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Air / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard air

The usual Cortex air game: Aircraft Plant just after the start, Advanced Metal Extractor around 7 minutes and Fusion Reactor around 11 minutes, making transports and fighters for the team while scaling economy normally.

Usually transports first (72%)

#eco #team support #air · 501 distinct matches · 111 players · 80% of Cortex Air games · team won 47% of 559 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 1:23

  1. Take 3 mex and open straight into Aircraft Plant.
  2. Finish Aircraft Plant, start pumping Valiant for escort duty.
  3. Get T2 constructor going to scale eco alongside air production.
  4. Add Advanced Metal Extractor to keep pace with team's economy.
  5. Bring Fusion Reactor online, keep making Hercules and Finch for allies.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 501 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 ~1:22, middle half 1:13–1:33

    Some games also: energy storage (37%)

    By 1:03 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×5
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:13 · typical 1:22
  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
    • Finch2 Finch for allies
    • Hercules2 Light transport for allies
    • Shuriken1 Shuriken
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport for allies

    Some games also: energy storage (46%) · light transport (44%) · converter (40%) · con turret (31%)

    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 · 36 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    3. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    4. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    5. Wind
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Wind ×2
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Wind
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    14. Wind ×3
    15. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    16. Con turret
    17. Energy storage
    18. Mex
    19. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    20. Con turret
    21. Wind
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. FinchFinch
    25. Con turret ×2
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. Converter
    28. Wind
    29. Converter
    30. Wind
    31. Converter
    32. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 4:53 · typical 6:50
    33. ValiantValiant
    34. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    35. Wind
    36. Converter
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine20Wind
    • Wind Turbine5Wind
    • Energy Converter6Converter
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 18 wind, 17 wind, 6 converterin 58% of games
    Builders
    • Construction Turret4 Con turret
    Army
    • Valiant9 Valiant
    • Shuriken1 Shuriken

    Some games also: con aircraft (36%) · fusion (33%) · light transport (31%)

