Turtle Guide

To reach me, my ingame name is Maxxxeh. AIM Name is Namtiehxam. Email is max.heitman@gmail.com. If you email me you will most likely get a more detailed reponse than AIM or in-game.

Turtle is a mobile with Close to if not the best defense in the game, along with very high attack power (250 average shot 2). It has low movement and poor bunging. People often criticize it for its small angle range, however, I rarely have a problem with it.

Also, be sure to note that normal mobiles have +10 delay for each second that they wait to shoot, Thus, if you take 20 seconds to shoot, you have +200 delay added to your shot. However, Turtle gets + 12 delay added to each second, not +10. That makes +220 delay added to your shot if you take all 20 seconds. It makes sense, since turtle is slow, right? (Since all of gunbound makes sense, with trico shooting cabage and grub shooting tiny electric balls. psmily.gif). This is a good thing to note, because if you're trying to outdelay someone it can really screw you up if you're expecting less delay.

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Shots
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Shot 1
Delay: 740
Damage 120~
You only use shot 1 for a test shot, or if you're using a dual+. Maybe for the rare bunge opprutunity. Turtle shoots 1 stream of water that flies to your target. This isnt rocket science people.

Shot 2
Delay: 890
Damage 200-260+
This is the meat of your turtle experience. Turtle shoots 2 streams of water that will intertwine, and connect after some time in the air. How long? About 3 seconds, but the ways you'll be shooting you won't need to worry about it. It will connect for you.
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SS

Delay: 1290
Max Damage 500+
Turtle SS is a fun one. Turtle shoots a large blob of water, which after about 3 seconds changes into 6 tiny balls of watery doom, doing ~70 damage each. The trick is to get all the balls to hit so that you will get good damage. Two methods, timebomb and skybomb; more on that later.

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Shooting methods
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There are pretty much 3 ways of shooting turtle, though I would only reccomend two, and I myself try to use only one. Here they are in order of preferance. But first, some info.

How to measure how far away they are.
-I use the screen to measure how far away people are when shooting. When you right click, you can hold the screen in place. After doing that, place yourself on the edge of the screen and look at where the enemy sits. 1/4 screen is the "all" or "team" button. 1/2 screen can be measured two ways; either from the edge to the wind meter/gauge, but also from the "all" button to the end of the power meter. 3/4 screen is from the edge to the end of the power meter. Full screen is obviously from edge to edge.

When shooting, the power bar is marked by markers that divide it into 4 bars. I refer to this, so you need to know what I mean.

Full power Method

With this shooting method you use full power and change angle. This is opposite to how most people learn (most lower power when the shot is long, add power when its short). To hit yourself, use angle 90, someone halfscreen will be angle 85, and someone a full screen distance will be angle 79. 1/4 screen would be half of half screen distance, or 2.5 angles less. But you can't do that, so drop power instead. 1/4 screen is about 87 3 3/4 bars. 3/4 screen is angle 81, 3 3/4..

To recap,
1/4 - 87 3 & 3/4 power
2/4 - 85 full power will land just short, so 84 and 3&34 will hit. Thanks Creedo.
3/4 - 81 3 & 3/4 power
Full - 79 full power

I do not like this method because it is inaccurate. The point is to be angle to use full power all the time, but you will often find you need to change your power because the enemy is inbetween full power shots, or in your blind spot. Blind spots are bad. Also, you will find it very hard to consistently get a high enough angle to do this. On the plus side, you can usually get off a good SS after knowing the full power spots. Also, this is your farthest shot, so it is sometimes your only option. :)

Full power is usable, though. You can't see me, but when lined up, he was outside my screen by aboput an angle, so I launch an angle 78 full power dual, and land it on the grub's head. The damage seems weak for a force shot on a grub, though. Not sure why. Maybe I'm just spoiled on the ones that get 700+.

(The pic says ss, but it wasn't. I mislabeled a lot of them and am too lazy to fix it.)
2.4 power shooting method

With the 2.4 method, you use 2.4 bars of power, and change angle. The screen is divided into 30 parts (we can all do that in our heads, right?) and you adjust your angle. Use 90, as always, to hit yourself. 1/4 screen is angle 83, half screen is 75, 3/4 screen is 67, full screen is 60. Also note that after 1/2 screen you will likely need to use about 2.5 bars power.
Recap:
1/4 - 83
2/4 - 75
3/4 - 67
Full - 60

I don't like the 2.4 method because of 4 main reasons. 1) limited use. In 0 wind, it only covers 1 screen distance, so what happens when you have a full screen shot with 22 wind blowing against you? That's right, you don't. 2) Different power. The whole point of using a concentrated power method is to not have to change power, but what's this? You change power as you shoot farther! I don't understand it. 3) There method was designed for the armormobile. While the shot weights are pretty much the same, there are differences with how the wind effects it, and your shots are often off. 4) WHO THE HECK CHOOSES 2.4 POWER? I can see maybe 2 bars, or even 2 and a half, but 2.4? Eesh, no thanks.. On the plus side, it is very accurate when you are close and in low wind, and it's the closest to shooting ss in the timebomb form (though you usually won't get good results :X) Also, this method can be seen as having no blind spots (aside from the huge ones on the side that you can't get to, but we'll ignore them for that :o)

The 2.4 method is applicable though, here's a very nice chunk of damage to this boomer.

