BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
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 · 20 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind
    3. Wind ×2for Air
    4. GuardGuard
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind ×2
    7. RiptideFrigate ×2done 2:25 · typical 5:48
    8. Construction ShipCon ship
    9. Naval Construction Turret
    10. Mex
    11. Mex
    12. Tidal ×4
    13. Mex
    14. Naval Energy Converter
    15. Tidal
    16. Con turret
    17. Tidal
    18. Naval Hovercraft PlatformNaval Hovercraft Platformdone 4:31
    19. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    20. GoonGoondone 4:50
  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 · 1 step
    1. ShipyardShipyarddone 2:05 · 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 · 83 steps
    1. Mex
    2. GoonGoon ×5
    3. Wind
    4. GoonGoon
    5. Wind
    6. GoonGoon ×2
    7. Wind
    8. Mex
    9. GoonGoon
    10. Wind
    11. GoonGoon
    12. Mex
    13. Wind
    14. GoonGoon
    15. Wind
    16. GoonGoon ×2
    17. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    18. Wind
    19. Mex
    20. ShipyardShipyarddone 7:05
    21. JellyfishJellyfish
    22. Con turret
    23. Mex
    24. Con turret
    25. Converter ×2
    26. Mex
    27. Converter ×2
    28. Wind ×2
    29. RiptideFrigate
    30. Wind
    31. GuardGuard
    32. Wind ×2
    33. RiptideFrigate
    34. Wind
    35. Naval Construction Turret
    36. Wind ×2
    37. OppressorDestroyerdone 8:30 · typical 6:40
    38. Wind
    39. Naval Construction Turret
    40. Wind ×3
    41. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 9:45
    42. Wind ×2
    43. OppressorDestroyer
    44. Wind ×5
    45. Dragon's MawDragon's Maw
    46. Wind ×2
    47. HerringMissile corvette
    48. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:04 · typical 9:58
    49. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    50. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    51. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    52. PathfinderPathfinder
    53. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    54. PathfinderPathfinder ×3
    55. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    56. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor ×2done 11:20
    57. Tidal ×7
    58. BrimstoneAnti-swarm shipdone 12:40
    59. Tidal
    60. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    61. Tidal ×5
    62. BrimstoneAnti-swarm ship
    63. Tidal
    64. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 14:02
    65. Tidal
    66. Naval Construction Turret
    67. Tidal
    68. BrimstoneAnti-swarm ship
    69. Tidal ×2
    70. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    71. BrimstoneAnti-swarm ship
    72. Tidal
    73. OasisOasis
    74. Tidal ×3
    75. BrimstoneAnti-swarm ship
    76. Tidal ×2
    77. BrimstoneAnti-swarm ship
    78. T2 converter
    79. Tidal
    80. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    81. BrimstoneAnti-swarm ship ×3
    82. T2 converter
    83. BrimstoneAnti-swarm 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, 18/09/2026); 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

Kbot_my_Ahole

37.0 OS · 18/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
217 metal received · 42916 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