Helldivers 2: For Managed Democracy!

[meager saffron]

yeah likewise

[honest acorn]

I’ll be around tomorrow

[quick plinth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQtrPp_TL8Q

[rich marlin]

just did the most frustrating easy dive in history

[unreal merlin]

Ballistic shield is neat play style and lets you get really bras(c)h and aggressive vs bots (raiders, striders, normal devastators) but as soon as the rockets or bigger stuff comes out you will get checked, rocket devastators do NOT care for you

[stone bridge]

def want Fortitifed for that

[quick plinth]

my issue with the shield is that I dont really get it's purpose

[meager saffron]

'none after the bubble' unfortunately

[stone bridge]

I mean, nominally it is far more consistent protection than the bubble

[unreal merlin]

Its purpose is as I said, enabling you to literally just stand in the open gunning down raiders and other light enemies

[stone bridge]

It's just the lack of explosive resistance lets it down vs the real killer when fighting bots

[unreal merlin]

It's really good on mid tier difficulties when attacking outposts or POIs

[cobalt patrol]

I really hope they bring bots in line

er, Rocket and Heavy devs

[unreal merlin]

You can just walk at them without playing cover games, anything less than a rocket raider can't hurt you from the front

[cobalt patrol]

they feel way otu of line with everything else in the bot line up right now

Heavys are fine as one of, but the stagger from multiple and overlapping firefields is actively incredibly unpleasent

combined with teh headshots especailly

[feral fable]

I feel like every time I let a strider fire at all, I'm rolling the bones

because of the chance to get headshot and go from full to like 5-10% hp

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, it's the headshots that are the big issue

[pale remnant]

strider headshots 💀

[stone bridge]

Striders are low key fucking deadly yeah

[pale remnant]

headshots in general are really rough

mfw a tiny bug lice gets lucky and cleaves off half my health

[feral fable]

crits/headshots don't belong in a PvE shooter, just randomly dying faster doesn't teach me anything nor does it reward someone else like it would in a PvP shooter

[unreal merlin]

Yeah, I make it a priority to clear striders and raiders first tbh, even over devastators unless they're more pressing a concern. But I use the scorcher so I consider that my team responsibility, clearing the striders and raiders

Having fewer enemies to deal with make everything much easier

[stone bridge]

The Scorcher two shotting striders is such a huge perk of the weapon

[unreal merlin]

Invaluable

[cobalt patrol]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I just had two major orders come throguh

[unreal merlin]

Even the Railgun can't pop them as fast anymore due to the armor pen change. That explosive property is gold

[cobalt patrol]

and got 32 medals out of them total

because it put me to the cap ;.;

oh well

[stone bridge]

[stray tide]

There’s a medal cap????

[stark ether]

250

[mortal wing]

oof

[stark ether]

50K req 250 medals 500 for samples (at least simple not sure if the others have a higher/lower cap or not)

fairly sure SC is uncapped for reasons

[mortal wing]

guess they don't want people to save up and immediately buy out new warbonds

[mortal wing]

I assume reasons are money

[stark ether]

yeah

[mortal wing]

as in actual money

[stark ether]

technically they could make it so you couldnt pick up sc if you have over some amount but still let you buy it but that also discourages people from buying it so it seems unlikely

[blissful sparrow]

can't buy any "real" progression stuff with SC anyway, so it stockpiling doesn't really allow you to turbocharge through any new content

[mortal wing]

depends on how much new warbonds will cost I suppose

[stark ether]

i'm hoping 1000 or less

[blissful sparrow]

i think the steel veteran one was 1k?

[mortal wing]

aye

[graceful bluff]

it'll probably be 1k

[burnt vapor]

I think 1000 will be standard for war bonds of this size if I had to guess that’s what about $10 USD?

[blissful sparrow]

i accidentally bought the Super edition, so i never saw it 😄

[graceful bluff]

10 usd gives like 2k I thought?

[blissful sparrow]

yeah, iirc its 5 bucks for 1k

[burnt vapor]

I haven’t looked at the prices so I’m more then likely wrong

[mortal wing]

1k is 10 dollars in playstation store

[burnt vapor]

But yeah 1k for a 3 page warbond will likely be the standard is my assumption until proven otherwise

[mortal wing]

cannot check in game/steam atm, work

[stone bridge]

15 AUD for me, yeah

But also, earning SC in game is like...easy as

[mortal wing]

getting to 1k might take a while, but otherwise pretty easy aye

[burnt vapor]

Might be a regional currency conversion that comes out better for the Europeans then cause I vaguely recall it being like 13.50 CAD for 1k

[stark ether]

i'd say a dozen hours or less (probably less) if you're dedicated to it

[mortal wing]

I'd say that's a while. But it's all relative ofc

[blissful sparrow]

there is also the SC from the warbond itself, so if you don't buy armor from the superstore its super fast

[burnt vapor]

Yeah I think steel vet gives 300 SC back to you?

