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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 · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Wind ×2for Geo
    4. Wind ×2
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:36 · 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 · 16 steps
    1. Windfor Geo
    2. Wind
    3. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    4. Wind
    5. SeekerSeeker
    6. Wind ×2
    7. SeekerSeeker
    8. Wind ×2
    9. SeekerSeeker ×5
    10. Mex
    11. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    12. Mex
    13. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    14. SentrySentry
    15. Mex
    16. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:04 · 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 · 197 steps
    1. SentrySentry
    2. Mex
    3. SkaterSkater
    4. Con turret
    5. SkaterSkater
    6. NettleNettle
    7. Mex
    8. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:01 · typical 5:58
    9. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    10. Wind
    11. Mex
    12. Wind
    13. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    14. Wind ×3
    15. CorsairDestroyer
    16. Wind ×4
    17. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    18. Wind ×6
    19. DolphinDolphin
    20. Naval Energy Converter
    21. Wind
    22. HarpoonHarpoon
    23. Wind
    24. Naval Energy Converter
    25. Wind
    26. DolphinDolphin
    27. Wind
    28. Naval Energy Converter
    29. Wind
    30. Naval Energy Converter
    31. Wind
    32. DolphinDolphin
    33. Converter
    34. Wind
    35. Naval Energy Converter
    36. Wind
    37. DolphinDolphin
    38. Naval Energy Converter
    39. Wind
    40. Converter
    41. Wind
    42. Converter
    43. CorsairDestroyer
    44. SentrySentry
    45. Wind
    46. Converter
    47. Naval Construction Turret
    48. Wind
    49. Converter
    50. NettleNettle
    51. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    52. Wind
    53. Converter
    54. SentrySentry
    55. CorsairDestroyer
    56. Wind
    57. Converter
    58. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:13 · typical 9:28
    59. Converter
    60. Wind
    61. SentrySentry
    62. SkaterSkater
    63. Naval Construction Turret
    64. Wind
    65. CorsairDestroyer
    66. BeamerBeamer
    67. Wind
    68. Converter
    69. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    70. Wind
    71. CorsairDestroyer
    72. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    73. Converter
    74. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    75. Wind
    76. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    77. Wind
    78. Converter
    79. Twilight
    80. Mex
    81. Wind
    82. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    83. Converter
    84. Wind
    85. Construction ShipCon ship
    86. Tidal
    87. Twilight
    88. Tidal
    89. Naval Construction Turret
    90. Tidal
    91. Wind
    92. Tidal
    93. Naval Construction Turret
    94. Mex
    95. Tidal
    96. Wind
    97. Converter
    98. Tidal
    99. Wind
    100. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    101. Naval Construction Turret
    102. Tidal
    103. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 11:52
    104. Converter
    105. Mex
    106. Tidal
    107. Wind
    108. Converter
    109. Tidal
    110. Con turret
    111. Wind
    112. Tidal ×2
    113. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    114. Converter
    115. Tidal
    116. Wind
    117. Tidal
    118. Converter
    119. Wind
    120. Converter
    121. Tidal
    122. Wind
    123. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    124. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantdone 12:24
    125. Converter
    126. Tidal
    127. Wind
    128. Tidal
    129. Converter
    130. Tidal
    131. Wind
    132. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    133. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    134. Tidal
    135. Converter
    136. Con turret
    137. Wind
    138. Tidal
    139. Wind
    140. Tidal ×2
    141. Wind
    142. Tidal
    143. LongbowMissile cruiserdone 13:17
    144. Wind
    145. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractordone 13:14
    146. Tidal
    147. Converter
    148. Wind
    149. Tidal ×2
    150. Wind
    151. Tidal ×2
    152. Wind
    153. LongbowMissile cruiser
    154. Naval Energy Converter
    155. Wind
    156. Tidal
    157. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    158. Converter
    159. Wind
    160. Tidal
    161. Naval Energy Converter
    162. Wind
    163. Converter
    164. Tidal
    165. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    166. Wind
    167. Tidal
    168. LongbowMissile cruiser
    169. Wind
    170. Naval Energy Converter
    171. Tidal
    172. Wind
    173. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    174. Wind
    175. Tidal
    176. Naval Energy Converter
    177. Tidal
    178. Wind
    179. SkaterSkater
    180. Tidal
    181. SkaterSkater
    182. Naval Energy Converter
    183. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    184. Tidal
    185. Wind
    186. Naval Energy Converter
    187. Tidal
    188. SkaterSkater
    189. Wind
    190. BermudaRadar jammer ship
    191. Naval Energy Converter
    192. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    193. BeholderBeholder
    194. Wind
    195. Tidal
    196. BeholderBeholder
    197. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is KingBenjai's (48 OS, 22/09/2026); 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

KingBenjai

47.8 OS · 22/09/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
325 metal received · 70455 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