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Hovercraft raid

Armada Beach sea build order · Supreme Isthmus

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 · 81 distinct matches · 30 players · 12% of Armada Beach sea games · team won 53% of 81 · 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 (18% 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 81 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 Turbine5Wind+4 vs standard
    Order
    1. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform after 3 mex, 5 winddone ~1:41, middle half 1:37–1:52

    Some games also: energy storage (44%) · wind for allies (37%)

    By 1:10 in all: 3 mex · 5 wind (standard 1)

    The example game in this phase · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×6
    3. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:37 · 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 3:59–4:36
    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 3:54 in all: 6 mex · 10 wind (standard 2) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 10 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    3. Wind
    4. Wind ×2for unknown
    5. Wind ×2
    6. SeekerSeeker
    7. Wind
    8. SeekerSeeker ×5
    9. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×3
    10. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:00 · 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 (46%) · tidal (43%) · 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 · 99 steps
    1. Mex
    2. SkaterSkater
    3. Mex
    4. SkaterSkater
    5. EelSubmarinedone 4:37
    6. Mex
    7. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:09 · typical 5:54
    8. Mex
    9. Converter
    10. DolphinDolphin
    11. Converter
    12. CorsairDestroyer
    13. Converter
    14. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    15. Converter
    16. Con turret
    17. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    18. Converter
    19. SkaterSkater
    20. Metal storage
    21. Converter
    22. CorsairDestroyer
    23. Mex
    24. Con turret
    25. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    26. Wind ×2
    27. CorsairDestroyer
    28. Wind ×3
    29. CorsairDestroyer
    30. Wind
    31. Mex
    32. Wind ×2
    33. Mex
    34. Wind
    35. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:55 · typical 9:23
    36. Wind
    37. CorsairDestroyer
    38. BeamerBeamer
    39. Wind ×3
    40. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    41. CorsairDestroyer
    42. Wind ×2
    43. CorsairDestroyer
    44. Wind
    45. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    46. Wind
    47. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    48. Wind
    49. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    50. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    51. Wind
    52. EelSubmarine ×2
    53. Wind
    54. Energy storage
    55. Wind
    56. EelSubmarine
    57. Wind
    58. EelSubmarine
    59. Wind
    60. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    61. Wind
    62. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 11:53
    63. Wind ×5
    64. Naval Construction Turret
    65. Wind
    66. SkaterSkater
    67. Wind ×2
    68. Naval Construction Turret
    69. SkaterSkater ×3
    70. Mex
    71. Naval Construction Turret
    72. Wind ×2
    73. Advanced solar
    74. Wind
    75. SkaterSkater
    76. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyardnot finished by 15:00
    77. Wind
    78. Mex
    79. HarpoonHarpoon ×2
    80. Wind
    81. Advanced solar
    82. HarpoonHarpoon
    83. Wind
    84. Mex
    85. Construction ShipCon ship
    86. Wind
    87. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 14:37
    88. Advanced solar
    89. Mex
    90. Wind
    91. Construction ShipCon ship ×3
    92. Wind
    93. CitadelAnti-nukenot finished by 15:00
    94. Construction ShipCon ship
    95. Advanced solar
    96. Mex
    97. Wind
    98. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    99. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is KingBenjai's (46 OS, 30/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Wind Turbine2 Wind to Air or Geo seafirst at 1:48 · in 48% of games

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:49 · in 58% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:00 · in 53% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Airfirst at 2:08 · in 32% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:56 · 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

81 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
4:002380254751515147
5:0037553734416255255125
6:0050935155903571570300
7:006494671612841143850591
8:00804883121776167911541039
9:009624100182333251716971678
10:0011430118773417360821362426
11:0013881141884130458225453270
12:0016407169374877547131904014
13:0018560197335298646938324888
14:0021194223886454729449135782
15:0023832253196898836854006716
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

46.1 OS · 30/09/2026

Open source match ↗

9 received units · includes a constructor
709 metal received · 42617 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=81
Shipyard4:15Middle 50%: 3:59–4:36 · n=69
Corsair5:54Middle 50%: 5:26–7:15 · n=65
Advanced Metal Extractor9:23Middle 50%: 8:55–10:23 · n=68

Played most by

KingBenjai22games of this buildRysica10games of this build[ADS]Kackbarren5games of this buildAdeus4games of this buildCentientWaffle4games of this build