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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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:19 · 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 · 21 steps
    1. Wind
    2. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    3. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    4. Wind ×3
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    6. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    7. Wind ×2
    8. Energy storage
    9. ValiantValiant
    10. Wind
    11. ValiantValiant ×6
    12. Mex
    13. ValiantValiant ×2
    14. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    17. Con turret
    18. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    19. Converter ×3
    20. Con turret
    21. 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 (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 · 84 steps
    1. Con turret
    2. HerculesLight transport
    3. Wind ×10
    4. Wind
    5. Wind
    6. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:54 · typical 6:54
    7. Wind
    8. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    10. Wind
    11. Wind
    12. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    13. Wind
    14. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    15. Wind
    16. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:02
    17. Wind
    18. Wind
    19. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    20. Wind
    21. Wind
    22. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    23. Wind
    24. Wind
    25. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    26. Con turret
    27. Wind
    28. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    29. Wind ×2
    30. ValiantValiant
    31. Wind
    32. ValiantValiant
    33. Wind ×3
    34. ValiantValiant
    35. Wind
    36. Con turret
    37. Wind
    38. ValiantValiant
    39. Wind ×2
    40. Wind
    41. ValiantValiant
    42. Wind ×2
    43. Wind
    44. ValiantValiant
    45. Wind
    46. ValiantValiant
    47. Wind
    48. Wind
    49. Wind
    50. ValiantValiant
    51. Wind
    52. Wind ×2
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind
    55. Wind
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. ValiantValiant
    60. Wind ×2
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Wind
    63. ValiantValiant
    64. Wind ×2
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Wind
    67. Wind
    68. ValiantValiant
    69. Wind
    70. Con turret
    71. Wind
    72. Wind
    73. ValiantValiant
    74. Wind
    75. Con turret
    76. Wind
    77. ValiantValiant
    78. Wind
    79. Wind
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Wind
    82. Wind
    83. Converter
    84. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is q[o_o]p's (34 OS, 25/09/2026); 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 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

q[o_o]p

34.4 OS · 25/09/2026

Open source match ↗

3 received units · includes a constructor
1732 metal received · 40105 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