Turtle ships.

[Shalashaska]

What are they used for?

[AromaticTreeRoots]

their rapid projectile speed makes them able to defend agaisnt even fast demoships.

their strong armor and attack power makes them great agsint fire ships and galleons.

they are simply a very very strong ship that is an efficient use of population space, and adds a far stronger element to the rest of your navy that other civs simply don't have and they cannot counter them easily.

best ways to counter them are being able to have your own cannon galleons in your backfeild to launch hard hitting artillery while whatever u spam agsint them gets wiped out.
and trebuchets hit them very hard.
-but if you can land your demoships on them.-they will do effective damage.

[Shalashaska]

Originally posted by CroakingTreeRoots:

their rapid projectile speed makes them able to defend agaisnt even fast demoships.

their strong armor and attack power makes them great agsint fire ships and galleons.

they are simply a very very strong ship that is an efficient use of population space, and adds a far stronger element to the rest of your navy that other civs simply don't have and they cannot counter them easily.

best ways to counter them are being able to have your own cannon galleons in your backfeild to launch hard hitting artillery while whatever u spam agsint them gets wiped out.
and trebuchets hit them very hard.
-but if you can land your demoships on them.-they will do effective damage.

Thanks for the detailed response.

[talgaby]

What they were actually designed for, if you look at the editor data, is holding shallow water against invading troops. Not only it is actually not a ship (it is classified in its own category, turtle ship), but it also has melee armour.

[〆Alex0083]

I like to call them "sea war elephants".

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

What Turtle Ships are Good At:

- Fire Ships
- Holding shallows against land units (especially good vs siege as they deal melee damage IIRC)
- Smashing anything within their feeble 6 range, especially Galley-line if they can actually hit them
- tanking damage in naval fights (bit expensive to do this though, better to train more Galleons)
- being modded into super OP behemoths (whoops!)
- trolling the AI by putting one on a ford and watching as the AI sends all its melee units to attack the Turtle Ship which has really high armor...
- they have a very small area of effect, making them great against Skirms (see above point)
- very population efficient


What Turtle Ships are Decent At
- Demo ships - they'll usually kill the ships before they hit
- frightening players - nothing quite like a morale shock
- Mangonel line - the high melee damage means they'll perform decently but not great


What Turtle Ships are Bad At:
- Massed Galley-line. The extra range of Galleons (not so much War Galleys) hurts Turtle Ships really really hard. If you're up against the AI which likes to hit-and-run its galleys (which usually backfires rather comically), you will lose your Turtle Ships without getting a single shot off. (To counteract this, flank with your Turtles)
- Bombard cannons and Trebs - they'll take huge damage and Turtles are...
- expensive and slow to train


What Turtle Ships are Really bad at:
- Monks, especially Aztec AI. Lack of Heresy is a disaster here.
- Bombard Towers (Koreans lack Elite Cannon Galleon. This makes them useless against Turk BBTs or Teuton Castles despite being a naval civ)

Originally posted by CroakingTreeRoots:

that other civs simply don't have and they cannot counter them easily.

AI can use either Monks or Galleons. Players can use massed BBCs (which are admittely even more expensive) or just run away from the sea completely.

[talgaby]

You can add the anti-building to the decent list. They have very high anti-anti-ship armour, so even heated shot has little effect on them, meaning they can clear out shoreline defence towers and castles, just not as effectively as a cannon galleon.

[FlipperTime]

When I play at sea, they are a living Inferno, as they raid my trade routes & I usually can assemble nothing to counter them :(... only one of them can delay your progress considerably.

[Master of antics]

If I see Koreans, I go with Spanish cannon galleons. If microed effectively they will wreck the turtle ships, just simply back up and shoot since they are too slow to catch you.