What is the best strategy in the Antarctica Dominion map ?

There is no "always use this startegy"

With that in mind, always build up a good economy. unless you prefer losing.

AI CAN build buildings, but it takes some time before they get started and when they build, its usually more levels of IC.

Always stay agressive. Attack AI for more resources and the eventual VP you are gonna need to win and attack players to beat them. Best to attack them before they attack you. But dont rush in headlessly. Be ready, be prepared to lose some units, thats OK, as long as the other guys loses more and in the end, loses them all.

Many people will fight me on this. All you need is Light tanks and bombers. Unless the game runs a bit long. 1-2 months.

Then you also need some AT, AA, Artillery and Interceptors. (in some cases you also need a navy, but mostly you can settle for destroyers and subs.

Many people will whine and moan about rockets. "oh rockets are so cool" They are expensive. They are slow and when you have actually payed for the research and the build, then you have top pay an expensive upkeep while they are moving SLOWLY from airbase to airbase, always getting there late, since your many bombers and light tanks have already fixed whatever problem there was, when it gets into range. Then you have to move again, still paying upkeep.

As for Nukes. If you are letting your enemy build these, then you are doing it wrong. You should have won most games before nukes are able to be fired. Should a game run long, keep an eye out for power plants and kill them before they start building problems. Use spies, bombers, arty or just take the province. Anything to stop the nukes. (can be a bit though in a 100 map when guys on the otherside of the planet are building them )

Some maps are different though. Take the Antartica map.

You will never need any navy.

You will need all land units, with a few exceptions. No need for heavy tanks or militia (never build militia in any game (unless you play Tibet, Mongolia or some other militia nation)

But here you are gonna have the economy for it, its so full of resources that you can fumble your way through the game.....mostly. But mainly, light tanks and tac´s.

Now, all this should, ofcourse, be modified with skill when you get into a fight with a skilled player. The game is different and better when you have to struggle, think and do your best.

Hey, look at me, I used the forum, how 90´s of me

Good luck with your games.

1. Definitely get to one of the bases as soon as you can. They will give you a big resource advantage over everyone else. Besides that, I don't really have any advice for that. However, you do need to be aggressive if you want to win. And doing that as early as you can will help in the long run. Any other advice I could give largely depends on the situation you find yourself in, and therefore there is no point speculating what your situation is.
2. All players have 5 industrial complexes. The point where the capital of the AI is, are the points where they have industrial complexes(1 for everything not a player country). The Garrisons have a massive rare material output, and if the AI was better at managing, it'd be able to build 1 complex per day with more to spare for research. Do note that the Garrisons cannot aid the corps against the players.
3. The corps AI only has infantry at it's disposal at the start. Garrisons have a massive military(compared to their size) consisting of medium tanks, artillery, and anti-air guns. The central province has a railroad gun, it may even have multiple, and a even larger AA and tank complement. Be prepared to fight. Tanks are OK, but don't expect them to be moving fast to their destination. But you will absolutely need them to assault the garrisons, as they have medium tanks on plains. Without a equal, you would have to rely on artillery shelling or massed air attacks, which are slow(and in the case of aircraft attacks, very costly). Militia is great, it is still really slow, but it has more utility on it than most other maps(a good chunk of the whole map is hills). Commandos are the bomb, as are aircraft, cause they actually have bombs. And naval units are pointless, basically. It is very land oriented, making a bunch of research go off the table and will allow you to focus down more land based technologies.

Thank you for your responses. I will try my best to succeed !

Here's my take on my first Antarctica game so far :

In my opinion, it's a mistake to go headfirst for the nearest lab, here's why :

Going for the lab in a straight line leaves you with just a narrow corridor through which your troops pass, a corridor which is vulnerable because of how thin it probably will be and because it will be under constant harassment by the Nazi Corps (because yes, the AI has ICs too and will keep producing units to attack you with).

Here's an illustration :

[/img]

(link if the image does not show up : http://tinypic.com/r/2q15f9g/9).

As you can see in this image, me as India (in green) went straight for the lab as soon as I though I had sufficient numbers. The problem however is that while I was doing that, other countries rather expanded progressively, by consolidating their position around their starting base.

This left them with a much more solid basis within which their troops can circulate. As it is, I'm forced to make use of my ally's (New Zealand, in pink) provinces to ensure a flow of reinforcements towards the lab, and even then I'm under constant attack from the AI provinces I didn't bother to conquer, and other players are starting to contest my positions in and around the lab. Basically, I consider myself to suffer a structural weakness because of my initial proceeding.

Hurrying for the lab is not even that important because since labs are well defended, there is a good chance that the first player to get to a given lab will either fail to conquer it, leaving you to try, or will conquer it but will then be in a weakened state, which you can also take advantage of. So while you still have to be quick, you don't absolutely need to hurry to be the first to reach it.

Now, the counter example :

[/img]

(link : http://tinypic.com/r/24dlqvp/9)

As you can see here, the US (in purple) started more progressively by conquering provinces around its starting base, before progressing towards the lab.

This gives him 2 advantages :

- First of all, it gives the US a much bigger area to maneuver in, which means a bigger "invasion margin" in case it's attacked : Even if a few provinces are conquered by a rival player, the route towards the lab, being in the middle of the conquered area, will still be relatively safe. It also makes the US appear like a less easy prey than me with my small corridor (even though I have reliable allies).

