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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 · 80 distinct matches · 29 players · 12% of Armada Beach sea games · team won 53% of 80 · 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 (32% of army), seeker (19% 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 80 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 1:36–1:52

    Some games also: energy storage (45%) · wind for allies (38%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:24 · 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 ~4:15, middle half 3:59–4:39
    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 3:55 in all: 6 mex · 10 wind (standard 2) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 16 steps
    1. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    2. Wind ×2
    3. SeekerSeeker
    4. Wind
    5. SeekerSeeker
    6. Wind
    7. SeekerSeeker ×2
    8. Mex
    9. Wind
    10. SeekerSeeker
    11. Wind ×2
    12. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    13. Mex
    14. Energy storage
    15. Mex
    16. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:01 · typical 4:15
  3. 3

    Shipyard to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Wind Turbine14Wind
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret
    • Grim Reaper1 Grim Reaper
    • Construction Ship1 Con ship
    Army
    • Sentry2 Sentry
    • Dolphin3 Dolphin −2 vs standard
    • Corsair3 Destroyer
    • Skater3 Skater
    Other
    • Naval Radar / Sonar Tower1 Naval Radar / Sonar Tower

    Some games also: Harpoon (45%) · tidal (44%) · converter (36%) · Nettle (36%) · Naval Construction Turret (36%)

    By 10:00 in all: 10 mex · 24 wind (standard 16) · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 73 steps
    1. Mex
    2. Construction ShipCon ship
    3. EelSubmarinedone 4:50
    4. Naval Construction Turret
    5. SeekerSeeker ×2
    6. Mex
    7. SeekerSeeker ×2
    8. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    9. SeekerSeeker
    10. SweeperSweeper
    11. EelSubmarine
    12. SweeperSweeper
    13. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    14. Wind ×2
    15. EelSubmarine
    16. Wind ×6
    17. SeekerSeeker
    18. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    19. SeekerSeeker
    20. CorsairDestroyernot finished by 15:00 · typical 5:55
    21. SkaterSkater
    22. SeekerSeeker
    23. CorsairDestroyer
    24. SeekerSeeker
    25. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:56 · typical 9:26
    26. EllysawFrigate
    27. SeekerSeeker
    28. EllysawFrigate
    29. SeekerSeeker
    30. EllysawFrigate
    31. SeekerSeeker
    32. DolphinDolphin
    33. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    34. DolphinDolphin
    35. SweeperSweeper
    36. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    37. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    38. Construction ShipCon ship
    39. HarpoonHarpoon
    40. Naval Construction Turret
    41. Con turret
    42. DolphinDolphin ×2
    43. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    44. DolphinDolphin ×2
    45. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    46. DolphinDolphin
    47. EllysawFrigate ×2
    48. Tidal
    49. EllysawFrigate
    50. Tidal
    51. SkaterSkater
    52. Tidal
    53. Construction ShipCon ship
    54. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    55. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    56. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    57. EllysawFrigate ×2
    58. Con turret
    59. SkaterSkater ×2
    60. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    61. Con turret
    62. EllysawFrigate
    63. CorsairDestroyer
    64. Con turret
    65. EllysawFrigate
    66. T2 converter
    67. Dragon's ClawDragon's Claw
    68. EllysawFrigate
    69. SkaterSkater ×3
    70. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper ×2
    71. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyardnot finished by 15:00
    72. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    73. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Zeker_niet_Philipp's (40 OS, 25/08/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Wind Turbine2 Wind to Airfirst at 1:48 · in 46% of games

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:49 · in 57% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:00 · in 54% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Airfirst at 2:10 · in 31% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:01 · in 81% 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

80 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
3:00154815860000
4:002381254751515120
5:0037533733423255254125
6:0050885159885572574300
7:006490672312651146851591
8:00802883251869167911931037
9:009561100302428250217051675
10:0011405118893408362621532420
11:0013792142204083467225873244
12:0016233169734757552532074006
13:0018476197725201650038344904
14:0021171224286438736248745822
15:0023678253666803848352426721
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

Zeker_niet_Philipp

39.5 OS · 25/08/2026

Open source match ↗

1 received units · includes a constructor
412 metal received · 32953 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Hovercraft Platform1:41Middle 50%: 1:36–1:52 · n=80
Shipyard4:15Middle 50%: 3:59–4:39 · n=68
Corsair5:55Middle 50%: 5:27–7:16 · n=64
Advanced Metal Extractor9:26Middle 50%: 8:55–10:28 · n=67

Played most by

KingBenjai21games of this buildRysica10games of this build[ADS]Kackbarren5games of this buildAdeus4games of this buildCentientWaffle4games of this build