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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 · 9 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Windfor Air
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×3for Air
    5. Wind ×3
    6. SentrySentry
    7. Wind ×3
    8. Energy storage
    9. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 2:22 · 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 · 12 steps
    1. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    2. SeekerSeeker ×3
    3. SeekerSeekerfor Geo sea
    4. SeekerSeeker
    5. SeekerSeeker ×2for Geo sea
    6. Mex
    7. SeekerSeeker
    8. Mex
    9. SeekerSeeker ×2for Geo sea
    10. SeekerSeeker
    11. SweeperSweeperfor Geo sea
    12. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:24 · 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 · 121 steps
    1. SweeperSweeper
    2. Con turret
    3. Construction ShipCon ship
    4. Con turret
    5. SkaterSkater ×2
    6. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:28 · typical 5:58
    7. Naval Energy Converter
    8. Con turret
    9. Naval Energy Converter
    10. EllysawFrigate
    11. Mex
    12. Naval Energy Converter ×2
    13. Wind
    14. Mex ×2
    15. Wind ×2
    16. EllysawFrigate
    17. SentrySentry
    18. Wind
    19. Mex
    20. Wind
    21. DolphinDolphin
    22. Wind
    23. DolphinDolphin
    24. SentrySentry
    25. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    26. Wind
    27. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    28. Wind ×2
    29. HarpoonHarpoon
    30. Wind
    31. SentrySentry
    32. Wind
    33. CorsairDestroyer
    34. Wind ×3
    35. Tidal
    36. Wind
    37. SentrySentry
    38. Tidal
    39. Wind ×2
    40. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    41. Wind ×2
    42. HarpoonHarpoon ×2
    43. Wind
    44. Converter
    45. SentrySentry
    46. Wind
    47. Converter
    48. EllysawFrigate
    49. Wind
    50. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:29 · typical 9:28
    51. Converter
    52. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    53. Wind
    54. NettleNettle
    55. Tidal
    56. Converter
    57. Wind
    58. CorsairDestroyer
    59. Tidal
    60. Wind ×2
    61. NettleNettle
    62. Wind
    63. Tidal
    64. Wind
    65. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    66. Tidal
    67. Wind
    68. Tidal
    69. Wind
    70. Tidal
    71. EllysawFrigate
    72. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    73. Wind
    74. Tidal
    75. Wind
    76. HarpoonHarpoon
    77. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    78. Wind
    79. Tidal
    80. Wind
    81. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    82. Tidal
    83. Wind
    84. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    85. DolphinDolphin
    86. Tidal
    87. CorsairDestroyer
    88. Wind
    89. HarpoonHarpoon
    90. Tidal
    91. Wind
    92. HarpoonHarpoon
    93. CorsairDestroyer
    94. Tidal
    95. Wind ×2
    96. Tidal
    97. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 14:14
    98. CorsairDestroyer
    99. Wind
    100. Tidal
    101. Construction ShipCon ship
    102. Wind
    103. Construction ShipCon ship
    104. Tidal
    105. Wind
    106. Construction ShipCon ship
    107. CorsairDestroyer
    108. Tidal
    109. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    110. Wind
    111. CorsairDestroyer
    112. Wind
    113. CorsairDestroyer
    114. Wind
    115. DolphinDolphin ×2
    116. Fusion ReactorFusion
    117. Wind
    118. SkaterSkater ×2
    119. Wind
    120. CorsairDestroyer
    121. Wind

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [ADS]Kackbarren's (41 OS, 04/09/2026); 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

40.7 OS · 04/09/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
177 metal received · 102180 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