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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 · 4 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Energy storage
    4. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:34 · 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 · 22 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ShurikenShurikenfor Geo sea
    3. Wind
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. FinchFinch
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Wind ×4
    8. ValiantValiant ×4
    9. Mex
    10. Con turret
    11. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    12. Con turret
    13. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    14. Wind
    15. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    16. Wind
    17. Wind ×2
    18. Converter
    19. Wind
    20. Converter
    21. Wind
    22. Converter
  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 · 267 steps
    1. Converter ×2
    2. Wind
    3. Converter
    4. Wind
    5. Converter
    6. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    7. Wind
    8. Converter
    9. Wind ×2
    10. Con turret
    11. Wind
    12. Con turret
    13. Wind ×3
    14. Bot LabBot Labdone 6:24
    15. Metal storage
    16. Wind ×2
    17. Construction BotCon bot
    18. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    19. Construction BotCon bot
    20. Wind
    21. Construction BotCon bot
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:20 · typical 6:54
    23. Wind
    24. Construction BotCon bot ×2
    25. Wind
    26. Construction BotCon bot
    27. Wind
    28. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    29. Wind ×2
    30. Wind
    31. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    32. Wind
    33. Wind
    34. Wind ×3
    35. Wind
    36. Wind ×3
    37. Wind
    38. Wind ×4
    39. Wind
    40. Wind ×2
    41. Wind
    42. Wind
    43. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    44. Wind
    45. Wind ×2
    46. Wind
    47. Wind ×2
    48. Wind
    49. Wind ×2
    50. Wind
    51. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    52. Wind
    53. Converter
    54. Wind
    55. Wind
    56. Converter
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. Converter
    60. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 9:03
    61. Wind
    62. Wind
    63. Wind ×2
    64. Wind
    65. FinchFinch
    66. Converter
    67. Wind ×2
    68. FinchFinch
    69. Wind
    70. Wind
    71. FinchFinch
    72. Wind
    73. Converter
    74. Wind
    75. FinchFinch
    76. Wind
    77. FinchFinch
    78. Wind
    79. Wind
    80. Converter
    81. Wind
    82. Wind
    83. Wind
    84. Converter
    85. Wind
    86. Wind
    87. Wind
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. Wind
    90. Wind
    91. Converter
    92. Wind
    93. ValiantValiant
    94. Wind
    95. Wind
    96. Wind
    97. ValiantValiant
    98. Con turret
    99. Wind ×2
    100. ValiantValiant
    101. Wind
    102. Wind ×2
    103. ValiantValiant
    104. Wind
    105. Wind
    106. Con turret
    107. Wind
    108. Wind ×2
    109. ValiantValiant
    110. Wind
    111. Wind
    112. Wind
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind
    115. Wind
    116. ValiantValiant ×2
    117. Wind
    118. Wind
    119. Wind
    120. ValiantValiant
    121. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 13:02 · typical 10:52
    122. ValiantValiant
    123. Wind
    124. Wind ×2
    125. ValiantValiant
    126. Wind
    127. Wind
    128. ValiantValiant
    129. Con turret
    130. Wind
    131. Wind
    132. Wind
    133. ValiantValiant
    134. Con turret
    135. Wind
    136. Wind
    137. ValiantValiant
    138. Wind
    139. Wind
    140. Con turret
    141. Wind
    142. ValiantValiant
    143. Wind
    144. Con turret
    145. Wind
    146. Wind
    147. ValiantValiant
    148. Con turret
    149. Wind
    150. Wind
    151. ValiantValiant
    152. Wind
    153. Con turret
    154. ValiantValiant
    155. Wind
    156. Wind
    157. Wind
    158. Wind
    159. Con turret
    160. Wind ×2
    161. Wind
    162. ValiantValiant
    163. Wind
    164. Converter ×2
    165. Wind
    166. Wind
    167. Wind ×2
    168. Wind
    169. Wind ×2
    170. ValiantValiant
    171. Wind
    172. Converter ×2
    173. ValiantValiant
    174. Con turret
    175. Converter
    176. Wind
    177. Converter
    178. Wind ×2
    179. ValiantValiant
    180. Wind ×3
    181. ValiantValiant
    182. Wind ×2
    183. Wind ×2
    184. ValiantValiant
    185. Converter ×2
    186. ValiantValiant
    187. Wind
    188. ValiantValiant
    189. Wind
    190. ValiantValiant
    191. Wind
    192. Converter
    193. ValiantValiant
    194. Converter
    195. Wind
    196. ValiantValiant
    197. Wind
    198. ValiantValiant
    199. Wind
    200. Wind
    201. ValiantValiant
    202. Converter
    203. ValiantValiant
    204. Converter
    205. Wind
    206. ValiantValiant ×2
    207. Wind
    208. Wind
    209. Converter
    210. ValiantValiant ×2
    211. Converter
    212. Wind
    213. ValiantValiant
    214. Wind ×2
    215. Converter
    216. ValiantValiant ×2
    217. Converter
    218. ValiantValiant
    219. Wind
    220. Wind ×2
    221. ValiantValiant ×3
    222. Wind
    223. ValiantValiant
    224. Wind ×2
    225. ValiantValiant ×2
    226. Wind
    227. ValiantValiant ×2
    228. Wind ×2
    229. ValiantValiant ×4
    230. Wind
    231. ValiantValiant
    232. Wind ×2
    233. ValiantValiant ×4
    234. Wind
    235. Wind
    236. ValiantValiant
    237. Wind
    238. ValiantValiant ×5
    239. Wind
    240. ValiantValiant
    241. Wind
    242. ValiantValiant ×4
    243. Wind
    244. ValiantValiant
    245. Wind
    246. ValiantValiant ×2
    247. Wind
    248. ValiantValiant ×2
    249. Wind
    250. ValiantValiant ×2
    251. Wind
    252. ValiantValiant ×3
    253. Wind
    254. ValiantValiant ×2
    255. Wind
    256. ValiantValiant ×3
    257. Wind
    258. ValiantValiant ×2
    259. Wind
    260. Wind
    261. ValiantValiant ×3
    262. Wind
    263. ValiantValiant
    264. Wind
    265. ValiantValiant
    266. Wind
    267. ValiantValiant ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [Cookie]CottonBuds's (32 OS, 05/10/2026); 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

[Cookie]CottonBuds

31.8 OS · 05/10/2026

Open source match ↗

2 received units · includes a constructor
1586 metal received · 70455 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
Standard air · Cortex Air build order · BAR Build Atlas