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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 · 1529 distinct matches · 254 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1836 · 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 1529 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 ×3
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:10 · 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. FinchFinch
    3. Wind
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. ShurikenShurikenfor Geo sea
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. ShurikenShuriken
    8. ValiantValiant ×3
    9. Wind
    10. ValiantValiant ×2
    11. Mex
    12. Wind ×5
    13. ValiantValiant
    14. Wind
    15. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    16. Con turret
    17. ValiantValiant ×4
    18. Wind
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Wind
    21. 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 (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 · 124 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Wind
    4. Wind
    5. Energy storage
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Con turret
    8. Wind
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:29 · typical 6:54
    10. Wind
    11. ValiantValiant
    12. Wind
    13. Wind
    14. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    15. Wind
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2
    19. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 7:33
    20. Converter ×2
    21. BlinkScout plane
    22. Wind
    23. Converter
    24. BlinkScout plane
    25. Converter
    26. BlinkScout plane ×2
    27. Converter
    28. Wind
    29. BlinkScout plane
    30. Converter
    31. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    32. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 10:00 · typical 10:52
    33. Converter
    34. FalconFighter ×2
    35. Converter
    36. Wind
    37. Converter
    38. Con turret
    39. Converter
    40. FalconFighter
    41. Converter ×3
    42. FalconFighter
    43. Fusion ReactorFusion
    44. Wind
    45. FalconFighter
    46. Con turret ×2
    47. Converter
    48. Con turret
    49. FalconFighter
    50. Wind
    51. Converter
    52. Con turret
    53. FalconFighter
    54. Converter
    55. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    56. Wind
    57. Converter
    58. Con turret
    59. FalconFighter
    60. Con turret ×2
    61. Converter
    62. Con turret
    63. FalconFighter
    64. Con turret
    65. BansheeBanshee
    66. Converter
    67. Wind
    68. BansheeBanshee ×3
    69. Converter
    70. BansheeBanshee
    71. Wind
    72. BansheeBanshee ×2
    73. Wind
    74. BansheeBanshee
    75. TracerTracer
    76. FalconFighter
    77. Wind
    78. FalconFighter ×5
    79. Wind
    80. FalconFighter
    81. Wind
    82. FalconFighter ×5
    83. Converter
    84. FalconFighter
    85. Wind
    86. FalconFighter ×3
    87. Wind
    88. FalconFighter ×2
    89. Converter
    90. Wind
    91. FalconFighter
    92. Converter
    93. FalconFighter
    94. Converter
    95. FalconFighter
    96. Converter
    97. FalconFighter ×2
    98. Wind
    99. FalconFighter
    100. Converter
    101. Wind
    102. FalconFighter
    103. Converter
    104. FalconFighter
    105. Converter
    106. Wind
    107. FalconFighter ×2
    108. Converter
    109. FalconFighter
    110. Converter
    111. FalconFighter
    112. Converter
    113. FalconFighter
    114. Wind
    115. Converter
    116. FalconFighter ×4
    117. Converter ×2
    118. T2 converter
    119. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 14:30
    120. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    121. T2 converter
    122. StilettoStilettodone 14:51
    123. T2 converter
    124. StilettoStiletto

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Tism_Contingency's (31 OS, 14/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:50 · 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 1:42 · 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

1836 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
7:005089146169
8:006903190219
9:009282230271
10:0011758292379
11:0014379366535
12:0017077511778
13:00198737701089
14:002271112571687
15:002574318182435
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

Tism_Contingency

30.9 OS · 14/10/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
557 metal received · 78205 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=1836
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1775
Fusion Reactor10:52Middle 50%: 9:45–12:16 · n=1179

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildMilkdragon52games of this build
Standard air · Cortex Air build order · BAR Build Atlas