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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 · 1506 distinct matches · 252 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1811 · 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 1506 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 ×3
    2. Wind ×6
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:49 · 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 · 16 steps
    1. FinchFinch
    2. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    3. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    4. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    5. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    6. GuardGuard
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    9. ValiantValiant ×4
    10. Mex
    11. ValiantValiant ×2
    12. Wind
    13. ValiantValiant
    14. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    15. Wind
    16. 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 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 · 178 steps
    1. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Pond
    2. Wind ×2
    3. ValiantValiant ×2
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    5. Wind
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. HerculesLight transport
    8. Wind
    9. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    10. Con turret
    11. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    12. Wind
    13. Con turret
    14. Wind
    15. Con turret ×3
    16. Wind
    17. Con turret
    18. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    19. Wind
    20. Converter
    21. Wind ×2
    22. Converter
    23. Wind ×3
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:02 · typical 6:54
    25. Wind
    26. Converter
    27. Wind ×2
    28. Converter
    29. Wind ×3
    30. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    31. Wind
    32. Converter
    33. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    34. Wind
    35. Converter
    36. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:03
    37. Converter
    38. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    39. Wind
    40. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    41. HerculesLight transport
    42. Converter
    43. Wind
    44. Converter
    45. Wind ×3
    46. Converter
    47. Wind ×2
    48. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 10:54 · typical 10:53
    49. Wind
    50. Converter ×2
    51. Wind
    52. Converter ×2
    53. Wind
    54. Converter ×2
    55. Wind
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Con turret
    58. Wind
    59. Converter
    60. Con turret
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Wind
    63. Con turret
    64. ValiantValiant
    65. Converter
    66. Con turret
    67. ValiantValiant
    68. Wind
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Con turret
    71. Wind
    72. Con turret
    73. ValiantValiant
    74. FinchFinch
    75. Converter
    76. ValiantValiant
    77. Wind
    78. Con turret
    79. ValiantValiant
    80. Wind
    81. Converter
    82. ValiantValiant ×2
    83. Wind
    84. ValiantValiant ×2
    85. Wind
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Converter
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. Wind
    90. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    91. ValiantValiant ×2
    92. Wind
    93. ValiantValiant
    94. Converter
    95. ValiantValiant ×6
    96. Converter
    97. ValiantValiant ×4
    98. Wind
    99. ValiantValiant ×2
    100. Wind
    101. Converter
    102. ValiantValiant ×4
    103. Wind
    104. FinchFinch ×2
    105. Converter
    106. ValiantValiant ×2
    107. Wind
    108. ValiantValiant ×2
    109. Construction AircraftCon aircraftfor Pond
    110. Wind
    111. ValiantValiant
    112. Converter
    113. ValiantValiant ×2
    114. Wind
    115. ValiantValiant ×2
    116. Wind
    117. ValiantValiant
    118. Converter
    119. ValiantValiant
    120. Wind
    121. ValiantValiant
    122. Wind
    123. ValiantValiant ×3
    124. Converter
    125. ValiantValiant
    126. Wind
    127. ValiantValiant ×3
    128. Wind
    129. ValiantValiant
    130. Converter
    131. ValiantValiant
    132. Wind
    133. ValiantValiant ×3
    134. Wind
    135. ValiantValiant
    136. Converter
    137. ValiantValiant ×2
    138. Wind
    139. ValiantValiant ×2
    140. Wind
    141. ValiantValiant
    142. Converter
    143. ValiantValiant ×2
    144. Wind
    145. ValiantValiant ×3
    146. Converter
    147. Wind
    148. ValiantValiant ×2
    149. Wind
    150. ValiantValiant ×2
    151. Converter
    152. Wind
    153. ValiantValiant ×3
    154. Wind
    155. ValiantValiant
    156. Wind
    157. ValiantValiant
    158. Converter
    159. ValiantValiant
    160. ShurikenShuriken
    161. Wind
    162. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    163. Wind
    164. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    165. Converter
    166. ShurikenShuriken
    167. Wind
    168. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    169. Wind
    170. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    171. Wind
    172. Converter
    173. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    174. Wind
    175. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    176. Converter
    177. Wind
    178. ShurikenShuriken ×4

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [A7O]SuperTetra's (31 OS, 21/09/2026); 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 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

1811 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
6:003707102124
7:005089146167
8:006902190219
9:009284230270
10:0011758292380
11:0014356369536
12:0017069512781
13:00198597811102
14:002270412641689
15:002573618132420
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

[A7O]SuperTetra

30.6 OS · 21/09/2026

Open source match ↗

8 received units · includes a constructor
194 metal received · 83920 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=1811
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1751
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:45–12:17 · n=1159

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildMilkdragon52games of this build