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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 ×4
    3. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 1:15 · 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 · 67 steps
    1. FinchFinch
    2. FinchFinch ×2for Beach sea
    3. HerculesLight transportfor Geo sea
    4. FinchFinch
    5. Wind ×2
    6. ValiantValiant
    7. Wind ×2
    8. ValiantValiant ×2
    9. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    10. Energy storage
    11. Con turret
    12. Mex
    13. HerculesLight transportfor Tech
    14. Con turret
    15. HerculesLight transport
    16. HerculesLight transportfor Geo
    17. Wind
    18. ValiantValiant
    19. Wind
    20. ValiantValiant
    21. Wind
    22. ValiantValiant ×2
    23. Wind ×2
    24. ValiantValiant
    25. Wind ×4
    26. ShurikenShuriken
    27. Wind
    28. ShurikenShuriken
    29. Wind
    30. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    31. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    32. Wind
    33. Con turret
    34. Wind ×11
    35. ValiantValiant
    36. Wind
    37. ValiantValiant ×2
    38. Wind
    39. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:20
    40. ValiantValiant
    41. Con turret
    42. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    43. Wind
    44. Converter
    45. Wind ×2
    46. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    47. Converter
    48. Wind
    49. Converter ×2
    50. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    51. Wind
    52. Converter
    53. Wind
    54. Converter
    55. Wind
    56. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 8:28
    57. Wind
    58. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    59. Converter
    60. Wind
    61. FinchFinch
    62. Wind
    63. Converter
    64. Wind ×3
    65. Converter
    66. Wind
    67. WhirlwindWhirlwinddone 9:03
  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 · 96 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Converter
    3. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    4. Converter
    5. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    6. Wind
    7. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    8. Converter
    9. Wind
    10. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    11. Wind
    12. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    13. Wind
    14. Converter
    15. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    16. Wind
    17. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    18. Wind
    19. Converter
    20. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    21. Wind
    22. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×2
    23. Converter
    24. Wind
    25. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    26. Wind
    27. Aircraft PlantEat Aircraft Plantreclaimed for its metal
    28. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 12:01
    29. Wind
    30. Converter
    31. Wind ×3
    32. Converter
    33. Wind ×3
    34. Fusion ReactorFusion
    35. Wind
    36. Con turret ×3
    37. Converter
    38. Wind ×3
    39. Con turret ×2
    40. Converter
    41. Wind
    42. Converter
    43. Wind ×3
    44. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 13:23
    45. Con turret
    46. ValiantValiant ×2
    47. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    48. Wind
    49. ValiantValiant
    50. Con turret ×2
    51. Wind
    52. Con turret ×2
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind
    55. Converter
    56. CastroCastro
    57. ValiantValiant
    58. Wind
    59. ValiantValiant ×2
    60. Converter
    61. ValiantValiant ×2
    62. Wind
    63. ValiantValiant
    64. Wind
    65. ValiantValiant ×2
    66. Wind
    67. ValiantValiant ×3
    68. Wind
    69. ValiantValiant
    70. Converter
    71. ValiantValiant
    72. Wind
    73. ValiantValiant ×2
    74. Wind
    75. ValiantValiant
    76. Converter
    77. ValiantValiant ×3
    78. Converter
    79. ValiantValiant
    80. Wind
    81. ValiantValiant ×4
    82. Converter
    83. FinchFinch
    84. Con turret
    85. FinchFinch
    86. Wind
    87. FinchFinch
    88. Con turret
    89. Converter
    90. Con turret
    91. ValiantValiant
    92. Wind
    93. Con turret ×2
    94. Converter
    95. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    96. ValiantValiant

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is DRM's (42 OS, 10/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Finch2 Finch to Geo sea or Beach seafirst at 1:45 · 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

DRM

42.2 OS · 10/10/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
42 metal received · 44021 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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