Sounding like the new patch is pretty buggy. I tried to play a game on level 7 difficulty and got a hard crash. We were trying to do the ore extraction mission on Tibit, the drop ships were insane, totally outnumbered until my game crashed. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but we might be back to some peak time crashing on the servers. Hopefully a quick patch might happen in the morning.

Front Changes

The fascist Terminids overran our Defence Campaign on Crimisca and SEHC has issued a Liberation Campaign in its place. The Helldivers successfully defended Malevelon Creek and Ubanea from advancing bots.

Temporary Permits

EAT-17 Expendable Anti-Tank is available as a mission stratagem for a limited time on all planets.

I really, really want to like that side of the game. I love the idea of players pooling together their tiny, individual actions towards a greater shared goal and what it can bring in terms of RP and immersion. Having new content gated behind community participation is an awesome idea, and I totally get the idea of simulating a back and forth war between the players and the AI for the control of the Galaxy.

However, I can't help but feel mostly frustrated with how it's actually implemented, both in its presentation and in its actual mechanics.

On the presentation side, everything looks so half-hearted that it ends up feeling meaningless. Apart from the major order and a few flavor lines thrown together in a corner of the screen, there's nothing that make us feel like the galactic war has any consequence on the lore of the game. Every few days we gain or lose a planet, but it doesn't really feel like winning or losing: we just get our medals or we don't, and then it's mostly back to usual business. Even the consequences are not clearly shown: the apparition of bit gunship is a clear consequence of us not managing to capture To it, but I'm pretty sure the majority of the player base won't even notice it and just think "well, I guess the update brought us some new enemy types, cool!". I get minimalism, but I feel all of this would be so much better if we had small cutscenes to mark each important step, or even just a war room in the ship where we could read strategic reports or whatever, anything to give it more context.

On the gameplay side, the fact that the only available action the players can do to have an influence of the global war is to either launch "attack missions" on enemy planets or "defense missions" on a super earth planet feels very limited, especially since all missions are played very similarly. It just seems to devolve in a endless tug-of-war consisting of capturing a planet, then defending it over and over, with very few variations and very few reasons to care Gameplay-wise. How cool would it be if defense missions were actually about defending allied areas against an enemy invasion, with radically different objectives like supporting SEAF positions or defending strategic zones against waves of enemies?

To close up what is slowly starting to look like a wall of text, I just want to say that I don't mean to sound whiny and that I actually really enjoy the game as it is. It just feels like a wasted opportunity to have this truly awesome idea and then do almost nothing with it.

What are your thoughts on this?

Edit: Also, just wanted to point out I realize that budgets exist and the galactic war probably wasn't (and shouldn't have been) their top priority. Getting the core gameplay was and still is more important than the rest.

We got walkers and flying gunships appearing in game! Joel you crazy son of a bitch!

Looks like your favorite Slugger is getting nerfed.

Just asking, is starting a new character now going to leave me annoyed and feeling like a little brother tagging along or is new character progression pretty forgiving?

Operation Swift Assembly, Phase II—Failed

The Ubanea-Draupnir gamble has failed.

The Automatons have retained Tibit, and its manufacturing facilities. Reports indicate they have already begun increasing production elsewhere.

Intercepted bot chatter includes expressions of great sorrow for the "murder" of in-development bots—a transparent attempt at disinformation, as bots can neither feel nor be considered alive. However, the simulated oaths of vengeance may indicate actual strategic intent. A counteroffensive is likely.

Malevelon Creek Liberated

At long last, Malevelon Creek is free. The heroes who died in its defense can finally rest in peace, knowing justice has been served, and the planet's rhodium deposits will be mined by the citizens who rightfully own them.

Colonist are returning to the ruins of their settlements, pickaxe in hand, hopeful for a prosperous future. For at last, dawn breaks upon a free Creek.

New Major Order

Operation Swift Disassembly, Phase III: Hold Ground. The Automatons, clearly having calculated their impending shutdown, have put their remaining resourcing into a large-scale counter attack. Desperate as it is, should this re-invasion succeed, it may jeopardize our ability to destroy the bots in time to prevent their incoming invasion. Hold your ground. The following planets must under Super Earth control when the Major Order expires

• Malevelon Creek
• Ubanea
• Draupnir

Front Changes

While successful with the defence of Estanu was successful, the fascist Terminids continue to infest liberated planets. Crimisca is the latest victim to their tyrannical agenda. Super Earth High Command has issued a Defence Campaign on the Planet.

Finally we took the creek, but tibit was forgotten in the process. Let us never fail again, tibit !

It's a strong score I think we can all agree.

Super Earth High Command Brief

Issued at 2024-03-30 21:00 UTC

Faced with the choice of dedicating adequate troops to hold Draupnir from a direct Automaton assault, or to attempt the liberation of Ubanea to serve as a new planetary base of operations, our troops opted for the latter. However, the initial hours of indecision resulted in insufficient concentration of troops to achieve either objective. Draupnir initially held a reserve force representing just under 20% of all active Helldivers, which was a solid start, but insufficient to gain an advantage over the Automaton assault. As the event continued, they remained close, but could not sway enough Helldivers from other fronts to gain the numbers to actually turn the tide. As the hours grew shorter, eventually, they abandoned Draupnir's defense in favor of attempting to burn down Ubanea. But it was too little, too late.

This has resulted in the worst possible outcome for our forces. As Draupnir fell, Ubanea stood at 95% liberated and would have required another few hours to be completed. Had our forces decided earlier what to do, or alternatively, managed to sway more of the roughly 35% of Helldivers active on the Terminid front, then today would have been cause for celebration. But victories need to be earnt in order to be meaningful, and victory has not been earned this day. Our task is now to retake Draupnir to enable FTL lines to Ubanea before the Automatons can shore up defenses and repopulate their losses. This setback will prove to be significant, and may compromise the Major Order if Draupnir and Ubanea are not retaken quickly.

Another significant obstacle in our operations has been the ongoing support of expeditionary forces on Malevelon Creek. Long standing as a bastion of human endurance and a symbol of our resistance against the Automatons, Malevelon Creek remains locked in a stalemate with an average 25% of our forces committed to its defense and eventual liberation, though success on Draupnir, Ubanea, and eventually Tibit seems unlikely with such a large contingent diverted elsewhere...

Front Changes

Defence Campaign on Fori Prime has failed and Helldivers on Oshaune were forced to strategically fallback to Hellmire and Fori Prime to deal with the new infestation. The fascist hive mind deployed a spore outbreak on Estanu to stack their ongoing plot to push out liberty.

I would be interested in some useful tips to extract solo on higher difficulties.

So scenario; I was playing on Hard, all other players had left and despite this I felt like struggling past the main objectives on my lonesome. Quite difficult but I managed, however when it came time to extract I just couldn't manage it. Waves (bugs) just overwhelmed me and I couldn't even get back on the console.

Is there some trick to this?

mine is the liberator penetrator, i use stratagems and my heavy weapon for aoe

Hey I was wondering which stratagem you tried out on a whim but ended up really liking? I've been switching it up especially since I read that EAT spam can mess up missions, as that was one of my go-tos.

For me it has to be the gatling barrage. It peppers a concentrated area and can hurt all enemies from what I've seen. I love using it for Breach suppression and yesterday I didn't see anyone shoot any rockets, so I swear it knocked down a dropshop on an elimination mission.

Its use case is definitely limited, but when that case is present those repeated explosions feel nice to see.