Arma 3 Antistasi is one of my favorite senarios in Arma 3. Antistasi does a great job simulating a guerilla force throwing off their oppressors. A real underdog scenario with a way to overcome. But there’s a lot of versions and confusion about Antistasi. People often say that it doesn’t work or development stopped a while ago. So is it possible to find good/new servers playing Antistasi?
Antistasi is a guerilla-style scenario in Arma 3 to overthrow your oppressors and establish yourself as the government. You slowly grow your forces as you take gear and recruit from the populous. You don’t take over towns, but rather exert influence over them to gain control. It’s persistent, so your vehicles and equipment will remain between sessions solo or with friends.
Even if you’ve played Antistasi before I recommend reading through this guide. You may learn something useful. It took me many play-throughs to understand how to be truly effective. It can be difficult to understand what’s doing on. Keep in mind this is a general guide and not a complete walkthrough.
The original Antistasi developer has long since stopped work on the project. However, there are many different versions out there. The version I recommend and use is called “Antistasi Plus” and you can find it here.
Your real objectives
When it comes to getting started in Antistasi, I see a lot of people struggle with what to do and how to progress. They just go from objective to objective, causing chaos without any aim or goal.
Keep this in mind. As a guerilla force, you will always be the underdog. There are situations where you have the upper hand. But the other forces can crush you if they so desire. The only thing you have that they don’t is determination. You don’t have to defeat them, as you can’t. You just have to outlast your enemies.
Each wave of air power the enemy sends upon you will tick down from an invisible number. Their resources are finite. The cost of the war can only go so high. At some point, the civilian leaders make the military surrender. This is your goal in Antistasi. Make the cost of war too high and gain support of the people.
Overview
Playing in Antistasi it’s important to have larger goals in everything you do. Your actions will cause influence on the surrounding areas and news of your actions spreads to the whole island.
As you start, your beginning gear will be extremely basic. Little to no body armor, pistols, and shotguns to start with. You can unlock weapons once you have reached the pre-set number in the parameters before the mission starts. There are two ways to get weapons and gear. Stealing from convoys and supply caches, or looting off of bodies.
Your commander is Petros. Depending on your settings, if he dies, it’s game over, or have all savings lost and rebuild somewhere new. He’s the man everyone reports to and keeps the organization together. However, he’s just an AI, if there’s any action he’ll spring into combat mode and likely get himself killed. I prefer to have him tied up in a dark corner somewhere…. for his safety…
That said, try to keep your base(Petros’s hideout) safe and hidden. As the enemy discovers your operation area and base, they’ll send a direct attacking force to take it out.
A major aspect of gameplay is the aggression and war level. The higher the aggression, the harder the enemies will pursue you and with better equipment. Once you reach max aggression, the war level will go up. Each war level brings more aggression and heavier equipment. MRAPs become IFV’s become MBTs and carpet bombing jets. Managing these are crucial.
Beginning stage
Your main objectives when starting are to build an arsenal and obtain funds. Weapons can be found in caches in factories and resources. If you’re having a hard time, the police usually carry submachine guns, though at the rate they spawn this will take a while to get a supply.
Your starting position can change how the flow of the whole game works. You’ll want to be near a lot of objectives, and easy to get to place in a secluded area. I usually like to occupy warehouses or churches on a hill for easy defense.
If your base is compromised, you may have to relocate it. Early defense is very difficult.
Funds can be obtained by taking objectives, just don’t expect to hold them. A unique thing about Antistasi is the persistence of the units in every base. Taking a sniper team to a hill and picking off people in a base can be a useful thing to do, assuming they don’t send gunships and IFVs in your direction.
Once you start to get some equipment and funds you can begin to start working on your mid-game.
-Loot everything, anything that can be looted should.
-Don’t stay in one place too long
-Don’t commit to any battle longer than you have to
-Save your faction money for AI training
-Keep the aggression down as much as possible, save the lives of enemy soldiers as much as possible.
-Try not to die, it sounds obvious, but you lose your personal money if you do.
Mid-game
You’ve unlocked a battle rifle, things are heating up on the battlefield. Your main concern in this stage is occupying territory. Most of your funds should be going into training your guys.
