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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 · 1508 distinct matches · 252 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1813 · 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 1508 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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:15 · 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 · 22 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    3. Wind
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    6. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    7. Wind ×2
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    12. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    13. Mex
    14. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    15. ValiantValiant ×3
    16. Wind ×2
    17. Con turret
    18. Wind ×3
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Wind ×2
    21. ValiantValiant
    22. Con turret
  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 · 135 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Wind
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Wind ×2
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Wind
    8. Wind
    9. Wind
    10. FinchFinch
    11. Wind
    12. Wind
    13. Wind
    14. Wind
    15. Wind
    16. Windfor Geo
    17. Wind
    18. Windfor Geo
    19. Wind
    20. Wind ×2for Geo
    21. Wind
    22. Wind ×2for Geo
    23. Energy storage
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:21 · typical 6:54
    25. Windfor Geo
    26. ValiantValiant
    27. Windfor Geo
    28. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    29. Wind ×2for Geo
    30. Wind
    31. Windfor Geo
    32. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    33. Wind ×2
    34. Con turret
    35. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    36. Wind ×4
    37. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    38. Wind
    39. Con turret
    40. Windfor Geo
    41. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:11
    42. Windfor Geo
    43. Wind
    44. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    45. Windfor Geo
    46. Converter
    47. ValiantValiant
    48. Wind
    49. Windfor Geo
    50. ValiantValiant
    51. Converter
    52. Wind
    53. Windfor Geo
    54. ValiantValiant
    55. Wind ×2
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Converter
    58. ValiantValiant
    59. Wind
    60. Con turret
    61. Converter
    62. Wind
    63. ValiantValiant
    64. Energy storage
    65. Converter
    66. Wind
    67. ValiantValiant
    68. Wind
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Converter
    71. ValiantValiant ×2
    72. Wind
    73. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 11:05 · typical 10:52
    74. Converter
    75. Wind
    76. ValiantValiant
    77. Wind
    78. Converter
    79. Wind
    80. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    81. Wind ×2
    82. T2 converter
    83. Wind
    84. Con turret
    85. Wind
    86. Con turret
    87. Fusion ReactorFusion
    88. Wind
    89. Con turret
    90. Wind ×4
    91. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 12:30
    92. ValiantValiant
    93. Wind
    94. ValiantValiant
    95. Wind
    96. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    97. T2 converter
    98. ValiantValiant ×2
    99. Wind
    100. ValiantValiant
    101. Wind
    102. ValiantValiant
    103. Con turret
    104. Wind
    105. Con turret ×2
    106. ValiantValiant
    107. Con turret
    108. Wind
    109. ValiantValiant
    110. Wind
    111. ValiantValiant
    112. T2 converter
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind
    115. ValiantValiant
    116. Wind
    117. ValiantValiant ×4
    118. Fusion ReactorFusion
    119. ValiantValiant ×2
    120. Wind
    121. ValiantValiant
    122. Wind
    123. ValiantValiant
    124. FinchFinch ×2
    125. Wind
    126. FinchFinch ×2
    127. Wind
    128. ValiantValiant ×2
    129. Wind
    130. ValiantValiant
    131. Wind
    132. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    133. Wind
    134. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantnot finished by 15:00
    135. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is BLORGY's (35 OS, 07/08/2026); 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 71% 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 2:22 · 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

1813 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
6:003711102124
7:005089146167
8:006903190219
9:009285230270
10:0011761292379
11:0014370369533
12:0017069512781
13:00198597811101
14:002270412631689
15:002573618082409
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

BLORGY

35.1 OS · 07/08/2026

Open source match ↗

9 received units · includes a constructor
245 metal received · 23923 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=1813
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1753
Fusion Reactor10:52Middle 50%: 9:46–12:17 · n=1160

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildMilkdragon52games of this build
Standard air · Cortex Air build order · BAR Build Atlas