An honest guide to the Antistasi Singleplayer Scenario

Hi,
With the new varying amounts of the Antistasi scenario that are being released, I felt a guide was necessary as, though these do differ from the original, there are a lot of caviats that I would like to tell new players about to (hopefully) lessen their suffering slightly. Though I personally feel that the Antistasi scenario in it of itself is extremely poorly balanced, even for an asymmetrical warfare scenario, I would like to offer my guidance from what I know.

1. The start.

In the Antistasi gamemode on the Altis map, you are given a set of resources and some money. The absolute worst thing you can do to yourself at that current moment in time is buy a vehicle, buy some AI and slam yourself into a hostile outpost. You will not win. Even if you get lucky and do, the reinforcements will be more than enough to wipe you out without other players or reinforcements (that you won't have the HR for.) Not only can the tower HMGs on outposts easily take you out individually in seconds, but they have more than enough range to take out your vehicle at 1km+ distance. Outposts should be saved for when you have at least 1 semi-automatic weapon and body armor unlocked. You are (assuming you have the full gamut of RHS mods enabled) commonly started with two bolt action rifles and a shotgun that might as well be considered useless, as well as some sidearms.

What can I do for resources and HR in the early game?
The best thing you can do is attempt to win over the population in towns, ideally small ones, but you don't get that choice. Petros does. Doing City Supply missions will be your easiest yield of both money and HR if the town joins your cause. These supply runs are USUALLY unimpeded, but I have quite often been heavily assaulted during these. So, don't let your guard down and make sure your AI are in cover and in combat stance. Another early game target that you can consider are resource points. These are FAR less guarded than outposts, area dependent. Keep in mind, even if you do take everyone out and take the flag, hang around and make sure you stop the counterattack.
In the specific Antistasi Singleplayer scenario, the creator has claimed that counterattacks are kept to one helicopter of units or vehicle. This isn't true, and the amount of force used on you scales HEAVILY with aggression on the OPFOR side as it increases. If you can obtain a light machinegun of some type, make sure to shoot the helicopters down - preferably before they land. It'll save you the trouble.

Once you have a resource point under lock and a town or two, just mull around for a bit and do some other tasks or go hunting for individual patrols to get equipment. Your equipment is paramount to this whole thing, as your AI will eventually make use of equipment as well once you unlock it in infinite. This includes body armor, helmets, rifles, NVGs, AT/AA and other items.

2. Things to avoid.

In this scenario, trying to keep that OPFOR aggression stat low is paramount. You might not think a lot of executing surrendered hostiles for their gear, but it's something to consider - especially as heavier counterattacks mount. Raising the USAF or RUSFOR aggression is a surefire ticket to getting decimated by airstrikes and bombardment at the slightest peep of fire from your side.

This comes to the next point, dealing with airstrikes and bombing. I've found that two things GUARANTEE you to get a bombing run dropped on you - Sustained firefights, and using emplacements. Sure, in a pinch to shoot down a helicopter or mow through an infantry transport, it's hard to beat an HMG - but this is by far the ONLY time you should use emplacements like this. Whether it's a ZU-23, static AA or just a static machinegun, AVOID USING THEM - ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE THEM NEAR YOUR BASE. YOU WILL DIE. Your key to winning a fight is a swift, decisive and extremely lethal strike. Sustained battle with the enemy will yield the same result. Helicopter upon helicopter of reinforcements, because apparently the hell in helicopter part in the description was a lie bombing runs, and heavy armor. It might seem fun at the time, but it won't be if you keep it going. If your aggression stat is high, you will with almost 100% certainty have a Bradley or even an M1A1 sent at you at the most minor aggression toward OPFOR. ( I have had tanks sent at me during city supply missions. )

Also, avoid spawning command menu AI with a vehicle in an attempt to reinforce your position. For whatever reason, the creator has it coded so that (in my experience) on their way to the area, it's almost guaranteed that they will get hit by an LGM and you'll lose them all immediately. If you need them, make them go on foot. It'll take longer, but they'll make the trip instead of turning into mist 100m from your home base.

3. Positioning your base, for the safety of you and your leader.

As with the previous section, sometimes these bombings just happen. It's hard to understand or know why. Playing Antistasi is like being a dog with a shock collar whose owner just continues pressing the button, irregardless of if you're actually doing anything wrong. It's the same with "Defend Petros" missions, where you feel as though you've just been outed as Bin Laden 2; Opium Bungaloo, and the entire might of the US military is upon you.

