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 (77%)
#eco #air #team support · 1551 distinct matches · 257 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1859 · Recently observed
Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 1:24
- Open 3 mex and wind, then drop Aircraft Plant early.
- Finish Aircraft Plant and start fighters for scouting and defense.
- Eat the Aircraft Plant once production needs outgrow it.
- Get Advanced Metal Extractor up to scale eco.
- Bring Fusion Reactor online and keep feeding transports, scouts, fighters to allies.
Phase by phase
TYPICAL OF ITS 1551 GAMESFollow 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
Up to the Aircraft Plant
Economy
3Mex
4Wind
Order
Aircraft 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 · 5 steps
- Mex ×2
- Wind
- Mex
- Wind ×3
Aircraft Plantdone 1:17 · typical 1:26
- 2
Aircraft Plant to 5:00
Economy
1Mex
9Wind
3Wind
Builders
2 Con turret
1 Con aircraft
Army
5 Valiant
2 Light transport for allies
2 Finch for allies
1 Finch
1 Heavy transport for allies
Some games also: shuriken (49%) · converter (45%) · energy storage (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 · 27 steps
Light transportfor Geo sea
Finchfor Geo sea
Heavy transportfor Beach sea
Finchfor Beach sea- Wind ×2
- Converter
- Wind
- Converter
Valiant ×3- Mex
Valiant- Wind ×3
Valiant- Converter
- Con turret
- Converter
Valiant- Con turret
Light transportfor Tech- Wind
- Wind
Valiant- Wind
Valiant- Wind
- Wind
- Wind
- 3
5:00 to 10:00
Economy
21Wind
5Wind
6Converter
Order
Eat Aircraft Plant
Aircraft Plant after 18 wind, 18 wind, 7 converterin 58% of games
Builders
3 Con turret
Army
9 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 · 65 steps
- Wind
- Wind
Light transportfor Tech- Wind
Valiant- Wind
Shuriken- Wind
Valiant- Wind
- Wind
Valiant- Wind ×2
- Wind
- Wind
- Energy storage
- Con turret
T2 mexdone 6:56 · typical 6:54
Valiant- Wind ×3
T2 mex
Heavy transportfor Geo- Wind ×6
T2 mex- Wind ×5
Con aircraft- Wind
T2 mex- Wind ×8
- Con turret
- Converter
- Con turret
- Converter
Fusiondone 10:27 · typical 10:51- Con turret
- Converter
- Con turret
- Converter ×4
- T2 converter
- Converter
Valiant ×2
Heavy transport
Fusion
Shuriken ×12
Valiant- T2 converter
Valiant ×7- Con turret ×5
Valiant ×2- Con turret
Valiant ×12
Fusion
Valiant ×3- Con turret ×2
Valiant- Con turret
Valiant- Con turret
Valiant ×2- T2 converter
Valiant
Advanced Fusion Reactornot finished by 15:00
Tracer
Con aircraft
Radar Tower
Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Salosin's (33 OS, 11/09/2026); pick another.
Team trades
IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMESYou hand over
2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:50 · in 96% of games
3 Light transport to Tech or Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 2:06 · in 99% of games
1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Pond or Techfirst at 2:23 · in 71% of games
You get
3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:37 · in 64% of games
3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 1:41 · in 46% of games
1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:22 · in 88% of games
1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:04 · in 96% of games
How it plays out
Typical game of this build, running totals by minute
Metal produced
metal
Enemy metal destroyed
metal
Own metal lost
metal
1859 games.
Show as table
| By | Metal produced: This build | Enemy metal destroyed: This build | Own metal lost: This build |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | 392 | 0 | 0 |
| 2:00 | 923 | 0 | 0 |
| 3:00 | 1456 | 0 | 0 |
| 4:00 | 2053 | 0 | 51 |
| 5:00 | 2764 | 51 | 73 |
| 6:00 | 3715 | 102 | 124 |
| 7:00 | 5093 | 146 | 167 |
| 8:00 | 6904 | 190 | 219 |
| 9:00 | 9287 | 226 | 270 |
| 10:00 | 11769 | 291 | 371 |
| 11:00 | 14385 | 366 | 530 |
| 12:00 | 17080 | 511 | 771 |
| 13:00 | 19898 | 769 | 1082 |
| 14:00 | 22736 | 1251 | 1678 |
| 15:00 | 25770 | 1804 | 2405 |
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.
Salosin
32.7 OS · 11/09/2026
Open source match ↗7 received units · includes a constructor
265 metal received · 36975 energy received
Typical milestones
Played most by
TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildHALF_DALLAH_HABIT52games of this buildSupporting games
Pick a game to read and play it above.
El_Turco15/10/2026 · 38 OS↗rainefullstop14/10/2026 · 34 OS↗iriS_xe14/10/2026 · 31 OS↗krtf14/10/2026 · 48 OS↗Tism_Contingency14/10/2026 · 31 OS↗iriS_xe14/10/2026 · 31 OS↗Tregan14/10/2026 · 40 OS↗Tregan14/10/2026 · 40 OS↗Salosin11/09/2026 · 33 OS↗32 more of 1851, the most recent
Afussy14/10/2026 · 34 OS↗bob714/10/2026 · 31 OS↗Vaticineur14/10/2026 · 34 OS↗arcsiz14/10/2026 · 35 OS↗Zippo914/10/2026 · 38 OS↗DRM14/10/2026 · 43 OS↗DRM14/10/2026 · 43 OS↗El_Turco14/10/2026 · 37 OS↗TheGeneraI14/10/2026 · 33 OS↗haaven14/10/2026 · 44 OS↗TheGeneraI14/10/2026 · 33 OS↗Boozha14/10/2026 · 33 OS↗Hunfore14/10/2026 · 32 OS↗Hunfore14/10/2026 · 32 OS↗Viltrum14/10/2026 · 40 OS↗Hunfore14/10/2026 · 32 OS↗Hunfore14/10/2026 · 32 OS↗gmansawesome14/10/2026 · 33 OS↗Hunfore14/10/2026 · 32 OS↗Tregan14/10/2026 · 40 OS↗krtf13/10/2026 · 47 OS↗[CC]CupOfCoffee13/10/2026 · 30 OS↗Adeus13/10/2026 · 35 OS↗[NWP]Kadafi92313/10/2026 · 31 OS↗Adeus13/10/2026 · 35 OS↗[Crd]HahnII13/10/2026 · 31 OS↗[NWP]Kadafi92313/10/2026 · 31 OS↗Lexosis13/10/2026 · 37 OS↗Zippo913/10/2026 · 37 OS↗Vaticineur13/10/2026 · 33 OS↗Zippo913/10/2026 · 37 OS↗El_Turco13/10/2026 · 38 OS↗Beyond All Reason test-31251-0ceadc7
Naval balance tweaks on