Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 639

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 3 Episode 109
38. The Rugged Mountain Range (2)
The commentators, who had been explaining the structure of the two teams for a moment, now began to elaborate on the terrain itself in earnest.
The official name of the map is this.
[The Rugged Mountain Range and the Highland]
King Gul focused more on the “highland” rather than the “mountain” ahead.
“I mentioned only the mountain earlier, but in fact, this map’s core mechanic is determined by who controls the highland.”
Ultimately, victory on this map comes down to who can better control this central plain.
“Wow. That certainly appears to be the case. The resources here are quite abundant?”
“Yes. The exact locations vary each time, but the fact that there are enormous resources on this highland remains constant.”
This highland contained abundant minerals aside from timber, and vast plains suitable for agricultural development.
Moreover, it was strategically a vital chokepoint.
“Resources aren’t the only issue. Every flat path except those through the mountainous terrain must pass through this highland.”
“So all routes lead through this highland?”
“Yes. Unless you carve a path through the mountain or climb it, you must pass through this highland. If you want to use cavalry, you must go through this highland.”
The highland is an obviously critical chokepoint on this map, so battles will unfold centered around it.
Both commanders surely have the thought in their heads that they must control this plain.
‘Not yet.’
‘Not now.’
They’re not rushing.
The assessment was that now was not the time.
The most common defeat scenario on this map is getting greedy, seizing the center, and then being pushed back entirely in a single attack.
“Right. As expected. Both sides are conducting reconnaissance.”
The early game progressed smoothly.
Both sides engaged in no combat during the first age.
Espana advanced to the second age first.
Boom!
[Espana – Age 2]
Since they had a faction related to gold acquisition speed, their pace was slightly faster.
“Espana reaches Age 2.”
“Is that because of the gold acquisition faction?”
After several minutes passed, Joseon followed suit and advanced to Age 2.
Boom!
[Joseon – Age 2]
“Joseon advances to Age 2 as well.”
Both sides reached Age 2, but neither produced weapons.
“Weapon production—neither side is thinking about it at all!?”
“Ah. Right. There’s no reason to fight at Age 2 anyway. They’re not wasting money!”
“So both sides are almost certainly heading straight to Age 3!?”
“Yes!”
After that, only scouting soldiers came and went, but there were few signs of actual combat.
“The soldiers are surrounding the high ground for now, right? Because it’s a concern.”
Even without any intention to fight, many soldiers were positioned near the high ground.
Just in case the opponent could seize it quickly.
Then.
“Alright. Espana’s about to hit the 3 o’clock era soon….”
Piiing!
[Retreat]
The red dots on the minimap began gradually falling back.
“Alright. They’re heading out to get weapons, right? Espana’s already in the 3 o’clock era!”
Espana advances to the 3 o’clock era first.
Bapbam~!
[Espana – 3 o’clock Era]
The speed was tremendous.
“Wow. Did Nacho come prepared this time? The production control speed and build are flawless? Really no wasted moves!”
“Joseon feels a bit bitter about it. But yeah! That’s your faction’s strength! Go ahead! It’s like we’re letting you go first?”
“See, we’re letting them go first, right!?”
-???: We’re… letting them go!
Look at this lol
Looking at it like bubble gum lol
“Joseon’s about to hit the 3 o’clock era too. So they’re falling back….”
Joseon’s forces begin gradually retreating.
“Huh?”
At this moment, King Gul detects a different movement.
“Espana…!? They pretended to retreat but they’re coming back!?”
“And they even included some workers!”
“This is….”
Is this payback for the Cheese Rush?ㅋㅋㅋ
-World’s first 3 o’clock era cheese rush??
-What is this?
Some of Espana’s forces were entering the high ground along with workers.
“Joseon’s soldiers are all retreating thinking they’re pulling back to arm up for the 3 o’clock era. But they have no idea Espana is coming back right now?”
“Ah. They broke the agreement!?”
When playing RTS games, both sides often reach agreements.
You might ask, what agreement in a competitive match? But this is an agreement about the process, not the result.
“Exactly! It’s called an agreement, but really both sides’ tactics just fail to land, so we call it an agreement! In other words, Espana’s tactic worked!”
