Around twenty minutes earlier in the Viking team's waiting room, they all discussed the curve shots.
"Are all the Joseon archers using curve shots?"
"It seems like at least fifteen of them are doing it."
"That's enough to consider it as all of them. The average number of armed units in the second era is around fifty."
The curve shot technique could bypass their shields and target their vital spots.
"If this continues, we can't win in theory..."
In theory, Joseon had significant advantages over the Vikings. Despite this, Joseon's performance against the Vikings was underrated. Rather, most civilizations underestimated Joseon for two main reasons.
First was a lack of resource factions. This was the biggest reason. Joseon had no factions related to economy or production and always had fewer resources than other civilizations. Even if they had excellent weapons and technology, they could only possess a few.
Second was a lack of practical effectiveness. Joseon dealt the highest bow damage within their civilization thanks to the top-tier focus trait, but they struggled against great defenses. If they took three seconds to shoot an arrow just to get blocked, they'd be almost useless for six seconds.
"But everything changes with curve shots."
The curve shot perfectly compensated for these weaknesses. The game developers had never made such a trait or combat ability. This personally developed skill almost seemed like a loophole.
The technique involved curving the arrow like a baseball to hit the target around cover. Successfully targeting vital spots with this technique was nothing short of a miracle. No team, including the Vikings, would strategize around such miraculous skills.
However, the impossible occurred in the previous game. The entire Joseon team used curve shots to wipe out the Vikings’ front line.
The Viking team had to take it into consideration now.
"What's going on? If this continues... it'll be too hard to deal with the archers."
The assistant commander, Northman, rarely expressed negative opinions like this out loud.
Everyone started speaking out of fear of the curve shots.
"No."
Jessie disagreed.
"They’re not all capable of shooting curve shots."
"What? Then what happened to us? If we hadn't used the body formation tactic, we would have been wiped out. This wasn't even the plan for the first match."
"Exactly... they only memorized certain spots."
"?"
The other Vikings scoffed.
"Ha. Memorizing positions in Civil Empire, is that even possible?"
"I don't understand what you're saying."
It was understandable. Jessie wasn't sure if her thoughts were correct either.
"That is..."
The head commander, Exmaster, stepped in.
"Ha. Is that what it was?"
Everyone looked at him with question marks.
Exmaster explained, "That valley doesn’t change. Sometimes, maps stay the same to maintain their theme."
"!?"
Everyone was shocked. Unless one saw everything from the top like the head commander, they wouldn't know this.
"Is that true?"
"Yes."
"Dammit... they need to fix this game!"
Northman stood up and fumed with anger.
"If that's the case, map selection is extremely important!"
The reason why no one had any major complaints about the map selection right being given to the best-dressed player was because maps always had a certain randomness in Civil Empire.
Now, that premise had been shattered.
"..."
Jessie remained silent and stared at the ground. She felt somewhat guilty, thinking they could have won first place then.
"Don’t blame yourself. The important thing is that we now know they can't freely use curve shots."
A particularly large man scolded Northman. It was the other assistant commander, Winter.
"Are you sure about that?" Winter asked and turned to Jessie, "They can't shoot curve shots outside that spot?"
"Yes. But, as you know, there’s one exception."
"Yes, we know that."
They had reviewed the data on Almond already.
"We can handle one."
"Then I was right. They can’t shoot curve shots outside that area. And they were extremely flustered and couldn’t even shoot straight when they moved away."
The head commander nodded and stood up.
"Your observation is good, Jessie. We don’t need to worry about curve shots in this match."
With this conclusion, the Vikings' expressions brightened.
"This time, it's not their chosen battlefield. Let's finish it for sure!"
As the head commander roared, everyone shouted in unison.
"Woooooo!"
***
Meanwhile, a similar discussion took place in the Korean team's waiting room.
Cookie left the remaining soldiers to soak in the victory and had a meeting with the archers who fought in the valley. He wanted to hear the details of the battle.
"They saw through us?"
"Yes. It was clear from their movements," Carrot explained the battle flow to Cookie.
Cookie hadn't watched the battle directly.
"They knew we were tied to our positions and rushed at us en masse. The Vikings would never do that against ranged units."
"Yeah. I felt that too," Pang added while nodding.
"At least the ones coming from the west knew. Maybe not the east."
Cookie sighed and leaned back.
"Hmm... being seen through this quickly isn't good."
They hadn't honed the location based curve shot technique just to use it in one match.
"We should have made them think we could always use curve shots."
"That seems impossible," Carrot cut in firmly.
"We were fully exposed at the end... yeah, that makes sense. Relying on that psychology is impossible."
Cookie stroked his chin in thought.
"They realized it on the spot..."
The enemy’s head commander hadn’t analyzed it later. They reacted immediately. This meant that someone among the Vikings saw through their strategy right away. They probably observed the Joseon soldiers’ movements in the valley for quite a while. Analyzing the situation in such a critical moment was impressive.
Cookie moved to Almond.
"Almond."
"?"
"How are you feeling?"
Almond had changed into new clothes but still had damp hair.
"I'm fine for now, but... not like the first match."
He meant that he couldn't perform like the first match again. His participation in battles had to be limited. This was essential in the long run.
