Turtling in R.U.S.E.

Turtling is a defensive strategem that focuses on defending one's base rather than directly attacking the enemy.

In concept, turtling may be a dominating strategy. A player would build fortifications to the point where the player's base is near impenetrable. The opposing army would send attacks which would be beaten back, scoring the defending player points.

If the player has properly built defnces, the player's base should be able to withstand a full-scale attack. Should a full-scale attack fail, the defending player would then mount a counter-offensive. The attacking player would be weakened from their failure, and would not be able to build defences fast enough to stop the new offensive.

Again, turtling is strong only in concept. When actually turtling in R.U.S.E., there are many variables and counter-turtling tactics that could render turtling useless.

Totally defending your base is near impossible. You cannot predict what type of attack will land on which part of your base. For example, you could build anti-air, anti-infantry, and anti-armor fortifications around one section of your base. The enemy could send in a full-scale air offensive to destroy your anti-air defences and would be able to attack the rest of your defences unchallenged.

Fortifications are not cheap. Although they are strong en masse, building many of them would quickly drain all your resources. As well, you cannot spread your fortifications to cover your entire base, as they can be singled out and vulnerable to being targeted.

What makes turtling even more difficult is that turtling is very vulnerable to artillery bombings.

It's true that camouflage nets can hide your buildings, but your army and fortifications are still left in the open. Artillery can slowly cut down your defences until you lose enough defences to not be able to withstand an attack.

In games where there are more than two players, a turtling player would be near useless. In team games, a turtling player cannot support his ally. The opposing team could simply team attack the ally, and then targeting the turtling player, which would not stand a chance against two attack forces.

In a large free-for-all game, a turtling player cannot score points since it would not be able to attack anything.

Nevertheless, an experienced player could pull off turtling. Turtling is a very complicated and difficult strategy to use, but when used properly, turtling can lead to many adamant victories.