“Yes. If you compare it to martial arts novels, it’s like exchanging sword strikes peacefully, then suddenly one side’s attack lands!”
Both sides know their attacks won’t land, so they just skip them, which only appears to be a mutual agreement to inexperienced eyes.
But what if one side suddenly displays a strategically superior move?
Then it suddenly looks like they broke the agreement.
“Espana. Are they really going for the highlands?”
Both Joseon and Espana seemed to have reached an agreement not to touch the highlands for now.
But Espana shattered that agreement beautifully. They’d gotten one step ahead.
Of course, the results are still unknown.
“Greedily taking the highlands and dying with a burst belly is usually the defeat scenario on this map!? Are they really going for it!?”
“This isn’t something we avoid from the beginning for no reason, you know?”
Just as the commentators said, there were many cases where forcing control of the highlands led to defeat instead.
“Historically! If you try to force a crown on your head, you die!”
“That’s right!”
“If Espana has made perfect preparations to control the highlands now, they’ll seize victory in this game! But if they invest this and that into the highlands, get stripped of everything and pushed back, then they’ll have neither highlands nor money!”
-Ah…
That’s ridiculous.
-Wow, good explanation
-“The advantage becomes clearer the later you see it”
-Like epic monsters in Glkuna Ril
Controlling and utilizing the highlands requires substantial resources.
Not only defensive structures, but barracks, houses, farmland, and more…
There were countless places to spend money.
If you’re not prepared to manage this money properly, taking the highlands becomes pointless.
But Espana’s Commander wouldn’t have made this decision without understanding that.
They must have some plan.
“What could Espana be thinking!? The workers are building defensive towers right now! They’re even constructing walls! They’re really taking it!?”
Espana’s workers and troops began securing control of the highland borders.
Joseon withdrew their forces without knowing this.
Of course…
“Joseon didn’t pull out completely either! Just to be safe, they left one soldier for reconnaissance!?”
They’d left about one soldier as a scout sacrifice.
This is a basic habit in RTS games.
Cookie probably left them out of habit too.
“Ah. They left one soldier behind? Then they can grasp the opponent’s movements. This habit is very good.”
“Yes. Well, we found out they’re taking the highlands, right? So leaving one behind was worth it?”
Then King Gul suddenly screams while looking at a certain spot.
“Whoa whoa whoa!?”
“What’s wrong!?”
“That! Espana’s Priests? Why did they recruit so many Priests!?”
-What
Missionary ㄷㄷ
-Did they learn priest conversion?
-What are those mages?
-What’s that, you weeb
“No! We do normally mix in a small number of Priests for healing purposes! But we rarely produce this many!?”
Priests are essentially healers, clergy.
Priest-like units exist in many civilizations, but the term “Priest” is unique to Espana.
“Why did they recruit so many!? Priests are healers!?”
As Caster asked, King Gul stared at the upgrade slot in progress and shouted.
“This is it! Conversion!”
[Espana Upgrade]
[Conversion – 2%]
-Damn, converted Priests are appearing???
-Crazy
-They’re insane lol
-They’re using Conversion??
-Espana really ground this out
Conversion.
A special faction skill that only Espana’s Priests can use.
A skill that can make opposing players or buildings your own.
“Wait, it’s called Conversion, but it’s basically just stealing, right!?”
-Mind control?
-Why is there a mage lol
-Damn lol there was a mage?
-Gichan… why are you there?
While it may appear to be a skill close to magic.
Considering how Catholicism, centered in the Catholic faith, invaded surrounding nations and converted them, leaving Catholicism deeply rooted in South America to this day, it was a skill that made perfect sense.
“Similar mechanics existed in other famous RTS games. The problem is that in Civil M, all units are actual people!? When Conversion activates, do they actually make them betray!??”
-They become sleeper agents? lol
-No way lol
-Huh? lol how does that even work
-Their eyes suddenly flip lol
The distinguishing feature of Civil M from other RTS games. The fact that all soldiers are individual people.
Here, something strange emerges.
No matter how advanced the technology, these people couldn’t suddenly betray their allies just because they were hit by the Conversion skill.
“If a player gets hit, that player is simply knocked out, and only the shell is taken by the opponent. They become AI.”
