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

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is EXZoPrimer3's (37 OS, 25/09/2026); 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

36.8 OS · 25/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
67 metal received · 44142 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