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

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Dad_The_Speedrunner's (36 OS, 21/09/2026); 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

Dad_The_Speedrunner

35.9 OS · 21/09/2026

Open source match ↗

12 received units · includes a constructor
1009 metal received · 10861 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