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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 · 1506 distinct matches · 252 players · 81% of Cortex Air games · team won 46% of 1811 · 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 1506 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 ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:15 · 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 · 47 steps
    1. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    2. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    3. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    4. HephaestusHeavy transport
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    6. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    7. Energy storage
    8. Wind ×2
    9. Con turret
    10. Construction AircraftCon aircraftfor Geo
    11. Con turret
    12. Mex
    13. Wind
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Wind
    18. ValiantValiant
    19. Converter
    20. Wind
    21. Converter ×2
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. Converter
    25. Wind ×2
    26. Wind
    27. Wind
    28. Converter
    29. Wind
    30. Converter
    31. Wind
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Converter
    35. Wind
    36. Con turret
    37. Converter
    38. HerculesLight transportfor Pond
    39. Wind
    40. Con turret
    41. Wind
    42. ValiantValiantfor Geo
    43. Wind
    44. Wind
    45. Advanced solar
    46. ValiantValiant
    47. Wind
  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 · 96 steps
    1. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    2. Wind
    3. Wind
    4. Advanced solar
    5. Wind
    6. Wind
    7. Advanced solar
    8. Wind
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2done 6:30 · typical 6:54
    10. Wind
    11. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    12. Wind
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    14. Wind
    15. Wind
    16. Wind
    17. Advanced solar
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Wind
    20. Wind
    21. Advanced solar
    22. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 7:42
    23. Wind
    24. Advanced solar
    25. Converter ×2
    26. Wind
    27. ValiantValiantfor Geo
    28. Converter
    29. ValiantValiant ×3for Geo
    30. Wind
    31. Con turret ×2
    32. ValiantValiantfor Geo
    33. Con turret
    34. Wind
    35. ValiantValiant ×6for Geo
    36. Wind
    37. ValiantValiantfor Geo
    38. ValiantValiant ×4
    39. Con turret
    40. Wind
    41. Con turret
    42. ValiantValiant
    43. Wind
    44. ValiantValiant
    45. Wind
    46. ValiantValiant
    47. Wind
    48. ValiantValiant
    49. Wind
    50. Wind
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Wind
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. Wind ×2
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Wind
    59. ValiantValiant
    60. Wind ×7
    61. Wind
    62. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    63. Wind
    64. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    65. Wind
    66. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    67. Wind
    68. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    69. Wind
    70. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    71. Wind
    72. Wind
    73. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    74. Wind
    75. Con turret
    76. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    77. Con turret
    78. Wind
    79. Con turret
    80. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    81. Converter
    82. Wind
    83. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×7
    84. FinchFinch ×3
    85. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    86. ValiantValiant
    87. Wind
    88. ValiantValiant ×3
    89. Converter
    90. ValiantValiant ×11
    91. Converter ×2
    92. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    93. Converter
    94. ShurikenShuriken ×15
    95. Converter
    96. ShurikenShuriken ×5

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Milkdragon's (32 OS, 29/09/2026); 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 Beach seafirst at 2:06 · in 99% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Pond or Techfirst at 2:23 · in 72% 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 2:23 · 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

1811 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
6:003707102124
7:005089146167
8:006902190219
9:009284230270
10:0011758292380
11:0014356369536
12:0017069512781
13:00198597811102
14:002270412641689
15:002573618132420
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

Milkdragon

31.7 OS · 29/09/2026

Open source match ↗

26 received units · includes a constructor
896 metal received · 73833 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=1811
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:26 · n=1751
Fusion Reactor10:53Middle 50%: 9:45–12:17 · n=1159

Played most by

TheGeneraI114games of this buildDad_The_Speedrunner72games of this buildHunfore62games of this buildDRM52games of this buildMilkdragon52games of this build