BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
Beach sea / Armada / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Hovercraft raid

Armada Beach sea build order · Supreme Isthmus

Same economy-first sea plan as standard, but hovercraft platform goes up first and a fast hovercraft raid is sent out by around 2 minutes before the shipyard and destroyer follow; still transitions into the normal fleet.

Hovers first

#naval #eco #raid · 159 distinct matches · 49 players · 12% of Armada Beach sea games · team won 57% of 159 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform in 99%14% of all Beach sea games by then
  • SeekerSeeker in 99%14% of all Beach sea games by then

Then transitions into destroyer (31% of army), seeker (15% of army), dolphin (12% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Hover raid (Seeker) by 2:13

  1. Open mex and energy exactly like standard sea economy.
  2. Build Hovercraft Platform first instead of going straight shipyard.
  3. Send a fast Seeker raid out well ahead of the usual timing.
  4. Reclaim Hovercraft Platform in most games once the raid is done.
  5. Pivot into shipyard and normal Corsair-led fleet build.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 159 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 Turbine5Wind+4 vs standard
    Order
    1. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platform after 3 mex, 5 winddone ~1:43, middle half 1:33–1:52

    Some games also: energy storage (45%) · wind for allies (31%)

    By 1:10 in all: 3 mex · 5 wind (standard 1)

    The example game in this phase · 7 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×3
    3. SentrySentry
    4. Solar
    5. Wind
    6. Energy storage
    7. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 2:02 · typical 1:43
  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 3:58–4:39
    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 · 6 steps
    1. SeekerSeeker ×5
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    3. Con turret
    4. Mex
    5. Con turret
    6. Hovercraft PlatformEat Hovercraft Platformreclaimed for its metal
  3. 3

    Shipyard to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Wind Turbine12Wind
    Order
    1. Hovercraft PlatformEat Hovercraft Platform
    Builders
    • Construction Turret1 Con turret
    • Construction Ship1 Con ship
    • Grim Reaper1 Grim Reaper
    Army
    • Sentry2 Sentry
    • Dolphin4 Dolphin
    • Corsair3 Destroyer
    • Skater2 Skater
    Other
    • Naval Radar / Sonar Tower1 Naval Radar / Sonar Tower

    Some games also: Harpoon (46%) · frigate (38%) · Naval Construction Turret (38%) · tidal (36%) · submarine (35%)

    By 10:00 in all: 10 mex · 23 wind (standard 16) · 1 energy storage · 1 con turret

    The example game in this phase · 102 steps
    1. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:26
    2. Mex
    3. RiptideFrigatedone 4:49
    4. Converter
    5. RiptideFrigate
    6. Converter
    7. Mex
    8. RiptideFrigate
    9. Converter
    10. Con turret
    11. RiptideFrigate
    12. Construction ShipCon ship
    13. RiptideFrigate
    14. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    15. SentrySentry ×2
    16. Wind ×2
    17. Mex
    18. SentrySentry ×2
    19. Mex
    20. Wind
    21. RiptideFrigate
    22. SentrySentry
    23. Wind
    24. HarpoonHarpoon
    25. UrchinUrchin
    26. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    27. SentrySentry
    28. Con turret
    29. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    30. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    31. SentrySentry ×2
    32. Wind
    33. SentrySentry
    34. Converter
    35. HarpoonHarpoon
    36. OppressorDestroyerdone 8:19
    37. Converter
    38. SentrySentry ×2
    39. Converter
    40. OppressorDestroyer
    41. Converter
    42. SentrySentry
    43. Wind
    44. SentrySentry
    45. Wind ×2
    46. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:38 · typical 9:43
    47. Wind
    48. Mex
    49. Wind ×2
    50. Mex
    51. Wind
    52. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    53. Wind
    54. Wind
    55. Construction ShipCon ship
    56. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    57. Wind
    58. Wind
    59. Wind
    60. Wind
    61. Construction ShipCon ship
    62. Wind
    63. Wind ×2
    64. Wind
    65. RiptideFrigate
    66. Wind
    67. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    68. Wind
    69. Tidal
    70. Wind
    71. Wind
    72. Wind ×2
    73. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    74. Tidal
    75. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    76. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    77. Wind
    78. Tidal
    79. HerringMissile corvette
    80. Tidal
    81. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    82. Tidal
    83. SlingshotSlingshot
    84. NettleNettle
    85. Tidal
    86. OppressorDestroyer
    87. UrchinUrchin
    88. NettleNettle
    89. Naval Energy Converter
    90. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    91. Naval Energy Converter
    92. OppressorDestroyer
    93. Naval Energy Converter
    94. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    95. Naval Energy Converter ×2
    96. RiptideFrigate
    97. Naval Energy Converter
    98. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    99. HerringMissile corvette ×2
    100. Naval Energy Converter
    101. HerringMissile corvette
    102. Naval Energy Converter

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Thors_Hammer's (32 OS, 06/10/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Wind Turbine2 Wind to Air or Geofirst at 1:54 · in 42% of games

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:54 · in 67% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:02 · in 59% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:02 · in 87% 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

159 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
3:00155215800000
4:002449251951515151
5:0037823703372241255150
6:0051545098743563577352
7:006496658411851096860693
8:00798181511658166212501148
9:00946397702333243117181814
10:0011371116213240332521362571
11:0013570136834115426528593340
12:0015932160375087506637964158
13:0018206184705585585642014941
14:0020979212496625654050615913
15:0022948239017513739955696663
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Slightly better team win rate than standard with higher early kills, though overall metal destroyed by 15:00 still trails.

  • + Team win rate 52% vs 47% standard.
  • + Enemy metal destroyed by 5:00 is higher (410 vs 255).
  • − Metal production falls behind by 15:00 (23823 vs 25292).
  • − Own metal lost nearly doubles by 5:00 (255 vs 128).
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Thors_Hammer

31.8 OS · 06/10/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
153 metal received · 61401 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Hovercraft Platform1:43Middle 50%: 1:33–1:52 · n=157
Shipyard4:16Middle 50%: 3:58–4:39 · n=140
Corsair5:56Middle 50%: 5:27–7:26 · n=131
Advanced Metal Extractor9:43Middle 50%: 9:07–10:39 · n=140

Played most by

KingBenjai22games of this buildrainefullstop18games of this buildRysica13games of this buildDontStreamSnipeMeBro9games of this buildAdeus7games of this build