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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 ×6
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 2:29 · typical 1:52
    6. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    7. GoonGoondone 2:58
  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 · 29 steps
    1. GoonGoon
    2. Mex
    3. GoonGoon ×4
    4. Mex
    5. GoonGoon ×5
    6. Mex
    7. GoonGoon ×3
    8. Wind
    9. GoonGoon ×2
    10. Wind
    11. GoonGoon
    12. Mex
    13. GoonGoon
    14. Wind
    15. GoonGoon
    16. UrchinUrchin
    17. GoonGoon ×3
    18. Wind
    19. GoonGoon ×3
    20. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    21. GoonGoon
    22. Wind
    23. GoonGoon ×4
    24. Wind
    25. GoonGoon ×2
    26. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    27. Wind
    28. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    29. ShipyardShipyarddone 6:39 · 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 (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 · 75 steps
    1. Wind
    2. UrchinUrchin
    3. Wind
    4. HerringMissile corvette ×2
    5. Wind
    6. HerringMissile corvette
    7. Wind
    8. HerringMissile corvette ×2
    9. RiptideFrigatedone 7:58 · typical 5:48
    10. Con turret
    11. RiptideFrigate ×2
    12. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:25 · typical 9:58
    14. Converter
    15. OppressorDestroyerdone 9:57 · typical 6:40
    16. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    17. Construction ShipCon ship
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. Mex
    20. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    21. Naval Construction Turret
    22. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower ×2
    23. UrchinUrchin ×3
    24. HerringMissile corvette
    25. RiptideFrigate
    26. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    27. UrchinUrchin
    28. RiptideFrigate
    29. Tidal
    30. RiptideFrigate
    31. Tidal ×2
    32. UrchinUrchin
    33. Tidal ×2
    34. OppressorDestroyer
    35. Tidal ×2
    36. Wind
    37. Tidal
    38. Wind
    39. Tidal
    40. Naval Construction Turret
    41. Wind
    42. Tidal
    43. Wind ×3
    44. Naval Construction Turret
    45. Wind
    46. Naval Construction Turret
    47. Wind
    48. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    49. Naval Construction Turret
    50. Wind
    51. Naval Construction Turret
    52. Wind ×2
    53. HerringMissile corvette
    54. RiptideFrigate
    55. Wind
    56. RiptideFrigate
    57. Naval Construction Turret
    58. Wind
    59. Naval Construction Turret
    60. Wind
    61. Naval Construction Turret ×2
    62. Wind
    63. RiptideFrigate
    64. Wind
    65. OppressorDestroyer
    66. Wind
    67. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    68. Wind
    69. HerringMissile corvette
    70. RiptideFrigate
    71. Wind
    72. T2 converter
    73. RiptideFrigate ×2
    74. Wind
    75. OppressorDestroyer

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is PrepareUrAfus's (46 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

PrepareUrAfus

45.5 OS · 12/09/2026

Open source match ↗

2 received units · includes a constructor
168 metal received · 46562 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