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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 ×2
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 0:49 · 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 · 29 steps
    1. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    2. Mex
    3. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. Mex
    6. Energy storage
    7. FinchFinch
    8. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    9. ValiantValiant ×3
    10. Con turret
    11. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    12. Con turret
    13. ShurikenShuriken
    14. Con turret
    15. Converter
    16. Wind ×2
    17. Converter
    18. Wind ×3
    19. ValiantValiant
    20. Wind
    21. ValiantValiant
    22. Wind
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. Wind
    25. ValiantValiant
    26. Wind ×3
    27. ValiantValiant
    28. Wind
    29. ValiantValiant
  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 · 174 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Wind
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. Wind ×6
    6. Converter ×4
    7. ValiantValiant
    8. Converter
    9. Converter
    10. ValiantValiant ×2
    11. Converter
    12. Converter
    13. ValiantValiant
    14. Con turret
    15. Converter
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Converter
    18. ValiantValiant ×2
    19. Wind
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Wind
    22. Wind
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. Wind
    25. ValiantValiant
    26. Wind
    27. Wind ×2
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:03 · typical 6:54
    30. Wind
    31. Wind
    32. Wind ×2
    33. ValiantValiant
    34. Wind ×2
    35. ValiantValiant
    36. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    37. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    38. Wind
    39. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    40. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:48
    41. Wind
    42. ValiantValiant ×2
    43. Wind
    44. ValiantValiant ×4
    45. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    46. ValiantValiant ×5
    47. Bot LabBot Labdone 9:55
    48. Wind
    49. ValiantValiant
    50. Wind ×3
    51. Construction BotCon bot
    52. Wind
    53. Construction BotCon bot
    54. Wind
    55. Construction BotCon bot ×5
    56. Wind
    57. Construction BotCon bot
    58. ValiantValiant
    59. Con turret
    60. Wind
    61. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    62. Wind ×2
    63. Con turret
    64. Wind
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Wind ×2
    67. Con turret
    68. Wind ×2
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Wind
    71. Con turret
    72. Wind
    73. ValiantValiant
    74. Con turret
    75. Wind ×2
    76. Con turret
    77. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00 · typical 10:52
    78. Wind ×2
    79. Con turret
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Wind ×2
    82. Con turret
    83. ValiantValiant
    84. Wind ×2
    85. ValiantValiant
    86. Wind
    87. ValiantValiant
    88. Wind
    89. ValiantValiant
    90. Wind
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind
    93. ValiantValiant ×2
    94. Wind
    95. ValiantValiant
    96. Wind
    97. ValiantValiant ×2
    98. Wind
    99. ValiantValiant
    100. Wind
    101. ValiantValiant ×2
    102. Wind ×2
    103. ValiantValiant
    104. Wind ×2
    105. ValiantValiant ×3
    106. Wind
    107. ValiantValiant
    108. Converter
    109. Wind
    110. ValiantValiant
    111. Wind
    112. CitadelAnti-nukedone 13:48
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind ×2
    115. ValiantValiant
    116. Converter
    117. Wind
    118. ValiantValiant
    119. Wind ×2
    120. ValiantValiant
    121. Converter
    122. Wind ×2
    123. ValiantValiant
    124. Wind
    125. Converter
    126. Wind ×2
    127. ValiantValiant
    128. Converter
    129. Wind ×3
    130. ValiantValiant
    131. Converter
    132. Wind ×3
    133. ValiantValiant
    134. Wind
    135. Converter
    136. Wind
    137. ValiantValiant
    138. Wind ×2
    139. Converter
    140. Wind
    141. ValiantValiant
    142. Wind ×2
    143. Converter
    144. Wind
    145. TracerTracer
    146. ValiantValiant
    147. Wind ×2
    148. ValiantValiant
    149. Wind ×2
    150. ValiantValiant
    151. Wind
    152. ValiantValiant
    153. Wind ×2
    154. ValiantValiant
    155. Wind ×4
    156. ValiantValiant
    157. Wind
    158. ValiantValiant
    159. Wind ×2
    160. ValiantValiant
    161. Wind
    162. ValiantValiant
    163. Wind ×2
    164. ValiantValiant
    165. Wind ×2
    166. ValiantValiant
    167. Wind
    168. ValiantValiant
    169. Wind ×2
    170. ValiantValiant
    171. Wind
    172. ValiantValiant ×3
    173. Wind
    174. ValiantValiant

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is El_Turco's (37 OS, 14/10/2026); 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 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

El_Turco

37.1 OS · 14/10/2026

Open source match ↗

12 received units · includes a constructor
436 metal received · 65070 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