Turtle (game term)

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In computer and video games the term turtle, named after the turtle animal, has different meanings depending on the genre but all relate to a completely defensive strategy. The word "turtle" can be a noun (some one who adopts a defensive strategy) or a verb (e.g. "he turtled for half the game"). Sometimes the objective is simply to avoid defeat, and sometimes it is to research and build advanced combat units so that the turtler can launch a devastating attack later.^[1]

"Porc" (from porcupine) is an alternative name for this strategy, and can also be a noun or a verb.^[2] Use of the term "porc" is particularly common in articles and forums which focus on Total Annihilation, while "turtle" is the normal term in the community based on Command & Conquer, Red Alert 2 and their successors. ^[1]

1 Fighting games
2 Real-time strategy games
3 Turn-based strategy games
4 First-person shooters and MMORPG games
5 Tabletop Miniature Games and Strategy Board Games
6 References
7 See also

[edit] Fighting games

In the world of fighting games, especially those of the 2D variety, a turtle style of play is a defensive style that focuses on patience, positioning, timing, and relatively safe attack options to slow down the pace of the game and minimize the number of punishable mistakes made during the course of the match. This style can be very useful in timed matches, as it allows a player to deal a negligible amount of damage to an opponent, and then win the match by running down the clock. However, it is possible to counteract this by turning off the timer or setting it to infinite in the options or settings menu. In 3D arena-based combat with interactive backgrounds like the Super Smash Bros. series, it is not uncommon to hide behind stage obstacles or in corners and guard to avoid attacks or stall the match.

[edit] Real-time strategy games

A turtle strategy is commonly used in real-time strategy video games. When turtling, the player protects his territory, to the exclusion of creating any forces for attacking the enemy.

The turtle tactic is a common counter to the rush tactic, and therefore in many games it carries the connotation of being unskilled or new to the game. In games where there is some sort of limit on the size of one's forces (e.g. StarCraft, the Age of Empires series and the Total Annihilation series), the turtler may wish to build as few low-tech units as soon as possible in order to build a larger number of advanced units later.

The most common way to turtle is to build massive amounts of towers, turrets, and other defensive structures to fire on enemy units. Turtle armies may also incorporate large groups of stationary units, such as Siege Tanks in "Siege Mode" in the popular real-time strategy game StarCraft. These units are by default in a mode that allows them to move with a standard attack, but when in "siege mode" they become stationary with a very long-range and powerful attack. In a few games one can also block choke points with buildings which are expendable but reasonably tough, and place long-range, hard-hitting units behind them (e.g. Terran Supply Depots with Siege Tanks behind them in StarCraft).

In Red Alert 2, an entire playable nation, France, is considered the "turtling" team. The French "Grand Cannon" fires a powerful, extremely long-range shell effective against tanks and infantry alike, preventing all ground-based long-range attacks from succeeding. With adequate air defense and a large source of power, the player using France may form a seemingly impervious defense line and wait for enemy forces to be annihilated. For this reason, France is generally prohibited from many online games. However, a single well-placed nuclear or weather strike can still temporarily cripple a French player's defenses (via power blackout) enough to enable a successful offensive. Additionally, the Dreadnought and Carrier have exceptionally long ranges as well, and are not restricted to any single nation.

In Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour, the superweapon general was designed with this play style in mind. Powerful base defenses that shut down vehicles and instantly destroy most aircraft make rushing difficult, strong power plants make causing power loss difficult, the Aurora bomber is upgraded with fuel air bombs, and particle cannons cost half as much. The latter two make it possible to play an entire game launching attacks only from the player's main base. Ironically, superweapons and synchronized bomber attacks are two of the US's best measures for cracking defenses and punishing turtlers. Also, the US Laser General is also designed with this style in mind as well, with extremely powerful Laser Defense Turrets, Advanced Cold Fusion Reactors and cheaper Avengers and strong Laser Tanks, providing protection from both land and air attacks. However, it does not have any added superweapons and uses the standard Particle Cannon unlike the superweapon general.

The turtling strategy has some major weaknesses. First, many games have units which out-range defensive buildings (catapults, artillery, etc.) and / or short-range units which are fast enough and tough enough to rush the defenses. Fast, tough units are most dangerous in games where the defenses cannot fire on units which are very close to them (e.g. the Grand Cannon in Red Alert 2 or the large towers in Total Annihilation: Kingdoms). The turtling strategy may then collapse (especially if over-dependent on choke points) as the more aggressive player destroys one group of defenses, destroys resource-gathering and unit-building facilities in that area, and then attacks another set of defenses, etc. (assuming that the attacker has been building reinforcements in the meantime). Another serious weakness of turtling is that it prevents the turtler from spreading across the map to acquire additional resources and therefore lets the enemy use these resources to build more and often better offensive units. The seriousness of this disadvantage varies: it is most serious on maps where there are many resource patches and few opponents competing for them.

