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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 · 1496 distinct matches · 252 players · 80% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1799 · 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 1496 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 · 6 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Wind
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×4
    5. Energy storage
    6. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:33 · 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 · 34 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinch ×2for Geo sea
    3. Wind
    4. FinchFinch
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    6. Wind ×4
    7. Solar
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind ×4
    10. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    11. Wind
    12. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    13. ValiantValiant ×2
    14. Con turret
    15. Mex
    16. Con turret
    17. ValiantValiant
    18. Con turret
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. ShurikenShuriken
    21. ValiantValiant
    22. HephaestusHeavy transport
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    25. ValiantValiant
    26. Converter
    27. HerculesLight transport
    28. ShurikenShuriken
    29. Converter
    30. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    31. Wind
    32. HerculesLight transport
    33. Wind
    34. Converter
  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 · 295 steps
    1. Wind ×2
    2. Converter
    3. FinchFinch
    4. Converter
    5. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    6. Wind ×3
    7. Converter
    8. Wind ×3
    9. Converter
    10. Wind
    11. Con turret
    12. Wind
    13. Converter
    14. Con turret
    15. Wind ×9
    16. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:38 · typical 6:54
    17. Wind
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Wind
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    21. Wind ×2
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    23. Wind
    24. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:28
    25. Construction BotCon bot
    26. Wind
    27. Construction BotCon bot
    28. Wind
    29. Construction BotCon bot
    30. Wind
    31. Construction BotCon bot
    32. Wind
    33. Construction BotCon bot
    34. Wind ×10
    35. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:22
    36. Wind ×3
    37. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    38. Wind ×5
    39. Con turret
    40. Wind
    41. ValiantValiant
    42. Wind ×4
    43. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    44. Wind ×3
    45. Advanced solar
    46. Wind
    47. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    48. Wind ×2
    49. Con turret
    50. Wind ×2
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Wind ×3
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind
    55. Con turret
    56. Wind
    57. Converter
    58. Wind ×2
    59. ValiantValiant
    60. Wind
    61. Con turret
    62. Wind
    63. Converter
    64. ValiantValiant
    65. Wind ×4
    66. ValiantValiant
    67. Con turret
    68. Wind ×3
    69. Con turret
    70. Wind ×3
    71. Advanced solar
    72. ValiantValiant
    73. Wind ×3
    74. Converter
    75. Wind
    76. FinchFinch
    77. Wind ×4
    78. FinchFinch
    79. Converter
    80. Wind
    81. Converter
    82. Wind ×2
    83. FinchFinch
    84. Wind
    85. Converter
    86. Wind
    87. FinchFinch
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. Wind ×2
    90. Converter
    91. Wind
    92. ValiantValiant
    93. Wind ×2
    94. Con turret
    95. ValiantValiant
    96. Wind ×2
    97. Converter
    98. Wind
    99. ValiantValiant
    100. Converter
    101. Wind ×2
    102. ValiantValiant
    103. Converter
    104. Wind
    105. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    106. Converter
    107. Advanced solar
    108. Wind ×3
    109. ValiantValiant
    110. Wind
    111. ValiantValiant
    112. Converter
    113. Wind
    114. Converter
    115. Wind ×3
    116. ValiantValiant
    117. Wind
    118. Converter
    119. ValiantValiant
    120. Wind
    121. ValiantValiant
    122. Converter
    123. Wind ×2
    124. Converter
    125. Wind ×2
    126. Converter
    127. ValiantValiant
    128. Wind ×2
    129. ValiantValiant
    130. Converter
    131. Wind ×3
    132. Converter
    133. ValiantValiant
    134. Wind
    135. Converter
    136. Wind
    137. ValiantValiant
    138. Wind
    139. Converter
    140. Wind ×2
    141. ValiantValiant
    142. Wind
    143. Con turret
    144. ValiantValiant
    145. Converter
    146. Converter
    147. Wind ×2
    148. Converter
    149. ValiantValiant
    150. Converter
    151. Converter
    152. ValiantValiant
    153. Wind ×3
    154. Converter
    155. Wind
    156. ValiantValiant
    157. Advanced solar
    158. ValiantValiant
    159. Wind ×4
    160. Converter
    161. ValiantValiant
    162. Converter ×2
    163. Wind
    164. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    165. Wind
    166. Converter
    167. Wind
    168. Converter
    169. Wind
    170. Converter
    171. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    172. Wind ×3
    173. Converter
    174. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    175. Wind
    176. Converter
    177. Converter
    178. Wind ×2
    179. Converter
    180. Wind ×2
    181. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    182. Wind ×3
    183. Converter
    184. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    185. Wind ×4
    186. Converter
    187. Wind ×2
    188. Converter
    189. Wind
    190. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    191. Converter
    192. Wind ×2
    193. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    194. Wind
    195. Converter
    196. Converter
    197. Wind ×2
    198. Converter
    199. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    200. Wind ×5
    201. Converter
    202. Converter
    203. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    204. Wind ×2
    205. Converter
    206. Wind ×2
    207. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    208. Wind ×2
    209. Converter
    210. Advanced solar
    211. Wind
    212. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    213. Wind ×3
    214. Converter
    215. Wind
    216. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    217. Wind
    218. Converter
    219. Wind ×4
    220. Converter
    221. Wind
    222. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    223. Wind
    224. Converter
    225. Wind
    226. Converter
    227. Wind ×2
    228. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    229. Wind
    230. Advanced solar
    231. Converter
    232. Wind ×4
    233. Converter
    234. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    235. Wind ×4
    236. Converter
    237. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    238. Wind ×2
    239. Converter
    240. Wind ×4
    241. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    242. Wind
    243. Converter
    244. Wind
    245. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    246. Converter
    247. Converter
    248. Wind ×3
    249. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    250. Wind ×2
    251. Converter
    252. Converter ×2
    253. Wind ×2
    254. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 14:20
    255. Wind ×2
    256. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    257. Converter
    258. Wind
    259. Converter
    260. Converter
    261. Wind ×3
    262. Converter
    263. Con turret
    264. ValiantValiant ×2
    265. Converter
    266. Wind ×2
    267. ValiantValiant
    268. Con turret
    269. Wind ×2
    270. Converter
    271. Converter
    272. FinchFinch
    273. Wind
    274. FinchFinch
    275. Converter
    276. Con turret
    277. Wind
    278. FinchFinch
    279. Wind
    280. Converter
    281. FinchFinch
    282. Wind
    283. Con turret
    284. FinchFinch
    285. Wind
    286. Converter
    287. ValiantValiant
    288. Con turret
    289. Converter
    290. Converter
    291. Wind ×3
    292. FinchFinch
    293. Con turret
    294. Converter
    295. ValiantValiant

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is bob7's (31 OS, 11/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:51 · 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 2:23 · 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

1799 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
6:003705102124
7:005088146167
8:006898190219
9:009278232270
10:0011753292384
11:0014351373538
12:0017061513781
13:00198507811102
14:002270012641689
15:002570818042405
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

bob7

31.0 OS · 11/10/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
158 metal received · 42772 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=1799
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1740
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:47–12:18 · n=1151

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildMilkdragon51games of this buildAdeus50games of this build