In my experience; I hated it.
Here's why:

1. People were always waiting for "the other guy". You are all fighting against the AI, and everybody wants everybody else to fight it. That way they can just sweep in and take your hard earned control point away.
   

But, I still have a few tips.

1. Use artillery. - Artillery, artillery and more artillery. Planes is probably best also, but rockets may be key.
   
2. Try to make sure you can't be counterattacked on the side, but only do one straight shot for your target.
   

The AI is strong in the labs

The AI has railroad guns and level 5 forts at the labs, so plan accordingly

Don't waste your time conquering to each side of you, just aim straight for the center and defend your supply line only.

Your core can't be attacked, neither can anyone else's. So don't waste your units defending your core, and don't waste time venturing "sideways" Go and secure the center and work out from there.


I only played it once, so don't take my advice entirely, lol.

Joined and instantly left. Just like I will probably in this Dawn of Patriot. Im not sating it sucks, but:
1) Im a trash player
2)Im a trash player
3) I dont like Hyperbolic Sci-Fi
4) Im a trash player.

i also tried it once and found that it was very difficult and that those who use gold are attracted to it
not only was it difficult but it was not fun
i might give it another try but not high on my list

The gold reward is not to be ignored, but you won't have fun getting there.

I sure hope I am to blame for all this

1) Their advise for me

What I did back when I started playing the antarctica map was go throug the rankings and ask any player that had a gold or silver medal on the antarctica map to give me tips. Most of their respones came down to two things.
1) wait for other players to crush into the AI.

2) use a lot of artillery and airplanes.

When I asked if I should beat my neighbour to the lab the usual response was ''do not bother with capturing capitols, its better to be last than first''.

Now here is my experience of the antarctica map. I played 5 of them so far, I won 4 of them. Though my account shows I only won 3 I did win 4. It was a ranked map and as I won it it said that I had lost. Though the papers said I got the 15K gold prize it said that some other player had won. Filed a bug report, never heard back from it. Not that it matters, point is, I think I'm fairly farmiliar with the Antarctica map. I only lost my first Antarctica map. Ran into someone that won the map within 2 weeks because of spending a lot of gold. There was little I could do as I was on the other side of the map.

2 My advise for you

1) Best to be first to both the capitol of the AI aswell as the closest lab. There are so many resources to gain by this, expecially in money that you can use to your advantage. You know, buy resources and stuff

2) Yes use artillery and planes, sure this is very important. More important though is this, BE CAREFUL WITH MANPOWER. Now this of course translates into using artillery and planes, since they are good at conserving manpower. Artillery can do damage without receiving it and airplanes do not cost a lot of manpower. But also rockets. Costs you very little manpower but costs the enemy a lot if done right. The planes you need to look out for your fast growing big lands and scouting.

3) capture a lab and make sure that you can produce there. See it as creating a second core. Very well defendable and gives plenty of resources. It is also the only place in the map where armor gets their boost. Keep this in mind as the border between open plains and hills/forrests become key defending positions.

Now here is where the trouble starts. You captured a first lab and now, have to defend it from the players in your starting pizza slice.

4) keep your armies together in divisions that can fend for themselves. Meaning ranged capability, anti-air, anti tank (anti-tank in a man power saving way, thus I tend to use tank destroyers) and plenty of HP to get through an attack. Makes you able to split of units to keep artillery behind, those sort of things. When you do this and get a group like this to your first and closest lab you need not defend the territory in between your core and the first labd as much.
- Take out the entire AI that surounds you at the start.
- Send out self managing divisions to support defending the lab you captured, your core is safe anyway.
- Have planes around to know what your enemies at your borders are doing.
- If enemies attack, let them. Just do not let them take anything important, like your fly route from your core to 1st lab, important resources or the 1st lab itself of course. Why just letting enemies attack? Well you can see them and thus plan their defeat. If you put troops on every border you will surely lose them. Just make sure to defend key points and use planes for intel. And spies!

5) Diplomacy, despite there only being only 1 winner on this map, I have seen players play together on every single antarctica map I played. You can exploit this. Some players don't know there can be only 1 winner. New players have no clue and can easily be exploited by ''I help you figure out the game if you guard my west'' type deals. But the best tip is this, lay low and always be the third or fourth until you can gain a definate advantage on your opponents. Lay low and be victorious. If you attract attention other players will only play together to defeat you.
Be on the lookout for your future enemies. If you capture the first lab, there will soon be other players getting their first lab. Then there are 6 players in the lead all having 1 lab and having a major advantage over their neighbours. These other lab owners will likely be your future opponents.

