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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 · 4 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. SentrySentry
    4. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:41 · 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 · 14 steps
    1. SentrySentry
    2. Wind
    3. SeekerSeeker
    4. Wind ×2for Air
    5. SeekerSeeker
    6. Wind ×2
    7. SeekerSeeker
    8. Wind ×3
    9. SeekerSeeker
    10. Wind
    11. SeekerSeeker ×2
    12. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×4
    13. Mex
    14. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:14 · 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 · 116 steps
    1. Mex
    2. SkaterSkater ×2
    3. Mex ×2
    4. DolphinDolphin ×2
    5. Mex
    6. DolphinDolphin
    7. Mex
    8. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:35 · typical 5:58
    9. NettleNettle
    10. Converter
    11. Con turret
    12. CorsairDestroyer
    13. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    14. Naval Energy Converter
    15. Converter
    16. Naval Energy Converter ×2
    17. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    18. Naval Energy Converter
    19. NettleNettle
    20. Converter
    21. Wind
    22. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    23. Converter
    24. Wind
    25. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    26. BeamerBeamer
    27. Naval Construction Turret
    28. Converter ×2
    29. Wind
    30. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    31. Converter
    32. Mex
    33. Wind
    34. Converter
    35. Wind
    36. SentrySentry
    37. Converter
    38. Wind
    39. CorsairDestroyer
    40. Wind
    41. Converter
    42. Wind
    43. SentrySentry
    44. Energy storage
    45. Converter
    46. Wind
    47. Converter
    48. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    49. Naval Construction Turret
    50. Wind
    51. SentrySentry
    52. Converter ×2
    53. Wind
    54. CorsairDestroyer
    55. Tidal
    56. Converter
    57. Wind
    58. SentrySentry
    59. Converter
    60. Wind
    61. HarpoonHarpoon
    62. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    63. HarpoonHarpoon
    64. Wind
    65. Converter
    66. CorsairDestroyer
    67. Converter
    68. Tidal
    69. Wind
    70. Converter
    71. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:38
    72. Wind
    73. Converter
    74. Tidal
    75. HarpoonHarpoon
    76. Wind
    77. Tidal
    78. Converter
    79. Tidal
    80. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    81. Tidal
    82. HarpoonHarpoon
    83. Wind
    84. CorsairDestroyer
    85. Wind
    86. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    87. Converter
    88. Tidal
    89. Wind
    90. SkaterSkater
    91. Tidal
    92. SkaterSkater
    93. Wind
    94. Tidal
    95. SkaterSkater
    96. Converter
    97. Tidal
    98. Wind
    99. CorsairDestroyer
    100. Naval Construction Turret
    101. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    102. Converter
    103. Naval Construction Turret
    104. Wind
    105. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 12:51
    106. Wind ×2
    107. Mex
    108. Wind
    109. Energy storage
    110. Wind ×3
    111. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    112. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    113. Wind
    114. Mex
    115. Energy storage
    116. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is KingBenjai's (45 OS, 01/09/2026); 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

45.1 OS · 01/09/2026

Open source match ↗

8 received units · includes a constructor
45 metal received · 52572 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