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Beach sea / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Standard beach sea

Cortex Beach sea build order · Supreme Isthmus

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 · 815 distinct matches · 109 players · 84% of Cortex Beach sea games · team won 55% of 881 · 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 815 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 1:44–2:08

    By 1:40 in all: 3 mex · 2 wind · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 4 steps
    1. Mex ×3
    2. Wind ×5
    3. Energy storage
    4. ShipyardShipyarddone 1:52 · 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 (35%)

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

    The example game in this phase · 16 steps
    1. Tidal
    2. Construction ShipCon ship ×2
    3. OrcaSubmarinedone 2:43
    4. Mex ×2
    5. Tidal
    6. HerringMissile corvette ×2
    7. Mex
    8. OppressorDestroyerdone 4:33 · typical 5:11
    9. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    10. UrchinUrchin
    11. Mex ×2
    12. GuardGuard
    13. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    14. BeholderBeholder
    15. RiptideFrigatedone 5:01 · typical 3:52
    16. Con turret
  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 (39%) · con turret (34%)

    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 · 65 steps
    1. RiptideFrigate
    2. Mex
    3. BeholderBeholder
    4. OppressorDestroyer
    5. RiptideFrigate
    6. Mex
    7. Wind
    8. RiptideFrigate
    9. Wind ×2
    10. BeholderBeholder
    11. OppressorDestroyer
    12. Wind ×2
    13. BeholderBeholder
    14. HerringMissile corvette
    15. Wind
    16. RiptideFrigate
    17. Wind
    18. RiptideFrigate
    19. Wind
    20. RiptideFrigate
    21. Wind
    22. Dragon's MawDragon's Maw
    23. RiptideFrigate
    24. Wind
    25. OppressorDestroyer
    26. Wind
    27. Dragon's MawDragon's Maw
    28. Wind ×2
    29. BeholderBeholder
    30. HerringMissile corvette
    31. Wind
    32. RiptideFrigate
    33. Con turret
    34. BeholderBeholder
    35. RiptideFrigate ×2
    36. OppressorDestroyer
    37. HerringMissile corvette
    38. Wind
    39. Naval Metal Storage
    40. Wind
    41. Naval Construction Turret
    42. Wind ×6
    43. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 12:12
    44. Naval Construction Turret ×3
    45. Naval Hovercraft PlatformNaval Hovercraft Platformnot finished by 15:00
    46. Advanced ShipyardAdvanced Shipyarddone 14:09
    47. Tidal
    48. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    49. Tidal ×3
    50. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    51. Tidal
    52. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    53. Tidal ×2
    54. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    55. Tidal ×5
    56. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    57. Tidal ×2
    58. UrchinUrchin
    59. Tidal
    60. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    61. Tidal ×2
    62. Advanced Construction SubAdvanced Construction Sub
    63. Tidal
    64. UrchinUrchin
    65. Tidal ×2

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is SHOGVN's (38 OS, 01/10/2026); 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 2:13 · in 61% 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 2:34 · 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

881 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: This buildOwn metal lost: This build
1:0040300
2:0093700
3:00156800
4:0025322150
5:003703196100
6:005031534254
7:0064761096590
8:00807018331019
9:00968228531605
10:001159139782340
11:001381852093070
12:001635261593821
13:001911371834611
14:002195382645717
15:002492992576561
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

SHOGVN

37.8 OS · 01/10/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
258 metal received · 33869 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Shipyard1:57Middle 50%: 1:44–2:08 · n=879
Riptide3:52Middle 50%: 3:16–4:34 · n=867
Oppressor5:11Middle 50%: 4:16–6:08 · n=851
Advanced Metal Extractor9:58Middle 50%: 9:16–10:53 · n=746

Played most by

EpicTyrannus85games of this buildDamsko67games of this buildWaboum64games of this buildPRO_HYDRA60games of this buildMrCoolPotato51games of this build