One of the most fun, yet least effective strategies in any real-time strategy game is turtling. Turtling refers to a player who wait for the late game to make any attacks, playing defensively early on with lots of defensive structures, while focusing on economic growth. It is an incredibly fun strategy to use, as at the end of a game, a player might have an enormous base, capable of quickly creating a massive, powerful, and advanced army.



Unfortunately, turtling is frowned upon in most real-time strategy gaming circles. Against more popular strategies, such as rushing (attacking as quickly as possible), harassing (attacking with small, mobile raiding groups), or booming (economic focus), turtling simply can’t compete. A turtling player has no way of disrupting the output of other players, and if the other players recognize a turtling player, they can easily rush them or boom for an economic advantage, avoiding the costly defensive structures of the turtling player.



While turtling might not be the best multiplayer strategy, some of the best RTS campaign levels require players to turtle. Classic levels where a player must survive for a set period of time are found in all the classic RTS games like Warcraft 3, Age of Empires, or Starcraft 2. There’s a certain gratification found in surviving a seemingly endless onslaught of enemies and be rescued by an evacuation shuttle or a friendly ship, and it NEVER gets old.

What are your favorite multiplayer strategies? Do you share my appreciation for turtling, or do you view it with disdain. Share your opinion in the comments below.