BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
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 ×4
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:30 · 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 · 20 steps
    1. FinchFinch
    2. Wind
    3. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    4. Wind
    5. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    6. Wind ×5
    7. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind ×3
    10. ValiantValiant ×2
    11. Mex
    12. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    13. Con turret
    14. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    15. Wind
    16. Con turret ×2
    17. Wind ×2
    18. Converter
    19. Wind
    20. Converter
  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 · 109 steps
    1. Wind ×2
    2. Converter
    3. Wind ×2
    4. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    5. Wind
    6. Converter
    7. Wind
    8. Converter
    9. Wind ×2
    10. Converter
    11. Wind ×2
    12. Converter
    13. Wind ×2
    14. Converter
    15. Wind
    16. Con turret
    17. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:36 · typical 6:54
    18. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 6:37
    19. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2
    20. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    21. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    23. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 8:58 · typical 10:53
    24. Converter
    25. Fusion ReactorFusion
    26. Converter ×3
    27. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 10:05
    28. Converter ×2
    29. ValiantValiant
    30. Converter
    31. ValiantValiant
    32. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    33. Converter
    34. T2 converter
    35. ValiantValiant ×2
    36. Converter
    37. ValiantValiant
    38. Converter
    39. Converter
    40. Con turret
    41. ValiantValiant
    42. Con turret
    43. ValiantValiant
    44. Converter
    45. Con turret
    46. ValiantValiant
    47. Converter
    48. FinchFinch
    49. Con turret
    50. FinchFinch
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Converter
    53. Converter
    54. ValiantValiant ×4
    55. Converter
    56. ValiantValiant ×2
    57. T2 converter
    58. ValiantValiant ×2
    59. Converter
    60. ValiantValiant ×2
    61. Con turret
    62. Converter
    63. Con turret
    64. Converter
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Con turret ×2
    67. ValiantValiant
    68. Converter
    69. Con turret
    70. ValiantValiant
    71. Con turret
    72. ValiantValiant
    73. Con turret
    74. ValiantValiant
    75. Converter
    76. ValiantValiant ×2
    77. Converter
    78. Converter
    79. Fusion ReactorFusion
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Converter ×2
    82. ValiantValiant
    83. Fusion ReactorFusion
    84. ValiantValiant
    85. Converter
    86. Converter
    87. ValiantValiant
    88. Converter
    89. ValiantValiant ×2
    90. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 14:10
    91. Converter
    92. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    93. Converter
    94. Converter ×3
    95. CondorRadar planefor Geo sea
    96. Converter
    97. Converter
    98. CondorRadar plane
    99. Converter
    100. SkyhookHeavy transport
    101. Converter
    102. NighthawkNighthawk ×2
    103. Converter
    104. NighthawkNighthawk ×3
    105. Converter
    106. Converter
    107. NighthawkNighthawk ×2
    108. Converter
    109. NighthawkNighthawk ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is ObeIix's (31 OS, 28/09/2026); 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

ObeIix

30.9 OS · 28/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
142 metal received · 53507 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