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Season 3: Chapter 181: Bow vs. Bow (1)

“Now, OrangeKing, what do you think about the matchup between Persia and Joseon?”

“Well, when it comes to Persia, the famous elephants come to mind. They have a unit called the war elephant.”

— Elephants, wow

— Seeing them in virtual reality would be insane lol

— Persian elephants are the best in the world!

— How do you even kill an elephant?? lol

Many viewers had not experienced Civil Empire before, so everyone had something to say about the elephants. They seemed more challenging to deal with than any other unit seen so far.

“Elephants are incredibly strong against cavalry and archers. Think of them as moving buildings.”

“Ah! Moving buildings!? Right, they're almost at that level! So arrows won’t work on them?”

“Ohhh...!”

“You’d usually want to take them down with siege weapons. Catapults or Joseon’s unique weapon, the Hwacha, would be good options.”

“Ah, but doesn’t Joseon rarely use those!?”

China frequently deployed siege weapons and machinery, but Joseon didn’t.

“Yes. Joseon is also strong with cannons, but those only come out in the fourth era. Elephants appear in the third era, so Joseon will be very wary of these elephants.”

“I see! So Joseon’s strong units like horse archers and Pyeonjong won’t be effective in the third era! This is definitely something to watch out for!”

— Counter units, huh

— But elephants are super expensive

— They need to block gold mining

— Isn’t Persia famous for its archers too?

While elephants were the most striking feature and their mascot, Persia was also famous for its archery faction.

“Ah. As the chat mentioned, Persia also has powerful archers. That’s why they have the Tri-archers and the Divine Archer.”

“Indeed, that’s true.”

“If Joseon has a focus trait in the second era, Persia has the Parthian tactics. They can automatically reload arrows, so they don’t have to take out arrows from a quiver. They can shoot rapidly like this.”

“So it’s a battle of rapid fire vs. powerful shots. We’ll see this bow vs. bow battle between Joseon and Persia! I’m excited. And now! At three o’clock in red, we have Joseon in the east. And at nine o’clock in blue, we have Persia in the west. Both sides are sending out scouts!”

The mini-map’s dots started moving frantically. The match had officially begun.

“This map, the Traversing Ridge...”

With the scouting underway, the map had to be discussed.

“As the name suggests, a ridge runs across the map, dividing it into east and west. Once you cross the ridge, it’s all plains, making movement easy and battles straightforward. However, the central ridge and the forests around each base introduce several variables.”

“Forests and the ridge?”

“Yes. The forests are perfect for infiltration routes once you penetrate the base. The ridge splits the map, making movement between bases difficult.”

“Ah. It’s hard to cross the ridge, but once you do, attacking is easy?”

“Yes. While Joseon can move quickly in the mountains, the terrain itself is still twisted and time-consuming.”

“That’s right. Even though Joseon has a mountain trait, they still don’t move faster than on flat land.”

— So true lol

— Bug in the system lol

— Haha

— Indeed

“Still, Joseon has the advantage in the mountains. They must attack Persia when they cross the ridge!”

“Yes! If it were me, I’d do the same.”

The ridge that split the map was clearly the key battleground. Both sides were well aware of this strategy.

“Right now, all of Joseon’s soldiers are heading straight for the ridge, except for the minimal number needed for hunting. They’re aiming to control the ridge first. Isn’t this a good strategy!?”

On the mini-map, red dots representing Joseon’s soldiers swarmed toward the ridge.

“But...” OrangeKing couldn’t fully endorse the strategy and added cautiously, “If the goal is to hold the ridge line, Joseon can achieve that. They are very strong in the mountains. However...”

“Yes, however?”

“The location of the ridge makes me wonder if it’s really worth holding initially. Because it’s right in the middle of the map, it could lead to a stalemate, a so-called half-land battle.”

A half-land battle was a meta where both sides took half of the map, leading to a late-game standoff. In such cases, the civilization with the better late-game units or superior matchup won.

“If this happens, Persia has the advantage! Joseon needs to think carefully!”

Persia would win in a half-land battle leading to the late game. They were a formidable late-game civilization. In the Western community, a Persian Turtling meme even highlighted Persia’s confidence in the late game.

“Persia’s late-game strength in the fourth era is equal to or even greater than Joseon’s!”

— “Equal to or greater than” lol

— This sounds like a shonen manga power scale

— LOL

— I’ve never seen anyone actually say that lol

Persia’s late-game potential was on par with or slightly superior to Joseon’s. It seemed like a close match, but one problem existed.

“The problem is the matchup! As I mentioned earlier, elephants are very effective against Joseon!”

“Oh...”

“Sure, Joseon has the Joseon spy and Hwacha, so they have many variables in the fourth era! But there’s no need for Joseon to face Persia’s fully developed fourth era. As I said, Persia’s late game is equal to or greater, but honestly! No civilization except China should take that risk!”

“But why is Persia so strong in the late game!?”