"..."
Cookie nodded in silence and deeply thought, 'This won't be easy.'
The second game wouldn't be easy because they had to limit Almond’s participation in half compared to the first game. Considering this was a best-of-three match, they could go to a third game.
"Players! Please enter!!"
Time had passed quickly.
***
“Woooooo!”
Cheers echoed throughout the stadium and a giant hologram formed the terrain again.
"Alright, this map is...?"
This time, neither team knew what map would come up. The players, commentators, viewers, and spectators all felt tense.
— Thump thump
— What will it be?
— We’ll be back after a brief commercial!
[Rich Granary]
Swaaa...
Golden waves rippled through the vast reed field as the wind blew. The sun was setting beyond the horizon with wide plains while animals ran through the green mountains and fields.
"Ahhh! This time, it's a completely different map!"
"Exactly! It’s entirely different apart from the abundant food resources!"
Each team’s base was diagonally positioned apart from each other.
The caster briefly explained, "The Vikings are northeast at two o'clock! Joseon is southwest at eight o'clock! They’re diagonally positioned from each other like in a one-on-one! OrangeKing, please explain the dynamics of this map!"
"Yes! As mentioned, it’s completely different from before!"
"Indeed!"
— True
— This won't be easy
— Archers can be used freely
— Plenty of food, so no control issues
— But they'll use cavalry too
OrangeKing explained as the scouts from each camp moved out, "The rugged mountain valley was a very distinctive map, right? But this is a relatively simple map. It’s the kind of map that beginners often encounter when playing against AI on easy difficulty."
— Baby level LOL
— Baby’s brain level hahaha
— Looks easy just by looking at it
"Right? So the probability of winning here is fifty-fifty?"
"Hmm... if the map is straightforward, it comes down to civilization matchups. It should be fifty-fifty. As mentioned before, the Vikings and Joseon strike a golden balance because they counter each other perfectly."
"Ah. Yes, you mentioned that."
OrangeKing emphasized that the map probably would not be very important this time.
"In that case, the key becomes the typical time battle between Joseon and the Vikings. How much can the Vikings achieve before Joseon reaches the third era...?"
"Ah, right? Joseon's promised third era and the Vikings’ third era of doom!"
— LOL
— Different meanings haha
— Time battle
— Time is on our side!
"The Vikings can almost monopolize the abundant food resources early on. Unlike the mountainous area, Joseon soldiers can't use hit-and-run tactics based on speed."
"Ah... that’s true!?"
In the first match, Joseon fully utilized the mountainous tribe trait.
"Wasn't the mountainous tribe trait usage higher than their use of focus in the analysis?"
Follow current novℯls on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.
"Exactly. That trait gave them a significant advantage, but now it's useless..."
— Wow
— So how will they contest food now?
— But this is the original matchup.
— Good luck
— It was a faction victory...
— First match was a faction cup LOL
As OrangeKing’s explanation continued, viewers began to think that Joseon wouldn't win because Joseon had significantly benefited from their speed in the first match.
"All the advantages from the first match are gone!"
"Exactly, but when did Joseon ever win using the mountainous tribe trait!? Even on that map, it wasn’t particularly favorable for archers! Yet they still won!"
"Yes! Joseon is always the underdog and they still did it!"
"From Joseon's perspective, they must prevent the Vikings from monopolizing the food by raiding hunting outposts while the Vikings are distracted! They need to find ways to do this!"
— In the end, it's a food battle
— Keep raiding hunting outposts
— It’s hard to raid early on
"Ah, yes! Hunting outposts are hard to defend if they expand indiscriminately! The buildings need to be spread out enough to produce gold, so they’re spread across the map once they exceed a certain number!"
"Exactly! In the last match, it became unmanageable! This time, let's see how the Vikings defend their hunting outposts and how Joseon can delay them until the third era! That’s the battle we’ll see!"
"Oh, as we speak! The Vikings are already making significant moves!"
The Vikings appeared as a large number of red dots on the northern mini-map and started to move down the map. It seemed like they planned on expanding.
"The Vikings are expanding already? They seem confident on this map! What a bold move!"
Numerous hunting outposts started to be built simultaneously around the Viking base.
"This is overly ambitious!"
OrangeKing jumped back in surprise.
"Why are they building so many hunting outposts!?"
"Right! There’s no need to build so many so early! Just ten or so in the second era should be enough."
OrangeKing had seen this build order before.
"Ah...?"
When the Vikings expanded their hunting outposts like this in the first era...
"Is this... are they trying to use human wave tactics as soon as they reach the second era!?"
Instead of the usual third era rush, the Vikings planned on an early second era rush.
"They're setting up to maximize food pumping at the start of the second era! If Joseon doesn’t notice, they’ll get caught off guard! What a sharp move from Exmaster! They’re risking it all!"
"Exmaster is sharpening the axe after losing the first match!”
"Right! They won’t go to the lost third era! They’re trying to stop time at the bubble era!"
— Are they Japan?!
— Vikings using rush tactics
— Wow, what now?
— Original rush civilization
— Japan without Pearl Harbor LOL
— Can't block this???
— Wow, risking it all in one match