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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 (77%)

#eco #air #team support · 1548 distinct matches · 256 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1856 · 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 1548 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 · 4 steps
    1. Mex
    2. Wind
    3. Mex ×2
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 0:57 · 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%) · 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 · 37 steps
    1. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    2. Solar
    3. Wind ×4
    4. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    5. FinchFinch ×2for Geo sea
    6. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    7. Con turret
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Mex
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    12. Converter
    13. Wind
    14. Wind
    15. Converter ×2
    16. Wind ×2
    17. Wind
    18. Wind ×2
    19. Con turret
    20. Wind ×2
    21. ValiantValiant
    22. Wind
    23. Wind ×3
    24. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    25. Wind
    26. Wind
    27. Wind
    28. Wind
    29. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    30. Wind
    31. Wind ×2
    32. ValiantValiant
    33. Wind
    34. ValiantValiant
    35. Wind
    36. Wind
    37. ValiantValiant
  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 18 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 · 129 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Wind
    3. ValiantValiant
    4. Wind
    5. Wind
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Wind
    8. Wind
    9. Wind
    10. Wind
    11. Wind
    12. Wind ×2
    13. ValiantValiant
    14. Wind
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Wind
    17. ValiantValiant ×2
    18. Wind
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Wind
    21. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    22. ShurikenShuriken
    23. Wind
    24. ShurikenShuriken ×5
    25. Wind
    26. ShurikenShuriken
    27. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:40 · typical 6:54
    28. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    29. Wind
    30. Wind
    31. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    32. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    33. Wind
    34. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    35. Wind
    36. Wind
    37. ShurikenShuriken
    38. Wind
    39. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    40. ValiantValiant
    41. Wind
    42. Wind
    43. Wind
    44. ValiantValiant
    45. Wind
    46. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    47. ValiantValiant
    48. Wind
    49. ValiantValiant
    50. Wind
    51. Wind
    52. ValiantValiant ×4
    53. Wind
    54. Wind
    55. Construction AircraftCon aircraft ×2
    56. Wind
    57. Wind
    58. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    59. Con turret
    60. Wind
    61. Wind
    62. Wind
    63. Wind
    64. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    65. Wind
    66. Wind
    67. Wind ×2
    68. Wind
    69. Con turret
    70. Wind
    71. Wind
    72. Wind
    73. Wind
    74. Wind
    75. Wind
    76. Wind
    77. Wind
    78. Wind
    79. ValiantValiant
    80. Wind
    81. Wind
    82. ValiantValiant
    83. Wind
    84. ValiantValiant
    85. Wind
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Wind
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. Wind
    90. Wind
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind
    93. ValiantValiant
    94. Wind
    95. ValiantValiant
    96. Wind
    97. Wind
    98. Con turret
    99. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 13:32 · typical 10:51
    100. ValiantValiant
    101. Con turret
    102. ValiantValiant
    103. Con turret ×2
    104. Wind
    105. Con turret
    106. ValiantValiant
    107. Con turret
    108. ValiantValiant
    109. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    110. Con turret
    111. Wind
    112. ValiantValiant ×2
    113. Con turret
    114. HerculesLight transport
    115. Wind
    116. ValiantValiant
    117. Con turret
    118. Wind
    119. Con turret
    120. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    121. T2 converter
    122. Wind ×2
    123. T2 converter ×2
    124. Wind
    125. T2 converter
    126. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantnot finished by 15:00
    127. Wind
    128. T2 converter
    129. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Nooby442's (30 OS, 08/08/2026); 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 1:41 · 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 6:04 · 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

1856 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039200
2:0092300
3:00145600
4:002053051
5:0027645173
6:003715102124
7:005094146167
8:006904190219
9:009286227270
10:0011765291371
11:0014385366530
12:0017080511771
13:00198957701078
14:002273412511675
15:002577018062407
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

Nooby442

30.4 OS · 08/08/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
322 metal received · 17451 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=1856
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:26–7:26 · n=1795
Fusion Reactor10:51Middle 50%: 9:45–12:16 · n=1192

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildHALF_DALLAH_HABIT52games of this build
Standard air · Cortex Air build order · BAR Build Atlas