Genius Archer Streaming Season 3 Episode 314
102. The Bigger Picture (1)
The strengths and weaknesses of maps are open to interpretation, but there are certain maps that are designed to favor certain civilizations.
Take the rugged mountain valleys.
With 80% of the terrain being mountains, it was only natural that civilizations with mountain-related factions would have an advantage.
“Now, Rugged Mountain Valley is the worst mountain map in Sybilm! The worst mountain map in Sybilm!”
The broadcasters were quite excited.
“In fact, too much mountainous terrain can actually be a disadvantage for the bow-oriented Joseon, but Joseon has been winning a lot of games on mountain maps in the Great War!”
Originally, mountain maps were like a handicap for Joseon. While it’s great to be able to move faster in the mountains, the numerous obstacles make it difficult to utilize the bow properly.
This season, however, Joseon has overcome this in a number of ways.
“Especially now that quite a few players, especially Almond, have curve shots, the mountain map is a welcome addition!”
They had practiced hitting targets behind obstacles, and the mountain map was no longer a major obstacle, at least for the first-line archers.
“Now, as you speak, the game has begun – Rome at 12! Blue! Joseon at 6! Red!”
The game began in earnest.
The blue and red dots on the screen began to move in a frenzy.
“They’re in a straight line, so the distance is pretty close. Does this mean Joseon might have something to play for early on?”
“On the other hand, Rome is probably preparing for an early game, right?”
“Yes, because many experts said that this final will be a battle between a pushing Joseon and a defending Roma? Does it look like that’s how the two games are shaping up?”
It’s a ‘rugged mountain valley’ with sheer cliffs on all sides.
Here, most civilizations without the mountain terrain movement speed buff, like Joseon, will be limited in their movement.
“The Romans probably won’t be able to time their advance well on this map.”
“They’re not going to be able to use their Age 2 chariots or anything like that, so they’re not going to be able to use that kind of strategy to get a lot of speed, which is why they’re scouting in groups?”
Rome organized 10-man scouts.
Considering the normal scouting format is five-man teams, it’s quite defensive.
“Ah. Why is that?”
“Because there’s little to be gained in the early game, so if we meet you halfway, we’ll cut you off. That’s it.”
Rome has twice as many scouts.
They are twice as slow, but when they meet, they are no match in combat.
They are defensive in scouting, but offensive in combat.
“Joseon reads the information on the map relatively very quickly.”
Joseon, on the other hand, was speeding up its reconnaissance.
Although they were a five-man team, they split into two or three groups to share information when necessary.
“It’s exciting, right? Even if we have a 10-man team, we can just run away when we meet Rome, right?”
“Ah, because we can travel faster, right?”
“Yes. Rome is like that, so it’s not easy to outrun them even if you’re outnumbered!”
“Ah……! So what do you think Rome should do to catch them?”
“Well, they’d have to set up an ambush and then take them by surprise, and with so little map information to begin with, that doesn’t work very well.”
The ambusher should know the terrain better, but the situation is currently reversed.
The Koreans know more about the terrain than the Romans.
But the Romans are still in groups of 10.
They didn’t spread out farther, but hunkered down near certain terrain.
They’re trying to get an early advantage somehow.
“Ah. You’re a bit obsessed with Roman early gains.”
Kingule shook his head at Anto’s judgment.
“So much so that you’d give up scouting?”
The terrain in the Rugged Mountains is literally rugged. So knowing the terrain can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
If you don’t know where it’s uphill, where it’s downhill, where you can see, or where you can get hit……, you can never turn the tide of battle in your favor.
But Anto didn’t disperse his troops much, scouring only the terrain near his own position.
“It’s just one guy, isn’t it?”
Castor’s words could have been an extreme tactic, a one-time, take-it-or-leave-it strategy.
“Yeah, I guess…… I should get an early advantage on this map, so I can play against Joseon…… Is that what you’re thinking?”
Sometimes players make these gambles because they think they’re at a disadvantage.
They don’t even realize that they’re at a disadvantage because they don’t know why they’re at a disadvantage.
So King Gull would have seen this and thought it was a “take one, make it work” kind of strategy.
If it wasn’t for Anto leading this strategy.
“But, no matter what, I don’t understand this…… intention?”
Kingule finally had no choice but to blurt out.
“What is it?
He couldn’t read Anto’s strategy.
Why?
* * *
‘This map is…….’
Cookie remembered what he’d said to the think tank team when he’d first seen the map.
“Assassinate the clergy.”
Assassinating a priest.
The master’s recipe for Rome.
If I’d had this conversation with a novice, someone would have said, “Who doesn’t know that assassinating priests puts Rome at a disadvantage?
But these are experts.
Their conversation is on a different level.
It’s not like, ‘Oh, Anto knows, Cookie knows, every gamer knows that priests are important…… but you can still assassinate them.
And why it would work, with good reasoning.
“Anto doesn’t know, he doesn’t know.
A ridiculous nod to the nuncio, which I found by accident.
No matter how much Rome cared for and protected its clergy, it could not prepare them for what was happening outside their cognitive capacities.
“Don’t know, die.
It’s not an adage that has stuck with the gaming world for nothing.
In games, no, in war, you don’t know what you don’t know.
Cookie begins to scout as efficiently as possible.
[If you see an enemy, run].
He told all his scouts to run if they encountered the enemy.
