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

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Milkdragon's (32 OS, 22/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

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

Milkdragon

31.7 OS · 22/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
249 metal received · 201113 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

Milkdragon15games of this buildpownage22711games of this buildhaaven8games of this buildkrtf4games of this buildHerbiderpi3games of this build