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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 (94%)

#raid #amphibious · 18 distinct matches · 9 players · 2% of Cortex Beach sea games · team won 67% of 18 · 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 89%6% of all Beach sea games by then

Where those units first fight, in 18 games with kill data: in the middle 72%, in the enemy base 28%.

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

Then transitions into frigate (31% of army), destroyer (27% 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 18 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 (44%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 8 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×5for Air
    3. Wind ×3
    4. Energy storage
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 2:11 · typical 1:52
    7. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×4
    8. GoonGoondone 3:02
  2. 2

    Hover raid to Shipyard

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor2Mex−2 vs standard
    • Wind Turbine1Wind
    Order
    1. ShipyardShipyard after 5 mex, 8 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~4:26, middle half 4:10–4:53
    Builders
    • Construction Hovercraft2 Con hovercraft +2 vs standard
    Army
    • Goon9 Goon +9 vs standard

    By 4:10 in all: 5 mex (standard 7) · 8 wind (standard 3) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 24 steps
    1. GoonGoon ×5
    2. Mex
    3. GoonGoon ×7
    4. Mex
    5. GoonGoon
    6. Mex ×3
    7. GoonGoon
    8. Wind
    9. Mex
    10. Wind ×2
    11. Mex
    12. Naval Construction Turret
    13. Wind
    14. Naval Construction Turret
    15. Wind
    16. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    17. Naval Construction Turret
    18. Mex
    19. Naval Construction Turret ×2
    20. Wind
    21. GuardGuard
    22. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    23. Wind
    24. ShipyardShipyarddone 6:53 · 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 (44%) · goon (33%) · Death Cavalry (33%) · wind (33%) · con turret (33%)

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

    By 10:00 in all: 10 mex · 12 wind (standard 4) · 3 tidal · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 55 steps
    1. GuardGuard ×2
    2. Wind
    3. OppressorDestroyerdone 7:15 · typical 6:40
    4. RiptideFrigatedone 7:29 · typical 5:48
    5. HerringMissile corvette
    6. Wind
    7. OppressorDestroyer
    8. Tidal ×2
    9. Wind
    10. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    11. Tidal
    12. Naval Energy Converter
    13. RiptideFrigate
    14. Naval Energy Converter
    15. Wind
    16. Naval Energy Converter ×4
    17. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    18. HerringMissile corvette
    19. Wind
    20. OppressorDestroyer
    21. Wind
    22. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    23. Con turret ×2
    24. Mex
    25. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    26. GuardGuard
    27. Mex
    28. GuardGuard ×2
    29. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    30. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 12:00 · typical 9:58
    31. Wind ×3
    32. RiptideFrigate
    33. Mex
    34. Wind
    35. HerringMissile corvette
    36. Wind
    37. OppressorDestroyer
    38. Wind ×7
    39. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    40. RiptideFrigate
    41. Con turret
    42. HerringMissile corvette
    43. Wind ×3
    44. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    45. Wind ×3
    46. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    47. Naval Metal Storage
    48. Wind
    49. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    50. GuardGuard ×2
    51. Wind
    52. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    53. GuardGuard
    54. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyardnot finished by 15:00
    55. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is WaterBoy's (38 OS, 15/09/2026); 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 56% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:17 · in 61% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Geofirst at 2:26 · in 44% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:10 · in 94% 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

18 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
1:004034030000
2:009379370000
3:00149115630000
4:0023262522002650
5:0036403699454194251100
6:0047875026723532434250
7:006099647310781100535588
8:00752480801758185711141041
9:00906396832643288514561621
10:0010987116023364402318582345
11:0013216138224214522720693090
12:0015628163524852620027983851
13:0018705191116564725734434621
14:0021557218657616830443425721
15:0024071248768589926544106531
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

WaterBoy

38.4 OS · 15/09/2026

Open source match ↗

8 received units · includes a constructor
604 metal received · 22321 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=16
Shipyard4:26Middle 50%: 4:10–4:53 · n=18
Riptide5:48Middle 50%: 5:23–6:08 · n=16
Oppressor6:40Middle 50%: 6:01–7:39 · n=17
Advanced Metal Extractor9:58Middle 50%: 9:03–10:49 · n=17

Played most by

EXZoPrimer36games of this buildAdeus3games of this buildKbot_my_Ahole3games of this buildEpicTyrannus1game of this buildHarryplotter1game of this build