When I first started playing Eclipse, I found a great deal of success playing aggressive races such as Mechenema and winning by quickly taking my neighbors homeworld, or failing that, taking the middle and then focusing on holding my territory and building as many monoliths as possible. I've played more jack-of-all-trades races such as Erdani, Terran, and Magellan, using offense as my defence.
Lately I've tried playing some more turtle focused races and while I've won a few games with the Exiles, I've found that in every game I turtle for the first six rounds or so and get to an incredibly strong position, but I simply don't have time to upgrade all my ships and make a move on turn seven or eight. I can make a few minor gains on turn 9, but it's rarely enough and I usually get 2nd or 3rd place unless I got lucky with reputation and discovery tiles. Am I coming out of my shell too late? When is the ideal time to go offensive with the turtle races (Hydran, Exiles, Lyra, etc.)?
Lately I've tried playing some more turtle focused races and while I've won a few games with the Exiles, I've found that in every game I turtle for the first six rounds or so and get to an incredibly strong position, but I simply don't have time to upgrade all my ships and make a move on turn seven or eight. I can make a few minor gains on turn 9, but it's rarely enough and I usually get 2nd or 3rd place unless I got lucky with reputation and discovery tiles. Am I coming out of my shell too late? When is the ideal time to go offensive with the turtle races (Hydran, Exiles, Lyra, etc.)?