[graceful bluff]

if you farm for medals/SC specifically by just doing trivials and resetting when you got all the poi's it's not long at all

[stark ether]

with good luck it could be like 2-4 hours

[blissful sparrow]

i'm currently at 450 or so and i've bought atleast 1 armor from all 7 bundles in the superstore

[cobalt patrol]

I'm at 2k super credits and I've bought basically every light armour from the cash shop, and the warbond. Games super generous

It's not uncommon to pull 30+ super credits from a diff 7 mission, and often a chunk more

[quick plinth]

largely the limit to how much of the map you can scour is how well the team handles avoiding unnecessary firefights and how quickly you can complete the main objective to leave you with free time to just roam about (excluding PoIs that are on the way)

[stone bridge]

I'd rather just like

Play the game

unless I'm severely desperate for SC

[quick plinth]

yeah

and just playing the game seems to give more than enough tbh

[blissful sparrow]

yeah, why would i not play the game instead of playing the game. If i start just playing to get number up i already know that i'll get bored of the game once number stops going up, so i prefer just playing for the sake of playing

[quick plinth]

that isn't to say

playing smart is bad (avoiding patrols and similar tactics)

[graceful bluff]

To be fair, the sc farming will get you used to not getting detected

[blissful sparrow]

but i want to Orbital airburst strike all the enemies

If god didn't intend me to use it on every enemy i see, he shouldn't have given it a short cooldown

[burnt vapor]

See the problem is the enemy comes faster the it cools down

[quick plinth]

a cool strategy when it comes to bug missions is two teams with one mech pilot each

lots of fire support to facilitate clearing everything

https://youtu.be/aIAKv4qu9zw

also damn

I didn't think it was possible

[unkempt river]

@stone bridge you die?

[stone bridge]

Nope, though I'm unsure if I'm down to play

Gimme a bit

[unkempt river]

<@&1206091872716595200> we would love 1-2 more for a few dives

[blissful sparrow]

The Monolith of Armor Piercing

[glacial light]

Talks of autocannon has me wanting to change up my next bot loadout and I haven't tried out my current one

[sinful bay]

How do you use it? I used the jump pack a bit and was not impressed

[glad marsh]

I can be there in a few if the slot doesn't get taken

[stone bridge]

I may actually get a game or two in, if that's okay with you, Till?

[sinful bay]

Also, how the new super credit armors of today looks like?

[glad marsh]

Oh for sure
Don't let me stop you from spreading democracy

[stone bridge]

[glad marsh]

I'm only just now getting up anyways, I've got all day lol

[unkempt river]

Joining up, Briar?

[blissful sparrow]

ah nice, you got that illuminate armor already

[burnt vapor]

Advanced prototype straight from R&D

[keen zinc]

Acquire high ground, leap over obstacles, escape certain death, leap long distance from high elevation

[sinful bay]

you make a good case

But hear me out
Light Armor - Supply Pack backpack
be the ammo delivery patriot by foot

[quick plinth]

need two more <@&1206091872716595200>!

[glad marsh]

I'm still around, gimme a few and I'll be on!

[keen zinc]

Nah , I am so used to the mobility if the jump pack i feel so slow without it

And my primary playstyle is horde clear and objective pushing

[sinful bay]

I feel ya

[glad marsh]

Actually maybe do one dive without us, we gotta eat still

[sinful bay]

I primary fight against bots so being that zip zoom on top of the enemies can end up with me killed
specially when my allies spam air support

[glacial light]

if they buff heavy armor somehow I'd love to do a jumpjet build and just fly through the front lines

[candid finch]

I wish they let us save a few presets

[glacial light]

Big yes

[keen zinc]

Zip zoom into their defenses, assault from within

[candid finch]

So I can switch from bug fighting to bot fighting at a click

[glacial light]

Loadouts please

[keen zinc]

I run Stalwart so I just mow through stuff close up

[stone bridge]

loadouts would be hella

[keen zinc]

Punisher for pushing big stuff away from me

Staggering Devastators

[glacial light]

D2 taking like 10 years to release loadouts

[keen zinc]

I can kill Hulks from behind reliably with the stalwart or punisher

[stone bridge]

classic bungle

[glacial light]

Wild

When I look at a hulk bruiser I've already died

[keen zinc]

See I am very good at running away

I often play Distraction Bait Man for my team to turn things around

[glacial light]