When positioning your base, do NOT choose high hills or large open areas devoid of forestation or hard cover. These are a one way ticket to your leader, who is unmovable without ACE, getting domed by some random E6 from 50 yards away while you're out handing out flyers. Ideally, choose either a valley or an empty compound if you can find one on the map. If all else fails, turn on the terrain map and look for a low area. Remember, the AI doesn't care about visual observation - if they're nearby, they can see you. The amount of foliage doesn't matter. All you want around your base if at all possible is hard cover. You can position yourself NEAR a large hill, and I've often used this so I can pop up and fire stingers at approaching helicopters and then go back down into safety, just don't put yourself ON the hill and you'll be fine.

Should I move my base if I come under continuous attack?
Probably, yes. Generally, the attacks only get worse after that, even if you do fight them off. Repositioning may not get you away from them entirely, but it will let you find better terrain that you couldn't see from the map while choosing at the start screen.

4. Making use of emplacements, primarily mortars.

Now, I know I just told you to avoid emplacements like people avoid O block in Chicago, but there's a caviat to that. Mortars can be used to your EXTREME advantage, but there's something to know before you do make use of them.

Treat mortars and the infantry attached to them as disposable. Have enough HR to do so.
Remember how I told you that using emplacements was a surefire way to get bombed into red mist? That still applies. No matter how well you hide them, they're going to get bombed and eventually assaulted by helicopter infantry. You can leave an infantry unit with them, but it just complicates commanding your own units.

Fire single shots at a time, don't chainfire or set up a large barrage.
Remember, one 82mm mortar is MORE than enough to wipe out 15+ hostile infantry if they're spaced right, and they usually are. The kill radius is a lot larger than you think it is, and one well-placed round is all it takes. The AI generally has a very small margin of error when firing these mortars and their fire is generally quite accurate, so make use of it. The only time you should be telling them to go full hog and fire as many rounds as possible is if you're trapped and it's the only thing you can do to escape an encirclement. Remember, they are a disposable asset. At some point, they're going to either get blown up or shot because the AI homes in on units using emplacements of any type like a meth addict to walter white.

5. Dealing with hostile air.

There may come a time when you're faced with an A-10 that is not merely a bombing run, and is actually a full-fledged aircraft that is orbiting the area and doing gun-runs and missile strikes on your position. These are a bit harder to deal with than helicopters, but you can still manage. In the command menu, you can recruit an anti-aircraft squad that will come supplied with the sufficient weaponry to deal with the aircraft - and if all else fails, get one of your own AI and put them on a ZU-23. They have far better aim and target leading than you do, they're a robot.

Assuming you have manpad AA? Then this isn't a problem, point and click adventure. I've found that the stingers and igla launchers don't trigger an immediate '♥♥♥♥ you' bombing run like their emplacement counterparts. Controversially, I find the AH-64 Apache helicopter to be far more decimating than the bombing strikes. It hangs around, it has a gun with 360 degrees of traverse on the nose and a LOT of missiles. If you see one, prioritize it and get every gun on it that you can. Your squad will be dead before you know it if you don't.

During "Defend Petros" missions, you need to have an ALICE pack full of AA missiles at all times. You're going to deal with unprecedented amounts of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and you need to be ready to drop things out of the sky before they land. As tempting as it might be, don't use a ZU-23 or an emplacement - like I said, you'll just blow up. You might even deal with armor, but that's what AT is for.

In conclusion

Antistasi, to me, is a mixed bag of a gamemode. It's a lot of fun when you get battles going, but it feels like it's coded to be better at simulating guerrilla warfare than actually being fun for the player. Antistasi Singleplayer is an improvement in some ways, and worse in others. On one hand, you aren't constantly assailed by nothing but napalm bombs from CAS aircraft, but on the other hand almost everything thrown at you is multiplied by 10. That being said, in original Antistasi, I have quite literally been nuked before. Multiple times, in fact. RUSFOR occupiers in default Antistasi will do everything they can do wipe you out. All I really hope is that I can ease the frustration for some people, since I know that it's fun to play, but can really just push every button you have wrong at times, and a lot of the dedicated community takes it far more seriously than you actually should. All that said, these are just my opinions and shouldn't be taken as me telling you how the scenario should be played. I'm just trying to (hopefully) help people have an easier time.

[N0bodyParticular]

I suggest that when one uses mortars, that you take it a few km away from your main base so the QRF sent to its location cannot instantly kill Petros. Fire a few rounds and then move the mortar somewhere else.

[Mr.clean132]

I would add that for anyone trying to play solo or with a small group, antistasi plus is almost always more fun. You can control your ai squadmates while ur down to revive you, meaning its a bit mor forgiving when you die, you have more options for tuning the game to be exactly what u want, and alot of the really anoyying things like defend petros and whatnot are way less common.