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Beach sea / Armada / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Hovercraft raid

Player rushes a Hovercraft Platform by 1:10 and pushes out Seeker hovercraft as an early raid by 2:13, well before the shipyard which is delayed to around 4:16, using the raid to harass while sea presence catches up later.

Hovers first

#raid #amphibious #rush · 70 distinct matches · 27 players · 11% of Armada Beach sea games · team won 53% of 70 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform in 100%14% of all Beach sea games by then
  • SeekerSeeker in 99%14% of all Beach sea games by then

Then transitions into destroyer (30% of army), seeker (21% of army), dolphin (10% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Hovercraft Platform by 1:10

  1. Open with mex and wind instead of straight shipyard.
  2. Build a Hovercraft Platform right after your initial eco.
  3. Push out a Seeker raid to harass enemy sea entry early.
  4. Put down the shipyard once the raid is out.
  5. Add Corsair and settle into standard sea play from here.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 70 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 Hovercraft Platform

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine4Wind+3 vs standard
    Order
    1. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform after 3 mex, 4 winddone ~1:41, middle half 1:37–1:52

    Some games also: energy storage (46%) · wind for allies (39%)

    By 1:10 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind (standard 1)

    The example game in this phase · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Wind ×2for Air
    4. Wind ×2
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:43 · typical 1:41
  2. 2

    Hovercraft Platform to Shipyard

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine5Wind+4 vs standard
    Order
    1. ShipyardShipyard after 6 mex, 10 winddone ~4:16, middle half 4:00–4:43
    Builders
    • Construction Hovercraft3 Con hovercraft +3 vs standard
    Army
    • Seeker7 Seeker +7 vs standard

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 2 tidal · 2 con ship · 2 skater · 2 dolphin

    By 3:56 in all: 6 mex · 10 wind (standard 2) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 11 steps
    1. Windfor Air
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    3. Wind ×3
    4. SeekerSeeker
    5. Wind ×2
    6. SeekerSeeker
    7. Wind
    8. SeekerSeeker ×5
    9. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×3
    10. Mex
    11. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:02 · typical 4:16
  3. 3

    Shipyard to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Wind Turbine13Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret
    • Grim Reaper1 Grim Reaper
    • Construction Ship1 Con ship
    Army
    • Sentry2 Sentry
    • Dolphin3 Dolphin −2 vs standard
    • Corsair3 Destroyer
    • Skater2 Skater
    Other
    • Naval Radar / Sonar Tower1 Naval Radar / Sonar Tower

    Some games also: Harpoon (47%) · tidal (41%) · Naval Construction Turret (37%) · converter (36%) · frigate (36%)

