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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 · 1480 distinct matches · 250 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1783 · 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 1480 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 ×3
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:26 · 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 · 24 steps
    1. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    2. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    3. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    5. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    6. FinchFinchfor Tech
    7. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    8. Con turret
    9. ValiantValiant ×3
    10. Mex
    11. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    12. Wind ×2
    13. Wind
    14. Wind
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Wind
    17. ValiantValiant ×2
    18. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Tech
    19. Wind
    20. Con turret
    21. Wind
    22. ValiantValiant
    23. HerculesLight transport
    24. 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 (48%) · fusion (38%) · con aircraft (35%) · 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 · 125 steps
    1. ShurikenShuriken
    2. Con turret
    3. ShurikenShuriken
    4. Wind
    5. HerculesLight transport
    6. Wind
    7. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    8. Con turret
    9. Wind
    10. Wind
    11. Converter
    12. Wind
    13. Wind
    14. Wind
    15. Converter
    16. Wind
    17. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:48 · typical 6:54
    18. Converter
    19. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    20. Wind
    21. Converter
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2
    23. Wind
    24. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 10:06 · typical 10:53
    25. Con turret
    26. Wind
    27. Con turret ×2
    28. Wind
    29. Con turret
    30. Wind ×2
    31. Con turret
    32. Wind ×7
    33. Con turret
    34. Wind
    35. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 10:16
    36. Wind
    37. ValiantValiant ×2
    38. Converter
    39. Wind
    40. ValiantValiant
    41. Converter ×2
    42. Wind
    43. Converter ×2
    44. ValiantValiant
    45. Converter
    46. ValiantValiant ×3
    47. Wind
    48. ValiantValiant
    49. Wind
    50. ValiantValiant ×2
    51. Wind
    52. ValiantValiant
    53. Wind
    54. ValiantValiant
    55. ShurikenShuriken
    56. Wind
    57. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    58. Wind
    59. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    60. Wind
    61. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    62. Wind
    63. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    64. Converter
    65. Wind
    66. ShurikenShuriken
    67. Wind
    68. Converter
    69. ShurikenShuriken
    70. Wind
    71. ShurikenShuriken
    72. Converter
    73. ShurikenShuriken
    74. Wind
    75. ShurikenShuriken
    76. Converter
    77. ShurikenShuriken
    78. Wind
    79. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Wind
    82. ValiantValiant ×6
    83. Con turret
    84. ValiantValiant
    85. Con turret
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Con turret
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. Con turret ×2
    90. ValiantValiant
    91. Con turret
    92. ValiantValiant
    93. Con turret
    94. ValiantValiant ×4
    95. FinchFinch
    96. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×11
    97. Wind
    98. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    99. Wind
    100. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    101. Wind
    102. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×3
    103. Wind
    104. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    105. Wind
    106. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    107. FinchFinch ×2
    108. Wind
    109. ValiantValiant ×4
    110. Wind
    111. ValiantValiant ×3
    112. Wind
    113. ValiantValiant ×4
    114. Wind
    115. ValiantValiant ×5
    116. Wind
    117. ValiantValiant ×2
    118. Wind
    119. ValiantValiant ×3
    120. Wind
    121. ValiantValiant ×2
    122. Wind
    123. ValiantValiant ×3
    124. Wind
    125. ValiantValiant ×4

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Ecky9's (31 OS, 17/09/2026); 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

1783 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039200
2:0092300
3:00145600
4:002053051
5:0027635173
6:003715102124
7:005089146167
8:006904190219
9:009291230271
10:0011771292384
11:0014395373538
12:0017078517781
13:00198597811115
14:002270012691689
15:002572918312440
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

Ecky9

31.3 OS · 17/09/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
519 metal received · 79156 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=1783
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1724
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:45–12:17 · n=1143

Played most by

TheGeneraI112games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildMilkdragon52games of this buildAdeus50games of this build