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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 · 547 distinct matches · 115 players · 79% of Cortex Air games · team won 47% of 615 · 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 547 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 · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Solar
    3. Mex
    4. Wind
    5. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:33 · 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 · 31 steps
    1. FinchFinch
    2. ShurikenShuriken
    3. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    4. Wind
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    6. Wind ×2
    7. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    8. HerculesLight transportfor Beach sea
    9. ValiantValiant
    10. Wind ×3
    11. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind
    14. Con turret
    15. ValiantValiant
    16. Con turret
    17. ShurikenShuriken
    18. ValiantValiant ×2
    19. Wind
    20. Con turret
    21. Wind
    22. Con turret
    23. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    24. Wind
    25. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    26. Wind
    27. Energy storage
    28. ValiantValiant
    29. Wind
    30. ValiantValiant
    31. Wind ×4
  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 · 226 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ValiantValiant
    3. Wind ×2
    4. Metal storage
    5. Wind ×3
    6. ValiantValiant ×2
    7. ShurikenShuriken ×6
    8. HerculesLight transport
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:18 · typical 6:50
    10. ShurikenShuriken
    11. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×3
    12. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:26
    13. Construction BotCon bot ×9
    14. Wind
    15. Construction BotCon bot
    16. Wind ×3
    17. Construction BotCon bot
    18. Wind
    19. Construction BotCon bot
    20. Wind ×4
    21. Construction BotCon bot
    22. Wind
    23. Construction BotCon bot
    24. Wind ×4
    25. Construction BotCon bot
    26. Wind ×5
    27. Con turret
    28. Wind ×8
    29. Con turret
    30. Wind ×6
    31. Con turret
    32. Wind ×3
    33. Converter
    34. Wind ×5
    35. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:31
    36. Wind ×7
    37. Converter
    38. Wind ×6
    39. Converter
    40. Wind ×4
    41. Converter
    42. Wind ×4
    43. Converter
    44. Wind ×3
    45. ValiantValiant
    46. Converter
    47. Wind ×3
    48. HerculesLight transport
    49. Wind ×2
    50. Converter
    51. Wind ×3
    52. ValiantValiant
    53. Converter
    54. Wind ×4
    55. Converter
    56. Wind ×3
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Wind ×2
    59. Converter
    60. Wind
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Wind ×2
    63. Converter
    64. Wind ×2
    65. ValiantValiant
    66. Wind
    67. Converter
    68. Wind ×3
    69. Converter
    70. Wind
    71. ValiantValiant
    72. Wind ×2
    73. Converter
    74. Wind ×4
    75. Converter
    76. ValiantValiant
    77. Wind ×3
    78. Converter
    79. ValiantValiant
    80. Wind ×2
    81. Converter
    82. Wind ×3
    83. ValiantValiant
    84. Wind ×5
    85. ValiantValiant
    86. Converter
    87. ValiantValiant
    88. Wind ×4
    89. Converter
    90. Wind
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind
    93. Converter
    94. Wind ×3
    95. FinchFinch
    96. Wind ×2
    97. Converter
    98. Wind
    99. FinchFinch
    100. Wind ×2
    101. Converter
    102. FinchFinch
    103. Wind ×3
    104. FinchFinch
    105. Wind
    106. Con turret
    107. Wind
    108. Converter
    109. Wind ×3
    110. FinchFinch
    111. Converter
    112. Wind
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind ×2
    115. Converter
    116. Wind ×3
    117. ValiantValiant
    118. Converter
    119. Wind ×2
    120. ValiantValiant
    121. Wind ×4
    122. ValiantValiant
    123. Converter
    124. Wind
    125. ValiantValiant
    126. Wind ×4
    127. Converter
    128. ValiantValiant
    129. Con turret
    130. Wind ×2
    131. Con turret
    132. Converter
    133. Wind ×3
    134. ValiantValiant
    135. Wind
    136. Converter
    137. Wind ×4
    138. ValiantValiant
    139. Converter
    140. Wind ×2
    141. ShurikenShuriken
    142. Wind
    143. Converter
    144. Wind
    145. ShurikenShuriken
    146. Converter
    147. Wind ×2
    148. ShurikenShuriken
    149. Converter
    150. ShurikenShuriken
    151. Wind ×2
    152. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    153. Wind ×2
    154. Converter
    155. ShurikenShuriken
    156. Wind
    157. Con turret
    158. Converter
    159. Wind ×2
    160. Con turret
    161. ShurikenShuriken
    162. Wind ×2
    163. Converter
    164. Wind
    165. ShurikenShuriken
    166. Converter
    167. ShurikenShuriken
    168. Wind
    169. ShurikenShuriken
    170. Wind
    171. Converter
    172. Wind
    173. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    174. Wind
    175. Converter
    176. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    177. Wind
    178. Converter
    179. ShurikenShuriken
    180. Wind ×2
    181. ShurikenShuriken
    182. Converter
    183. Wind
    184. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    185. Wind
    186. Converter
    187. ShurikenShuriken
    188. Wind ×2
    189. ShurikenShuriken
    190. Converter
    191. Wind
    192. ShurikenShuriken
    193. Con turret
    194. Converter
    195. Wind
    196. Con turret
    197. Wind ×2
    198. ShurikenShuriken
    199. Wind ×2
    200. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    201. Wind
    202. ValiantValiant
    203. Wind ×5
    204. ValiantValiant
    205. Wind
    206. ValiantValiant
    207. Wind ×2
    208. ValiantValiant
    209. Wind ×2
    210. ValiantValiant ×2
    211. Wind ×4
    212. ValiantValiant
    213. Wind
    214. ValiantValiant ×2
    215. Wind ×4
    216. ValiantValiant
    217. Wind
    218. ValiantValiant ×2
    219. Wind
    220. ValiantValiant
    221. Wind ×3
    222. ValiantValiant
    223. SentrySentry
    224. Wind
    225. ValiantValiant
    226. ShurikenShuriken

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Crazydogg's (38 OS, 26/09/2026); 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 84% 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

615 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0039300
2:0092500
3:00145800
4:002052051
5:00276573109
6:003755125167
7:005136190219
8:007019220290
9:009335250341
10:0011795327471
11:0014399439641
12:0017100619962
13:00199489301269
14:002264113951807
15:002553020492701
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

Crazydogg

38.0 OS · 26/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
108 metal received · 50113 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=615
Advanced Metal Extractor6:50Middle 50%: 6:21–7:26 · n=590
Fusion Reactor10:56Middle 50%: 10:03–12:14 · n=375

Played most by

DRM36games of this buildAdeus33games of this buildCentientWaffle32games of this buildNutzz28games of this buildImmort26games of this build