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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 1:08 · 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 · 36 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ShurikenShuriken
    3. Wind ×2
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. Wind
    6. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    7. ShurikenShuriken
    8. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    9. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    10. HerculesLight transport
    11. ValiantValiant
    12. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    13. Wind
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind ×3
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Wind
    18. Mex
    19. Wind ×4
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Wind ×2
    22. ValiantValiant
    23. Con turret
    24. Wind ×2
    25. HerculesLight transport
    26. Con turret
    27. Wind
    28. HerculesLight transport
    29. Wind
    30. Con turret
    31. Wind ×2
    32. Energy storage
    33. Converter
    34. Advanced solar
    35. Converter
    36. Energy storage
  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 · 169 steps
    1. Converter
    2. Wind
    3. Converter
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantnot finished by 15:00
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Converter ×2
    7. Wind ×2
    8. Con turret
    9. Converter
    10. Advanced solar
    11. Converter
    12. Advanced solar
    13. Converter
    14. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×4done 6:35 · typical 6:50
    15. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:26
    16. Construction BotCon bot ×6
    17. Converter
    18. Wind
    19. Construction BotCon bot
    20. Wind
    21. Construction BotCon bot
    22. Converter
    23. Wind ×3
    24. Construction BotCon bot
    25. Wind
    26. Converter
    27. Wind ×4
    28. Construction BotCon bot
    29. Wind ×5
    30. Construction BotCon bot
    31. Converter
    32. Wind ×5
    33. Construction BotCon bot
    34. Wind ×2
    35. Converter
    36. Wind
    37. Construction BotCon bot
    38. Wind ×4
    39. Construction BotCon bot
    40. Wind ×2
    41. Converter
    42. Wind
    43. Construction BotCon bot
    44. Wind ×3
    45. Converter
    46. Construction BotCon bot
    47. Wind ×11
    48. Energy storage
    49. Wind ×3
    50. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:22
    51. Wind ×2
    52. Advanced solar
    53. Wind ×4
    54. ValiantValiant
    55. Wind ×4
    56. Converter
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Wind ×2
    59. ValiantValiant
    60. Wind ×3
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Wind ×2
    63. Converter
    64. Wind ×4
    65. FinchFinch
    66. Wind ×7
    67. FinchFinch
    68. Converter
    69. Wind ×7
    70. FinchFinch
    71. Converter
    72. Wind ×5
    73. FinchFinch
    74. Wind ×3
    75. Converter
    76. Wind ×3
    77. FinchFinch
    78. Wind ×7
    79. Converter
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Wind ×6
    82. ValiantValiant
    83. Wind
    84. Converter
    85. Wind ×6
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Wind
    88. Converter
    89. Wind
    90. ValiantValiant
    91. Wind ×3
    92. ValiantValiant
    93. Wind ×5
    94. ValiantValiant
    95. Converter
    96. Wind ×4
    97. ValiantValiant
    98. Wind ×2
    99. ValiantValiant
    100. Converter
    101. Wind ×5
    102. ValiantValiant ×2
    103. Wind ×4
    104. ValiantValiant
    105. Converter
    106. Wind
    107. ValiantValiant
    108. Wind ×4
    109. Con turret ×2
    110. ValiantValiant
    111. Converter
    112. Wind ×5
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind
    115. Converter
    116. Wind ×2
    117. Con turret
    118. ValiantValiant
    119. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 11:47
    120. Wind ×3
    121. ValiantValiant
    122. Wind
    123. Converter
    124. Wind ×3
    125. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    126. Wind ×2
    127. Converter
    128. Wind ×3
    129. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 12:17
    130. Wind
    131. Converter
    132. T2 converter
    133. Converter
    134. Wind
    135. HighwindHighwind
    136. Wind
    137. Converter
    138. LicheLichedone 13:02
    139. Converter ×3
    140. HighwindHighwind
    141. Con turret
    142. Converter
    143. HighwindHighwind
    144. Con turret ×2
    145. Converter
    146. HighwindHighwind ×2
    147. Converter
    148. HighwindHighwind
    149. Con turret
    150. Converter
    151. OracleOracle
    152. Con turret
    153. Converter
    154. HighwindHighwind
    155. Converter
    156. HighwindHighwind ×3
    157. Converter
    158. HighwindHighwind ×3
    159. Converter
    160. HighwindHighwind ×3
    161. OracleOracle
    162. Converter
    163. HighwindHighwind ×3
    164. Converter
    165. HighwindHighwind ×2
    166. Advanced Construction AircraftT2 con aircraft
    167. Converter
    168. HighwindHighwind ×3
    169. Converter

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Kuchy's (43 OS, 09/08/2026); 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 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

Kuchy

42.9 OS · 09/08/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
738 metal received · 116237 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