    By 10:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 24 wind · 20 wind · 8 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 223 steps
    1. Converter ×2
    2. Wind
    3. Wind
    4. Converter
    5. Wind
    6. Wind
    7. Wind
    8. Wind
    9. Wind
    10. Converter
    11. Wind
    12. Con turret
    13. Wind
    14. Converter
    15. Wind
    16. Con turret
    17. Wind
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Converter
    20. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 7:00
    21. Converter ×2
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    23. Wind
    24. Converter
    25. Con turret
    26. FinchFinch
    27. Wind ×4
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Wind
    30. Wind ×3
    31. Wind
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Wind ×2
    35. Wind
    36. Wind
    37. Wind
    38. Wind ×2
    39. Wind
    40. Wind ×3
    41. ValiantValiant
    42. Wind
    43. Wind
    44. Wind
    45. Wind
    46. Wind
    47. Wind ×3
    48. Wind
    49. Wind
    50. Wind
    51. Wind ×2
    52. Wind
    53. Wind
    54. Wind
    55. Wind ×2
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. Wind
    60. Wind
    61. Wind
    62. Con turret
    63. Wind
    64. Wind
    65. Con turret
    66. Wind ×2
    67. Wind
    68. ValiantValiant
    69. Wind
    70. Con turret
    71. Wind
    72. Converter
    73. Wind
    74. Con turret
    75. Wind
    76. ValiantValiant
    77. Converter
    78. Wind
    79. Con turret
    80. Wind
    81. Con turret
    82. Wind
    83. Converter
    84. Wind
    85. ValiantValiant
    86. Converter
    87. Wind
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. Converter
    90. ValiantValiant
    91. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 10:27 · typical 10:56
    92. Wind
    93. ValiantValiant
    94. Converter ×2
    95. Wind
    96. FinchFinch
    97. Converter ×2
    98. FinchFinch
    99. Fusion ReactorFusion
    100. Converter
    101. Wind
    102. ValiantValiant
    103. Converter ×2
    104. Wind
    105. ValiantValiant
    106. Converter
    107. Wind
    108. ValiantValiant ×2
    109. Converter ×2
    110. Wind
    111. ValiantValiant
    112. Fusion ReactorFusion
    113. Converter ×2
    114. Wind
    115. Converter
    116. ValiantValiant
    117. Wind
    118. Converter
    119. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    120. Wind
    121. Converter
    122. Wind
    123. ValiantValiant
    124. Con turret
    125. Converter
    126. Wind
    127. Con turret ×2
    128. Wind
    129. Con turret
    130. Converter ×2
    131. Wind
    132. Con turret
    133. Wind
    134. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 12:45
    135. Converter
    136. Wind ×3
    137. Converter
    138. FinchFinch
    139. ValiantValiant
    140. Wind
    141. T2 converter
    142. ValiantValiant
    143. Converter
    144. Wind ×3
    145. ValiantValiant
    146. Wind
    147. Converter
    148. Wind
    149. Con turret
    150. ValiantValiant
    151. Wind
    152. Con turret
    153. ValiantValiant
    154. Con turret
    155. ValiantValiant
    156. Wind
    157. Con turret
    158. ValiantValiant
    159. Converter
    160. Wind
    161. ValiantValiant
    162. Con turret
    163. Wind
    164. ValiantValiant ×2
    165. Wind
    166. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 13:27
    167. ValiantValiant
    168. Wind ×2
    169. ValiantValiant
    170. FinchFinch
    171. ValiantValiant ×2
    172. Converter
    173. ValiantValiant
    174. Wind
    175. ValiantValiant ×2
    176. Wind
    177. ValiantValiant ×3
    178. Wind
    179. ValiantValiant ×2
    180. Wind
    181. ValiantValiant ×2
    182. Converter
    183. ValiantValiant
    184. Wind
    185. ValiantValiant ×3
    186. FinchFinch
    187. ValiantValiant ×6
    188. Converter
    189. ValiantValiant ×4
    190. Construction AircraftCon aircraft ×2
    191. ValiantValiant ×4
    192. Converter
    193. ValiantValiant ×2
    194. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    195. ValiantValiant ×2
    196. Converter
    197. FinchFinch ×2
    198. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    199. Wind
    200. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    201. Converter
    202. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    203. Wind
    204. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×3
    205. Wind
    206. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    207. Wind
    208. Converter
    209. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×3
    210. Wind
    211. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    212. Wind
    213. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    214. Converter
    215. Wind
    216. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    217. Wind
    218. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    219. Wind
    220. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    221. Converter
    222. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×5
    223. Converter

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [Grump]Grumpiness's (49 OS, 22/09/2026); 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 Geofirst at 2:05 · in 98% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Pond or Techfirst at 2:26 · in 75% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:38 · in 66% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 1:45 · in 48% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:19 · in 84% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:04 · in 94% 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

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

01k2k3k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

559 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039300
2:0092400
3:00145700
4:002052051
5:00276573102
6:003779124147
7:005128176219
8:007036220281
9:009352250341
10:0011841314464
11:0014395439635
12:0017109605955
13:00199329071256
14:002261913911819
15:002548920592748
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

This is the role's standard support job, winning less than half its games while producing little combat impact but reliably feeding transports and scouts to teammates.

  • + Reaches Aircraft Plant almost immediately (1:23), fast T2 constructor by 5:58.
  • + Keeps own losses low (2789 by 15:00) versus other roles.
  • − Destroys only 2027 enemy metal by 15:00, minimal combat contribution.
  • − Fusion Reactor only completes in 57% of games, some games stall on eco.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

[Grump]Grumpiness

48.7 OS · 22/09/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
745 metal received · 93600 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:22Middle 50%: 1:13–1:33 · n=559
Advanced Metal Extractor6:50Middle 50%: 6:23–7:27 · n=536
Fusion Reactor10:56Middle 50%: 10:02–12:19 · n=338

Played most by

DRM35games of this buildCentientWaffle32games of this buildAdeus28games of this buildNutzz25games of this buildhaaven24games of this build