Hello everybody! :) What I'm here to show you today is how to effectively turtle in battles. After a 2 months of attempted failures at turtling, I FINALLY found an effective way to turtle. Every master turtler has their own effective way of turtling. This is mine, and I'm willing to share it with you! :)

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Thanks to Patch 1.61, my Castle Archers are finally hidden within the Fog of War (the black fog that blocks your map).

But before we get started, let me explain the definition of "Turtling". Turtling is a strategy where you stay in your base. That's it really...

But there are many reasons why people couldn't properly execute turtling:

- You bought low tier units (Swordwraths and Archidons). That's not the point of turtling, you want to avoid getting into an early stalemate (Swordwraths vs Swordwraths ruling for the Central Tower, and it usually ends when one person accidently makes a mistake. Not good...).

- You did not buy a Spearton early enough (I'll explain more down below).

- Your army couldn't be able to defend that well. (Usually happens when you buy low tier units to defend your base...)

- Poor timing and execution. Turtling requires a deep understanding of marcoing (what and when to buy units) and microing (how do you control them).

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My list of replays, for you!
(I am Marsheh)

www.stickempires.com/play?replay=replay1220209&version=1.62
Duration : 11:38
Medium Map
Rank: 1500+

www.stickempires.com/play?replay=replay1220540&version=1.62
Duration : 12:08
Medium Map
Rank: 1648

www.stickempires.com/play?replay=replay1221796&version=1.62
Duration : 12:12
Medium-Long Map
Rank: 1800+

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Part 1 : The Alpha.
Here it is. The moment of truth. Whatever action you do at the beginning will determine your win or loss at the end. So we need to make it precise.

Command your first 2 miners to mine. Then buy 2 more miners. Do not buy a Swordwrath or Archidon. Command them all to mine.


Keep your gold range above 300. That is crucial. By the time your first 2 miners already brought back gold to your castle, you should already have 300 Gold. Do not spend it on anything just yet. *However, there are exceptions when you are playing in a medium-to-long or long map. You can buy a 3rd miner before the time your opponent reaches your base*


Usually, your opponent would partly take over the Central Tower, until they realize you don't have any attack units. So they would most likely rush to your base. *However, if you don't see any of your opponent's units, then most likely he's is turtling too. Be sure to use your instincts and out-economy him.*

But no need to panic! I hope you didn't buy anything else. With the 300 gold you stored, buy a Castle Archer. If you have to, garrison your miners so that they don't die (or you can attack with them, that's a great option too).


BAM! Not only did your Castle Archer made the Swordwrath + Archidon (Or just pure Swordwraths with Rage) tactic obsolete, you also have more miners than him. You also avoided risking the chance of raging Swordwraths killing your army. This will partly balance the economy between yours and your opponent's. So who did the better job at the beginning? I think it's you! :p
VS.

This is the end of Part 1. Your economy/population should be even with his. The benefits? You have a Castle Archer and more miners than him! But the downside may be that your opponent has took over the Central Tower. But that's no problem.

Part 2 : The Recognition.
This is the moment where the turtler truly shines!

Once you bought your 4th Miner, put him on praying duty. Or another way is after researching a Castle Archer, put 1 miner on praying duty. Throughout the time, you should at least have 5-6 Miners. This is enough to make Speartons (which are high tier units compared to Swordwraths). Continue to afford as many miners as you could until you have 4 miners on praying duty and 8 miners covering the first line of gold.


Be sure to research in Level 1, 2, & 3 Gold & Income and Miner Hustle!


Quickly buy a Spearton! Your opponent may still have his low tier units camping at the Central Tower. They will usually retreat. But don't chase them, let your Spearton take over the Central Tower (then you can rush/scout). Why? The Spearton is strong enough to chase away the weaklings, but not strong enough to hold it out. If you rushed, your opponent may rebel and you could have lost that Spearton.


However though, your opponent may also have a Spearton too (and also his low tier units if he kept them). You may have to retreat, but by that time, you should already have a second Spearton in progress. Rely on your Castle Archer and Speartons and defend if he decided to rush towards your base. Don't worry, you would be able to damage his units enough to back him off. You are safe from an attack for now.

To play it safe, research Miner Wall and build 2 Miner Walls in front of your 2nd row of gold. It may depend on how long the map is though.


