Season 3: Chapter 242. The Verdict (1)
The battle for control of the lake in the first era was chaotic. What else could one call a fight with hundreds of entangled soldiers wildly swinging clubs in every direction?
"Ah! Was this too hasty, Joseon?!"
Joseon was least confident in such a combat scenario. No matter how unpredictable Joseon's strategies were, charging in like this in the first era was not beneficial, especially against a civilization that excelled in close combat like Japan.
Joseon intended to push forward while quickly constructing defense towers. However, that failed as the Japanese set those towers ablaze. Then—
[Defense Tower - 12%]
[Defense Tower - 9%]
More defense towers continued being built.
"Ah! Joseon is starting to construct defense towers in other places too!"
"What!?"
Joseon hadn't planned to build towers in just one location.
"No way..."
OrangeKing became speechless. To use resources like this so early meant they had only one intention.
"Are they planning to end this in the first era, Joseon?!"
Joseon intended to finish the game in the first era.
***
Extreme strategies from Joseon were not uncommon, but the community blazed with activity.
[Building more towers???]
[Is this the right move?]
[Why are they so obsessed with rush tactics?]
[If they lose, it’ll be chaos]
[She isn’t Cookie...]
[If Japan turns this around, they’ll gain momentum and sweep Joseon...]
Complaints flooded in, especially among experienced players who knew Civil Empire better. It wasn't just that Joseon's strategy seemed overly focused on an early rush. It was also because they seemed to be losing at this point.
[Should have just built a defensive tower and pulled back...]
[Why can’t they see the bigger picture??]
[I understand wanting to go 3-0, but this is too much]
[Ringo is grinning ear to ear LOL]
Joseon's quick response in the first era was exactly what Japan wanted. Additionally, Japan was always prepared for counterattacks.
[But if it’s Best Yi Sun-Shin, you never know]
[If she’s in god mode, she’ll leave all 200 soldiers with just 3% health]
[You need to see the result to judge]
Some viewers held back from making hasty judgments about the game given Best Yi Sun-Shin's previous performances.
***
Towers rose one by one in the area crowded with barbarian soldiers. Multiple defense towers began construction simultaneously.
"Ah! It's starting! A multitasking battle!"
Japan had prepared a separate force, but they couldn't block everything.
"From Japan's perspective, isn't it a gift if Joseon builds so many towers?"
"Exactly! They can just fall back! Let Joseon waste resources on towers and keep the lake area! Ah... they’re retreating!"
Japan pulled back instead of stopping the tower construction. They aimed to secure the minimum lake area needed for fishing. This rendered Joseon's towers useless.
"Ringo's response is very calm!"
Ringo wasn't getting drawn into Joseon's provocative tower rush. He had a clear plan. If Joseon built just one tower, he’d respond. If they built more than two, he’d retreat.
"Japan is retreating and adding another defense tower to secure their lake area!"
Joseon solidified their position with another tower to block any further advancement from Japan.
"Ah... they won the battle, but..."
Joseon had driven Japan out of the area they wanted, but...
"It feels unsatisfactory!"
"Exactly!"
They didn't gain much. Joseon lost more soldiers and invested more resources. Although they now controlled a larger lake area, it wasn’t a significant gain. Fishing boats would still operate equally in the lake.
The real issue was securing space for docks. It was meaningless without pushing Japan far enough to prevent dock construction.
"Joseon is now significantly behind in resource efficiency. They might not reach the second era first in this game."
"Right. They've built three defense towers..."
"Ah, Joseon needs to reach the second era to use their focus trait and continue attacking!"
"Yes! They could’ve driven Japan out of the lake entirely if they had reached the second era! They could just attack the enemy from a longer range instead of building towers out of the enemy’s range!"
"Yes! The range advantage would have been significant! But it’s still the first era..."
Joseon typically rushed the enemy in the second era because their core focus trait came into play then. Even for a tower rush strategy, it was standard to build towers just before the second era and start attacking once the enemy advanced. Now, they started building towers in the early first era and were currently in the middle of the first era. It was a very different timing for a rush.
"Ah, Joseon troops are trying to approach, but the Japanese towers are fully manned with six soldiers each! They can't break through!"
Joseon troops attempted to advance into Japanese territory, but Japan’s solid formation and defense towers made it tough. Standard towers housed four soldiers, but Japan’s held six and made it twice as difficult to breach.