“It’s because of Persia’s upgrade system! And their gold mining method!”

OrangeKing was about to explain, but the situation on the ground changed rapidly.

“For starters, Persia’s upgrades are free but take time... Oh!?”

He saw something.

“Joseon’s worker...? They sent a worker to the ridge!?”

“Huh? A tower rush?”

“No! Joseon can build defensive structures with soldiers! Workers aren’t needed for that!”

— Oh, right

— What is it then??

— Is it that again??

— Another legendary triple rush?

“This means! The worker is going to build a production building!”

A production building assigned roles to soldiers or produced weapons for supply.

“Where are they going!?

“They might be building a barracks!!”

Of course, barracks that revived and re-enlisted fallen soldiers fell under this category.

Thud.

[Barracks - 2%]

As soon as the workers crossed the mountain, they started building barracks at the base.

“This terrain is really peculiar!”

Just before descending the mountain, they built barracks at an indiscernible spot that couldn’t be considered mountainous or plain terrain.

“It’s placed in a spot where you can’t tell if it’s on a mountain or plain!”

— Mountain-not-mountain strategy

— Another stealthy strategy!?

— As expected from the fashion that won

OrangeKing grew excited about the placement. It looked perfect.

“What this means is! If they attack the barracks, the archers can use the mountain terrain to turn them into pincushions! The mountain acts as a defensive tower! It’s a natural fortress like good feng shui! It’s perfect!”

“Ah! Feng shui! Mountain at the back, water at the front! But where’s the water!?”

“The water will be the enemy’s blood...!”

— LOL

— Feng shui lol

— LOL

— Blood river miracle

— Hilarious

Meanwhile, Joseon’s barracks completed construction.

Thud.

[Barracks]

“Now, it’s complete. It’s tucked into the six o’clock corner, making it hard for Persia to find unless they cross the ridge from nine o’clock to three o’clock. But...”

In most RTS games, forward barracks strategies wouldn’t get discovered directly. The enemy usually deduced its position through a process of elimination.

“Persia will scout Joseon’s base! They’ll realize there’s no barracks in the base!”

“Ah! Right! Barracks are the most basic buildings! If there’s none, they’ll be suspicious!”

The map would consist mostly of plains once the units crossed the ridge. They could easily infiltrate the base for scouting if they sacrificed one soldier.

Persia would soon discover the absence of a barracks in Joseon’s base. They’d suspect the barracks had been built somewhere unusual.

“And now, Persia’s scouts are starting to climb the ridge.”

“Oh!? But!”

Persia’s scouts tried to cross the ridge.

Even OrangeKing momentarily forgot about the element blocking them.

“Ah! I just realized! Cookie!!!”

Cookie had initially placed a significant number of troops on the ridge. It seemed like a strategy for a half-land battle.

“To block the scouts! That’s why he invested so much here!!”

It was to block scouting.

— Wow

— That’s it

— This is the flow

— Amazing strategy!

“It’s not to take half the land! It’s to block the scouting!?”

“Exactly! Persia’s scouts can’t advance! Persia will think Joseon is just taking the advantageous mountain position! Not that they’re hiding a forward barracks!!”

Indeed, Persia’s scouts tried probing and retreated. They realized that too many enemy soldiers occupied the mountains and began circling the mountain.

“But they’re circling the mountain to find another entrance!?”

They kept looking for an entrance that Joseon wasn’t blocking. This inadvertently increased the chances of discovering the barracks.

The scouts would eventually head to the six o’clock area to check.

“Oh no...”

“Wait a minute. This...”

Fortunately, Cookie had been vigilant.

Ping!

[Attack]

Suddenly, dozens of Joseon soldiers jumped out and blocked the path.

“Wow! They were already positioned here!?”

Thud!

Thud!

The trapped scouts either got beat or fled.

The observer briefly switched to Persia’s perspective.

“They didn’t see it!!”

They hadn’t caught a glimpse of the barracks.

“But! Persia might start suspecting something now!”

“Yes. It did look suspicious!”

— LOL

— Suddenly dozens of enemies jumping out is hilarious

— LOL

— Robot acting

Even if Persia suspected it, it could already be too late.

“But why hasn’t Joseon moved yet? I thought it was a first era tower rush...”

Thud...!

[Joseon - 2nd Era]

Joseon had already advanced into the second era.

“What speed is this!! It wasn’t about the first era timing!?”

Exactly. Cookie hadn’t targeted the first era.

“Then it’s that, right!?”

Both the caster and analyst shouted simultaneously.

“A fast second era archer rush!!!”

— Cookie is in top form

— For real

— Fast archer rush! Fast archer rush!

— Can I get my hopes up??

— This is already thrilling

— A bow vs. bow match lol

— My chicken delivery will arrive before it ends lol

— This is insane!

— Let’s win at least one match

— Haven’t seen such a thrilling strategy in ages

— Lucky BornToB

— Breaking news: chicken orders canceled in mass

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