[Scouting objective is a high cliff near enemy lines].
The scouts are given a place to report and signal.
The scouts scattered in groups of five, then in groups of three, then in groups of two, and more and more places were revealed.
They even encountered Roman scouts, but it didn’t matter.
The Joseon army took advantage of the mountainous terrain and quickly fled.
Other scouts dug into the area again, clearing the way.
After that, it was repeat.
Run when you see them, spread out, run again…….
You have an overwhelming advantage in information gathering.
Naturally, hunting becomes easier.
But-
“!?”
──Tiying!
It signals that it’s being attacked.
“Huh?
I look over to where the signal is coming from and see that I’m surrounded by Roman scouts.
“Why is this number here……?
It’s a ridiculous number discrepancy.
“Why couldn’t we run away?
Moreover, they couldn’t escape.
About 7 or 8 Joseon soldiers were surrounded by 20 Roman soldiers.
We can’t go anywhere, and they start to beat us with sticks.
Puff, puff, puff!
Cookie is dazed, watching the scene.
‘…….’
Rome has deployed this many soldiers for this one moment.
They needed this many to cover an area this size, to make sure Joseon couldn’t escape.
If it didn’t work, Anto would have to continue to take heavy losses on his own.
“Why would Anto take such a gamble?
A literal gamble.
Cookie was confused.
“What the hell is this?
One might ask.
‘Why would you give in to such an obvious opponent?
But that’s what the uninformed say.
“This can’t be happening.
Hunting, reconnaissance, management, terrain, and…… numerous other considerations make it impossible for this many Roman troops to be deployed here at this moment.
No, they can be deployed. If you can put your life on the line here.
If you grabbed a passerby and said, “Bet half your life savings that I’m going to go backwards or forwards right here, right now”?
They’d think you were crazy.
But right now, Anto made that bet, and he won.
Does this make sense?
Is Anto just lucky?
Or is he in a situation where he has to rely on luck?
If not, then…….
* * *
“With the annihilation of the Joseon army here…… Rome is starting off pretty good?”
A 20 to 7 fight, so of course the Joseon army is annihilated.
“Ah. Rome manages to turn this risk into a return in the end?”
“It was a high risk low return, so if they turn it into a return in the end, it’s just a gain because the risk didn’t work out, right?”
-What is this?
-Does this work?
-Cookies are all over the form again!
-Why are you doing this?
-You’re getting caught doing something stupid.
The viewers are embarrassed.
A beginner’s strategy? In a way, yes.
“Wait a minute. Why does Anto seem to know this?
But Kingule sees it differently.
Anto’s movements seemed to indicate that he knew where Cookie wanted to explore properly.
“What, not one after the other? You’re missing a lot on the scouting side!”
The Koreans were cornered again.
Rome gains another advantage, albeit a small one.
“Rome, you’re off to a great start, aren’t you? We’ve got the hunting grounds all to ourselves! This way, 10-man squads and 20-man squads are more efficient!”
A small advantage in scouting.
This is actually a map where Rome shouldn’t have this advantage.
“Is this a first set déjà vu? It’s clearly a Joseon map, and Rome starts with the advantage!”
Sometimes, in a fight between masters, even the most obvious favoritism can be reversed.
Kingule realized he was witnessing one of those right now.
“I know this. Damn it. I don’t know what Joseon is trying to do, but I can see that Rome knows.
The same thing had happened twice.
What’s more, with all these views, he was certain.
The movements of the omens were so methodical, so relentless.
These were not the numbers of a nervous gambler throwing dice.
Rome was predicting Joseon’s movements.
The problem was, they didn’t know what they were basing their predictions on.
“What could Joseon possibly want?
King Gul parses the situation.
“Well…… Joseon is scouting the Roman camp a bit aggressively right now, which isn’t really necessary in the first place, because they’re trying to secure the hunt at this early stage.”
It’s subtle, but Joseon’s scouting was a bit more aggressive toward the Roman camp.
“Ah. I see. Why are they trying to do this?”
“I’d rather see…… or something. Actually, we’re supposed to be able to get out of here by using a faster vehicle to get away…….”
This is mountainous terrain.
There was no way for the early Romans to catch up with the fleeing Joseon army.
So it wasn’t a high-risk reconnaissance.
It shouldn’t have been.
“The problem is, we know exactly where they’re coming from, right?”
-??
-Ah.
-You know exactly where they’re coming from?
-What?
-Eh?
The people were puzzled by King Gull’s words.
The scouting phase of the Sibyl Empire is when not one or two, but two hundred people move in unison.
It doesn’t make sense to predict all these movements.
What’s more, what Rome is doing right now is playing a pressing game with many times the number of players.
To make a prediction, you’d have to know where they’re going to be almost 30 seconds in advance, let alone 2-3 seconds.
Is that possible?
“No. Otherwise, there’s no way Cookie would have gotten caught twice, and there’s no way Anto would keep running this gambit!”
-Is it?
-That would be.
-It looks like
-?
-If you don’t know, just look at him.
-What the hell is that?
But then, it happened.
It was then.
“Huh?
It was a really big picture, one that could only be seen from the top.
I had to look at the battlefield at a magnification of a minimap.
Only then did he see it.
“Are you …… being shepherded?
Rome wasn’t predicting Joseon’s movements.
They were doing what he wanted them to do.
[Flee on sight].
This command was a trap.
