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Air / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard air

Cortex Air build order · Supreme Isthmus

The role's baseline: Aircraft Plant immediately, transports and scouts for the team first, Advanced Metal Extractor and Fusion Reactor on a normal timeline, transitioning into Valiant fighter coverage over the game.

Usually transports first (72%)

#eco #team support #air · 633 distinct matches · 123 players · 79% of Cortex Air games · team won 48% of 707 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 1:24

  1. Take 3 mex and open wind before committing to aircraft plant.
  2. Finish aircraft plant to start churning scouts and transports.
  3. Send Hercules, Finch and Hephaestus to allies as they ask.
  4. Get your advanced metal extractor up to fund fighter spam.
  5. Bring fusion online and shift into Valiant fighter coverage.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 633 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 1:13–1:35

    Some games also: energy storage (38%)

    By 1:03 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind
    3. Solarfor Tech
    4. Wind ×4
    5. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:34 · 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
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport for allies
    • Shuriken1 Shuriken

    Some games also: energy storage (46%) · light transport (44%) · converter (40%) · con turret (33%)

    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 · 24 steps
    1. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    2. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    3. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    6. Mex
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. Con turret ×2
    9. Wind
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Wind ×3
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind ×5
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Con turret
    16. Wind ×2
    17. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    18. Wind ×2
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Pond
    21. Con turret
    22. Wind
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine20Wind
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    • Energy Converter6Converter
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plant
    2. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 18 wind, 17 wind, 6 converterin 58% of games
    Builders
    • Construction Turret4 Con turret
    Army
    • Valiant9 Valiant

    Some games also: shuriken (50%) · fusion (36%) · con aircraft (35%) · light transport (31%)

    By 10:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 24 wind · 19 wind · 8 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 98 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Energy storage
    3. Wind ×2
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Converter ×3
    6. Wind
    7. Converter
    8. Con turret
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:19 · typical 6:50
    10. Converter
    11. Wind
    12. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    13. Converter
    14. Wind ×2
    15. Converter
    16. Con turret
    17. Wind ×2
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Wind ×2
    20. Converter
    21. Wind
    22. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 7:14
    23. Wind
    24. Converter
    25. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    26. Wind
    27. FalconFighter
    28. Wind ×2
    29. FalconFighter
    30. Wind
    31. FalconFighter
    32. Wind
    33. FalconFighter
    34. Wind
    35. FalconFighter
    36. Wind
    37. FalconFighter
    38. Wind
    39. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    40. FalconFighter
    41. Wind
    42. FalconFighter
    43. Wind
    44. Con turret
    45. Wind
    46. FalconFighter
    47. Wind
    48. FalconFighter
    49. Converter
    50. Wind
    51. FalconFighter
    52. Converter
    53. Wind
    54. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    55. FalconFighter
    56. Wind
    57. Converter
    58. FalconFighter
    59. Wind
    60. Con turret
    61. Converter
    62. FalconFighter
    63. Wind
    64. Converter
    65. FalconFighter
    66. Wind
    67. Con turret
    68. Converter
    69. FalconFighter
    70. Wind
    71. Converter
    72. FalconFighter
    73. Wind ×2
    74. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00 · typical 10:52
    75. FalconFighter
    76. Wind
    77. Con turret
    78. Wind ×2
    79. Con turret
    80. Wind ×2
    81. Con turret
    82. FalconFighter
    83. Converter
    84. Wind ×3
    85. FalconFighter
    86. Converter
    87. Wind ×2
    88. FalconFighter
    89. Wind
    90. Converter
    91. FalconFighter
    92. Wind ×2
    93. Converter
    94. Wind
    95. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    96. Wind ×4
    97. Converter
    98. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is arcsiz's (35 OS, 05/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:51 · 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 2:26 · in 74% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:38 · in 65% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 1:44 · in 48% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:20 · in 85% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:03 · in 95% 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

707 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039300
2:0092500
3:00145900
4:002057051
5:00276873116
6:003751125167
7:005142190225
8:007010240292
9:009301263344
10:0011805340474
11:0014399440641
12:0017093607949
13:00199139491280
14:002269914671852
15:002558321432789
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Standard air sits below average team win rate at 48%, reflecting the role's support nature rather than kills.

  • + Aircraft plant lands fast at 1:24, enabling early transport and scout support.
  • − Own metal lost still reaches 2705 by 15:00 despite a support-first role.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

arcsiz

35.4 OS · 05/10/2026

Open source match ↗

8 received units · includes a constructor
464 metal received · 62741 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:22Middle 50%: 1:13–1:35 · n=707
Advanced Metal Extractor6:50Middle 50%: 6:24–7:25 · n=681
Fusion Reactor10:52Middle 50%: 9:53–12:08 · n=442

Played most by

DRM44games of this buildAdeus37games of this buildTheGeneraI32games of this buildImmort29games of this buildNutzz29games of this build