Operation Swift Disassembly, Phase III—Completed

The Automaton counterattack has been repelled. They no longer have the resources to sustain an offensive on such a scale. While the timeline of their phaseout has been extended, it remains within reach.

Major Order / Briefing

The Automatons have been a thorn in the side of Freedom long enough. Though the Ministry of Intelligence has not yet discovered where they came from, or what they want, we can wait no longer.

There is only one way to defend our citizens from the bots: total eradication.

New Major Order

Operation Swift Disassembly, Phase IV (Final): Annihilation. All Helldivers are ordered to make an all-out push to completely destroy the Automaton Legion. Despite the enemy's losses, Automaton messages still include references to "The Reclamation." They must be annihilated before this plan can be carried out.

Countless Helldivers gave their lives to acquire this opportunity. Do not let their sacrifices be in vain. Protect our way of life. Destroy the Automatons at any cost.

Front Changes

Helldivers have thwarted the Automaton invasion of Vandalon IV, keeping the bots contained within Severin Sector.

The fascist bugs continue to infest Estanu resulting in a second Defence campaign. The elimination of the socialist bots is top priority regardless of how many planets are overrun by bugs.

All former Helldivers whom returned to civilian life are called to don their capes once more and return to the front. The opportunity to eradicate the socialist menace is here.

Quick summary for anyone who can't watch the video, with descriptions taken from the accompanying news post on the Steam store page:

• releases April 11th
• new armors and matching capes
  • CE-07 Demolition Specialist (light)
  • CE-27 Ground Breaker (medium)
  • FS-55 Devastator (heavy)
  • no info on what bonus each set has
• new primary weapons
  • BR-14 Adjudicator (marksman rifle) - "Deliver righteous judgement to your enemies with accuracy. This armour-penetrating assault rifle is best used against smaller groups."
  • CB-9 Exploding Crossbow - "Kaboom! Enjoy powerful exploding bolts that dish out max damage upon direct impact. Gravity must be accounted for when aiming."
  • R-36 Eruptor (explosive) - "Keep your distance… this bolt-action rifle fires jet-assisted shells that explode shrapnel in all di-rections upon impact. All directions. Even your face."
• new grenade and secondary weapon
  • G-123 Thermite grenade - "This little beauty can stick to surfaces before burning up to a toasty 2000°C."
  • GP-31 Grenade Pistol - "Does what it says on the label – a pistol that fires grenades. Don’t forget to reload between shots though."
• new booster
  • Expert Extraction Pilot Booster - "Need to get out of a jam fast? This booster lowers the time it takes for the extraction shuttle to reach the extraction beacon. Home in time for dinner."

Edit: added link to Steam store page news post and summarized info from the same

Front Changes

The socialist Automatons have landed on Vandalon IV, resulting in a Defence Campaign.

The tyrannical bugs have infested Estanu. Fori Prime connection will be cut off if we lose control.

Presidential Decree

The President of Super Earth has officially recognized this day as Malevelon Creek Memorial Day. Every year on this day, Super Earth citizens will unite for a full 3 minutes of their lunch break in solemn remembrance of those who gave their lives to free Malevelon Creek.

In addition, all Helldivers have been issued a special commemorative cape, so they may carry the memory of their fallen companions into battle.

So game updated midplay and had all kinds of weird bugs until i left and updated myself.

First mission in see one of these bastards.

Damn are they a challenge

Stupid mobile factories

Please oh PUHLEASE can we get a Zapp Brannigan voice for our Helldiver? I would buy the entire Warbond just for this voice.

PLEASE

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.