BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
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 ×3
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:12 · 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 · 34 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    3. Wind ×2
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. Wind
    6. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    7. HerculesLight transport
    8. Wind
    9. FinchFinch
    10. Mex
    11. ValiantValiant
    12. Wind ×2
    13. FinchFinch
    14. Wind ×2
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Wind
    17. Con turret
    18. ValiantValiant
    19. Wind ×3
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    22. Con turret
    23. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    24. Wind
    25. Wind
    26. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    27. Wind
    28. Wind
    29. Wind
    30. Converter
    31. Energy storage
    32. Converter
    33. Energy storage
    34. Converter ×3
  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 · 166 steps
    1. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 5:32 · typical 6:50
    2. Con turret
    3. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×3
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 6:21
    5. ValiantValiant ×6
    6. Wind
    7. Con turret
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind ×2
    10. Con turret
    11. Wind
    12. Con turret
    13. Wind
    14. Con turret
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Con turret
    17. Wind ×2
    18. ValiantValiant ×2
    19. Wind
    20. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    21. Wind
    22. ShurikenShuriken
    23. Fusion ReactorFusion ×2done 8:47 · typical 10:56
    24. Converter ×6
    25. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 10:24
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. T2 converter
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:51
    30. ValiantValiant ×2
    31. Construction BotCon bot
    32. ValiantValiant
    33. Con turret ×2
    34. ValiantValiant
    35. Construction BotCon bot
    36. Con turret ×2
    37. ValiantValiant
    38. Construction BotCon bot
    39. ValiantValiant
    40. Construction BotCon bot
    41. ValiantValiant ×2
    42. Construction BotCon bot
    43. ValiantValiant
    44. Construction BotCon bot
    45. ValiantValiant ×2
    46. Construction BotCon bot
    47. ValiantValiant
    48. Construction BotCon bot
    49. ValiantValiant ×23
    50. Wind ×2
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Wind
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind ×2
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. Wind
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Wind
    59. ValiantValiant
    60. Wind ×2
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Wind
    63. ValiantValiant
    64. Wind
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Wind
    67. ValiantValiant ×3
    68. Wind
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Wind ×2
    71. ValiantValiant
    72. Wind
    73. ValiantValiant
    74. Wind ×2
    75. ValiantValiant
    76. Wind ×2
    77. ValiantValiant ×3
    78. Wind ×3
    79. ValiantValiant
    80. Wind
    81. FinchFinch
    82. Wind
    83. FinchFinch
    84. Wind
    85. FinchFinch
    86. Wind ×2
    87. FinchFinch ×2
    88. Wind ×3
    89. ValiantValiant ×2
    90. Wind ×2
    91. ValiantValiant ×3
    92. Con turret
    93. Wind ×3
    94. Con turret
    95. Wind
    96. ValiantValiant
    97. Wind
    98. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    99. Con turret
    100. Wind
    101. Con turret
    102. Wind ×2
    103. Con turret
    104. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    105. Wind
    106. Con turret ×3
    107. Wind
    108. ValiantValiant
    109. Wind ×2
    110. ShurikenShuriken
    111. Wind ×2
    112. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    113. Wind
    114. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    115. Wind
    116. ShurikenShuriken
    117. Wind
    118. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    119. Wind
    120. ShurikenShuriken
    121. ValiantValiant ×3
    122. Wind ×2
    123. ValiantValiant ×2
    124. Wind
    125. ValiantValiant ×2
    126. Wind
    127. ValiantValiant
    128. Wind ×4
    129. ValiantValiant ×3
    130. Wind ×2
    131. ValiantValiant
    132. Wind
    133. ValiantValiant ×2
    134. Wind
    135. ValiantValiant
    136. Wind
    137. ValiantValiant ×2
    138. Wind
    139. ValiantValiant
    140. Wind
    141. ValiantValiant ×3
    142. Wind
    143. ValiantValiant
    144. Wind ×2
    145. ValiantValiant
    146. Wind ×2
    147. T2 converter
    148. ValiantValiant
    149. Wind ×3
    150. ValiantValiant
    151. Wind
    152. ValiantValiant ×4
    153. Wind
    154. ValiantValiant
    155. Wind ×2
    156. ValiantValiant
    157. Wind ×2
    158. ValiantValiant
    159. Wind
    160. ValiantValiant ×3
    161. Wind
    162. ValiantValiant ×2
    163. Wind
    164. ValiantValiant ×2
    165. Wind
    166. ValiantValiant ×3

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is kuraga__prime's (42 OS, 23/09/2026); 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

kuraga__prime

42.4 OS · 23/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
1594 metal received · 69376 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