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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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×6
    3. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:41 · 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 · 22 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    3. SentrySentry ×2
    4. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    5. Wind ×2
    6. Windfor Air
    7. SeekerSeeker
    8. Windfor Air
    9. Wind
    10. SeekerSeeker
    11. Wind
    12. Mex
    13. SeekerSeeker ×2
    14. Mex
    15. SeekerSeeker ×3
    16. Mex
    17. SeekerSeeker
    18. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    19. Mex
    20. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    21. NettleNettle
    22. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:23 · 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 · 134 steps
    1. Con turret
    2. Mex
    3. SkaterSkater
    4. NettleNettle
    5. SkaterSkater
    6. Mex
    7. CorsairDestroyerdone 6:15 · typical 5:55
    8. Wind ×2
    9. Tidal
    10. Wind ×2
    11. Tidal
    12. Wind
    13. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    14. Wind
    15. Tidal
    16. Mex
    17. SentrySentry
    18. Tidal
    19. Wind ×2
    20. Energy storage
    21. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    22. SentrySentry
    23. Wind
    24. EelSubmarinedone 6:46
    25. Wind
    26. EelSubmarine
    27. BeamerBeamer
    28. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    29. SentrySentry
    30. EelSubmarine
    31. BeamerBeamer ×2
    32. EelSubmarine
    33. Wind ×2
    34. EllysawFrigate
    35. Wind
    36. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:46 · typical 9:26
    37. Wind
    38. EllysawFrigate
    39. Wind
    40. PharosPharos
    41. EllysawFrigate
    42. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    43. Wind
    44. Naval Construction Turret
    45. BeamerBeamer
    46. Wind
    47. BeholderBeholder
    48. EllysawFrigate
    49. Wind
    50. EllysawFrigate
    51. Wind
    52. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    53. SkaterSkater
    54. Converter
    55. Wind
    56. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper ×2
    57. Wind
    58. Naval Construction Turret
    59. Converter
    60. BeholderBeholder
    61. SkaterSkater
    62. Wind
    63. SkaterSkater ×2
    64. Wind
    65. SentrySentry
    66. CorsairDestroyer
    67. Converter
    68. SkaterSkater
    69. Wind
    70. CorsairDestroyer
    71. Wind
    72. Converter
    73. CorsairDestroyer
    74. Wind
    75. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    76. CorsairDestroyer
    77. Wind ×2
    78. Converter
    79. Wind
    80. BeamerBeamer
    81. Wind
    82. Naval Construction Turret
    83. Wind ×2
    84. Converter
    85. Naval Construction Turret
    86. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 12:48
    87. Wind
    88. Naval Construction Turret
    89. Converter
    90. Wind
    91. Naval Construction Turret
    92. SkaterSkater
    93. Wind ×2
    94. SkaterSkater
    95. Wind
    96. Converter
    97. SkaterSkater
    98. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    99. Wind
    100. SkaterSkater
    101. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 13:08
    102. Wind
    103. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    104. SkaterSkater
    105. Wind
    106. StorkLight transport
    107. Converter
    108. SkaterSkater
    109. Wind
    110. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    111. Wind
    112. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractordone 13:49
    113. Naval Construction Turret
    114. Wind
    115. Converter
    116. BermudaRadar jammer ship
    117. Wind
    118. LongbowMissile cruiserdone 14:03
    119. Bot LabBot Labdone 14:06
    120. Wind
    121. Converter
    122. Wind
    123. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    124. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    125. LongbowMissile cruiser
    126. Wind ×2
    127. Converter
    128. Wind ×2
    129. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    130. Wind
    131. Naval Construction Turret
    132. LongbowMissile cruiser
    133. Converter
    134. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is KingBenjai's (46 OS, 27/09/2026); 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

KingBenjai

46.2 OS · 27/09/2026

Open source match ↗

4 received units · includes a constructor
132 metal received · 23776 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