BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
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. Energy storage
    4. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:38 · 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 · 9 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    3. SeekerSeeker ×5
    4. Mex
    5. SeekerSeeker ×6
    6. Mex
    7. SeekerSeeker ×2
    8. Mex
    9. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:05 · 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 · 98 steps
    1. SentrySentry
    2. Construction ShipCon ship
    3. SkaterSkater
    4. Mex
    5. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:15 · typical 5:58
    6. Mex ×2
    7. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    8. Construction ShipCon ship
    9. SkaterSkater
    10. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    11. Mex
    12. DolphinDolphin
    13. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    14. Naval Construction Turret
    15. DolphinDolphin ×3
    16. CorsairDestroyer
    17. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    18. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    19. Tidal
    20. SkaterSkater
    21. Tidal ×2
    22. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    23. Tidal
    24. DolphinDolphin
    25. Tidal
    26. DolphinDolphin
    27. Tidal
    28. DolphinDolphin
    29. Tidal
    30. SkaterSkater
    31. Construction ShipCon ship
    32. Tidal
    33. CorsairDestroyer
    34. Tidal
    35. Naval Construction Turret
    36. Mex
    37. Tidal ×2
    38. Mex
    39. Naval Construction Turret
    40. Construction ShipCon ship
    41. Tidal ×6
    42. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:39 · typical 9:28
    43. Tidal ×4
    44. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 11:46
    45. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    46. Bot LabBot Labdone 10:41
    47. Tidal ×4
    48. Construction BotCon bot
    49. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    50. Tidal
    51. Construction BotCon bot
    52. Tidal
    53. Construction BotCon bot
    54. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    55. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower ×2
    56. Construction BotCon bot
    57. Tidal
    58. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    59. Construction BotCon bot
    60. Tidal
    61. VoyagerVoyager
    62. Tidal
    63. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    64. VoyagerVoyager
    65. MaelstromMaelstromdone 12:30
    66. Tidal
    67. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractordone 12:54
    68. MaelstromMaelstrom
    69. Tidal
    70. MaelstromMaelstrom
    71. Tidal
    72. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    73. Con turret
    74. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    75. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    76. Con turret
    77. Tidal
    78. MaelstromMaelstrom
    79. Tidal
    80. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    81. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    82. Tidal
    83. MaelstromMaelstrom
    84. Tidal
    85. MaelstromMaelstrom
    86. Wind ×3
    87. DreadnoughtBattleshipnot finished by 15:00
    88. Wind ×3
    89. Tidal
    90. Wind
    91. Naval Construction Turret
    92. Wind
    93. Converter
    94. Wind ×2
    95. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    96. Wind
    97. Tidal
    98. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is krtf's (43 OS, 19/09/2026); 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

krtf

43.0 OS · 19/09/2026

Open source match ↗

2 received units · includes a constructor
87 metal received · 50375 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