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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 · 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 · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Energy storage
    4. Wind ×2
    5. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:44 · 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 · 30 steps
    1. ShurikenShuriken
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Wind
    6. Mex
    7. Wind
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Mex
    10. ShurikenShuriken
    11. Wind ×2
    12. Mex
    13. ValiantValiant ×3
    14. Wind ×2
    15. Con turret
    16. Wind
    17. ValiantValiant
    18. Wind ×4
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Wind
    21. ValiantValiant
    22. Wind
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    25. Wind ×2
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. Con turret
    28. Wind ×4
    29. ValiantValiant
    30. Wind
  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 · 113 steps
    1. Wind ×2
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Wind ×5
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Wind
    6. Converter
    7. Wind
    8. Converter
    9. Wind
    10. Converter
    11. ValiantValiant
    12. Wind ×3
    13. Converter
    14. Wind ×3
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Wind
    17. ShurikenShuriken
    18. Wind
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. ShurikenShuriken
    21. Wind
    22. ShurikenShuriken
    23. Wind
    24. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    25. Wind
    26. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    27. Wind
    28. ShurikenShuriken
    29. Wind
    30. ValiantValiant
    31. Wind ×2
    32. ShurikenShuriken
    33. Wind ×3
    34. ValiantValiant
    35. Wind ×5
    36. ShurikenShuriken
    37. Wind ×4
    38. ValiantValiant
    39. Wind
    40. Converter
    41. Wind
    42. ShurikenShuriken
    43. Wind
    44. Converter
    45. Wind
    46. ValiantValiant
    47. ShurikenShuriken
    48. Converter
    49. Wind
    50. ValiantValiant
    51. Converter
    52. Wind ×2
    53. ShurikenShuriken
    54. Wind
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. Converter
    57. Wind
    58. ShurikenShuriken
    59. Wind
    60. Converter
    61. Wind
    62. ValiantValiant
    63. Converter ×2
    64. Wind ×2
    65. Converter
    66. ShurikenShuriken
    67. Wind
    68. ValiantValiant
    69. Wind
    70. ShurikenShuriken
    71. Wind ×2
    72. ValiantValiant
    73. ShurikenShuriken
    74. ValiantValiant
    75. ShurikenShuriken
    76. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    77. Wind
    78. Con turret
    79. Wind
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Con turret ×2
    82. Wind
    83. ShurikenShuriken
    84. Wind
    85. ValiantValiant
    86. Bot LabBot Labnot finished by 15:00
    87. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    88. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    89. Wind
    90. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 12:10
    91. Wind ×3
    92. Converter
    93. Advanced Construction AircraftT2 con aircraft
    94. Metal storage
    95. Converter
    96. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 13:07
    97. Advanced Aircraft PlantEat Advanced Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    98. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 13:10
    99. Converter
    100. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    101. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    102. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    103. Bot LabBot Labdone 13:42
    104. Con turret
    105. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    106. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    107. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    108. Wind
    109. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    110. Wind
    111. Construction BotCon bot ×3
    112. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    113. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Spongeb0b's (32 OS, 06/09/2026); 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

Spongeb0b

32.1 OS · 06/09/2026

Open source match ↗

0 received units
3 metal received · 228 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