Antarctica is a Tier I nation that was added on June 20, 2022. It is the only playable continent in the game. It is positioned in the third lowest ranking globally, ahead of 
Niue and 
Tokelau, mainly due to its extremely low population.
Background[]
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being near twice the size of Australia, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by ice, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi). Also, Antarctica is on average the coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents and has the highest average elevation. It is mainly a polar desert, with annual precipitation of over 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which would raise global sea levels by almost 60 meters if melted.
|
Antarctica's history starts in early western theories which believed there to be a southern continent in the south of the globe known as Terra Australis. Further exploration south would prove that unknown southern land existed, however Antarctica was still not discovered. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica would be on 27 January 1820, when a Russian Expedition discovered an ice shelf in Antarctica. After this discovery, early exploration would begin, however most of these looked for seal and whale hunting and whether or not if it would reveal any good prospects. Early Antarctic exploration would come to a halt in the early-mid 19th century and this era of exploration would come to a close as the world averted their eyes to bigger issues. The inner lands of Antarctica had not been penetrated during this time. During the end of the 19th century and early 20th century would be a boom in Antarctic exploration. An international effort would result in scientific and geographical discoveries and flags were planted on Antarctica. This era would have some brave teams and parties who would try to cross Antarctica overland. Some of these explorers had died however, and this era would come to a close. Before the Antarctic treaty, some nations had tried to claim pieces of Antarctica for themselves, however in 1959, the Antarctic treaty would be signed, and military activity would be banned, and Antarctica would be used for scientific purposes. Antarctica today, is governed by around 30 different countries and its population fluctuates from around 1,000 people to 5,000 people seasonally. Tourism, fishing, and research make up most human activities in Antarctica. |
Base Statistics[]
Economy[]
Antarctica has a starting income of $100,110; $100,102 is revenues from tax collection, while the remaining $8 stems from resource production. However, due to the starting home guard, its military upkeep is $40,000, which deducts its final balance to $60,110.
Resources[]
Antarctica surprisingly produces 4 valuable resources every 5 days, all of them from one city, Vostok.
| Resources of Antarctica | |
|---|---|
 Gold
|
+1 |
 Oil
|
+1 |
 Titanium
|
+1 |
 Uranium
|
+1 |
Military[]
Antarctica is armed with a home guard division comprised of 20,000 infantry, stationed in the capital city, McMurdo during the start of the game.
Due to Antarctica starting in the Volunteer conscription law and renowned for being one of the least populated nations on the globe, it only holds a manpower capacity of 60,000, while gaining 292 every 5 days.
| Base Manpower Capacity of Antarctica per Conscription Law | |
|---|---|
| The following columns below present the manpower capacity from lowest (Disarmed) to highest (Required). RP stands for "Recruitable Population". | |
| Disarmed [1% RP] |
|
| Volunteer [2% RP] |
|
| Limited [5% RP] |
|
| Extensive [10% RP] |
|
| Required [25% RP] |
|
Geography[]
Terrain of Antarctica
Terrain[]
All of Antarctica is completely covered with Semi-Mountainous terrain.
Biome of Antarctica
Biome[]
Antarctica is entirely covered with a recurring Arctic year-round.
Due to Antarctica's cities being strategically positioned, including its severe natural geography, direct surface invasion is extremely difficult as ground units will be heavily impacted by immense attrition. Due to this, transport aircraft are advised for invading the country.
Borders[]
Antarctica is an island continent. It shares no borders with other countries.
Cities[]
Antarctica only has only 5 cities: Marambio, Mawson, Vostok, Showa, and its capital city, McMurdo. McMurdo is also the most populous city as it covers over half of its total population. Being the capital, it generates the majority of its income, and produces most of its manpower gain.
The notable cities are:
- McMurdo, The capital; And the only airport
- Marambio, The only port
- Vostok, The only natural resource deposit
Antarctica is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, as it holds a total population of 1,713 inhabitants, in addition to no population growth.
Threats[]
Antarctica is usually isolated and avoided by most countries, due to its harsh geography, and is not needed for any formables. The only reason one might invade it is to secure its resource deposits or to simply expand. Some nearby nations are:
The main resource for which antarctica may get invaded is uranium, because of it’s rarity. Threat may be coming from any nation in a late game.
Strategy[]
Expansionist[]
Antarctica is often overlooked as a nation due to its positioning, although it can turn into an industrial power with the correct moves.
Startup[]
- Once starting in Antarctica, instantly max out your research and government spending (It costs basically nothing). Rush out quantum computing as usual.
- Justify
New Zealand and the Falklands. Train some infantry in cities near these countries.
