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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 · 6 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Windfor Air
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×2for Air
    5. Wind ×6
    6. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:52 · 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 · 19 steps
    1. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    2. SeekerSeeker ×5
    3. SweeperSweeper
    4. Mex
    5. Wind
    6. SeekerSeeker
    7. Wind ×2
    8. SeekerSeeker
    9. Wind
    10. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    11. Wind ×2
    12. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    13. Wind ×4
    14. NettleNettle
    15. Energy storage
    16. Mex ×3
    17. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    18. SentrySentry
    19. ShipyardShipyarddone 6:20 · 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 · 90 steps
    1. Mex
    2. SentrySentry
    3. DolphinDolphin ×2
    4. SentrySentry
    5. DolphinDolphin ×2
    6. Mex
    7. DolphinDolphin
    8. SkaterSkater
    9. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    10. SentrySentry
    11. CorsairDestroyerdone 7:27 · typical 5:58
    12. Con turret
    13. SentrySentry
    14. EllysawFrigate
    15. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    16. Mex
    17. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    18. CorsairDestroyer
    19. SentrySentry
    20. Converter ×2
    21. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    22. EllysawFrigate
    23. Converter ×2
    24. CorsairDestroyer
    25. NettleNettle
    26. Wind ×4
    27. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    28. Wind
    29. Naval Energy Converter
    30. Wind
    31. Construction ShipCon ship
    32. Naval Energy Converter
    33. Energy storage
    34. Wind
    35. Naval Energy Converter
    36. Construction ShipCon ship
    37. Advanced solar
    38. Wind
    39. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    40. Wind
    41. SkaterSkater ×2
    42. Con turret ×2
    43. SkaterSkater
    44. Naval Construction Turret
    45. CorsairDestroyer
    46. Naval Construction Turret
    47. SkaterSkater
    48. Con turret
    49. SkaterSkater
    50. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 12:00 · typical 9:28
    51. Naval Construction Turret
    52. SkaterSkater
    53. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    54. Naval Construction Turret
    55. SkaterSkater ×2
    56. Tidal
    57. CorsairDestroyer
    58. Tidal
    59. Wind ×2
    60. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    61. Naval Energy Converter
    62. EllysawFrigate
    63. Tidal
    64. Wind
    65. Naval Energy Converter
    66. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    67. Wind
    68. Tidal ×2
    69. Wind
    70. Tidal
    71. Wind
    72. Tidal
    73. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    74. Tidal ×2
    75. Wind
    76. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    77. Tidal
    78. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    79. Wind
    80. Tidal
    81. CorsairDestroyer
    82. Tidal
    83. Wind ×2
    84. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 14:29
    85. Wind ×5
    86. Naval Energy Converter
    87. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    88. Naval Energy Converter
    89. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    90. Naval Energy Converter

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [ADS]Kackbarren's (41 OS, 01/09/2026); 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

[ADS]Kackbarren

40.5 OS · 01/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
50 metal received · 203819 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