[Ironhawk]

Whether you turtle or rush depends on what nation you are playing. If you are playing a nation which blew all its scales for a huge bless on awesome sacreds then you need to attack without ceasing or you will lose. On the other hand if you are playing a nation with awesome, cheap researchers, then you will probably want to turtle for a long time until you have reached magical dominance.

Sombre, I think the pattern of play you have noticed is what occurs in most games... but your application of "turtler" to most players is excessive. After all, a player which is too agressive will be ganged. But a player who turtles too often will be dwarfed by more aggressive neighbors. I have found most dom players to be a mix of the two.