3 Bar Power Method

With This method you use a constant power of 3 bars and change angle. The screen has 20 parts, which is actually easy to remember. Half screen is angle 80, full screen is 70. Therefore, since 1/4 is a half of 1/2, 1/4 is angle 85, 3/4 is angle 75. With this method you can also consistently shoot over 1 screen distance. 1&1/4 is angle 65, 1&1/2 is angle 60. You can keep going after this, but a) You'll never need to and b) the angles get smaller so it isnt so consistent anymore.
Recap:
1/4 - 85
1/2 - 80
3/4 - 75
Full - 70
1&1/4 - 65
1&1/2 - 60

This is my preffered method of shooting. It has nice easy-to-remember angles, a consistent power (It really doesnt change :o!), and is pretty accurate. There are some blindspots, so you will either need to move the turtle a little bit or adjust power, but you usually won't need to. There are disandvantages, however. You may find it hard to get an angle sometimes. During these situations you may find it helpfull to use 2.4 (UGH) method.

What to do when those methods aren't applicable
There will only be a few times when those methods aren't applicable, or aren't the best choice. These are when you must either shotgun or do a forkshot.

Shotgun is simple, you aim directly at the opponent and shoot full power. This doesnt work for much past 1/4 a screen distance, and its not a good idea to rely on this or have it the only reason to play turtle. If you have a choice between a shotgun and shoot 2.4, 3 bar, or full power high angle, take the shotgun. It's easier.
Shotgun would be the best choice here:

Now, about forkshots. Forkshots are used when the enemy is right in front of you on flat ground. You can't get an angle to use one of the methods, but you can't get a low angle to shotgun either. What are you to do? You forkshot them! A forkshot will use about .8 power (just under 1 bar, see screenshot) and the shot will split. 1 will hit the target directly, the other will go up and land on their head.
When to forkshot:

What a forkshot looks like:

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SS Shooting
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There are two ways of shooting Turtle SS, Timebomb and Skybomb.

Skybomb

Skybomb is usually the easier way, but its not always plausible. For the timebomb method, you shoot with near full power (3.8 or 3&3/4 bars power). For easy reference, try to think that timebomb SS is a full power shot minus 1 angle. It's not always accurate, but by the time you know what you're doing you'll have an idea where they land. Try playing 1v1 Jewel with a frieind where you only use turtle SS, SS death 40. You get a lot of shots in; it's good practice.

This is what a skybomb SS will generally look like after it opens:

In Downwind you must increase power. In 10+ downwind dont even bother. Upwind you subtract power. 22 Upwind will be 3 bars power from 3.8. Tailwind you raise angle by wind/2, against wind you lower angle by wind/2. Combonations I don't know yet, check back later.

Here, I launch a skybomb SS and it connects very well. ( I took the screenshot early so I didnt capture all the damage. I was told it was about 650, thought the lag from taking the screen I couldnt see.) Anyway, You can see that poor sol is about in an angle 86 skybomb position. 86 ss will land just beyond him, however. But also, there is 7 wind coming toward me, I I lower 3 angles so that it connects perfectly. Poor sol dies in the porcess.

Here you can see some major wind adjustment. You can see that there is 25 wind against me, so I must lower ~14 angles, but also the wind is pointing slightly down, so I must add power. I must add even more power because the distance the ss will travel. I want the ss to explode just as it turns down, so they will be slightly diagonal, and not completely vertical. Why? The SS will be traveling horizontalls at a high speed. If the bottom part of the SS hits the target correctly, the top will not because it is traveling so fast (this is the same reaosn why you add power for shooting longer ranges; you want it opening on an angle). But since it splits on a diagonal they all hit. Or would have, since I missed :(. After all that thinking, too

Note that in that picture I did not shoot at angle 59, I was lazy taking the screenshot and the sate had hit me by the time I took it. However, I can tell you the angle I used. The A.sate is between angles 88 and 87 for SS, but he is above me, so I used angle 87. To compensate for wind I lowered to and 73 and shot full power. Had it been 26 wind, he'd have been served. Oh well.

Here is a nice shot with thor (I think it was level 3). You can see kean is in a position between your angle 89 and angle 88 SS, but lucky for me there is an odd numbered wind to make up for it. So I launch at 90 with more slightly more power than normal (notice the wind pointed down, but still just slightly more power). I could of added a smidge more and probably gotten 700 damage, but I didnt. It killed him,so it wasnt needed anyway.

