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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 ×5
    3. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:40 · 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 · 17 steps
    1. Solar
    2. Wind
    3. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    4. Wind
    5. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    6. SeekerSeeker ×2
    7. Mex
    8. Wind ×2
    9. SeekerSeeker
    10. Wind ×2
    11. SeekerSeeker
    12. Wind
    13. Mex
    14. SeekerSeeker ×2
    15. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    16. Mex
    17. ShipyardShipyarddone 3:59 · 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. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    2. Mex
    3. Con turret
    4. Construction ShipCon ship
    5. DolphinDolphin
    6. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    7. DolphinDolphin
    8. Mex
    9. Wind
    10. SkaterSkater
    11. HarpoonHarpoon
    12. Naval Energy Converter
    13. Wind
    14. Mex
    15. SkaterSkater
    16. Wind ×2
    17. CorsairDestroyerdone 6:15 · typical 5:58
    18. SentrySentry
    19. Wind ×2
    20. Naval Construction Turret
    21. Wind ×7
    22. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    23. Wind ×4
    24. EllysawFrigate
    25. Wind
    26. SentrySentry
    27. Wind ×3
    28. EllysawFrigate
    29. Wind
    30. SentrySentry
    31. Wind
    32. SentrySentry
    33. EllysawFrigate
    34. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    35. SentrySentry
    36. Mex
    37. EllysawFrigate
    38. Wind
    39. SentrySentry
    40. Wind
    41. Mex
    42. Wind
    43. EllysawFrigate
    44. SentrySentry
    45. EllysawFrigate
    46. Wind ×3
    47. EllysawFrigate
    48. Wind ×2
    49. Naval Energy Converter
    50. CorsairDestroyer
    51. Wind
    52. Naval Energy Converter
    53. Wind
    54. Naval Energy Converter
    55. Wind ×4
    56. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    57. SkaterSkater
    58. Construction ShipCon ship
    59. CorsairDestroyer
    60. Wind ×3
    61. CorsairDestroyer
    62. Wind ×7
    63. CorsairDestroyer
    64. Wind ×9
    65. EllysawFrigate
    66. Wind
    67. EllysawFrigate
    68. Wind ×2
    69. EllysawFrigate
    70. Wind
    71. EllysawFrigate
    72. Wind ×3
    73. EllysawFrigate
    74. Wind ×2
    75. HarpoonHarpoon
    76. Wind ×3
    77. SentrySentry
    78. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    79. SentrySentry
    80. Wind
    81. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper ×2
    82. Wind
    83. EllysawFrigate
    84. Naval Construction Turret
    85. Wind
    86. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    87. Tidal
    88. Wind
    89. Tidal
    90. Wind
    91. Tidal
    92. EllysawFrigate
    93. Tidal
    94. Wind
    95. Mex
    96. Tidal
    97. CorsairDestroyer
    98. Tidal

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is GeeGee's (36 OS, 18/09/2026); 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

GeeGee

36.3 OS · 18/09/2026

Open source match ↗

0 received units
0 metal received · 13 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