← All builds
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 · 729 distinct matches · 102 players · 84% of Cortex Beach sea games · team won 55% of 789 · 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 729 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 · 3 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×8for Geo
    3. ShipyardShipyarddone 1:59 · typical 1:57
  2. 2

    Shipyard to 5:00

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor5Mex
    • Tidal Generator1Tidal
    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 (42%) · wind (41%) · submarine (40%) · con turret (35%) · gunboat (34%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 25 steps
    1. Tidal
    2. Construction ShipCon ship
    3. Tidal
    4. Mex
    5. Tidal
    6. Construction ShipCon ship
    7. Tidal ×2
    8. Mex
    9. Tidal
    10. HerringMissile corvette
    11. Naval Construction Turret
    12. Mex
    13. Con turret
    14. RiptideFrigatedone 3:34 · typical 3:51
    15. Mex
    16. SupporterGunboat
    17. Death CavalryDeath Cavalry
    18. SupporterGunboat
    19. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    20. Wind
    21. HerringMissile corvette
    22. Wind ×2
    23. OppressorDestroyerdone 5:29 · typical 5:09
    24. Wind
    25. Mex
  3. 3

    5:00 to 10:00

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

    Some games also: Urchin (50%) · Naval Construction Turret (47%) · Guard (47%) · Radar Tower (41%) · tidal (38%)

    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 · 14 steps
    1. Wind ×9
    2. Con turret ×2
    3. UrchinUrchin
    4. RiptideFrigate
    5. Wind ×2
    6. UrchinUrchin
    7. Wind
    8. RiptideFrigate
    9. UrchinUrchin
    10. Mex
    11. Wind
    12. Converter ×2
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2done 8:48 · typical 9:57
    14. UrchinUrchin

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is WaterBoy's (37 OS, 24/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Wind Turbine3 Wind to Airfirst at 1:54 · in 79% of games

You get

  • Finch1 Finch from Airfirst at 1:58 · in 81% 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 2:29 · in 69% of games
  • Hercules1 Light transport from Airfirst at 2:35 · in 31% 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

789 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0040300
2:0093700
3:00156300
4:002522050
5:003699194100
6:005026532250
7:0064731100588
8:00808018571041
9:00968328851621
10:001160240232345
11:001382252273090
12:001635262003851
13:001911172574621
14:002186583045721
15:002487692656531
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

WaterBoy

36.9 OS · 24/09/2026

Open source match ↗

12 received units · includes a constructor
53 metal received · 11633 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=787
Riptide3:51Middle 50%: 3:15–4:31 · n=782
Oppressor5:09Middle 50%: 4:11–6:07 · n=764
Advanced Metal Extractor9:57Middle 50%: 9:15–10:53 · n=667

Played most by

EpicTyrannus68games of this buildDamsko64games of this buildWaboum64games of this buildPRO_HYDRA54games of this buildMrCoolPotato51games of this build