Part 3 : Hiring New Friends!
With all these miners, you should have a very good economy.

Whew... after that attack, you may want to buy a Meric to heal all those tired Speartons.

(Also research Cure too, you may never know when you need it.)


Hmm, it seems like your 2 fellow Speartons are lonely... invite his friends to come and play too!


Save some more gold and mana to afford a Magkill. Be sure to research Poison Spray first. I guarantee you your opponent will never want to attack your base ever again. The Magikill is also safe from Shadowraths by being behind the 2 Miner Walls you built too.


Maybe you need a 2nd Castle Archer... Because of Patch 1.61, the Castle Archers are hidden. So you could be able to fool your opponent into thinking you only have 1 deadly Castle Archer, but you actually have 2!


Lastly, buy a Giant. These guys are essential. They deal a good amount of damage and they can stun too. They also have longevity. Why didn't you just mass Giants instead? Because that's how almost all turtlers fail. The Speartons I told you to hire were for defending your base. If you didn't have Speartons to protect your base, then how could you be able to mass Giants in the first place?!

Be sure to research Giant Growth Level 1 & 2!


In order to win the battle, you may want to hire another Magikill AND Giant. So that'll be 2 Magikills and 2 Giants. Extremely deadly against your opponent.

This is the end result:


Part 4 : It's Your Turn!
Now win and make me proud! :o







I would like to thank Photoshop (I don't know his full name) for indirectly influencing me to tryout turtling again (I quit turtling because I kept losing, until I met this guy. He manage to succesfully mass Deads and beat the crap out of me while staying in his base. Can you believe it? A Chaos player turtling? That's when I got hope and decided to try turtling again). And all fellow turtlers, I hope I can be able to be apart of your group now! :)

Lol. Very nice. You know what, I suck at turtling XD
Thanks for the guide although it doesn't really a top ranked turtling tactics, Fatty also researched Shield Wall which can block enemy attacks.

Quote from Bladed Fire

Lol. Very nice. You know what, I suck at turtling XD
Thanks for the guide although it doesn't really a top ranked turtling tactics, Fatty also researched Shield Wall which can block enemy attacks.

Shield Wall is a very good skill to use for defending, but for a player like me, I rather rely on attacking/chasing. My Magikill can kill the archers anyways. :P

What about my strat? Turtle at the beginning, then Spear + Albow, then more Spears and Albows, 2 Shadows, a Magikill, and a Meric. Then I get the Central Tower, Tower Spawn II and Giant Growth II, and then my ghost Giant tanks while I do damage with Albows and assassinate Magikill and stuff.

So 2 Shadows - kills both your Magikill, Spears tank your Spears, ghost Giant tanks your Giant boulders, my Magikill poisons all your Spears and does some damage too with Electric Wall, and then my Albows basically kill your Giants.

How would you respond?

Will edit my comment as I read through this guide and the replies afterward. Looking at this as a guide first, overall thoughts on strategy later.

"- Poor timing and execution. Turtling requires a deep understanding of marcoing"
macroing* ...

"Be sure to research in Level 1, 2, & 3 Gold & Income and Miner Hustle!"
In what order? Should I do 1, 2 , and 3 before Hustle, or do Hustle before? Or do Hustle somewhere in the middle?!?

"To play it safe, research Miner Wall and build 2 Miner Walls in front of your 2nd row of gold. It may depend on how long the map is though."
Explain what you mean by 'depend on how long the map is' . It may be clear to you, but it isn't to the reader.

"2 Magikill and 2 Giants"
*Shows screenshot with 1 Giant*

Ok, overall, this strategy fails @ last screenshot. You can't possibly overpower that wall if they have even one shadow....

Quote from ShadowGeneralChaos

Ok Narsheh, Quetion: Have you infinity free time? How long does it takes? Man, your unbelievable!!! Althought there are lots of options I dont agree with you, this thread I have vote 5 stars.... oh and: Part 4, the picture: did you really win this battle? When yes, was it a noob. When I was your oppontment in this situation, I would have a shadowrath to assassinate your magikills, or I go with my speartons to kill your magikill, the albows do the rest. How did you win?????

EDIT: You should make a comic...

Agree.

