Counter to turtling

[Syvan]

(08-04-2012 01:39 AM)ArtNJ Wrote:  Specials are very important to break turtles and/or prevent them from forming.

Bombshell kills turtles no matter how fortified, if you keep it safe.

Scrambler can break modest turtles, particularly on small maps where you can flood to one side or the other backed by the Scrambler (Sharkfood!). Scrambler is useless if you let your opponent get ranks of soldiers 2-3 deap on a map like Peekaboo. Your probably going to lose that game unless your opponent is also Feedback.

Mobi is good for breaking turtles of all varieties too

I mostly agree with you, specials are critical. But on small maps if the first player starts with the intention of turtling with bombshells, the game is all but over. They can effectively defend and eventually start a slow moving siege tank push. Player 2 cannot equitably attack into the defenses or even get accurate scouting information in many cases.

Also, Peekaboo is too simple a map. There is essentially one viable attack route unless something weird happens. Once this is locked down, attacking is almost out of the question. Sure a well timed Scrambler can help, but at best you will spend a ton of wit to essentially trade a scrambler for a bombshell on their side of the map. On a map like Glitch or Sharkfood, there are at least a couple ways you can push the base.

I really do think the reason we aren't seeing more turtling is because it is more fun to have action, so the first player is often making something happen, which in turn leads to games that are much more fun.

One last thing: I don't think Mobi's are good at breaking turtles. It is already expensive to operate a mobi, since you need to spend an extra wit to move things and attacking into the turtle is already expensive. I have a couple replays where I try to break a turtle with a mobi and it goes very, very badly. It is much more useful to use an alternate attack path with a mobi, since you can essentially re-form your army around the mobi while the defender needs to spend a bunch of wit to change position.