I do being a distraction and letting my teammate do the work

Heavy explosive armor with shield and step in front of the rocket devastators so no one else gets shot

Although heavy explosive and jumpjet would be fun, be tanky and not be hit

[blissful sparrow]

Brave Sir Robin Amko

[stone bridge]

I don't like being super specialised, I tend to run swiss army knife loadouts so I can engage everything I need to at least reasonably

[glacial light]

I get bored easily and swap loadouts when I get an ounce of good at it where the game is too easy

[sinful bay]

True...
Deep Strike

[keen zinc]

STRIKE FROM THE SKIES, BROTHERS

[stone bridge]

against bugs my usual loadout is like

[glad marsh]

Sometimes my brain wants an exoskeleton that comes with like.. a sword and a big ass shield

[keen zinc]

I am speed

[stone bridge]

Medium Medic Armour
Breaker/Defender, Redeemer, Impacts
Airstrike, 500kg, Autocannon, Gas

Might think about switching to Napalm nades, Impacts are a lot more useful against bots and fire + gas trivializes breaches

[sinful bay]

oh so that extra armor is really that good huh?

[keen zinc]

Fashion

[glacial light]

Like I said before, that's not even armor. That's just a jumpsuit and vest

[sinful bay]

Always the most important part

[keen zinc]

Ezactly

I assault the objective, it's what I do

But I also run from unnecessary fights like a good soldier

Keep it moving

[glacial light]

I abhor being one shot or 2 shot so I need me my medium stim armor or heavy

[sinful bay]

You have become
TF2 Scout

[candid finch]

Part of me is considering getting heavy explosive resistant armour, EATS and jump pack and just blow myself up

[dusk agate]

wait, is this survivable? I am reconsidering that shield >.>

[sinful bay]

I love heavy but is a bit frustrating when you are the fat kid wheezing behind your homies

[keen zinc]

DIVE

Cover > Armor every day of the week

[sinful bay]

Into hell? :Oc

[quick plinth]

the advanced prototype

[glacial light]

Against bots, I can reliabibly tank 2 rockets from devastators, technically like 3 or 4 but once your shield is popped from the first rocket the ragdoll physics could kill you

Which it's better for me to stand in the open and take that 1 or 2 rocket shot and stim back up than a teammate be one shot

[keen zinc]

I can't help that my infantry trained brain is constantly seeking out cover at all times forever

[sinful bay]

Like a good Gears of War soldier should

[keen zinc]

I do it IRL too

It's a tough thing to break even after half a decade

[sinful bay]

wait you are are/were a irl soldier?

[keen zinc]

Was

[sinful bay]

omg tf2 soldier real

[keen zinc]

The training actually comes up in video games pretty frequently lmao

[oak crow]

i feel like a lot of players ignore stealth and cover much more than they should

[keen zinc]

Find cover keep moving don't get pinned and the mission always comes first

[oak crow]

it makes objectives much easier to clear

[sinful bay]

I can imagine.
Honestly if a 4 competent team operated like a proper military team they would deal pretty easily with the game.

Whoever, hellbombing your friends is life

[glacial light]

I always just preemptive start moving out so I have a headstart on teammates since I can ignore the light enemies more than my teammates better, I usually do have the highest walk distance though

I rarely fall behind unless I'm distracted by clearing something nearby then that's on purpose

[sinful bay]

Good tip, thank ya

[keen zinc]

Heavies should run point anyhow

Slowest man sets the pace

[glacial light]

I usually do run point and not use cover so bots focus on me cause you can tank a lot of little lasers

I hardly use cover unless I see a tank or hulk

[sinful bay]

Now imagine what you can do with heavy + shield
Mmmh...

[keen zinc]

I am fast and have the Stalwart so I tend to orbit around the center point of the squad and try to engage light targets

[glacial light]

Heavy and shield is what I run for bots and I usually have like 2-4 deaths per 40 minute mission

[sinful bay]

Oh nice, what weapon you se with shield?

[sinful bay]

Seems people want the Stalwart to be a primary

[glacial light]

Ideally slugger but I don't have that

[keen zinc]

It was in hd1

[glacial light]

So I do breaker for berserkers since they will shred through heavy armor

[keen zinc]

But it's really good rn and I don't want it to get nerfed to be made a balanced primary

I do love having the Punisher and the Stalwart simultaneously

[stone bridge]

You would need to gut the Stalwart to make it anywhere near a balanced primary and it's not even that great imo

[keen zinc]

And my funny revolver

The stalwart is a fantastic beast it just lacks hitmarkers

[glacial light]

Stalwart was likely supposed to be a primary in 2 too cause it has a flashlight which only primaries do except for stalwart

[oak crow]

do you play mostly against bots or bugs? I've found its good against bugs, but relatively weak against bots.