    By 10:00 in all: 10 mex · 23 wind (standard 15) · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 178 steps
    1. SkaterSkater ×2
    2. Mex ×2
    3. DolphinDolphin ×2
    4. Mex ×2
    5. DolphinDolphin ×3
    6. Mex
    7. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:44 · typical 5:58
    8. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    9. Con turret
    10. CorsairDestroyer
    11. Mex
    12. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:12 · typical 9:28
    13. Converter ×3
    14. Wind
    15. Mex ×2
    16. Wind
    17. CorsairDestroyer
    18. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    19. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    20. Wind
    21. Energy storage
    22. BeholderBeholder ×4for Geo sea
    23. Wind
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    25. BeholderBeholderfor Geo sea
    26. Wind ×2
    27. BeholderBeholder
    28. BeamerBeamer
    29. Wind ×2
    30. BeholderBeholder
    31. Wind
    32. BeholderBeholder
    33. Construction ShipCon ship
    34. Wind
    35. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    36. Wind ×3
    37. Construction ShipCon ship
    38. BeholderBeholder
    39. Wind ×2
    40. Construction ShipCon ship
    41. Bot LabBot Labdone 9:55
    42. Wind
    43. Construction ShipCon ship
    44. Wind
    45. LazarusLazarus
    46. Wind
    47. LazarusLazarus
    48. Construction ShipCon ship
    49. Wind
    50. LazarusLazarus ×2
    51. Construction ShipCon ship
    52. Naval Construction Turret
    53. LazarusLazarus
    54. Wind
    55. Naval Construction Turret
    56. Wind
    57. Naval Construction Turret
    58. Wind
    59. Naval Construction Turret
    60. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    61. Wind
    62. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 11:05
    63. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    64. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    65. Wind
    66. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    67. Wind
    68. SkaterSkater
    69. Tidal ×2
    70. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    71. SkaterSkater
    72. Wind ×2
    73. Tidal
    74. Wind
    75. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractordone 12:12
    76. Tidal
    77. Wind ×4
    78. SkaterSkater
    79. BermudaRadar jammer ship
    80. Seaplane PlatformSeaplane Platformdone 12:12
    81. Tidal
    82. Wind
    83. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    84. Wind ×2
    85. Tidal
    86. Wind ×2
    87. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    88. Tidal
    89. Wind ×2
    90. SkaterSkater
    91. Tidal
    92. Wind
    93. DreadnoughtBattleshipdone 13:35
    94. SabreSabre
    95. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    96. SkaterSkater
    97. Tidal
    98. Wind ×2
    99. Tidal
    100. Wind
    101. SabreSabre
    102. LazarusLazarus
    103. Tidal
    104. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    105. Wind
    106. Tidal
    107. Wind
    108. Tidal
    109. Wind ×2
    110. Tidal
    111. Wind
    112. PuffinPuffin
    113. Tidal
    114. Wind ×2
    115. Tidal
    116. SkaterSkater
    117. Tidal
    118. Wind
    119. LazarusLazarus
    120. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    121. Tidal
    122. Wind
    123. Tidal
    124. LazarusLazarus
    125. Tidal ×2
    126. Wind ×2
    127. Tidal
    128. Wind
    129. Tidal
    130. PuffinPuffin
    131. DragonslayerDragonslayerdone 14:10
    132. SkaterSkater
    133. Wind ×3
    134. Tidal
    135. Wind
    136. BeholderBeholder
    137. PuffinPuffin
    138. Wind
    139. BeholderBeholder
    140. SkaterSkater
    141. Tidal
    142. Wind ×2
    143. Tidal
    144. Naval Energy Converter
    145. PuffinPuffin
    146. Tidal
    147. Wind ×2
    148. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    149. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    150. PaladinCruiserdone 14:43
    151. Tidal
    152. Wind ×2
    153. Tidal
    154. Advanced Sonar StationAdvanced Sonar Station
    155. Wind
    156. PuffinPuffin
    157. Wind
    158. Tidal
    159. Naval Energy Converter
    160. Wind
    161. Tidal
    162. Wind
    163. SkaterSkater
    164. Wind
    165. Tidal
    166. Wind
    167. Tidal
    168. Wind
    169. DragonslayerDragonslayer
    170. Tidal
    171. Wind
    172. PuffinPuffin
    173. MaelstromMaelstromnot finished by 15:00
    174. Wind
    175. Naval Energy Converter
    176. SkaterSkater
    177. Tidal ×2
    178. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is KingBenjai's (47 OS, 21/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind to Airfirst at 1:44 · in 46% of games

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:46 · in 57% of games
  • Valiant1 Valiant from Airfirst at 1:50 · in 30% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:02 · in 51% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:03 · in 80% 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

70 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
1:004044040000
2:009389380000
3:00152815810000
4:002347254051515150
5:0036813724444251255125
6:0050625148885564566300
7:006484671912411146851596
8:00799983061869167512541089
9:00947699702428249417151726
10:0011217118023433362021882438
11:0013274141054083457127193269
12:0015620168284667538432783986
13:0018348195795014631238804936
14:0021091222186387706849945841
15:0023236252206667821454246711
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won more often than the standard build with a similar economy but far more early kills by 5:00.

  • + Enemy metal destroyed hit 444 by 5:00 vs 180 standard.
  • + Own metal lost stayed lower at 15:00 despite the raid.
  • − Metal produced trails standard by 10:00 and 15:00.
  • − Enemy metal destroyed by 15:00 falls behind standard (6667 vs 8279).
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

KingBenjai

47.0 OS · 21/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
519 metal received · 48740 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Hovercraft Platform1:41Middle 50%: 1:37–1:52 · n=70
Shipyard4:16Middle 50%: 4:00–4:43 · n=58
Corsair5:58Middle 50%: 5:28–7:17 · n=54
Advanced Metal Extractor9:28Middle 50%: 9:01–10:50 · n=58

Played most by

KingBenjai17games of this buildRysica10games of this build[ADS]Kackbarren5games of this buildAdeus4games of this buildCentientWaffle4games of this build