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Beach sea / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Goon raid

A land-side hovercraft raid: instead of the usual shipyard-first opening, the player builds a Hovercraft Platform by around 1:20 and pushes Goons out from 2:00, fighting mostly in the middle and enemy base rather than defensively, before…

Usually hovers first (95%)

#raid #amphibious · 20 distinct matches · 10 players · 2% of Cortex Beach sea games · team won 70% of 20 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • GoonHover raid from 2:00 · 4% of role by thenFrom the Hovercraft Platform. Only 4% of Beach sea games have it by then; others who build it get it around 7:34
  • Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform in 90%6% of all Beach sea games by then

Where those units first fight, in 20 games with kill data: in the middle 75%, in the enemy base 25%.

Those units destroy a typical 835 metal of enemy units by 15:00.

Then transitions into frigate (32% of army), destroyer (28% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Hovercraft Platform by 1:16, Goon raid from 2:00

  1. Take mex and wind as usual, skip the early bot lab.
  2. Drop hovercraft platform almost immediately.
  3. Push Goons out to raid before enemy sea sets up.
  4. Bring up shipyard, frigate and destroyer behind the raid.
  5. Transition into advanced mex and standard sea composition.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 20 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD BEACH SEA
  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 Hover raid

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine6Wind+4 vs standard
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform after 3 mex, 5 wind, 1 energy storage
    2. GoonHover raid after 3 mex, 6 wind, 1 energy storage

    Some games also: con hovercraft (50%)

    By 2:00 in all: 3 mex · 6 wind (standard 2) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 9 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Wind
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×4
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind ×4
    7. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 2:04 · typical 1:52
    8. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    9. GoonGoondone 2:24
  2. 2

    Hover raid to Shipyard

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine2Wind+2 vs standard
    Order
    1. ShipyardShipyard after 6 mex, 9 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~4:26, middle half 4:10–4:51
    Builders
    • Construction Hovercraft2 Con hovercraft +2 vs standard
    Army
    • Goon9 Goon +9 vs standard

    Some games also: con turret (30%)

    By 4:10 in all: 6 mex · 9 wind (standard 3) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 16 steps
    1. Con turret
    2. GoonGoon ×2
    3. Wind
    4. GoonGoon
    5. Wind
    6. Mex
    7. GoonGoon
    8. Wind ×3
    9. GoonGoon
    10. Wind ×3
    11. ThistleThistle
    12. Mex
    13. GoonGoon
    14. Mex
    15. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    16. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:39 · typical 4:26
  3. 3

    Shipyard to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor5Mex+3 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine3Wind+3 vs standard
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal+2 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret
    • Construction Ship1 Con ship
    Army
    • Urchin1 Urchin
    • Guard1 Guard
    • Riptide5 Frigate
    • Oppressor2 Destroyer

    Some games also: Naval Construction Turret (45%) · goon (35%) · Death Cavalry (35%) · wind (35%) · con turret (30%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 12 wind

    By 10:00 in all: 10 mex · 14 wind (standard 4) · 3 tidal · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 10 steps
    1. Mex
    2. RiptideFrigate ×2done 5:07 · typical 5:48
    3. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    4. RiptideFrigate ×4
    5. Mex
    6. RiptideFrigate ×2
    7. OppressorDestroyerdone 7:28 · typical 6:49
    8. RiptideFrigate
    9. OppressorDestroyer ×2
    10. Construction ShipCon ship

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Kbot_my_Ahole's (37 OS, 27/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

Nothing regular.

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:57 · in 50% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:17 · in 55% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Geofirst at 2:26 · in 40% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:11 · in 90% of games

How it plays out

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

  • This build
  • Standard beach sea

Metal produced

010k20k30k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

05k10k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02.5k5k7.5k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

20 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard beach seaEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard beach seaOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard beach sea
1:004024030000
2:009379370000
3:00148715670000
4:0022602525021050
5:0036403701401197188100
6:0047875033702535409253
7:006099647910781089542590
8:00752480731765182310761036
9:00906396832522284414331610
10:0010987115893291399518582337
11:0013216138153604521620693090
12:0015628163584509616227983828
13:0018705191626084720534434613
14:0021557219587386831643055726
15:0024071249628087931244106596
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won more often than the standard build while losing less metal despite an aggressive early raid.

  • + Own metal lost is noticeably lower at 10:00 and 15:00.
  • + Destroys more enemy metal early at 5:00 than standard.
  • − Metal produced trails standard slightly at every checkpoint.
  • − Enemy metal destroyed falls behind standard by 15:00.
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Kbot_my_Ahole

37.1 OS · 27/09/2026

Open source match ↗

0 received units
162 metal received · 9475 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Hovercraft Platform1:52Middle 50%: 1:40–2:00 · n=18
Shipyard4:26Middle 50%: 4:10–4:51 · n=20
Riptide5:48Middle 50%: 5:12–6:06 · n=18
Oppressor6:49Middle 50%: 6:03–7:33 · n=19
Advanced Metal Extractor9:56Middle 50%: 9:09–10:47 · n=18

Played most by

EXZoPrimer36games of this buildKbot_my_Ahole4games of this buildAdeus3games of this buildEpicTyrannus1game of this buildHarryplotter1game of this build