And yes, he already made a comic. See his sig.

Quote from merich1

Agree.

And yes, he already made a comic. See his sig.

oh, now I see...

ShadowGeneralChaos. I highly advice you to stop spamming the forums. Thank you.

And to add a bit to what 3FFA said.
Why 2 castle archers? It's a waste of money. If you have controlled center, then you shouldn't be having Castle Archer 2.
And your last screenshot shows 3 mages 1 giant, which contradicts to what you said.
Your opponent didn't take action to kill your mages. He has a lot of speartons, backed with a giant and albatrosses.

I like using this guide more. I based my strat highly off of it.http://forums.stickpage.com/showthread.php?54825-Turtle-Strategy

Quote from merich1

I like using this guide more. I based my strat highly off of it.http://forums.stickpage.com/showthread.php?54825-Turtle-Strategy

Wow, really? Thanks for being a supporter of the thread.
Oh, and you remind me of something; making the second one, since my start changed a bit more.

Quote from merich1

I like using this guide more. I based my strat highly off of it.http://forums.stickpage.com/showthread.php?54825-Turtle-Strategy

Yes, me to, but I like this thread more because of the pics and the introduction.

@_Ai_ oh, ok, I am really sorry for this. I will try not to spam any more. And of course an apologize to all of you for my spamming, sorry...

I will answer all your questions and concerns about this tactic! :eek:

Quote from merich1

What about my strat? Turtle at the beginning, then Spear + Albow, then more Spears and Albows, 2 Shadows, a Magikill, and a Meric. Then I get the Central Tower, Tower Spawn II and Giant Growth II, and then my ghost Giant tanks while I do damage with Albows and assassinate Magikill and stuff.

So 2 Shadows - kills both your Magikill, Spears tank your Spears, ghost Giant tanks your Giant boulders, my Magikill poisons all your Spears and does some damage too with Electric Wall, and then my Albows basically kill your Giants.

How would you respond?

Although I never tried Spear + Albow, I think there are some flaws with that. If you only have 1 Spear and 1 Albow, most likely your opponent would have 3-4 Speartons (because Albows takes up a lot of Mana to make). And most likely, your opponent would rush. You would lose something, so I want people to create only Speartons instead so it can create that "Stalemate" with your opponent. He has Speartons and you have Speartons. With this "Stalemate", your opponent would leave you alone and give you time to get a Magikill (to counter flying archers). This turtling strategy is different from Aiman... The reason why I did not want you to buy Albowtrosses is that they die quickly. Sure, they have the best firepower, but they die! My Magikill could be able to poison them all, and how do you think 1 Meric could be able to cure them all in time? :rolleyes:

2 Shadows kills my Magikills..., that may suck for me. Spears tank my spears, etc. But you're only thinking at your viewpoint. I would've done some damage too with my Magikills. Sometimes, poor micro-management of Shadowraths will be costly (happens all the time when people attempted to assassinate my Magikills). But anyways, it's recommended to retreat if you lost both your Magikills too early in the match. Yes, your Magikills are very vulnerable, but they can be able to turn the tide of battle very quickly.

Quote from ShadowGeneralChaos

Ok Narsheh, Quetion: Have you infinity free time? How long does it takes? Man, your unbelievable!!! Althought there are lots of options I dont agree with you, this thread I have vote 5 stars.... oh and: Part 4, the picture: did you really win this battle? When yes, was it a noob. When I was your oppontment in this situation, I would have a shadowrath to assassinate your magikills, or I go with my speartons to kill your magikill, the albows do the rest. How did you win?????

EDIT: You should make a comic...

If you have the motivation to show something new to the awesomest forum community of all times, then what is time? :p
Maybe the picture wasn't a good way to represent my strategy, but I did win. He was between ranks 1500-1600 I believe. You may have already assassinated my Magikills, but how would you respond when I poisoned all your units (including Albowtrosses). ;)
I head straight for that guy's flying units. I first do a Poison Spray on them, then I cast an Explosion to finish them off. The opponent's flying crossbowmen are the main backbone of his army, so taking them out can lead you a victory towards the game. I'm not worried about my Magikills, they won't have enough time to stop 2 Magikills poisoning their Flying Crossbowmen. And after they get poisoned, usually my opponent goes haywire and panics a bit. :rolleyes:

Yeah... I should make another comic...

