You shall not pass strategy

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This is a work in progress topic that I (Bryce), and other contributors will continue to add more info to regarding this strategy. 

Primary Purpose 

The "You Shall Not Pass strategy" is a blatantly ineffective form of turtling that assumes, incorrectly and against all conventional wisdom, that your opponent is not capable of recognizing or overcoming obstacles despite the numerous tools offered to him within the game. This strategy consists of the player forming an unbroken line of either T2 or T3 Point Defense and AA, thus devoting an absurd amount of firepower, energy, time, and mass to a highly concentrated area. Because this is a sure fire way to lose games anyway, you may as well spam T2 Artillery stations like they're going out of style - they won't protect your line from tactical missiles, but they can at least rival other artillery, depending on your faction. Since this strategy is inflexible and reliant completely on your opponent behaving in the manner most beneficial to your defensive line, it creates a comfy illusion of safety that makes an inexperienced player feel all warm and fuzzy, right up until they're smacked in the face with a brick in a sock - the one thing the line wasn't prepared for. You will find out quickly that the worst enemy of the line is any enemy who does not attack the line. These are, indeed, the cleverest of foes, and if you face one, try to be a good sport as the strategy costs you the entire game.

When implementing your line, you'll find that your flanks and rear are usually exposed to all forms harassment or even direct attacks. Enemies that fail to overwhelm the line will most likely resort to artillery, nuclear assault , experimentals, coordinated air attacks, tactical missiles, stealth, shield generators, or - most devious of all, they will go around the line - so Strategic Missile Defenses and a good sense of humor are a must, as well as T3 radar so you can watch, helplessly, as an overwhelmingly superior force simply marches around your static weapons and directly into your base unhindered. It would also generally be a good idea to have multiple torpedo bombers on standby if they decide to make an amphibious assault on your base, if you can afford them while spamming static artillery, which is improbable.

This line is rather ineffective without a large number of Tactical Missile Defenses , shields, and just stupid amounts of luck. It's also ineffective if your opponent doesn't lollygag until you're ready for him to attack. In fact, anything unexpected makes the line ineffective. Each T2 point defense costs roughly 540 mass and 3200 energy (faction dependant) which can rapidly deteriorate your economy if you are unable to support the construction, and each defense will be useless against any attack that exceeds the range of the structure. 

Saving a template of the line can also be of great use. It gives you plenty of time to go grab a beer so you can get smashed while your base is getting smashed.

Positives for 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS LINE"

1. Maybe your opponent will get frustrated and focus on easier targets, which allows you to claim the ground you are defending until your opponent finds a way to crack your line.

2. Point defenses are often more lethal for their cost than mobile attack forces, which means that, if you're playing on a team, there may be a brief window during which you are not over-committed to your line and your opponents will have to stall their attack temporarily. Your allies may then capitalize on this ephemeral stall, but you will need a talented ally if he's to use this advantage effectively enough to make up for your own fundamental non-involvement in the battle.

3. If you're able to perform this strategy at all and it's having any degree of success, your opponent is either terrible or not taking the game seriously. That means you should have the opportunity to build your defenses in a beautiful pattern, like a blossoming rose or a nude sketch of a pretty lady if you have enough space. It may not win the game, but if you're really good, it will impress your opponent.

Negatives for "YOU SHALL NOT PASS LINE"

1. In "The Art of War", Sun Tzu very explicitly discourages this kind of behavior, saying, "A general who attempts to bolster his defenses everywhere will quickly find he has no defenses anywhere". In other words, if you're devoting thousands of points of mass towards a line of T2 turrets, you'll definitely stop anything that can be stopped by T2 turrets, but because you're fighting an intelligent human being, your opponent will likely recognize this and attack where there are no T2 turrets. This will force you to build more turrets, which takes more time and resources, and ultimately, by the time your entire base is protected by T2 defenses, your enemy is at your door with an experimental.

