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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 · 1490 distinct matches · 252 players · 80% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1793 · 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 1490 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. Solar
    3. Wind ×2
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:13 · 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 · 25 steps
    1. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    2. Wind ×3
    3. ShurikenShuriken
    4. Wind ×2
    5. ShurikenShuriken
    6. Wind
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    9. Wind ×3
    10. Energy storage
    11. Wind ×4
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind ×2
    14. Energy storage
    15. Wind
    16. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    17. Wind
    18. Converter ×2
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Mex
    21. Converter
    22. Energy storage
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. Converter ×2
    25. 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 (48%) · 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 · 169 steps
    1. ValiantValiant
    2. FinchFinch
    3. Wind
    4. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    5. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:14 · typical 6:54
    6. Wind
    7. HerculesLight transportfor Pond
    8. Wind
    9. ValiantValiant
    10. Wind
    11. Wind
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    14. Wind
    15. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    16. Wind
    17. Con turret
    18. Wind
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Wind
    21. ShurikenShuriken ×2for Geo sea
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. ShurikenShuriken
    25. Wind
    26. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    27. Wind
    28. Wind
    29. ShurikenShurikenfor Geo sea
    30. Wind
    31. ShurikenShuriken ×2for Geo sea
    32. Wind
    33. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    34. ShurikenShurikenfor Geo sea
    35. Wind
    36. Wind
    37. ShurikenShuriken ×2for Geo sea
    38. Wind
    39. ShurikenShurikenfor Geo sea
    40. Con turret
    41. Wind
    42. ValiantValiant
    43. Wind
    44. ValiantValiant
    45. Wind
    46. Wind
    47. ValiantValiant
    48. Con turret
    49. Wind ×2
    50. Wind
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Wind ×3
    53. Converter
    54. ValiantValiant
    55. Wind
    56. Wind
    57. Wind
    58. ValiantValiant
    59. Wind
    60. Converter
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Wind
    63. Wind
    64. Con turret
    65. Wind
    66. Converter
    67. Wind
    68. ValiantValiant
    69. Construction AircraftCon aircraftfor Geo
    70. Wind
    71. Converter
    72. Wind ×3
    73. ValiantValiant
    74. Wind ×2
    75. Converter
    76. Con turret
    77. Wind
    78. Wind
    79. ValiantValiant
    80. Wind
    81. Wind
    82. Converter
    83. Wind
    84. ValiantValiant
    85. Wind
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Wind
    88. Converter
    89. ValiantValiant
    90. Wind
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind
    93. Wind
    94. ValiantValiant
    95. Converter
    96. ValiantValiant
    97. Wind
    98. Con turret
    99. Wind
    100. ValiantValiant
    101. Wind
    102. Converter
    103. Con turret
    104. Wind
    105. Wind
    106. ValiantValiant
    107. Wind ×2
    108. ValiantValiant
    109. Wind ×2
    110. Converter
    111. Wind
    112. ValiantValiant
    113. Wind
    114. ValiantValiant
    115. Con turret
    116. Wind
    117. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 11:44
    118. ShurikenShuriken
    119. Wind
    120. Converter
    121. ShurikenShuriken
    122. Con turret
    123. Wind
    124. ShurikenShuriken
    125. Wind
    126. Converter
    127. ShurikenShuriken
    128. Wind
    129. Wind
    130. Advanced Construction AircraftT2 con aircraft
    131. Wind
    132. ShurikenShuriken
    133. Wind ×2
    134. Wind
    135. Wind
    136. Wind
    137. Wind ×3
    138. Wind
    139. NighthawkNighthawk
    140. Wind ×2
    141. Wind
    142. NighthawkNighthawk
    143. Wind ×3
    144. Wind
    145. NighthawkNighthawk
    146. Wind ×2
    147. Wind
    148. Wind
    149. NighthawkNighthawk
    150. Wind
    151. Wind
    152. Wind
    153. NighthawkNighthawk
    154. Wind
    155. Wind ×2
    156. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    157. AnglerTorpedo bomberdone 12:50
    158. Wind
    159. Wind ×2
    160. Wind
    161. Wind ×4
    162. NighthawkNighthawk
    163. Wind
    164. Wind
    165. ValiantValiant
    166. Wind ×4
    167. NighthawkNighthawk
    168. Wind
    169. ValiantValiant

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is annie_may_tydease's (31 OS, 06/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:50 · 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 2:22 · 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

1793 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
6:003706102124
7:005088146167
8:006900190219
9:009279232270
10:0011757292384
11:0014351373540
12:0017061515781
13:00198467811109
14:002269912691689
15:002570018082409
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

annie_may_tydease

30.7 OS · 06/10/2026

Open source match ↗

17 received units · includes a constructor
155 metal received · 65555 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=1793
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1734
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:47–12:18 · n=1147

Played most by

TheGeneraI113games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildMilkdragon51games of this buildAdeus50games of this build