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

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Rysica's (40 OS, 05/09/2026); 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

Rysica

39.8 OS · 05/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
0 metal received · 13171 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