- Secondly, the US can now take advantage of the AI's industrial complexes, a potential which I haven't tapped in sufficiently. That means more production power, and most importantly, a source of unit production that is much closer to the lab(s) than the starting base.

This is my take on it. Objectively, I think even though going for the lab is also important, it's necessary in the long run to consolidate your position.

Hope this is helpful.

Honestly I don't think I like this map much... the first one I played is with 4x speed which is nice but you can't attack any core territories so I have to keep troops close by on an player that is defeated to make sure they don't expand...is this how it's supposed to be? You need to keep troops and air force close to a defeated player to keep them at Bay and also take the bases to win?

Just started one of these?

So you can't attack any other players core areas? What if its an AI? Same?

jamidan333 wrote:

Just started one of these?

So you can't attack any other players core areas? What if its an AI? Same?

You might read the instructions at the beginning of the game about "impenetrable bridgehead"

So in short that means that core provinces of other players can't be entered, and even if players go inactive you can't fully conquer them.

So your strategy is NOT to go left or right and take out your neighbors, because you can't. Your goal is not to conquer random provinces, because to win you need to conquer and hold 4 of the labs for 72 hours.

That means my strategy is to do just what others suggest not doing. Of course I build up decent forces because the labs have a big army protecting them, and include railroad guns and anti air, and some forts. Once I have my decent sized force I strike straight for the nearest lab, and then the center lab. From there I take a couple other labs. I leave the AI to each side of me as intact as possible so that my neighbors can't capitalize on my advancement to chase me easily and instead waste time battling through the AI themselves.

Good Advise. Thankyou VorlonFCW..another question: Much of the AI between me and the good stuff is semi-worthless. It doesn't really look like its worth even taking unless it has some resources in it. I did make the mistake of going sideways first...then I realized or (it seems) that the AI isn't attacking back at all. So....

So don't attack worthless AI areas to the side. Especially if they are non-resource producing areas, especially to the side. (I was initially concerned that I needed to take them out (as they may attack me)). Seems to not be the case (how lame). But OK. I need to take advantage of that going forward.

The AI in the open spaces don't have a lot to work with. They are lulling you in to a false sense of security about the AI defending the labs in the center

OK...got all my forces bunched up and working my way to the middle. Just one big giant army...minimizing my losses as I continue to build. Leaving lots of AI space between me and other players. Heading to the AI capital first. I assume I'm going to get some money when I take that capital as in other games. I'm also zig-zagging a bit when I can to take areas that are actually producing resources as I don't see any point in taking the others. AI doesn't seem to attack or be aggressive at all. Sort of disappointed in the overall game but its early.

What should I expect in the AI capital?

Railroad guns and tanks in forts, frequently with some Anti Air to make it fun.

Usually a boatload of cash, which will finance the rest of your war.

Scratch that "AI doesn't seem to be very aggressive. LOL. Still early in the game. No RRGs yet. Had to slow way down. Manpower seems to be my biggest problem and I've got lots of barracks and as many as possible going to L3. AI is attacking one or two areas every day at least but I've just had to leave 2-3 units in each area and building fortress like you said. First two bombers are doing their thing and building a string of airports.

Much more interesting game than I originally thought it would be.

Hi folks,

I started my first Dominion Antartica and there is one thing I'd like to clarifie.

Does one need to hold the 4 research labs at the same time to win the game ?

From what I read I expect a timer to appear once I'll hold the 4 labs. Then I'll have to hold for 72 hours. Right ?

We are at day 11 in my game. One of the players captured a lab on day 9 and get 1 Victory Point. Last day change (on day 10) he didn't get any additionnal VP. We'll see if he get any at the end of today's timer.

It's a bit confusing and I don't know what to expect. Can we capture a lab and get 1 VP after 24h, then nothing after 48h, and 1 more VP after 72h ? From then you won't get any additionnal VP from this lab so you can move ahead to another one, no matter if someone captures the lab you just left ...

If you make the maths this way, from seizing and holding for 72 hours each one after the other.

it's 2 VPs from lab one + 2 VPs from lab two + 2 VPs from lab 3 + 2 VPs from lab 4 = 8 VPs

But the newspapers says you need 7 VPs to win the map ... what those VPs stand for ? How does the count work ? Ain't it simplier to forget about VPs and just set a timer once someone holds the labs ?

I hope you guys can help me understand what the game doesn't clearly say ...

Edit: Ok, so the player still hold the lab after 72h but got only 1 VP ... well, let's capture 4 labs and win. And forget about the "7 VPs win condition" from the newspapers.

Hi, you can indeed forget about the victory points. They are just there for sorting, so you see in the diplomacy list immediately who are the players who currently hold labs. The winning condition by victory points does not apply in this map.

To win you have to indeed hold 4 labs at the same time for 72h. Once a player holds 4 labs a countdown timer will be displayed for all players.

freezy wrote:

Hi, you can indeed forget about the victory points. They are just there for sorting, so you see in the diplomacy list immediately who are the players who currently hold labs. The winning condition by victory points does not apply in this map.

To win you have to indeed hold 4 labs at the same time for 72h. Once a player holds 4 labs a countdown timer will be displayed for all players.

Thanks

I am playing Dominion Antartica right now. Is there a time limited on the game to end if no one gets 4 cites and hold for 72 hours? Ty