"This isn't because they're an island nation! It's just that their towers are bigger! Don't misunderstand!"
— LOL
— ??? Because they’re short, more can fit in the towers.
— Yeah~ at least their towers are big~ LOL
While this tower feature made little difference in the late game when Japan's archers were weaker, it was a huge advantage early on. Breaking through Japan's two defense towers by the lake would require a significant sacrifice from Joseon.
"Joseon is suddenly moving wide and forming a siege line!? They can't be trying to break through, right?!"
"Are they really aiming to take the lake area!?"
Joseon troops formed a line as if they would siege Japan. Troops moved from Joseon's west base toward Japan's east base.
"Hey? Even out of frustration, it's hard to break through! The defense is well-prepared!"
"It'll cause massive damage!"
Japan's lake forces would naturally huddle around their defense towers when Joseon made a move. This was to defend efficiently, but it also meant moving further from their main base. The defense towers at the lake were more forward positioned than intended due to Joseon’s attacks.
Meanwhile, Joseon troops subtly moved closer to Japan's base. At this point, the commentators hadn’t noticed. They only focused on the defense towers and the docks by the lake. They didn’t have time to observe beyond this.
"Ah, what will Joseon do!? They spent a lot in the first era, so their second era is delayed!"
"They should accept that they can't stop Japan from fishing and try to reach the second era slowly to hold out!"
They thought Joseon would be better off not advancing and didn’t realize the siege formation headed elsewhere for another purpose. Then—
"Hey!? This...!!"
Bang!
OrangeKing jumped to his feet at Joseon’s elongated formation and Japan going farther away from their own base.
"Is Joseon heading to the main base!?"
"What?!"
The caster checked the minimap with wide eyes. It was true. Joseon was heading to Japan's main base. It could clearly be seen on the map.
Joseon advanced toward Japan's base as if to trap them. Confined by the towers, Japan didn’t realize this. The Japanese vice commander's vision skill was still on cooldown and Joseon heading straight for the enemy base would be committing suicide.
"Joseon can't really do a tower rush! It’s too costly! Instead...!!"
OrangeKing had a reason for jumping. He saw the very front of Joseon’s extended formation.
"They’ll use arrows from the towers! This is it!?"
"What!?"
At the head of the serpent-like formation was Almond holding a bow that didn’t belong in the first era. He had taken it from a defense tower.
"Look at the length! Now!"
"!"
From the defense towers to Joseon's formation, soldiers all held bows like Almond.
Bang!
They picked up arrows shot from the defense towers and passed them along to Almond. Next to him was Latte. They managed to carry around fifteen to sixteen arrows from three towers.
"Joseon is moving in!?"
Both archers split the arrows into their quivers and began running toward the base. Barbarian soldiers spread out to protect them as they ran.
"I've seen their past strategies before, but never something like this!"
Joseon’s elongated formation had only about twenty soldiers. Japan's base had even fewer at less than five. Controlling the lake was crucial, so leaving troops at the base was unrealistic.
"An uncontested entry!!!"
They entered Japan's base with fifteen arrows, two bows, two archers, and twenty barbarians. The troops by the lake on the minimap started to move.
"Ringo is moving quickly!"
"Yes! Even though Ringo is known for comebacks, he must be extremely nervous now! Seeing this, he must be sweating!"
Blue dots on the minimap representing Japan's troops started moving erratically toward the base. They wanted to rush back, but Joseon's troops subtly blocked them.
"Ah! This!"
"Like a serpent over a wall! Blocking them is Best Yi Sun-Shin! I thought she was weaker in formation battles against Ringo! What is this!? Has she absorbed his skills!?"
— Wow
— Can they really do this!?
— The workers are starting to take damage LOL
— Best Yi Sun-Shin, the master strategist!
— Wow LOL
Beep!
A warning appeared in Ringo’s view that his workers were under attack.
"Joseon is now sending another archer to the starting point to shoot arrows at the base entrance!"
"The arrow relay is expanding! It’s like express delivery now!"
"Delivering arrows straight to the enemy base! This is Joseon! No, this is Korea!"
— LOL
— Really crazy
— Ordering chicken from random spots by the Han River
— Right
— LOL
— Wow
— Are they really going to capture it!?