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 · 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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×6
    3. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:52 · 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 · 14 steps
    1. SentrySentry ×2
    2. Wind
    3. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    4. Wind
    5. SeekerSeeker
    6. Wind ×2
    7. SeekerSeeker
    8. Wind ×2
    9. SeekerSeeker
    10. Wind
    11. SeekerSeeker ×4
    12. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×3
    13. Mex
    14. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:19 · 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 · 163 steps
    1. SkaterSkater
    2. Mex ×3
    3. SkaterSkater
    4. DolphinDolphin
    5. Mex
    6. DolphinDolphin ×3
    7. SentrySentry
    8. Mex
    9. DolphinDolphin
    10. EelSubmarinedone 5:28
    11. CorsairDestroyerdone 6:14 · typical 5:58
    12. SentrySentry
    13. Con turret
    14. Mex
    15. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    16. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    17. CorsairDestroyer
    18. AnemoneAnemone
    19. SkaterSkater
    20. Naval Energy Converter
    21. Wind
    22. CorsairDestroyer
    23. Wind
    24. Naval Energy Converter
    25. Wind
    26. Mex
    27. Wind ×3
    28. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    29. Mex
    30. Wind ×2
    31. CorsairDestroyer
    32. Wind
    33. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    34. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:14 · typical 9:28
    35. Wind
    36. Naval Construction Turret
    37. SkaterSkater
    38. Wind
    39. CorsairDestroyer
    40. Wind
    41. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    42. Wind
    43. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    44. Wind
    45. Naval Energy Converter
    46. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    47. Naval Energy Converter
    48. Wind
    49. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    50. Wind
    51. CorsairDestroyer
    52. Naval Energy Converter
    53. Wind ×3
    54. Naval Energy Converter
    55. SkaterSkater
    56. Wind
    57. CorsairDestroyer
    58. Wind
    59. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    60. Wind
    61. Construction ShipCon ship
    62. Naval Construction Turret
    63. Energy storage
    64. Wind
    65. Naval Construction Turret ×2
    66. Wind
    67. Construction ShipCon ship
    68. Seaplane PlatformSeaplane Platformdone 11:47
    69. Wind
    70. Construction ShipCon ship
    71. Wind ×3
    72. Construction ShipCon ship
    73. TsunamiTsunami
    74. Wind
    75. Naval Energy Converter
    76. Construction ShipCon ship
    77. Wind ×2
    78. TsunamiTsunami
    79. Bot LabBot Labdone 12:20
    80. Construction ShipCon ship
    81. Wind
    82. Naval Energy Converter
    83. TsunamiTsunami
    84. Construction ShipCon ship
    85. Wind
    86. TsunamiTsunami
    87. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    88. Wind
    89. Construction ShipCon ship
    90. Wind
    91. TsunamiTsunami
    92. Wind
    93. Tidal
    94. Construction ShipCon ship
    95. Wind ×2
    96. TsunamiTsunami
    97. Tidal ×2
    98. Construction ShipCon ship
    99. Wind
    100. Tidal
    101. TsunamiTsunami
    102. Wind
    103. Tidal
    104. Construction ShipCon ship
    105. Tidal ×2
    106. Wind
    107. Construction ShipCon ship
    108. Tidal
    109. Wind
    110. Construction ShipCon ship
    111. Tidal
    112. Wind
    113. Construction ShipCon ship
    114. Tidal
    115. Naval Energy Storage
    116. Tidal
    117. Wind
    118. Construction ShipCon ship
    119. Tidal
    120. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    121. Tidal
    122. Naval Energy Storage
    123. Construction ShipCon ship
    124. Tidal
    125. Construction ShipCon ship
    126. Tidal ×2
    127. Construction ShipCon ship
    128. Wind
    129. Tidal ×2
    130. Wind
    131. SkaterSkater
    132. Tidal
    133. Wind
    134. Tidal
    135. MantaManta
    136. SkaterSkater
    137. Wind
    138. SkaterSkater
    139. Tidal ×2
    140. SkaterSkater
    141. Tidal
    142. SkaterSkater
    143. Tidal
    144. SkaterSkater
    145. Naval Energy Converter
    146. SkaterSkater
    147. Tidal ×2
    148. Naval Energy Converter
    149. SkaterSkater
    150. SabreSabre
    151. LazarusLazarus
    152. Naval Energy Converter
    153. Tidal ×2
    154. Con turret
    155. Naval Energy Converter
    156. Tidal
    157. SabreSabre
    158. Tidal
    159. Naval Energy Converter
    160. LazarusLazarus
    161. Tidal
    162. Naval Energy Converter
    163. Tidal

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is KingBenjai's (47 OS, 23/09/2026); 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

KingBenjai

47.4 OS · 23/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
133 metal received · 64464 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