2. One nuke can destroy the entire line, wasting vast amounts of resources. In fact, many viable strategies can stall or otherwise destroy a line like this. For example, while you are building the line, it is possible for your opponent to send bombers to focus on your engineers and point defenses. In response, you may feel encouraged to build numerous AA guns, at which point your opponent simply shows up with a strong ground force that can do significant damage to the line, wiping out a number of the AA guns you just built. Then the bombing resumes again. As you're dealing with this, your opponent can build tactical missiles under a stealth field, which can easily catch you unaware as you attempt to prepare for the next ground or air attack.

3. A Czar crash will take out the line, which is just absurd because that means the entire line fell by functioning exactly as you intended.

4. Any player with half a brain will just simply avoid it, attacking vulnerable targets that aren't yet protected by static defenses or, depending on the map, using air transports to flank you or attack from the rear.

5. Focusing on building a turtle position likely means that you are allowing the enemy to gain more mass points than you, thus giving them an advantage in terms of resources. If your opponent controls more of the map, you will never have enough resources to rival everything they can throw at you, and in time your opponent may very easily put together a force that could erode your defensive line in a head-on assault.

6. It is almost completely implausible to build a static defensive line that can withstand a variety of experimentals. Experimentals are in a class entirely of their own, and they will put your line at a severe disadvantage in terms of cost effectiveness. Although this defensive line usually costs less mass and energy than most of the things coming towards it, the line is still static, and building it, especially with numerous artillery emplacements, will cost you enough mass that you may as well have built your own experimental. And heaven forbid your enemy build a Soul Ripper or a Czar, both of which can just fly around the line.

7. This strategy ensures you will have no control and that your opponent will dictate who wins the game. Again, to paraphrase Sun Tzu, "The best is an army that is formless. That can take any shape at any time. An army that is rigid is one that can be broken." This strategy provides you with a rigid force that can't move, harass, or do anything other than defend their operational area. That rigidity makes this strategy extremely brittle and prone to failure under pressure. It can't compensate for unexpected attacks or unorthodox maneuvers.

8. In spite of your line, your ACU may still be vulnerable, especially if it happens to be operating at the front, trying to build your defensive line. While your ACU is spending several minutes building the twentieth artillery emplacement, it's a ripe target for tactical missiles or a strategic bombing. If your ACU isn't operating on the defensive line, it's likely in a sparsely populated base where a squadron of air-dropped fire beetles will have no trouble walking right on over to the commander.

9. This defensive line is wasteful towards your unit cap. Each defensive structure will count towards that cap and is one more mobile unit you won't be able to build. For games with a very large unit cap, this is no problem, but otherwise it becomes a serious consideration.

10. If your enemy starts building T3 artillery emplacements, you'll find your line is utterly helpless and your base will be shelled relentlessly. Since you devoted all your resources to establishing a forward turtle position that can't move or respond to anything with a longer range than the line, it's unlikely you'll have an adequate bombing squadron to nix that artillery before it takes out whatever structures your opponent has declared a personal vendetta against. It's unlikely you'll be able to respond with your own T3 artillery since your opponent, who controls more of the map and has presumably been harassing you all game, will be able to build them sooner and faster. Your disadvantage will teeter to embarrassment if your opponent builds a Scathis or Mavor.

11. For this strategy to work, you may need to notify your opponent that you're doing it. Most players will kill you within ten minutes if you attempt this strategy, but if they know you're trying it, they may show some sportsmanship and decide to play around with unorthodox tactics they haven't practiced yet. This way you get to enjoy building a Sim City of defensive emplacements and your opponent still gets to try out units or strategies he doesn't try very often.

12. Ultimately this is a terrible, terrible, terrible strategy that only works if both players are doing the same thing, thereby hilariously building tight-knit defensive lines to defend against the other person's tight-knit defensive lines, even though both opponents aren't going anywhere and will never attack each other with their defensive lines. It's a common trap many inexperienced players for, but that's because inexperienced players really only grasp the power of the defensive structures and they aren't yet able to understand the tactical advantages of mobility and formlessness. The reason why point defenses are more dangerous for their cost is because they're so deeply limited in their uses, which makes them actually very weak compared to mobile units. Truth be told, most experienced players build static defenses somewhat sparingly, just to add a little kick at a choke point or to deter harassment. There are few, if any, strategic advantages to investing your entire economy into a massive network of static defenses, and it should strictly be avoided.