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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 · 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 ×6
    3. Solar
    4. Energy storage
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:56 · 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 · 8 steps
    1. Solar
    2. SeekerSeeker ×7
    3. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×3
    4. Mex ×2
    5. NettleNettle
    6. Mex
    7. Con turret
    8. ShipyardShipyarddone 4:51 · 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 · 72 steps
    1. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:26 · typical 5:55
    2. DolphinDolphin ×3
    3. SkaterSkater
    4. Con turret
    5. Mex
    6. CorsairDestroyer
    7. SentrySentry
    8. Wind ×2
    9. Converter
    10. NettleNettle
    11. CorsairDestroyer
    12. Converter
    13. Wind
    14. Converter
    15. Mex
    16. Wind
    17. Converter ×2
    18. Wind
    19. Mex
    20. Converter
    21. SentrySentry
    22. Wind
    23. SentrySentry
    24. CorsairDestroyer
    25. Wind
    26. Mex
    27. SentrySentry
    28. Wind ×3
    29. Converter
    30. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    31. Wind
    32. SkaterSkater
    33. Converter
    34. Mex
    35. Wind
    36. Converter
    37. SkaterSkater
    38. Wind
    39. Converter
    40. Wind
    41. Mex
    42. Converter
    43. Con turret
    44. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    45. Converter
    46. Con turret
    47. SentrySentry
    48. Converter ×2
    49. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 10:07 · typical 9:26
    50. SentrySentry
    51. Converter
    52. CorsairDestroyer
    53. SentrySentry
    54. Converter
    55. HarpoonHarpoon
    56. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    57. SentrySentry
    58. Converter
    59. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    60. SentrySentry
    61. Converter
    62. SkaterSkater
    63. Wind
    64. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    65. SkaterSkater
    66. SentrySentry
    67. CorsairDestroyer
    68. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    69. Wind
    70. SentrySentry
    71. Vehicle PlantVehicle Plantnot finished by 15:00
    72. Wind ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is EXZoPrimer3's (37 OS, 25/09/2026); 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

EXZoPrimer3

36.8 OS · 25/09/2026

Open source match ↗

7 received units · includes a constructor
49 metal received · 60810 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