Quote from 3FFA

Ok, overall, this strategy fails @ last screenshot. You can't possibly overpower that wall if they have even one shadow....

To be honest, that wall was not even a concern at all! xD
Because his Speartons were in that position, they didn't even bother killing my Magikills. Remember, he made that wall to protect his Albowtrosses. But when I cast Poison Spray, Explosion, and an Electric Wall, it bypassed the Spearton wall and killed the Albowtrosses, thus making the Shield Wall useless.

Quote from _Ai_

Why 2 castle archers? It's a waste of money. If you have controlled center, then you shouldn't be having Castle Archer 2.
And your last screenshot shows 3 mages 1 giant, which contradicts to what you said.
Your opponent didn't take action to kill your mages. He has a lot of speartons, backed with a giant and albatrosses.

I bought another Castle Archer for the sake of having the best defense. When my opponent attacks and I don't have a complete army, I want to back him off as much as possible. The second Castle Archer would back them off easily. And with Patch 1.61, my opponent only thinks I have 1 Castle Archer, when I really have 2. See my third replay! My 2nd Castle Archer could easily kill the Ghost Spearton, forcing his archers to retreat all the time. :)

The Speartons, back with a Giant, and Albowtrosses was not a concern. If you read Buddylucky's Magikill thread, then you could be able to cast the Poison Spray to every single unit of his army before your Magikills get destroyed. I have 3 Magikills because I know
use them properly, but I think 2 Magikills are already enough for an average player.

Quote from merich1

I like using this guide more. I based my strat highly off of it.http://forums.stickpage.com/showthread.php?54825-Turtle-Strategy

To each and his own. :)




But seriously guys, have you watched the 3 replays yet? It seems your just talking about my screenshots only. I was kind-of expecting my replays to do the talking, but nobody commentated on them yet.

Quote from Narsheh

Although I never tried Spear + Albow, I think there are some flaws with that. If you only have 1 Spear and 1 Albow, most likely your opponent would have 3-4 Speartons (because Albows takes up a lot of Mana to make). And most likely, your opponent would rush. You would lose something, so I want people to create only Speartons instead so it can create that "Stalemate" with your opponent. He has Speartons and you have Speartons. With this "Stalemate", your opponent would leave you alone and give you time to get a Magikill (to counter flying archers). This turtling strategy is different from Aiman... The reason why I did not want you to buy Albowtrosses is that they die quickly. Sure, they have the best firepower, but they die! My Magikill could be able to poison them all, and how do you think 1 Meric could be able to cure them all in time? :rolleyes:

1 Spear + 1 Albow = 900 gold, 250 mana, 24 seconds
3 Spears = 1350 gold, 200 mana, 60 seconds

I think I would have 2 Spears and 2 Albows by the time the opponent gets three Spears, and that can easily win.

Albows are good because they absolutely destroy Spears and Giants as long as you have tanks to... tank in front. Yes, they are extremely weak to Magikill, but that's what my Shadows are for. Hopefully I can assassinate your Mages before they even get to my Albows. Even if I can't, the Magikill will only be able to cast once, and then I just micro my Meric to Cure all of them in the least amount of time.

Quote from merich1

1 Spear + 1 Albow = 900 gold, 250 mana, 24 seconds
3 Spears = 1350 gold, 200 mana, 60 seconds

I think I would have 2 Spears and 2 Albows by the time the opponent gets three Spears, and that can easily win.

Albows are good because they absolutely destroy Spears and Giants as long as you have tanks to... tank in front. Yes, they are extremely weak to Magikill, but that's what my Shadows are for. Hopefully I can assassinate your Mages before they even get to my Albows. Even if I can't, the Magikill will only be able to cast once, and then I just micro my Meric to Cure all of them in the least amount of time.

From experience, I can say that theoretical battles are completely ineffective for proving your point. There are so many variables, such as economy, lag, skills...

What I'm saying is, instead of debating over who would win between those 2 armies (if you can 2-4 units armies...), just do a battle, with one person using one strategy and the other with the other. Of course, skill will affect the results, but that could explain why 1 person thinks this strategy works and the other doesn't. Because one doesn't have the skill to use it and the other does.