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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 · 6 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. Windfor Air
    3. Mex
    4. Wind ×2for Air
    5. Wind ×5
    6. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:48 · 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 · 13 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft
    3. SeekerSeeker ×5
    4. Mex
    5. SeekerSeeker
    6. SweeperSweeper
    7. Wind ×2
    8. SeekerSeeker
    9. Wind
    10. SeekerSeeker
    11. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    12. Mex
    13. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:17 · 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 · 129 steps
    1. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    2. Con turret
    3. Mex ×3
    4. Converter
    5. DolphinDolphin
    6. Converter
    7. Mex
    8. DolphinDolphin
    9. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    10. DolphinDolphin
    11. Energy storage
    12. Tidal
    13. DolphinDolphin
    14. SentrySentry
    15. Construction ShipCon ship
    16. Tidal
    17. SentrySentry
    18. Tidal
    19. SkaterSkater
    20. Wind ×3
    21. SkaterSkater
    22. HarpoonHarpoon
    23. SentrySentry
    24. Wind
    25. CorsairDestroyerdone 7:20 · typical 5:58
    26. Wind ×2
    27. SentrySentry
    28. Wind
    29. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    30. Wind
    31. EllysawFrigate
    32. Wind ×2
    33. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    34. Tidal
    35. Wind
    36. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    37. Naval Construction Turret
    38. SentrySentry
    39. Wind
    40. Tidal
    41. Wind
    42. SentrySentry
    43. Wind
    44. Tidal
    45. Wind
    46. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    47. Wind ×2
    48. SentrySentry
    49. Tidal
    50. Wind ×3
    51. CorsairDestroyer
    52. Tidal
    53. Wind ×2
    54. BeamerBeamer
    55. Wind
    56. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower ×2
    57. Tidal
    58. Wind ×2
    59. Tidal
    60. Wind ×2
    61. EllysawFrigate
    62. Wind
    63. Tidal
    64. NettleNettle
    65. Wind
    66. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:57 · typical 9:28
    67. Wind
    68. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    69. DolphinDolphin
    70. NettleNettle
    71. Converter
    72. CorsairDestroyer
    73. HarpoonHarpoon
    74. Wind
    75. Mex
    76. Converter
    77. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    78. Wind
    79. DolphinDolphin
    80. Converter
    81. HarpoonHarpoon
    82. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    83. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    84. Wind
    85. Converter
    86. HarpoonHarpoon
    87. Wind
    88. HarpoonHarpoon
    89. Wind
    90. HarpoonHarpoon
    91. Naval NettleNaval Nettle
    92. EllysawFrigate
    93. SkaterSkater ×2
    94. Wind
    95. HarpoonHarpoon
    96. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    97. SkaterSkater
    98. Wind
    99. Naval NettleNaval Nettle
    100. SkaterSkater ×2
    101. Wind
    102. Naval NettleNaval Nettle
    103. SkaterSkater
    104. Naval NettleNaval Nettle
    105. SkaterSkater
    106. Wind
    107. SkaterSkater
    108. Naval NettleNaval Nettle
    109. Tidal
    110. SkaterSkater
    111. DolphinDolphin
    112. Construction ShipCon ship
    113. Wind
    114. Tidal
    115. HarpoonHarpoon
    116. Construction ShipCon ship
    117. Wind
    118. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    119. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    120. Wind
    121. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    122. Wind
    123. Construction ShipCon ship
    124. Wind
    125. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    126. Con turret
    127. DolphinDolphin ×3
    128. Fusion ReactorFusionnot finished by 15:00
    129. DolphinDolphin ×4

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is [ADS]Kackbarren's (41 OS, 18/09/2026); 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

40.8 OS · 18/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
681 metal received · 15381 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