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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 ×3
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:09 · 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 · 30 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinch
    3. Wind
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. Wind ×2
    6. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    7. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Beach sea
    8. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    9. ValiantValiant
    10. Energy storage
    11. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Mex
    16. Wind ×4
    17. ValiantValiant
    18. Wind
    19. Con turret
    20. ShurikenShuriken
    21. Con turret
    22. ShurikenShuriken
    23. HerculesLight transport ×2for Tech
    24. FinchFinch
    25. Wind
    26. Converter
    27. Wind
    28. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    29. Converter
    30. Wind ×3
  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 · 227 steps
    1. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Converter
    4. HerculesLight transport
    5. Converter
    6. Wind
    7. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    8. Wind ×2
    9. Con turret
    10. Wind
    11. Con turret
    12. Wind
    13. Con turret
    14. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:57 · typical 6:50
    15. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    16. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    17. Wind
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Wind ×3
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    21. Wind
    22. Bot LabBot Labdone 7:47
    23. Wind
    24. Construction BotCon bot
    25. Wind
    26. Construction BotCon bot
    27. Con turret
    28. Construction BotCon bot
    29. Wind
    30. Con turret
    31. Construction BotCon bot
    32. Wind
    33. Construction BotCon bot
    34. Wind
    35. Construction BotCon bot
    36. Wind
    37. Converter
    38. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:51
    39. Construction BotCon bot
    40. Wind
    41. Construction BotCon bot
    42. Wind
    43. ShurikenShuriken
    44. Wind
    45. Construction BotCon bot
    46. Converter
    47. ShurikenShuriken
    48. Wind
    49. ShurikenShuriken
    50. Construction BotCon bot
    51. ShurikenShuriken
    52. Wind
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Converter
    55. Wind ×2
    56. ValiantValiant
    57. Converter
    58. Wind ×2
    59. ValiantValiant
    60. Wind ×2
    61. ValiantValiant
    62. Converter
    63. Wind
    64. ValiantValiant
    65. Wind
    66. Con turret
    67. Wind ×4
    68. Converter
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Con turret
    71. Wind ×3
    72. ValiantValiant
    73. Con turret
    74. Converter
    75. Wind
    76. ValiantValiant
    77. Wind ×3
    78. Con turret
    79. Wind ×3
    80. Converter
    81. ValiantValiant
    82. Wind ×5
    83. ValiantValiant
    84. Con turret
    85. Wind
    86. Converter
    87. Wind ×4
    88. ValiantValiant
    89. ShurikenShuriken
    90. Wind ×2
    91. ShurikenShuriken
    92. Wind
    93. ShurikenShuriken
    94. Wind ×2
    95. Converter
    96. Wind
    97. ShurikenShuriken
    98. Wind ×2
    99. ShurikenShuriken
    100. Converter
    101. Wind
    102. ShurikenShuriken
    103. Wind ×4
    104. ShurikenShuriken
    105. Converter
    106. Wind
    107. ShurikenShuriken
    108. Wind ×2
    109. Converter
    110. ShurikenShuriken
    111. Wind ×3
    112. ShurikenShuriken
    113. Wind
    114. ValiantValiant
    115. Converter
    116. Wind
    117. ValiantValiant
    118. Wind ×3
    119. ValiantValiant
    120. Wind
    121. Converter
    122. ValiantValiant
    123. Wind ×2
    124. ValiantValiant
    125. Converter
    126. Wind ×2
    127. ValiantValiant
    128. Wind ×2
    129. ValiantValiant
    130. Converter
    131. Wind ×2
    132. ValiantValiant
    133. Wind ×3
    134. ValiantValiant
    135. Converter
    136. Wind ×2
    137. ValiantValiant ×2
    138. Wind ×3
    139. ValiantValiant
    140. Wind
    141. Converter
    142. ValiantValiant
    143. Wind ×2
    144. ValiantValiant
    145. Wind ×2
    146. ValiantValiant
    147. Wind
    148. ValiantValiant
    149. Wind
    150. ValiantValiant
    151. Wind ×2
    152. Converter
    153. ValiantValiant
    154. Wind ×2
    155. ValiantValiant
    156. Wind ×2
    157. Converter
    158. Wind
    159. ValiantValiant
    160. Wind
    161. ValiantValiant
    162. Wind ×3
    163. Converter
    164. ValiantValiant
    165. Wind ×4
    166. ValiantValiant
    167. Wind
    168. Converter
    169. ValiantValiant
    170. Wind ×4
    171. ValiantValiant
    172. Wind
    173. Converter
    174. Wind ×2
    175. ValiantValiant
    176. Wind ×2
    177. ValiantValiant
    178. Converter
    179. Wind ×4
    180. ValiantValiant
    181. Wind
    182. ValiantValiant
    183. Converter
    184. Wind ×2
    185. ValiantValiant
    186. Wind ×3
    187. ValiantValiant
    188. Wind ×2
    189. ValiantValiant
    190. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    191. Converter
    192. Wind ×2
    193. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    194. Wind ×3
    195. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    196. Wind ×4
    197. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    198. Wind ×2
    199. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    200. Wind ×3
    201. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    202. Wind ×3
    203. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    204. Wind ×2
    205. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    206. Wind ×3
    207. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    208. Wind ×3
    209. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    210. Wind ×3
    211. Converter
    212. ValiantValiant
    213. Wind
    214. FinchFinch ×2
    215. Wind ×2
    216. ValiantValiant
    217. Wind
    218. ValiantValiant
    219. Wind
    220. ValiantValiant ×2
    221. Wind
    222. ValiantValiant
    223. Wind
    224. ValiantValiant
    225. Wind ×2
    226. ValiantValiant ×2
    227. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is RitualMurder's (39 OS, 07/09/2026); 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

RitualMurder

39.0 OS · 07/09/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
972 metal received · 51101 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