6) Lots of players will quit. Some will remain spitefull because you kicked them out of a lab or took a lab right in front of them, if they get to a lab first you bombed their troops as they engaged with the lab or whatever. But after your first lab, you need to get a second one. I prefor to take the weakest one of my neighbours at this point, perhaps even still AI. When I have 2 labs I take a third one and then the center. Or I take the center second and defeat only the halve that is closest to my side so that potential enemies have to first attack the AI in the center. At this point your only serious enemies are the ones that also have labs. Though be on your guard for spiteful players.
TIP: you can not patrol planes over an enemies core, but you can send planes to patrol the other side of someones core and then you can see the enemies units as your planes fly over. Or put AC on their borders.

The time scale looks something like this:
Day 8-11: you and most players get their first lab
day 12-16: all labs are taken by 1 player, you take this time to build up your captured lab and stabalize the area around your first lab
day 16-22: you take your second lab
day 22-32 you take your third and fourth labs. These can be somewhat instantanious (take lab 3 and 4 on day 29) or take lab 3 on day 25 and then lab 4 on day 29.

Best of luck to you!

3) my Antarctica experience

I LOVE the antarctica map. Having a core that is untouchable and everyone having the same core resource production gives balance like no other map. Its good because it is about skill. If you win an Antarctica map you were surely the best player on that map and you deserved it. It is a lot about saving manpower and not being wasteful with your troops. You can not defeat your enemies permanently so you can not just throw your troops at someone. The fact that everyone can be spiteful in his core and then attack you again makes you perfectly paranoid. I just LOVE it. This map is a true masterpiece. Sci-fi scenario or not, its briliant.

Have fun playing an Antarctica map! I'm curious to know what you think of it fox.

I won in first Antartica map so I entered in two or 3 more. Latter i always got on 3-4 players cooperating in favor of one. They take labs and then give to one player and all defend. That was a reason i stopped to play this map. It was about year ago. Map is interesting concept, I like it.

Dominate, earn that medal. Outsmart and defeat multiple players and earn that win. That being said. If there happen to be more than a couple capable players on the same antarctica map it can possibly be an eternal struggle. Though I have not seen this happen.

Like i sad, they take labs, and you see that four players control one lab each, than in one day one player control all 4 labs, and you have 3 days to take one from him while all 4 of them cooperate against you. I failed 2 or 3 times and I sad that is enough. Never tried again. Maybe I just was unlucky to enter with group of players who cooperated.

I think you must have been. Never saw cooperations like that. Sounds frusterating!

Seems I have the bad luck around here.
Every time I tried, and actually got some place after waiting in vain for the other players to attack: I got slammed by 5 other players.
Never tried it again.

Nice info in this thread,

I'm just in my first Antartic map and finding it a very different experience.
Going well so far, looks like I'm going to be the first to a lab and only lost 2 infantry so far.

Only problem is I've got two active neighbours who I'm talking to but one of them is using a lot of gold. . . . He's a new player with only 3 games so I'm hoping he's only burning through the small amount you get at the start of a new account & isn't someone with deep pockets.

As I'm just getting to the first Lab and it's day 6 will there be RRGs in the capital this early??

Only 3 games and already level 19? Seems a bit suspicious.

I would advise you to take the first lab right after your artillery upgrades to level 2. I usually use 3 artillery groups consisting of 8 arty per group to take my first lab. Infantry and tanks in front and behind.

Yes there will be RRG at the start of the map in every lab center. The longer you wait, the more there will be.

So make sure you have some troops with you that you can lose. I try to usually only lose some infantry and tanks. Though when moving in and out of range is not an option anymore, just go and blast that center with arty. Do not hang around the ring, rrg can reach there from the center. Take one ring province and go for that center!

Best of luck!

Ah Cheers for that.

I've only got a small division & a stack of 7 arty to make that push on the lab garrison. Sounds Like I need to get more troops into the area.
Only problem is I'm racing against the gold user so not sure if I should push now or wait & pick up the pieces...

He's actually level 30. I don't know about suspicious but def a gold user. He's got a number of Tac Bombers and instabuilds airfields in captured regions.

Also head for the lab when you have plenty of arty and AA with you. Wait till he attacks the labs outer ring. Then attack him. He will get crushed between the lab and you or spend a lot of gold. If you r lucky you can take the lab after you kill him in between the lab and outer ring.

Well, My curiosity got the better of me so I used some gold of my own and did a reveal army just after day change.
On day 7 he’s got 96 units, 50 Armoured cars! About 5 tac bombers and 8 strategic bombers. Rest is a mix of units.
He must be spending gold on food and fuel as well as he can’t be sustaining those armies on the resource income he currently has....
Considering he’s already lost about 20AC’s I battle I doubt he’s only running down the starting gold he has as a new user.

I’ll keep playing just to get experience with the map but I doubt I’m going to win it.