Turtling?

[Martok]

In strategy games, "turtling" generally refers to the practice of being conservative and building up your faction internally, as opposed to aggressive military expansion/action.

So whereas an expansionist player immediately builds up their forces and starts attacking right away, a "turtler" will focus more on developing their infrastructure, technology, economy, etc. Turtlers usually don't have a very large military until they're much more developed, and therefore don't conquer as much land as more aggressive players do.

As a rule, people who turtle in strategy games (myself being one of them) either

a.) Are more cautious by nature; and/or
b.) Have as much fun "growing" their civilizations as they do conquering other ones.