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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 · 7 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×5
    3. Energy storage
    4. Wind ×3
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 2:00 · typical 1:52
    6. Wind
    7. GoonGoondone 2:10
  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 · 7 steps
    1. Wind
    2. GoonGoon ×4
    3. Wind ×2
    4. GoonGoon ×5
    5. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×4
    6. Mex
    7. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:27 · 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 · 41 steps
    1. Mex
    2. RiptideFrigatedone 5:05 · typical 5:48
    3. Mex ×2
    4. RiptideFrigate
    5. Converter
    6. OppressorDestroyerdone 6:01 · typical 6:40
    7. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    8. Converter
    9. GuardGuard
    10. Converter
    11. HerringMissile corvette
    12. GuardGuard
    13. HerringMissile corvette
    14. Converter
    15. RiptideFrigate
    16. GuardGuard
    17. Wind
    18. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    19. Wind
    20. RiptideFrigate
    21. Wind
    22. OppressorDestroyer
    23. Mex
    24. Wind ×2
    25. Mex
    26. Wind ×2
    27. HerringMissile corvette ×2
    28. Wind
    29. RiptideFrigate
    30. Con turret
    31. Naval Construction Turret
    32. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    33. Con turret
    34. ShipyardShipyard ×2done 10:35
    35. OppressorDestroyer
    36. Con turret
    37. RiptideFrigate
    38. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    39. JellyfishJellyfish
    40. RiptideFrigate
    41. HerringMissile corvette

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is EXZoPrimer3's (38 OS, 12/09/2026); 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

EXZoPrimer3

37.6 OS · 12/09/2026

Open source match ↗

0 received units
2 metal received · 323 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