That AI could only fight if the Commander gave orders.
“Ah, I see. The Commander will have a bit more work to do. But it’s still incredibly powerful, isn’t it? Why isn’t it used more often?”
Whether they become AI or not, converting enemy troops to your own creates a -2 effect rather than -1. It was quite a powerful skill.
-Besides, it’s damn hard to land on players lol
-Landing it is bullshit
-Usually used on slow siege weapons or buildings, not regular soldiers
-Isn’t Conversion just meant for buildings?
Reasons poured out from the chat window.
It seems many people have experienced this skill firsthand.
“As you can see in the chat right now, this spell has an incredibly slow casting time. If the player stays alert, there’s no way they’ll get caught.”
The time needed to recite the Lord’s Prayer or similar incantations to cast conversion varies by stamina, but it’s at least 3.5 seconds.
If you kill the enemy missionary within that window or move out of range, it’s over.
Of course, if the battle becomes chaotic and turns into a melee, you might get caught without noticing.
But you can’t just upgrade conversion and mass-produce missionaries without combat ability to account for that.
Besides, if there are too many missionaries, it becomes difficult to create chaos in the first place.
“To use this conversion effectively, you either set up an ambush or use it on structures and siege weapons.”
There were only three scenarios where a conversion missionary could effectively turn the game around.
Landing a massive ambush in one go.
Seizing enemy defensive towers or structures during a siege of their base.
“So… are they trying to set up an ambush?”
“That’s what I’d have to say.”
Joseon currently had no notable siege weapons or defensive structures.
There was nothing worth seizing by producing missionaries.
What the missionaries were really trying to convert were the players themselves.
“That’s a difficult strategy, isn’t it?”
The caster was puzzled. What exactly was Espana aiming for?
“No….”
King Gul shakes his head.
“It’s easy to dodge when you know about it, but hard to dodge when you don’t? Joseon doesn’t know about this, right?”
“!”
“A surprise conversion missionary isn’t a difficult strategy—it’s actually a sharp tactic.”
That’s right.
It’s not just a simple ambush conversion, but a surprise ambush.
Right now, Espana was hiding the missionaries as much as possible while occupying the central high ground, preventing enemies from even approaching their main base.
-Ah, I didn’t know
-Did they really advance forward on purpose to hide this?
-Yeah, that’s it
-This would be hard to predict
“Espana probably pushed their camp forward while taking the high ground to hide this. That way, attention would focus on the high ground rather than the main base.”
“Wow… that’s incredible psychological warfare?”
“When you get hit by an ambush conversion for the first time, what happens is completely a matter of luck?”
Unless Joseon soldiers predict the conversion, they’ll definitely get caught once.
The question was how badly they’d get caught that one time.
“L-Luck!?”
“Yes! The game has entered the realm of luck! But here’s the thing—Espana knows this, while Joseon doesn’t!”
Then, the observer switches the viewpoint to Cookie.
“Ah. A viewpoint change? What else is Espana preparing… huh?”
I thought it was a viewpoint change to avoid showing Espana’s missionaries preparing the ambush.
It wasn’t.
“What is that?”
There was something Cookie could see from his perspective.
From his vantage point, the Espana camp should have been completely shrouded in black fog.
“Why do we have vision over there?!”
A single point was moving right now.
From the high ground that Espana was desperately defending.
The Caster tilted his head and muttered.
“Isn’t that the soldier you left behind earlier?”
That was it.
A single scout that Cookie had left behind.
No, calling him a scout was too generous. He was a sacrificial pawn left for reconnaissance.
“That’s why! How?!”
King Gul exclaimed in excitement.
“He’s still alive?!”
A soldier left in the heart of enemy territory was still alive.
Moreover, he was actively pushing deeper into enemy lines.
-Huh?
-What lol
-Is he alive??
King Gul’s eyes trembled.
“Didn’t I say the game has entered the realm of luck?!”
“Yes!”
“Cookie!”
Boom!
King Gul shot to his feet and shouted.
“Jackpoooooot!”
That was it.
This was the realm of luck.
Among all those soldiers, I had hastily clicked on someone at random and ordered them to stay behind.
[Aamond]
That soldier happened to be someone with the ability to survive even now.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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