- Justify
- Trade resources to be able to support 1 Electronics Factory. Build this factory in McMurdo.
- Remember to develop your other cities and build recruitment centers even if it does a little, every single bit matters.
- Once the factory is built, sell it to some AI nations to support your further expansion.
Initial Expansion[]
- Declare war on the Falkland Islands. Lure AI and get its treasury, as well as its territory.
- For New Zealand, do the same, although invading it may take a while due to your small military. Do the same AI lure technique, although try to reinforce it with more units if possible.
- Justify on Madagascar/ Sri Lanka/ Australia/ Papua New Guinea if possible. Just like in Startup, build some infantry in the cities closest to those nations.
- For
- Trade more resources in order to be able to support 1 Steel, Motor Parts & Fertilizer factory. Build these factories in McMurdo.
- Build a civilian factory in McMurdo once these factories are done. Trade excess Consumer Goods for money. Develop cities and make recruitment centers.
- Build more civilian factories in large cities to get much more resource income.
- Build a civilian factory in McMurdo once these factories are done. Trade excess
Further Expansion[]
- Using your expanded manpower base from New Zealand, declare on Australia to get its resources. Use AI LURING for best results, as well as to minimize casualties.
- Declare on Sri Lanka if possible to gain a further staging point for further expansion in Asia , Middle East & Africa .
- Declare on
Addendum: research nukes if wanted due to Antarctica having uranium supply, plus with it being nearly an impenetrable continent.
NOTE ON FACTORY SPAMMING:[]
- Place civ factories on square cities / cities with pops around 200k+ to gain most / all of their income.
- DON'T build your factories (except uranium enrichers for safe keeping) in Vostok. Doing so will make you miss out on massive amounts of resource income.
Playing Tall[]
Recommended Leaders[]
- Government, Political, Judge, Corporate, Industry, Geologist, Procurement, Research
First Steps[]
- Max Research and Education spending.
- Gradually build every factory you can as well as mines all in Vostok.
- After gaining 250 political power, cede the capital McMurdo to someone and Move Capital to Vostok. Instant $2 Mil.
The Rest of The Game[]
- Keep developing and building infrastructure in the capital.
- Sell Consumer Goods.
- Become Socialist, then Policy: Computer Advancement Act.
- Get all the factory output policies.
- Do not become communist until there is a Judge or Reduce Corruption has been researched.
- Build recruitment center in capital.
- Be at war with an AI so no one can cede 45 cities to you to force peace.
- With the right leaders, there will be enough political power gain to sustain Emergency War Fund (For the military upkeep).
Private Servers[]
Due to it being isolated and not needed for any formables, Antarctica is often used as a resource bank in vip servers. This is to allow players to have a convenient place to buy and sell resources to.
Setup[]
Usually, the host edits Antarctica in the console to have a large amount of resources to buy from. Using city editor, the country's cities are also set to have a large population. This is to increase the country's income so players can sell resources to it.
Rules[]
In these private servers, Antarctica has been buffed to quite an extent. To maintain its use as a public service, the server host typically either plays as the nation or prohibits all players from being Antarctica.Trivia[]
- Antarctica was implemented to the game in response to Rise of Nations reaching 100,000,000 visits, however it was largely done due to the RoN Discord community pressuring Hyperant to update after the milestone.
- Antarctica is affected by many human activities despite being sparsely populated. Pollution, ozone depletion, and climate change have affected the continent.[1]
- The country is not a country in real life.[2]
- Antarctica in reality is claimed by 7 countries, being Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom, with one portion of Antarctica, known as Marie Byrd Land, not claimed by anyone.[3]
- It contains the least populated city in the game, Vostok with only a population of 25.
- Antarctica is extremely hard to navigate due to the game's camera functionality.
- Antarctica is one of the few countries that has cities not enough starting population for growth. It is joined by Vík í Mýrdal in Iceland.
- It is impossible to move Antarctica's capital as there is no available city located within 750 kilometers from McMurdo. However, it is possible to switch your capital if McMurdo is annexed via treaty or ceded to another player.
- Antarctica is one of the hardest countries to invade, but also one of the easiest to defend, due to its notorious geographical advantage and its cities' natural placement. However, it is able of capitulating if an enemy captures a significant portion of Antarctica's external colonies outside of its homeland.
- Antarctica is not required for any formables, however, the city of Marambio is required for the Operation Rosario mission from Argentina.
- Vostok exists so that the continent could be separated into multiple tiles instead of just 1. This is for reasons like collisions.
- Antarctica is the largest nation in the game that has no releasables.