[edit] Turn-based strategy games

Turtling is also possible in TBS (turn-based strategy) games. It is probably best explained by a classic TBS game such as Risk. A player will simply accumulate armies in one place without attacking other players. As the game progresses, the turtle becomes stronger but other players will not risk attacking in fear of getting weak for no benefit. The turtle exploits the selfishness of other players to its advantage until is powerful enough to start taking them out one by one. Solutions have been proposed to take the turtle out by cooperation as suggested by Ehsan Honary^[3].

The situation is similar in resource-based games as well. TBS games have much more scope for research than most RTS (real-time strategy) games, so the objective is usually to spend the minimum of resources on combat units and to focus on research and economic development until the player is in a position to build a large force of advanced units.

Turtling in TBS games has the major weaknesses of turtling in RTS games: vulnerability to powerful mobile forces, and failure to expand and claim additional resources. It may have additional weaknesses depending on the game. For example, in the Civilization series, resource gathering areas are outside the city walls and attackers can drive citizens away from them, destroy any improvements made in these areas (roads, irrigation, mines) and ultimately cause the population of the city to decline due to starvation. In Master of Orion II, one tiny combat ship can blockade all colonies in a star system until it is destroyed or forced to retreat, and this may cause starvation in all colonies of that star system.

Turtling mechanisms also vary widely in TBS games. For example in the Space Empires series interstellar travel is only possible via "wormholes" and the running costs of fleets are fairly low, so turtlers treat some systems as choke points and keep all of their ships at "wormhole" points. In Master of Orion II, a ship can travel to any star which is within its travel range and the running costs of large fleets can be ruinous, so turtlers rely more on the wide variety of planet-based and orbital defensive buildings, plus a small mobile force to eliminate blockaders. In the Civilization series, city walls give defenders a major advantage in low-tech combat, so turtlers keep their forces within the walls unless there is an urgent need to destroy enemy units which can fire over city walls (generally the late game, higher tech units) or are threatening to starve the city to death.

[edit] First-person shooters and MMORPG games

In first-person shooters (FPS), turtling is used in team-based games such as capture-the-flag games or zone control. By putting a disproportionate number of players on the defensive, guarding their team's base, flag, or a pivotal strategic point, the turtling team can overwhelm an enemy team with a balanced offense and defense by outnumbering their offense. Likewise, they can withstand a "zerg" or rush by the other team. Using turtling is generally a temporary strategy at best, since by using the majority of their team to defend, they have few players to go on the offensive and accomplish whatever goals are required for victory, or used after gaining enough points to ensure victory without the other team scoring in such a game type and waiting out the time limit. A turtling tactic in an FPS is the same as camping.

In the instanced battlegrounds of World of Warcraft, most specifically Warsong Gulch, "turtling" refers to the situation in which both sides have obtained the other side's flag. Since neither side can "cap," or capture, the opponent's flag without first recovering their own, a team may "turtle," or commit all of its team members to defense. This strategy cannot achieve a victory, but it almost insures against a defeat, as the turtling team will always maintain numerical superiority over the non-turtling team. This is considered a dishonorable tactic, as it leads to a deadlock, and the goal behind the tactic is to push the opposing team into leaving the battleground, or in performing a rash attack with their flag-carrier. In another World of Warcraft instanced battlegrounds, Alterac Valley, any attempt by either side to commit large numbers of players to defense thereby prolonging the game longer than usual is also considered "turtling". However debate exists here as well about what is defending and what is turtling. When one side resorts to positioning more players on defense, it does so claiming that it is delaying the opposing side so that their players on the offense can push forward, while the other side claims that the "turtlerers" are deliberately trying to prolong a game that they have little chance of winning, usually because the side that most often "turtles" are losing. In that instance, before game servers were grouped in a fashion ensuring sufficient population, the player imbalance between the Horde and Alliance factions in the game at large often meant that if the larger-population faction prolonged the game sufficiently, as players left out of boredom the smaller faction's players would not be replaced, allowing for a zerg rush once the teams were sufficiently out of balance.

[edit] Tabletop Miniature Games and Strategy Board Games

Turtling is also a strategy used in many non-computer games as well. In tabletop miniature combat games victory may be determined by the amount of opposing units destroyed. By waiting for the opponent to make the first move, a tactical advantage can be gained in many systems. For this reason, many game systems have implemented a victory system involving territorial control to combat the effects of turtling. Turtling is also a strategy in many strategy board games, the strengths and weaknesses of which are similar to those of turtling in real-time or turn-based computer strategy games.