Turtle Ship

Turtle Ship
Unit information
Introduced in	The Conquerors
Type	Naval vessel Gunpowder unit
Civilization	Koreans
Age	Castle Age
Training
Trained at	Dock
Wood	152
Gold	180
Statistics
Hit points	200, 300 (Elite)
Attack	50 melee
Blast radius	0.5
Rate of Fire	6
Frame delay	0
Range	6
Accuracy	100%
Projectile speed	7.8
Melee armor	6, 8 (Elite)
Ranged armor	5, 6 (Elite)
Armor class	Ship (+8, +11 (Elite)) Turtle Ship (+1 (Elite)) Gunpowder unit Unique unit
Speed	0.9, 1.035 (Elite)
Line of Sight	8
Unit evolution
Upgrades to	Elite Turtle Ship
Upgrade cost	1,000 food, 800 gold
Upgrade time	65 seconds

“	Korean unique unit. Slow, ironclad battleship used to destroy other ships at close range.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Turtle Ship is the second unique unit of the Koreans in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. It can be trained at the Dock once the Castle Age is reached. It is a heavily armored gunpowder warship.

Turtle Ships can be upgraded to Elite Turtle Ships in the Imperial Age.

Tactics

The Turtle Ship is one of the major Korean advantages. A single Turtle Ship can wipe out a small fleet of enemy vessels.

The Turtle Ship's main weaknesses are its short range and slow speed, allowing other ships to utilize hit-and-run tactics on it. The cost is also a drawback.

This means that the best choice against Turtle Ships is probably to mass Galleons, since they are cheaper, faster, and long-ranged, allowing them to utilize hit-and-run tactics. Bombard Cannons and Monks from inland are also good choices against Turtle Ships. Demolition Ships can also deal a lot of damage to mass Turtle Ships, but are not a suitable counter for small numbers of Turtle Ships.

The player must not fall in the trap to only create Turtle Ships as that mistake can prove costly. To use them properly, Turtle Ships must be paired with other naval vessels, most likely Galleons, which have a long-ranged attack and hinder the enemy to use hit-and-run tactics. The role of the Turtle Ship in the navy is to soak up a lot of damage while dealing a considerable amount of damage to enemy vessels. Therefore, they should be used in the first frontline.

Turtle Ships are very heavily armored, with the non-elite Turtle Ship possessing +8 defense against anti-ship attack bonuses that other ships and towers typically deal against ships. The Elite Turtle Ship even has +11 defense against anti-ship attack bonuses, making it especially formidable. This bonus defense nullifies all the bonus attack that ships (War Galleys, Fire Ships), and towers without Heated Shot deal against naval vessels. Elite Turtle Ships also receive a small +1 defense boost against Fire Ship attacks (which have their own specific attack bonus against Turtle Ships).

Further statistics

As Turtle Ships are unique to the Koreans, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Ships at close distance, buildings on the shoreline, units on the shoreline or shallows
Weak vs.	Bombard Cannons, Monks, Trebuchets, Castles, towers, Condottieri (in the shallows)
Upgrades
Armor	Careening (+0/+1)
Speed	Dry Dock (+15%) Panokseon (+15%, Koreans only) (before update 42848)
Conversion defense	Faith
Creation speed	Shipwright (+54%)
Train cost	Shipwright (-20%)
Upgrades	Elite Turtle Ship

Civilization bonuses

• Koreans: Turtle Ships cost 20% less wood.

Team bonuses

• A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Faith is 20% faster.
• A team containing Teutons: Turtle Ships are more resistant to conversion.
• A team containing Turks: Turtle Ships are created 25% faster.

Changelog

The Conquerors

• Turtle Ships require a Castle.
• Turtle Ships cost 200W/200G.
• Turtle Ships do not benefit from the Turkish team bonus.
• The Elite Turtle Ship's speed is 0.9

The Forgotten

• Turtle Ships now cost 180W/180G.
• Panokseon introduced.

The African Kingdoms

• Turtle Ships no longer require a Castle.
• With patch 4.8, Turtle Ships are now created 20% faster when allied with the Turks.

Definitive Edition

• Initially, Turtle Ships cost 15% less wood (153 wood). After Update 39284, wood cost after the discount is 152 wood).
• With update 42848, The Elite Turtle Ship's speed is 1.035.
• With update 42848, Panokseon is no longer available for research.

Trivia

• Before the Definitive Edition, the Turtle Ship was one of only four units in the game without any attack bonus (the others being the Militia, the Boyar, and the Knight line).
• The Turtle Ship's icon is based on its original appearance (before version 1.0b).
• Unlike their game counterpart, real Turtle Ships were not slow due to their combined use of oars and sails (not depicted in the game). Admiral Yi Sun-Shin even invented the "blast and ram" tactic, which consisted on the Turtle Ships using their speed to charge enemy ships, firing cannon up close (multiplying damage), then ramming them.
• Also in real life, the dragon head at the front was designed to release sulphur smoke and camouflage the ship, scare and poison enemy crews. However, because the Koreans had no siphons capable of directing the smoke, this feature could only be used when paired with favorable winds.

 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.

”

Gallery

A group of Turtle Ships

Turtle Ships win a fight against an enemy fleet with minimal losses

The original Turtle Ship appearance (before version 1.0b)

An artwork of the Turtle Ship

A Turtle Ship painting in the 16th century

Turtle Ship in the HD Edition and Definitive Edition