Turtle Ship

The Turtle Ship and its upgraded version the Elite Turtle Ship is a unique Korean naval unit that is featured in the Age of Empires II: The Conquerors expansion.

Overview
The Turtle Ship is a Korean slow heavily armoured battleship that is most effective for destroying enemy warships at a close range. The Turtle Ship is made available to be built at a Dock after the player has built at least one Castle. The Turtle Ship is one of the two unique units of the Korean civilization.

Tactics
The Turtle Ship is one of the major Korean advantages. A single Turtle Ship can wipe out a small fleet of enemy vessels. When faced with enemy turtle ships, the wisest idea is to build Heavy Demolition Ships and use them to attack the Turtle Ships, as they are only good versus ships meant to survive. A group of five Turtle Ships can take out a good portion of a hostile navy, and can also be used as very devastating cover during the first stage of a land attack. The Turtle Ship's weakness include its short range and slow speed, allowing other ships to utilize hit-and-run tactics on it.

The Turtle Ship is also weak against siege units such as onagers and mangonels and should avoid them at all costs.



History
''Under attack by samurai Japan in 1592, the fate of Korea and perhaps China depended on breaking the invader’s supply lines at sea across the Straits of Korea. Korean admiral Yi Sun-Shin won two great naval victories off southern Korea with the aid of Turtle Ships, the first armored warships in history. These oarpowered ships had a low profile and mounted a battery of cannons on their broadside. Their sides and top were rounded and shaped like a flat turtle shell. They were not well suited for use on the high sea but quite useful in coastal waters where waters were relatively calm. The Japanese ships were at a great disadvantage in combat against them. Most missile fire glanced off their rounded armor. They offered no openings for enemy boarding parties. Unarmored enemy ships were quickly disabled by their cannon.''