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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 · 7 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×2for Air
    3. Wind
    4. Windfor Air
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind ×2
    7. 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 4:00–4:43
    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 · 44 steps
    1. SeekerSeeker ×2
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    3. Wind
    4. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    5. Wind ×3
    6. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    7. Wind ×3
    8. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    9. Con turret
    10. Mex ×3
    11. Con turret
    12. Mex ×2
    13. Wind
    14. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    15. Wind ×4
    16. SeekerSeeker
    17. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    18. Wind ×5
    19. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 6:17
    20. Con turret
    21. Wind ×5
    22. StorkLight transport
    23. Wind
    24. Mex
    25. Con turret
    26. StorkLight transport
    27. Wind
    28. Naval Construction Turret
    29. HarpoonHarpoon
    30. Wind
    31. BlinkScout plane
    32. Wind
    33. BlinkScout plane
    34. Mex
    35. Wind ×2
    36. HarpoonHarpoon
    37. Wind
    38. Con turret
    39. HarpoonHarpoon
    40. Con turret
    41. HarpoonHarpoon
    42. Naval Construction Turret
    43. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    44. ShipyardShipyarddone 8:25 · 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 · 63 steps
    1. HarpoonHarpoon
    2. Con turret
    3. Energy storage
    4. Construction ShipCon ship
    5. Energy storage ×2
    6. GauntletGauntletnot finished by 15:00
    7. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    8. Metal storage
    9. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:52 · typical 9:28
    10. Naval Construction Turret
    11. StorkLight transport
    12. Naval Construction Turret
    13. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    14. StorkLight transport
    15. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    16. Naval Construction Turret
    17. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    18. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    19. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    20. BlinkScout plane
    21. StormbringerBomber
    22. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    23. Naval Construction Turret
    24. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 11:57
    25. StormbringerBomber
    26. Wind
    27. StormbringerBomber
    28. Wind ×4
    29. StormbringerBomber
    30. Wind
    31. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    32. Wind
    33. StormbringerBomber
    34. Wind ×3
    35. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    36. Wind ×2
    37. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    38. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractordone 13:03
    39. Advanced Aircraft PlantAdvanced Aircraft Plantdone 13:25
    40. Naval Advanced Metal ExtractorNaval Advanced Metal Extractor
    41. LicheLichedone 14:01
    42. Wind ×4
    43. OracleOracle
    44. ShipyardShipyarddone 14:22
    45. Wind
    46. Advanced Sonar StationAdvanced Sonar Station
    47. Wind
    48. DolphinDolphin
    49. Wind
    50. DolphinDolphin
    51. Wind
    52. DolphinDolphin
    53. Wind
    54. DolphinDolphin
    55. Wind
    56. DolphinDolphin
    57. Wind ×2
    58. DolphinDolphin
    59. Wind
    60. DolphinDolphin
    61. Wind
    62. DolphinDolphin ×2
    63. SkaterSkater ×4

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is haaven's (44 OS, 02/09/2026); 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

haaven

44.1 OS · 02/09/2026

Open source match ↗

18 received units · includes a constructor
862 metal received · 64654 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