Season 3: Chapter 311. Heavens Help (1)
When it was announced that Rome and Joseon would face each other, anyone with even a little knowledge of Civil Empire would have never predicted a victory for Joseon. This sentiment was especially shared globally during the preliminaries.
“Joseon? Against Rome? How unfortunate.”
“Of course, it’s Rome... What else is there to say?”
“If they’re facing off in the preliminaries and it’s a single match... Still, it’s gotta be Rome, right?”
Unfortunately, their predictions were entirely correct. Even though Joseon made waves as an underdog in the preliminaries, they didn’t win a single game against Rome. At the time, public criticism focused more on Spain and the French than on Joseon. People argued that Joseon didn’t perform well, but the other two teams were utterly incompetent.
“Spain? They’re just all talk. Nothing special.”
“‘Invincible Armada? Didn’t those British islanders always crush them? Guess you can’t change your roots! Hahaha!”
“As for the French, maybe they should just stop competing in the preliminaries altogether.”
No one realized that Joseon was simply too strong. In games, everything was relative, making it hard to evaluate teams based on just a few matches.
In soccer, for example, Korea often excelled when they played against China but crumbled against European powerhouses. Esports amplified this effect. In soccer, scoring a goal reset the situation to the starting point, but that was not the case in games.
Games had a snowball effect where a small victory led to more significant advantages, eventually snowballing into an avalanche. Civil Empire was no exception to this effect. Winning a battle and securing resources allowed a team to pressure their opponent further. This led to securing additional resources and applying even more pressure.
In soccer terms, it would be like the opposing team constantly camping in the penalty box and taking shot after shot. Even minor skill gaps could lead to massive disparities in esports. In other words, how well one played mattered, but how poorly one's opponent performed could be equally critical.