Doing side missions may be the easiest way to gain influence and money. Each territory held should be fortified as much as possible. Running the guerrilla’s life. Mining roads, setting up roadblocks, overall being a nuisance. You’ll know you’re doing well in this stage when your men yell “Dibs!” or “Mine!” when an armored vehicle rolls up.
Tips in mid-game:
-Loot everything still. AT Launchers are your premium weapon and ammo.
-Explosives will be hard to come by, so use them wisely.
-Keep the aggression as low as possible.
-Keep an eye out for Blufor and Oppfor movement, you may have to rescue some towns. You have limited “Civilian punishment” before it’s game over.
-Harass and loot Airbases (Don’t take these for a while)
-Take and hold as many factories and resources as possible.
End Game
The late game is the most difficult stage to go into. Mostly because it requires a lot of territory and resources. If you’re being held back by the fact that the war level is too low, you’re in the end game.
The gloves come off in this stage. You’re still an underdog but you’ll have a mean bite. I usually set up MANY defensive positions all around main routes and the map.
Your main goal in this stage is just to trigger Blufor and Oppfor into sending their most expensive arms into battle and destroy/capture them.
I generally find capturing things in this stage difficult, much easier in the previous stage. Mostly because of how much airpower they have.
When you start to see little helicopters instead of the big ones flying around to reinforce positions, you’ve got them. A sign they have run out of funds on their side and you just need to gain the majority support from the population.
Winning conditions are when Opfor is in check, the majority of cities support you, and Blufor is out of funds.
Rules of Engagement
Maintaining proper discipline in your war tactics can make or break your entire war doctrine. These are rules to live by if you want to make the most out of your limited forces. These are my guerilla rules of engagement:
- Loot ‘n’ Scoot. After any battle, you should not linger long at all. Load up one vehicle at a time and then send it home. You should always be in a rush to get out. 5 minutes is pushing it, you need to be gone before 10.
- Violence demands violence. The only way to deal with violence is overwhelming violence. If your men feel your tactics are extremely brutal, you’re doing it right. When your men feel pity for the enemy because of your tactics or because they’re facing your leadership, you’re doing it right. War is a mental contest as much as it is a physical one.
- Armor is mostly a reactionary force. This means you don’t patrol with it or attack a new area without scouting it first. Armored vehicles are best when used as a reaction to recapture an objective, defend or counter known forces. (To me, any armor loss is unacceptable and extremely rare). Any place you plan to attack needs to be scouted beforehand and used very carefully.
- Artillery may only fire one volley per area. This means no more than 10 seconds, at 12 seconds you should already be gone. Or, if you prefer 3 shots, then move. There are listening posts all around and seismic sensors will pinpoint your location. Artillery is awesome, but you can’t stay in one place, a QRF will be dispatched to take you out. Vehicles should be operated by two, but can be operated by one person. Mortars should be placed in the back of a pick-up(offroad) truck for easy transport.
- Poke the Bear, never let it sleep. Knowing how to engage the enemy is a critical skill. Taking and looting an area is more important than holding it. It’s more valuable for you if the base/factory is resupplied and ransacked later. Keeping up a steady schedule of objective assaults will spread their forces thinner. Eventually they just give up reinforcing everything as they can’t keep up.
- Create Shadow Trails. These are hidden paths that you fortify lightly that provide cover and provide a route of escape. I like to place vehicles and mine key areas to keep these hidden paths safe. When it gets chaotic with people coming and going, forces going every which direction, it’s helpful to have a hidden line of defense everyone uses.
- Airports are made of gold, they have the heaviest equipment and most expensive reaction forces. I haven’t seen a tactic more devastating in changing the balance of power than looting airports when done correctly.
- AA vehicles are your most valuable assets. Keep them spotless, fueled, and supplied. A skilled crew can turn a whole enemy QRF into charred carbon and metal in a minute. This is the only armor I will use to create an ambush on a QRF. Great care should be done when capturing these.
- Specialize the Labor. Assuming you have a sizeable group, you should have dedicated squads for specific purposes. A few men were dedicated to hauling cargo and selling weapons. A medical team helping enemy soldiers, and an ambush team for distracting and taking out QRFs.
- You’re Liberators, not conquerors. Civilians are the primary victims and goal of war. Civilian support is critical to all of your operations. If you go out of your way to protect them from even the presence of any foreign army, you will exert great influence that will help you. On that note, power plants and radio towers are key parts of this war doctrine.
Good luck. Have fun.