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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 · 30 players · 12% of Armada Beach sea games · team won 51% 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 (44%) · wind for allies (38%)

    By 1:09 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind (standard 1)

    The example game in this phase · 6 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Solar
    3. Windfor Air
    4. Wind ×3
    5. Energy storage
    6. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:46 · 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 4:00–4:46
    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 · 5 steps
    1. Solar
    2. SeekerSeeker ×8
    3. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    4. Mex ×2
    5. ShipyardShipyarddone 3:56 · typical 4:16
  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 (43%) · converter (38%) · 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 · 131 steps
    1. Mex
    2. DolphinDolphin ×3
    3. EelSubmarinedone 4:47
    4. Mex
    5. SkaterSkater
    6. DolphinDolphin
    7. SkaterSkater
    8. DolphinDolphin
    9. Mex
    10. DolphinDolphin ×4
    11. Mex
    12. DolphinDolphin ×8
    13. Con turret
    14. DolphinDolphin
    15. Mex
    16. DolphinDolphin
    17. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:56 · typical 9:26
    18. DolphinDolphin
    19. Construction ShipCon ship
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    21. Wind
    22. SentrySentry
    23. Wind ×2
    24. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    25. Wind
    26. NettleNettle
    27. Wind ×2
    28. Construction ShipCon ship
    29. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    30. Wind ×4
    31. Tidal
    32. Wind ×2
    33. CorsairDestroyerdone 10:25 · typical 5:55
    34. Wind ×6
    35. NettleNettle
    36. Wind
    37. Naval Construction Turret
    38. CorsairDestroyer
    39. Wind ×2
    40. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    41. Wind
    42. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    43. Naval Construction Turret
    44. Wind ×4
    45. Naval Construction Turret
    46. HarpoonHarpoon
    47. Wind ×5
    48. Naval Construction Turret
    49. Wind ×3
    50. Mex
    51. Wind
    52. EllysawFrigate
    53. CorsairDestroyer
    54. Wind
    55. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    56. Wind
    57. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    58. Wind
    59. SkaterSkater
    60. Wind
    61. DolphinDolphin
    62. Mex
    63. Wind
    64. EllysawFrigate
    65. Wind ×2
    66. SkaterSkater ×2
    67. Wind
    68. CorsairDestroyer
    69. Wind
    70. SentrySentry
    71. SkaterSkater
    72. HarpoonHarpoon
    73. DolphinDolphin
    74. Converter
    75. SentrySentry
    76. Wind
    77. EllysawFrigate
    78. HarpoonHarpoon
    79. Wind
    80. SkaterSkater
    81. Converter
    82. SentrySentry
    83. SkaterSkater
    84. Wind
    85. CorsairDestroyer
    86. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    87. Wind
    88. Converter
    89. HarpoonHarpoon
    90. Converter
    91. Wind
    92. SkaterSkater
    93. Wind
    94. DolphinDolphin
    95. Wind
    96. Converter
    97. EllysawFrigate
    98. Wind ×2
    99. SkaterSkater
    100. Wind ×2
    101. SkaterSkater
    102. Converter
    103. Wind
    104. CorsairDestroyer
    105. Wind
    106. Converter
    107. Wind ×3
    108. SkaterSkater
    109. DolphinDolphin
    110. Wind ×2
    111. EllysawFrigate
    112. Wind ×2
    113. SkaterSkater
    114. Wind
    115. SkaterSkater
    116. CorsairDestroyer
    117. ShipyardShipyarddone 14:34
    118. Wind
    119. Con turret
    120. Wind ×2
    121. SkaterSkater
    122. CorsairDestroyer
    123. DolphinDolphin
    124. Con turret
    125. Wind ×2
    126. EllysawFrigate ×2
    127. Con turret
    128. SkaterSkater
    129. Wind
    130. SkaterSkater
    131. DolphinDolphin

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is EXZoPrimer3's (38 OS, 27/09/2026); 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 56% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:01 · in 53% 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 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

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
3:00154815830000
4:002381254451515147
5:0037533731436255254125
6:0050885156885572566298
7:006490672312411146838591
8:00802883191869167611401039
9:009561100252368249816921656
10:0011405118893384362621132396
11:0013792141884045465325403207
12:0016233169374757547132073948
13:0018586197725201647238344879
14:0021229224036461733947915782
15:0023838253196927836852086703
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

EXZoPrimer3

37.7 OS · 27/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
507 metal received · 17079 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
Shipyard4:16Middle 50%: 4:00–4:46 · n=68
Corsair5:55Middle 50%: 5:27–7:16 · n=64
Advanced Metal Extractor9:26Middle 50%: 8:56–10:34 · n=66

Played most by

KingBenjai21games of this buildRysica10games of this build[ADS]Kackbarren5games of this buildAdeus4games of this buildCentientWaffle4games of this build
Hovercraft raid · Armada Beach sea build order · BAR Build Atlas