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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 · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×6
    3. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:33 · typical 1:52
    4. Energy storage
    5. GoonGoondone 1:41
  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 · 27 steps
    1. Wind
    2. GoonGoon
    3. Wind ×3
    4. GoonGoon
    5. Wind
    6. GoonGoon
    7. Wind ×3
    8. GoonGoon
    9. Wind ×2
    10. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    11. Wind ×2
    12. Mex
    13. Wind ×3
    14. GoonGoon
    15. Wind
    16. Converter
    17. GoonGoon
    18. Wind ×2
    19. GoonGoon
    20. Wind
    21. Mex
    22. Energy storage
    23. Converter
    24. GoonGoon ×2
    25. Mex
    26. Converter
    27. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:57 · 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 · 97 steps
    1. Mex
    2. Wind
    3. Construction ShipCon ship
    4. Wind ×4
    5. RiptideFrigatedone 5:52 · typical 5:48
    6. Naval Construction Turret
    7. Wind ×4
    8. RiptideFrigate
    9. Wind
    10. Tidal
    11. RiptideFrigate
    12. Tidal
    13. OppressorDestroyerdone 6:49 · typical 6:40
    14. Tidal
    15. Mex
    16. Tidal
    17. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    18. Tidal
    19. SupporterGunboat
    20. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    21. HerringMissile corvette
    22. Tidal
    23. RiptideFrigate
    24. Converter
    25. Tidal
    26. Converter
    27. RiptideFrigate
    28. Converter ×3
    29. Mex
    30. Con turret
    31. Converter
    32. SupporterGunboat
    33. Converter
    34. SupporterGunboat
    35. Converter
    36. Construction ShipCon ship
    37. Mex
    38. SupporterGunboat
    39. Wind
    40. SupporterGunboat ×2
    41. RiptideFrigate
    42. Wind
    43. OppressorDestroyer
    44. Tidal
    45. Wind
    46. Tidal
    47. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    48. SupporterGunboat
    49. HerringMissile corvette
    50. RiptideFrigate
    51. UrchinUrchin
    52. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:49 · typical 9:58
    53. RiptideFrigate
    54. Mex
    55. RiptideFrigate
    56. OppressorDestroyer
    57. Mex
    58. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    59. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    60. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    61. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    62. Mex
    63. Construction ShipCon ship
    64. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    65. Naval Construction Turret
    66. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    67. Naval Construction Turret
    68. Mex
    69. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    70. SupporterGunboat
    71. HerringMissile corvette
    72. RiptideFrigate
    73. Naval Construction Turret
    74. Construction ShipCon ship
    75. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    76. Naval Metal Storage
    77. RiptideFrigate ×2
    78. OppressorDestroyer
    79. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 13:50
    80. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    81. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    82. Naval Energy Converter
    83. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    84. Naval Energy Converter ×3
    85. PathfinderPathfinder
    86. Naval Energy Converter
    87. PathfinderPathfinder
    88. Naval Energy Converter
    89. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractordone 14:43
    90. Naval Energy Converter
    91. PathfinderPathfinder
    92. Naval Energy Converter ×2
    93. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    94. Naval Energy Converter ×4
    95. Mex
    96. Naval Energy Converter ×2
    97. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Harryplotter's (37 OS, 26/08/2026); 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

Harryplotter

37.4 OS · 26/08/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
104 metal received · 150203 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