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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 · 29 players · 12% of Armada Beach sea games · team won 53% 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 (45%) · wind for allies (38%)

    By 1:10 in all: 3 mex · 4 wind (standard 1)

    The example game in this phase · 5 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×4
    3. Energy storage
    4. Wind
    5. Hovercraft PlatformHovercraft Platformdone 1:45 · 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 ~4:15, middle half 3:59–4:39
    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 3:55 in all: 6 mex · 10 wind (standard 2) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 6 steps
    1. Wind
    2. Construction HovercraftCon hovercraft ×2
    3. SeekerSeeker ×4
    4. Mex
    5. SeekerSeeker
    6. ShipyardShipyarddone 3:18 · typical 4:15
  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 (44%) · converter (36%) · 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 · 70 steps
    1. Mex
    2. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    3. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    4. Mex
    5. SkaterSkater
    6. DolphinDolphin
    7. NettleNettle
    8. DolphinDolphin ×2
    9. Mex
    10. DolphinDolphin
    11. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    12. DolphinDolphin
    13. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    14. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    15. CorsairDestroyerdone 5:48 · typical 5:55
    16. Construction ShipCon ship
    17. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower ×2
    18. SkaterSkater
    19. DolphinDolphin ×3
    20. BeholderBeholder
    21. DolphinDolphin
    22. Con turret
    23. BeholderBeholder
    24. DolphinDolphin
    25. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    26. CorsairDestroyer
    27. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    28. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:48 · typical 9:26
    29. HarpoonHarpoon
    30. Wind
    31. SkaterSkater
    32. DolphinDolphin
    33. Wind
    34. DolphinDolphin ×3
    35. Wind
    36. DolphinDolphin
    37. Tidal
    38. Wind
    39. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    40. Tidal ×2
    41. Wind
    42. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    43. CorsairDestroyer
    44. Tidal
    45. Wind
    46. Tidal
    47. Wind
    48. Tidal
    49. SkaterSkater
    50. DolphinDolphin
    51. Wind
    52. DolphinDolphin ×3
    53. Wind
    54. DolphinDolphin
    55. Grim ReaperGrim Reaper
    56. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    57. Wind
    58. CorsairDestroyer
    59. Wind ×2
    60. Naval Construction Turret
    61. Tidal
    62. Wind
    63. Tidal ×2
    64. HarpoonHarpoon
    65. Wind
    66. HarpoonHarpoon
    67. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    68. ShipyardShipyarddone 11:45
    69. Wind ×2
    70. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is krtf's (45 OS, 29/09/2026); 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 57% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:00 · in 54% 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 81% 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
3:00154815860000
4:002381254751515120
5:0037533733423255254125
6:0050885159885572574300
7:006490672312651146851591
8:00802883251869167911931037
9:009561100302428250217051675
10:0011405118893408362621532420
11:0013792142204083467225873244
12:0016233169734757552532074006
13:0018476197725201650038344904
14:0021171224286438736248745822
15:0023678253666803848352426721
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

krtf

44.9 OS · 29/09/2026

Open source match ↗

3 received units · includes a constructor
2412 metal received · 33594 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
Shipyard4:15Middle 50%: 3:59–4:39 · n=68
Corsair5:55Middle 50%: 5:27–7:16 · n=64
Advanced Metal Extractor9:26Middle 50%: 8:55–10:28 · n=67

Played most by

KingBenjai21games of this buildRysica10games of this build[ADS]Kackbarren5games of this buildAdeus4games of this buildCentientWaffle4games of this build