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Beach sea / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard beach sea

The role's usual play: com goes to sea to build a shipyard around 2 minutes, pumping frigates and destroyers to contest enemy sea entry or hold vision, with an advanced metal extractor around 10 minutes as the transition into the team's…

Usually shipyard first (94%)

#naval #eco · 796 distinct matches · 106 players · 84% of Cortex Beach sea games · team won 55% of 859 · Recently observed

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Shipyard by 1:57

  1. Open 3 mex and wind while com heads straight to sea.
  2. Drop Shipyard fast, before 2:00, to seize early sea presence.
  3. Push "frigate" out to contest enemy sea entry or hold vision.
  4. Add "destroyer" as the fleet grows.
  5. Transition into Advanced Metal Extractor to catch up on eco.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 796 GAMES
  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 Shipyard

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor3Mex
    • Wind Turbine3Windfor allies
    • Wind Turbine2Wind
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. ShipyardShipyard after 3 mex, 2 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~1:57, middle half 1:45–2:08

    By 1:41 in all: 3 mex · 2 wind · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 7 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Solar
    3. Wind ×2for unknown
    4. Wind
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind ×2
    7. ShipyardShipyarddone 2:01 · typical 1:57
  2. 2

    Shipyard to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor5Mex
    • Tidal Generator2Tidal
    Builders
    • Construction Ship2 Con ship
    Army
    • Riptide2 Frigate
    • Herring1 Missile corvette
    • Oppressor1 Destroyer
    Other
    • Naval Radar / Sonar Tower1 Naval Radar / Sonar Tower

    Some games also: Urchin (43%) · wind (40%) · submarine (39%) · gunboat (36%) · con turret (36%)

    By 5:00 in all: 8 mex · 3 wind · 2 tidal · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 17 steps
    1. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    2. HerringMissile corvette
    3. Mex
    4. OrcaSubmarinedone 2:57
    5. Mex ×2
    6. SupporterGunboat ×2
    7. SlingshotSlingshot
    8. SupporterGunboat ×2
    9. OppressorDestroyerdone 4:49 · typical 5:10
    10. Tidal
    11. Mex
    12. Mex
    13. Tidal
    14. UrchinUrchin
    15. Con turret
    16. RiptideFrigatedone 5:20 · typical 3:52
    17. Mex ×2
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor1Mex
    • Wind Turbine10Wind
    Builders
    • Death Cavalry1 Death Cavalry
    • Construction Ship1 Con ship
    Army
    • Urchin1 Urchin
    • Riptide5 Frigate
    • Oppressor2 Destroyer
    • Herring2 Missile corvette
    Other
    • Naval Radar / Sonar Tower1 Naval Radar / Sonar Tower

    Some games also: Naval Construction Turret (48%) · Guard (47%) · Radar Tower (41%) · tidal (38%) · con turret (35%)

    By 10:00 in all: 9 mex · 12 wind · 4 wind · 4 tidal · 1 energy storage · 1 Naval Construction Turret

    The example game in this phase · 85 steps
    1. Mex ×2
    2. GuardGuard
    3. RiptideFrigate
    4. UrchinUrchin
    5. RiptideFrigate
    6. GuardGuard
    7. ThistleThistle
    8. Converter ×2
    9. RiptideFrigate
    10. Radar TowerRadar Tower
    11. RiptideFrigate
    12. Wind
    13. ThistleThistle
    14. RiptideFrigate
    15. Wind
    16. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    17. OppressorDestroyer
    18. Wind
    19. GuardGuard
    20. UrchinUrchin
    21. Wind ×2
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 8:56 · typical 9:57
    23. Wind
    24. UrchinUrchin
    25. HerringMissile corvette
    26. Wind ×2
    27. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    28. Wind
    29. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    30. Wind ×3
    31. UrchinUrchin
    32. RiptideFrigate
    33. Wind
    34. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    35. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    36. Wind ×2
    37. Naval Construction Turret
    38. RiptideFrigate
    39. Wind
    40. Naval Construction Turret
    41. Wind
    42. Tidal
    43. RiptideFrigate
    44. Tidal
    45. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    46. Wind
    47. OppressorDestroyer
    48. Tidal
    49. Wind
    50. Tidal
    51. Naval Construction Turret
    52. Wind
    53. Tidal
    54. HerringMissile corvette
    55. Tidal
    56. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    57. Tidal
    58. Wind
    59. RiptideFrigate
    60. SlingshotSlingshot
    61. Tidal
    62. SlingshotSlingshot
    63. RiptideFrigate
    64. Wind
    65. Tidal
    66. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    67. SlingshotSlingshot
    68. RiptideFrigate
    69. Wind
    70. Naval Construction Turret
    71. OppressorDestroyer
    72. Naval Construction Turret
    73. Wind
    74. Naval Construction Turret
    75. Wind
    76. HerringMissile corvette
    77. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    78. RiptideFrigate ×2
    79. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 14:01
    80. RiptideFrigate
    81. HerringMissile corvette
    82. ShipyardShipyarddone 14:09
    83. OrcaSubmarine ×2
    84. T2 converter
    85. OrcaSubmarine

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is PRO_HYDRA's (52 OS, 26/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind to Airfirst at 1:52 · in 78% of games

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:58 · in 82% of games
  • Lazarus1 Lazarus from Geofirst at 2:14 · in 62% of games
  • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport from Airfirst at 2:16 · in 68% of games
  • Construction Bot1 Con bot from Geofirst at 2:27 · in 69% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Airfirst at 2:33 · in 32% of games
  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 8:09 · in 88% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build, running totals by minute

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

859 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0040300
2:0093700
3:00156700
4:0025252150
5:003701197100
6:005034535251
7:0064811091590
8:00807618251040
9:00968328531610
10:001159139952340
11:001381852133090
12:001636061593830
13:001915472004615
14:002195583275730
15:002495293256631
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Standard Beach sea wins more than Geo sea's 50% and gets its Shipyard up faster, using early sea access before falling behind on land resources.

  • + Shipyard finishes by 1:57, faster than Geo sea's 3:18
  • + 54% team win rate beats the Cortex geo sea baseline
  • − Metal produced trails Geo sea's Cortex build, 24356 vs 28451 by 15:00
  • − T2 factory only lands in 35% of games by 12:42
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

PRO_HYDRA

52.0 OS · 26/09/2026

Open source match ↗

8 received units · includes a constructor
29 metal received · 32544 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Shipyard1:57Middle 50%: 1:45–2:08 · n=857
Riptide3:52Middle 50%: 3:16–4:33 · n=845
Oppressor5:10Middle 50%: 4:13–6:08 · n=830
Advanced Metal Extractor9:57Middle 50%: 9:16–10:53 · n=730

Played most by

EpicTyrannus82games of this buildDamsko66games of this buildWaboum64games of this buildPRO_HYDRA58games of this buildMrCoolPotato51games of this build