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Air / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard air

Cortex Air build order · Supreme Isthmus

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 · 552 distinct matches · 116 players · 79% of Cortex Air games · team won 47% of 621 · 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 552 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 1:13–1:35

    Some games also: energy storage (38%)

    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 1:11 · 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
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport for allies
    • Shuriken1 Shuriken

    Some games also: energy storage (45%) · light transport (44%) · converter (39%) · con turret (33%)

    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 · 21 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ShurikenShuriken
    3. Wind ×2
    4. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    5. Wind ×3
    6. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    7. Energy storage
    8. FinchFinch
    9. HerculesLight transport
    10. HerculesLight transport ×3for Geo sea
    11. Construction AircraftCon aircraft ×2
    12. Con turret
    13. ValiantValiant ×5
    14. Mex
    15. Con turret
    16. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    17. Converter
    18. Con turret
    19. Wind
    20. Converter ×2
    21. Wind
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine20Wind
    • Wind Turbine4Wind
    • 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 · 168 steps
    1. Converter
    2. Wind
    3. Converter
    4. Wind
    5. Converter
    6. Wind
    7. Converter
    8. Wind ×2
    9. Converter
    10. Wind
    11. Wind
    12. Wind
    13. Converter
    14. Wind
    15. Wind
    16. Wind ×2
    17. Wind
    18. Converter
    19. Wind ×2
    20. Wind
    21. Converter
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. Wind
    25. Wind
    26. Converter
    27. Wind ×2
    28. Wind ×2
    29. Wind ×2
    30. Converter
    31. Wind
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Converter
    35. Wind ×2
    36. Wind
    37. Converter
    38. Wind
    39. Wind
    40. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    41. Converter
    42. Wind
    43. Wind
    44. Converter
    45. Wind
    46. Wind
    47. Converter
    48. Wind
    49. Wind
    50. FinchFinch
    51. Con turret
    52. FinchFinch
    53. Wind
    54. Wind
    55. Wind
    56. Con turret
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. Wind
    60. Wind
    61. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:13 · typical 6:50
    62. Wind
    63. Wind ×2
    64. Wind
    65. Wind
    66. Wind ×2
    67. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    68. Wind ×2
    69. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    70. Wind
    71. Wind ×3
    72. Wind
    73. Wind
    74. Wind
    75. Wind
    76. Wind
    77. Wind ×2
    78. Con turret
    79. Wind
    80. Wind
    81. Con turret
    82. Wind
    83. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    84. Con turret
    85. Wind
    86. Con turret
    87. Wind
    88. Wind
    89. Wind
    90. Con turret
    91. Wind
    92. Wind ×3
    93. Wind
    94. Wind ×2
    95. Wind
    96. Wind
    97. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 11:04 · typical 10:56
    98. Wind
    99. Wind
    100. Wind ×2
    101. Wind
    102. Converter ×3
    103. Wind
    104. Converter
    105. Wind ×2
    106. Converter
    107. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 11:16
    108. Wind
    109. Converter
    110. Wind
    111. Converter
    112. Wind
    113. Wind
    114. ValiantValiant
    115. Wind
    116. ValiantValiant
    117. Converter
    118. Wind
    119. ValiantValiant
    120. Wind
    121. ValiantValiant
    122. Converter
    123. ValiantValiant ×2
    124. Wind
    125. ValiantValiant
    126. Wind
    127. ValiantValiant
    128. Wind
    129. ValiantValiant
    130. Wind
    131. ValiantValiant ×3
    132. Wind
    133. ValiantValiant
    134. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 12:16
    135. Wind
    136. Wind
    137. Wind ×3
    138. Con turret
    139. WaspWasp
    140. Wind
    141. Con turret
    142. Wind
    143. Con turret
    144. WaspWasp
    145. Wind
    146. WaspWasp ×2
    147. Wind
    148. WaspWasp ×2
    149. Wind
    150. WaspWasp ×2
    151. Fusion ReactorFusion
    152. WaspWasp
    153. Converter
    154. Wind
    155. Wind
    156. Converter ×3
    157. Wind
    158. Converter ×2
    159. Wind
    160. Converter ×4
    161. Wind ×2
    162. NighthawkNighthawk ×2
    163. Wind
    164. WaspWasp
    165. NighthawkNighthawk ×2
    166. WaspWasp
    167. Wind
    168. NighthawkNighthawk ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Gieds's (46 OS, 30/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:51 · in 96% of games
  • Hercules3 Light transport to Tech or Geo sea or Geofirst at 2:06 · in 99% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Pond or Techfirst at 2:25 · in 75% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:40 · in 65% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo sea or Pondfirst at 1:44 · in 48% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:20 · in 85% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:03 · 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

621 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039300
2:0092500
3:00145800
4:002053051
5:00276573109
6:003763125167
7:005136190219
8:007019223290
9:009335256341
10:0011795327471
11:0014399440641
12:0017100607960
13:00199489321269
14:002266414091805
15:002555520592701
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

Gieds

45.8 OS · 30/09/2026

Open source match ↗

35 received units · includes a constructor
218 metal received · 29061 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:22Middle 50%: 1:13–1:35 · n=621
Advanced Metal Extractor6:50Middle 50%: 6:21–7:26 · n=596
Fusion Reactor10:56Middle 50%: 10:03–12:17 · n=381

Played most by

DRM37games of this buildAdeus33games of this buildCentientWaffle32games of this buildNutzz28games of this buildImmort26games of this build