Here is an excellent shot. Not only is it good damage, but you can see what ss's should like when they are executed properly, but miss the intended target. little time holes (makes you want a grub teammate laugh.gif In 0 wind, and angle 87 ss with 3&3/4 bars power would have been great, but there is 6 wind slightly against me but mostly down. So, I add power and only lower angle by 1, and I get 700+ damage. With no weather effects and against an enemy with 0 defense, the damage is high. Had that been against another turtle (turtle has ~30 defense naturally, IIRC) it would have been reduced to about 500 damage. Still a great shot. Here is another shot, slightly more damage.
user posted image

Timebomb

Timebomb is the way most people see the SS happening. You float the little blob to them, then just before it hits them, it explodes in their face. You will generally use 2 bars power, sometimes more, sometimes less. 90 1.8 hits yourself. Angle 67 2 bars is halfscreen. 79 1.85 (a little more than a 90 SS, otherwise not enough air) is 1/4. 3/4 is 53 2.15 bars, and full is 48 2.3 As you can see, you dance around 2 bars power.
Recap:
1/4 - 79 - 1.8
1/3 - 75 - 1.85 (1/3 is from "all" button to half power)
1/2 - 67 - 2 bars
2/3 - 60 - 2.1 (2/3 is from left edge to the Sudden Death / Item box)
3/4 - 53 - 2.15
Full - 48 - 2.3 (some say 49, some say 47. I happen to like 48)

Timebomb usually gets a lot more Ooooh's and Aaaah's, but, likewise, is also screwed up a lot easier. You will, however, usually have a better angle for this. The enemy will not always be level with you and a good distance away. As they get farther away, lower angle + raise power a little bit. As they get higher in elevation, raise power, lower, drop power.

In this pic (I'm pretty sure it was ss, could have been dual though, I'm not sure anymore you can see a good ss. Normalls, that would be an angle 76 1.9 power shot, but since he is elevated the angle + power must rise.

When to ss, and why

Turtle SS is great, but it isnat always applicable.

You should not SS when-

-The enemy has ~600 life left, and you can dual. A dual with generally lead to higher damages than an SS, even whe the SS is perfect.

-The SS won't open. This should be obvious, but when you're playing in SS death, and a turtle is in melee/shotgun range, and shooting ss's that just plop on the enemy, it is so unbeleivably frustrating that it makes you not want to play turtle. Ever.

-You are unsure of you shot. if you're less than 60% sure that the shot will hit right then a test shot wouldn't hurt. This is the only one that doesnt really matter, because you could be about 1% on the ss working, and it could still work. however, if you miss or something, it'd just be a waste of delay.

-There is a tornado around the enemy. You may think this might help the balls get pulled toward the enemy, but it can have the direct opposite effect. See image.

The nado may reflect the shot if it opens at the edge of it. That one in particular pissed me off because it went perfectly through the other tornado, got to him, opened, and went back the wrong way. Ugh. Oh, and its even more fun when you have it set up great, and it reflects it back and you either tk or hit yourself. So yeah, dont SS the nado.

You should SS when-

-The enemy is sitting in a force. I mean, the force is going straight through them, so that when the SS opens it will have the force. Done correctly, this will net 700+ damage. A dual when the person is in the force will get 550-600. You would only want to dual over SS when the 2 shot 2's are still intertwining and going through the force, thus spending more time it it. It really doesnt matter, but it may be if the game is on the line.

-When thor is active, ss is better than a dual because it will call 8 beams of thor, while a dual only calls 4. They will generally get the same amount of damage, but SS will be less delay.

-The Enemy is in/near a lightning. If you do a skybomb SS and land it on top of an enemy after passing it through a lightning, boy are they screwed. Not only do they take 600+ damage, but they are in a tiny little hole that they have to waste 2 turns getting out of. Fun.

The SS chart
This chart is for timebomb SS in 0 wind. However, when we made it there was wind varying between 2 and 5 downwind, so some of the power is too much. Try subtracting between .5 to .15 power when you SS, and it will generally be better.
You can see that each line is kind of at a landmark at the screen, such as a power distance or the gold or sun dial or item boxes. This helps a lot ingame when you are trying to compare what you see on the screen to what is in the chart.
The chart:

Now some more SS's for you to gaze upon. 8)

It's pretty to look at, but was weak. I lowered power too much and it spread. Oh well.

This is an SS to be proud of. I took the screenshot early, obviously, but the final damage was 584. This was a timebomb, if for some reason you couldnt tell.

This tops the last shot. 587 damage with a lightning with skybomb type.

This SS was taken before the windchange, obviously, becuse you can't skybomb SS in 24 downwind . I don't think it had any weather, but it seems high to not of had weather. 560 damage.

Just you're average angle 88 skybomb SS. Had pretty good damage so I took a pic.

This a 2 screenies for the price of one. 1), you get the nice backshot SS, 2), you get qwazi complaining about getting teamed.

Updating later. Ill add wind adjustment.

Also, I'd like to point something out. These charts listed here are meant as nothing more than a guide. When I play, I don't keep the SS chart, windchart, etc in front of me. I know some landmarks, and some general assumptions for the wind, but that's it. I feel playing with it printed out and in front of you takes the fun away. However, some people like to do that and I respect their opinion, but I don't share it.