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Air / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Whirlwind bomber rush

Cortex Air build order · Supreme Isthmus

After the usual economy start, the player commits early (by 5:07) to T1 Whirlwind bombers that push forward and fight in the enemy base well before the role's norm, a clear forward plan rather than a reaction.

Usually transports first (66%)

#air #rush #raid · 74 distinct matches · 32 players · 3% of Cortex Air games · team won 55% of 74 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • WhirlwindT1 air bombers from 5:07 · 6% of role by thenFrom the Aircraft Plant. Only 6% of Air games have it by then; others who build it get it around 11:03
  • WhirlwindWhirlwind in 41%3% of all Air games by then

Where those units first fight, in 72 games with kill data: in the middle 50%, in the enemy base 49%.

Those units destroy a typical 1,057 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into valiant (48% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 1:28

  1. Build Aircraft Plant immediately instead of the usual later timing.
  2. Commit to Whirlwind bombers well before the role norm of 10:48.
  3. Send Whirlwinds forward to fight in middle and enemy base.
  4. Reclaim the Aircraft Plant once the rush has paid off.
  5. Build Fusion Reactor to transition back into team support.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 74 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD AIR
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:07 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 ~1:15, middle half 1:06–1:29

    By 0:57 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind

    The example game in this phase · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:02 · typical 1:15
  2. 2

    Aircraft Plant to T1 air bombers

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine9Wind
    • Wind Turbine2Wind−2 vs standard
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. WhirlwindT1 air bombers after 3 mex, 13 wind, 2 con turret
    Builders
    • Construction Turret2 Con turret
    • Construction Aircraft1 Con aircraft
    Army
    • Valiant4 Valiant −2 vs standard
    • Finch2 Finch for allies
    • Hercules2 Light transport for allies
    • Finch1 Finch

    Some games also: converter (47%) · heavy transport for allies (46%) · light transport (41%) · shuriken (36%) · mex (36%)

    By 5:05 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 13 wind · 2 wind (standard 4) · 1 energy storage · 2 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 15 steps
    1. Wind
    2. FinchFinchfor Geo sea
    3. Wind ×2
    4. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    5. Wind ×2
    6. FinchFinchfor Beach sea
    7. Wind ×2
    8. ValiantValiant
    9. Wind ×3
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Energy storage
    12. ValiantValiant ×2
    13. Mex
    14. ValiantValiant ×2
    15. WhirlwindWhirlwinddone 3:11
  3. 3

    T1 air bombers to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine14Wind−6 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine5Wind
    • Energy Converter3Converter−3 vs standard
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plant
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret −2 vs standard
    Army
    • Valiant8 Valiant
    • Whirlwind5 Whirlwind +5 vs standard

    Some games also: light transport for allies (36%) · Aircraft Plant (36%) · finch (36%) · con turret (32%)

