BAR / BUILD ATLAS
← All builds
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 ×3
    3. Windfor Air
    4. Wind ×2
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:36 · 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 · 17 steps
    1. Windfor Air
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    3. Wind
    4. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    5. Wind
    6. Windfor Air
    7. SeekerSeeker
    8. Wind ×2
    9. SeekerSeeker
    10. Wind
    11. SeekerSeeker ×2
    12. Mex
    13. SeekerSeeker ×4
    14. Mex
    15. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    16. Mex ×2
    17. ShipyardShipyarddone 3:59 · 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 · 129 steps
    1. SentrySentry
    2. Mex
    3. NettleNettle
    4. SkaterSkater
    5. Wind
    6. SkaterSkater
    7. Mex
    8. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:16 · typical 5:55
    9. Wind
    10. NettleNettle
    11. Tidal
    12. Wind
    13. Tidal
    14. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    15. Tidal
    16. SentrySentry
    17. Wind
    18. Mex
    19. CorsairDestroyer
    20. Wind
    21. SkaterSkater
    22. DolphinDolphin ×2
    23. Wind
    24. SkaterSkater
    25. CorsairDestroyer
    26. Wind ×2
    27. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    28. Wind
    29. Mexfor Front
    30. CorsairDestroyer
    31. Mex
    32. Wind ×2
    33. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    34. SkaterSkater
    35. CorsairDestroyer
    36. Con turret
    37. Mex
    38. Naval Energy Converter ×2
    39. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:46 · typical 9:26
    40. Mex
    41. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    42. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    43. GoonGoon
    44. SkaterSkater ×2
    45. Wind
    46. BeholderBeholder
    47. SkaterSkater
    48. BeholderBeholder
    49. Wind
    50. CorsairDestroyer
    51. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    52. BeholderBeholder
    53. Wind
    54. BeholderBeholder ×2
    55. Wind
    56. BeholderBeholder
    57. CorsairDestroyer
    58. BeholderBeholder ×2
    59. Wind
    60. BeholderBeholder
    61. SentrySentry
    62. Wind
    63. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    64. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    65. Wind
    66. CorsairDestroyer
    67. Naval Construction Turret
    68. OrcaSubmarinedone 11:12
    69. CorsairDestroyer
    70. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    71. Naval Construction Turret
    72. Tidal
    73. Naval Construction Turret
    74. DolphinDolphin
    75. Tidal
    76. DolphinDolphin
    77. Mex
    78. Tidal
    79. DolphinDolphin
    80. Tidal
    81. DolphinDolphin ×2
    82. Seaplane PlatformSeaplane Platformdone 12:41
    83. DolphinDolphin
    84. Mex
    85. Bot LabBot Labdone 12:45
    86. Tidal
    87. GarpikeGarpike
    88. DolphinDolphin
    89. Con turret
    90. Construction BotCon bot
    91. TsunamiTsunami
    92. Tidal
    93. DolphinDolphin
    94. GarpikeGarpike
    95. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    96. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    97. GarpikeGarpike
    98. Construction BotCon bot
    99. Tidal ×2
    100. Construction BotCon bot
    101. GarpikeGarpike
    102. Construction BotCon bot
    103. TsunamiTsunami
    104. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    105. Tidal
    106. Construction BotCon bot
    107. Tidal
    108. DolphinDolphin
    109. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    110. Construction BotCon bot
    111. GarpikeGarpike
    112. Tidal
    113. Construction BotCon bot
    114. Wind
    115. TsunamiTsunami
    116. Construction BotCon bot
    117. Tidal
    118. Construction BotCon bot
    119. Wind
    120. Tidal
    121. Construction BotCon bot
    122. TsunamiTsunami
    123. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    124. Tidal ×2
    125. Wind
    126. TsunamiTsunami
    127. Construction BotCon bot
    128. Tidal
    129. 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

46.5 OS · 27/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
271 metal received · 12408 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