Wind
    5. Converter
    6. Wind
    7. Wind
    8. Wind
    9. Converter
    10. Wind
    11. Wind
    12. Wind ×2
    13. Wind
    14. Converter
    15. Wind
    16. Wind
    17. Wind
    18. Converter
    19. Wind
    20. Wind
    21. Wind
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. Wind ×2
    25. Wind ×2
    26. Wind ×2
    27. Wind
    28. Wind
    29. Wind ×2
    30. Wind ×2
    31. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 6:35
    32. Wind ×3
    33. ValiantValiant ×5
    34. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:24 · typical 6:54
    35. ValiantValiant
    36. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    37. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    38. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×3
    39. Con turret
    40. Bot LabBot Labdone 8:25
    41. Construction BotCon bot ×5
    42. Wind ×2
    43. Construction BotCon bot
    44. Wind ×2
    45. Construction BotCon bot
    46. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:03
    47. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    48. Construction BotCon bot
    49. Con turret
    50. ValiantValiant
    51. Wind ×4
    52. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    53. Construction BotCon bot
    54. ValiantValiant
    55. Wind
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Construction BotCon bot
    58. ValiantValiant
    59. Wind
    60. ValiantValiant
    61. Wind
    62. ValiantValiant
    63. Wind ×3
    64. Wind
    65. Wind
    66. ValiantValiant
    67. Wind ×2
    68. ValiantValiant ×2
    69. Wind
    70. FinchFinch
    71. Wind
    72. FinchFinch ×2
    73. Wind
    74. Wind
    75. FinchFinch
    76. Wind ×4
    77. ValiantValiant
    78. Wind
    79. Wind
    80. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    81. Wind
    82. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    83. Wind
    84. ShurikenShuriken
    85. Wind
    86. ShurikenShuriken
    87. Wind
    88. ShurikenShuriken
    89. Wind
    90. ShurikenShuriken
    91. Wind
    92. Wind
    93. Wind ×5
    94. ShurikenShuriken
    95. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    96. ShurikenShuriken
    97. Wind
    98. ShurikenShuriken
    99. ValiantValiant
    100. Wind ×2
    101. ValiantValiant
    102. Wind
    103. Wind
    104. ValiantValiant
    105. Wind ×4
    106. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    107. Wind ×3
    108. Wind
    109. Con turret
    110. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    111. Wind
    112. Con turret
    113. Wind
    114. Wind ×2
    115. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    116. Wind
    117. Wind
    118. Wind ×2
    119. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    120. Wind ×5
    121. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    122. Wind
    123. Wind
    124. T2 converter
    125. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    126. Wind
    127. Wind
    128. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    129. Wind ×4
    130. Wind
    131. Wind ×5
    132. T2 converter
    133. Wind
    134. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    135. Wind
    136. Wind
    137. Wind ×2
    138. Wind
    139. Wind ×5
    140. Wind
    141. Con turret
    142. Wind ×2
    143. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    144. Wind ×2
    145. Wind
    146. Wind ×3
    147. Wind
    148. Con turret
    149. Wind ×4
    150. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    151. Wind
    152. Con turret
    153. Wind
    154. Wind
    155. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    156. Wind
    157. Wind
    158. ValiantValiant
    159. Con turret
    160. Wind ×4
    161. ValiantValiant
    162. Wind ×2
    163. Wind
    164. Wind
    165. ValiantValiant
    166. Wind
    167. ValiantValiant
    168. Wind
    169. ValiantValiant
    170. Wind
    171. ValiantValiant
    172. Wind
    173. T2 converter
    174. ValiantValiant
    175. Wind
    176. FinchFinch
    177. Wind
    178. Wind ×4
    179. Wind
    180. FinchFinch
    181. Wind ×2
    182. FinchFinch ×4
    183. Wind
    184. FinchFinch
    185. ValiantValiant
    186. Wind
    187. Wind
    188. ValiantValiant
    189. Wind ×2
    190. ValiantValiant
    191. Wind ×5
    192. ValiantValiant
    193. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 14:02 · typical 10:52
    194. ValiantValiant
    195. Wind
    196. ValiantValiant
    197. Wind
    198. ValiantValiant
    199. Wind
    200. ValiantValiant
    201. Wind
    202. ValiantValiant
    203. Wind ×5
    204. ValiantValiant
    205. Wind ×4
    206. Wind
    207. ValiantValiant
    208. Wind
    209. Wind
    210. ValiantValiant
    211. Wind
    212. ValiantValiant
    213. Wind
    214. Wind ×5
    215. ValiantValiant
    216. Wind ×3
    217. Wind
    218. Wind
    219. ValiantValiant
    220. ShurikenShuriken
    221. Wind
    222. Wind ×2
    223. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    224. Wind
    225. ShurikenShuriken
    226. Wind ×3
    227. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    228. Wind
    229. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    230. Wind
    231. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    232. Wind
    233. T2 converter
    234. ShurikenShuriken
    235. Wind ×2
    236. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    237. Wind ×3
    238. ShurikenShuriken
    239. Wind ×2
    240. ShurikenShuriken
    241. T2 converter
    242. Wind
    243. ShurikenShuriken
    244. Wind
    245. ValiantValiant
    246. Wind ×2
    247. ValiantValiant
    248. Wind ×4
    249. ValiantValiant
    250. Wind
    251. ValiantValiant
    252. Wind
    253. ValiantValiant ×2
    254. Wind
    255. ValiantValiant
    256. Con turret
    257. Wind ×2
    258. Con turret

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Herbiderpi's (32 OS, 09/10/2026); 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 2:23 · 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

Herbiderpi

32.3 OS · 09/10/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
908 metal received · 19071 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
Standard air · Cortex Air build order · BAR Build Atlas