    By 10:00 in all: 3 mex · 1 mex · 28 wind (standard 20) · 24 wind · 8 converter · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 140 steps
    1. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    2. Con turret
    3. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    4. ValiantValiant
    5. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    6. Con turret
    7. ValiantValiant ×4
    8. Wind
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 6:49 · typical 6:54
    10. ValiantValiant
    11. Wind
    12. ValiantValiant
    13. Wind
    14. ValiantValiant
    15. Wind
    16. ValiantValiant
    17. Wind
    18. ValiantValiant
    19. Wind
    20. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    21. Wind ×2
    22. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    23. Wind
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    25. Wind
    26. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    27. Wind ×2
    28. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    29. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:29
    30. Wind ×6
    31. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    32. Wind ×3
    33. ValiantValiant
    34. Con turret
    35. Bot LabBot Labdone 9:15
    36. Construction BotCon bot
    37. Con turret
    38. Wind
    39. Construction BotCon bot
    40. ValiantValiant
    41. Wind
    42. Construction BotCon bot
    43. ValiantValiant ×2
    44. Construction BotCon bot
    45. Wind ×2
    46. ValiantValiant ×2
    47. Construction BotCon bot
    48. Wind
    49. ValiantValiant
    50. Wind ×2
    51. Construction BotCon bot
    52. ValiantValiant
    53. Wind ×3
    54. Construction BotCon bot
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. Wind ×3
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Construction BotCon bot
    59. Wind
    60. ValiantValiant
    61. Wind ×3
    62. Construction BotCon bot
    63. Wind
    64. ValiantValiant
    65. Wind ×2
    66. Construction BotCon bot
    67. Wind
    68. ValiantValiant
    69. Wind ×3
    70. ValiantValiant
    71. Wind
    72. ValiantValiant
    73. Wind ×4
    74. ValiantValiant
    75. Wind ×2
    76. ValiantValiant
    77. Wind ×2
    78. ValiantValiant
    79. Wind ×3
    80. ValiantValiant
    81. Wind ×4
    82. ValiantValiant
    83. Wind
    84. Con turret
    85. Wind ×4
    86. Bot LabEat Bot Labreclaimed for its metal
    87. Wind ×3
    88. Con turret
    89. Wind
    90. ValiantValiant
    91. Wind ×3
    92. Con turret
    93. Wind ×3
    94. T2 converter
    95. Con turret
    96. Wind ×3
    97. ValiantValiant
    98. Wind ×2
    99. Con turret
    100. Wind ×3
    101. ValiantValiant
    102. Wind ×13
    103. Con turret
    104. Wind ×3
    105. ValiantValiant
    106. Wind ×3
    107. Con turret
    108. Wind ×4
    109. ValiantValiant
    110. Con turret
    111. Wind ×5
    112. Con turret
    113. ValiantValiant
    114. Wind ×7
    115. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    116. Wind ×3
    117. T2 converter
    118. Wind ×4
    119. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 14:21
    120. Wind ×37
    121. T2 converter
    122. Wind ×25
    123. NighthawkNighthawk
    124. Wind ×3
    125. NighthawkNighthawk
    126. Wind ×5
    127. NighthawkNighthawk
    128. Wind
    129. NighthawkNighthawk
    130. Wind ×4
    131. NighthawkNighthawk
    132. Wind
    133. NighthawkNighthawk
    134. Wind ×2
    135. T2 converter
    136. Wind ×4
    137. NighthawkNighthawk
    138. Wind ×8
    139. Advanced Construction AircraftT2 con aircraft
    140. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Afussy's (33 OS, 16/08/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:45 · in 91% of games
  • Hercules3 Light transport to Tech or Geo sea or Geofirst at 2:12 · in 97% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport to Beach sea or Techfirst at 2:17 · in 54% of games

You get

  • Wind Turbine2 Wind from Beach sea or Tech or Geo seafirst at 1:34 · in 41% of games
  • Wind Turbine3 Wind from Beach sea or Geo seafirst at 1:41 · in 64% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Techfirst at 2:17 · in 89% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 6:00 · in 93% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build against the role’s standard build, running totals by minute

  • This build
  • Standard air

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02k4k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

74 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard airEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard airOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard air
1:003893920000
2:009199230000
3:00144714560000
4:0020412052005151
5:00275927630517473
6:0037283707124102183124
7:0051105089190146257167
8:0068736902247190398219
9:0089699284317230562270
10:001148411758511292747380
11:0013919143569103691294536
12:00162311706912945122007781
13:001891819859171578123681102
14:0022336227042014126430051689
15:0025611257363093181335012420
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won more often than the standard build despite destroying less enemy metal early and losing more by 10:00.

  • + Destroys more enemy metal than standard by 15:00 (2779 vs 2089).
  • + Won more often than the Air role's standard build.
  • − Destroys nothing by 5:00, well behind standard's 73.
  • − Own losses by 10:00 nearly double the standard build's.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Afussy

33.1 OS · 16/08/2026

Open source match ↗

3 received units · includes a constructor
155 metal received · 70146 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant1:15Middle 50%: 1:06–1:29 · n=74
Advanced Metal Extractor6:54Middle 50%: 6:27–7:42 · n=69
Fusion Reactor11:18Middle 50%: 10:14–12:33 · n=44

Played most by

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