[stone bridge]

The awful AP is what does it in over every other support weapon for me, personally

I feel it needs a pip higher or something

[keen zinc]

Both

[keen zinc]

Respectfully, I kill my fair share of mediums and heavies with the stalwart all the time

[sinful bay]

Ah i see, so yeah it is in a good spot rn.

[glacial light]

AP doesn't matter if you hit bot weakpointd ig

[keen zinc]

Devastators? Hit them in the guts or the dome

[rotund marten]

I am number 1 grenade launcher enjoyer, even for bots, I feel it does the job of the two MGs and also wrecks buildings and can indirect fire

[keen zinc]

Chargers? Impact grenades or max rpm on the ass

[rotund marten]

The only thing it can't do is kill hulks, which is an issue admittedly

[keen zinc]

The only thing the stalwart + impact grenades cannot handle is the bile titan

[keen zinc]

Wrong

[oak crow]

what about their weak backs?

[keen zinc]

It can kill Hulks insanely fast at max rpm on the back

[oak crow]

land a few shots there and even a primary can waste them

[keen zinc]

You need very little time window because of the DPS

[rotund marten]

Anything can kill hulks from the back, that's not an issue

[keen zinc]

But the Stalwart does it FAST

[glacial light]

What I'm learning is Amko is built different

[rotund marten]

also last I checked the GL didn't have a max RPM setting, Amko

[sinful bay]

Oh the Slugger you reload one shell at the time, good.
because after playing with the first shotgun for so long, mags feels weird.

[keen zinc]

We are discussing Stalwart

[rotund marten]

I was not, I was talking about the GL

[quick plinth]

What I've learned is that the balance of the game is that it largely doesn't matter what weapons you're picking, and more how you're using them

[keen zinc]

Aggressively

[lethal granite]

You blatantly skipped over what misc said just to tell them theyre wrong. That is wild.

[sinful bay]

I will give it a shot when I get home :3

[keen zinc]

More like we were having a discussion about something and I didn't notice Misc brought up the GL

[oak crow]

with the exception of the default pistol vs the sidearm smg. the latter is just wildly better.

[keen zinc]

Sorryyy I'm so sorry misc please forgive me

[sinful bay]

we need more sidearms

[rotund marten]

I'm trying to work out if there's a way to toss impacts or GL rounds past a hulk to damage the back but if there is it's tricky

[keen zinc]

Ive tried that a lot to no avail

[oak crow]

honestly, i'm happy with the weapons. i just want helmets and armor with scratches, text and stickers.

[keen zinc]

It's back seems high up enough to avoid the blast damage

[oak crow]

helmet graffiti style

[rotund marten]

They work on titans well, you can drop pod into a titan and then throw a couple of impacts at the throat or chest for the kill rather than needing to do it again

[keen zinc]

BORN TO DIVE

[stone bridge]

We're getting a sidearm version of the Scythe in the coming warbond

[glacial light]

Ooo

I've never heard about scythe or tried it

[keen zinc]

The grenade pistol is probably going to be my thing

[glacial light]

Maybe less ooo

[rotund marten]

I'm looking forward to the leaked grenade pistol a lot because it might just be the extra bug hole ammo I need to not run the GL or AC every time

[keen zinc]

Because my main weapon is the stalwart, the punisher my secondary, and my revolver is for fun

[glacial light]

Grenade pistol would be peak

[keen zinc]

Having a grenade launcher would be great

[oak crow]

exactly. i wanna see "Born To Dive", "Pest Control", "Spill Oil", etc

[stone bridge]

the Dagger having essentially infinite ammo will actually make it pretty competitive against the Redeemer

[keen zinc]

It'll be more of a tertiary utility weapon than a secondary

[sinful bay]

It's a focused beam weapon

[stone bridge]

You have an actual...sidearm to clear out little things efficiently

[sinful bay]

People say is great but
But
It is not a shotgun

[oak crow]

I've been getting a lot of mileage with the bog-standard assault rifle. and the flamethrower is a beautiful thing on the bug missions, albeit a little meh against the bots

[keen zinc]

It's not great but it is accurate

[oak crow]

but the autocannon is really good against bots

[keen zinc]

Liberator also great

[stone bridge]

The Flamethrower is like, an A+ weapon into bugs now

Extremely nice but well balanced weapon

[sinful bay]

Yeah, I have a friend that still runs default loadout and he is doing great

[oak crow]

Flamethower and Eagle Napalm are auto-picks for me on bug missions. the Napalm strike is legit the best way to cover a retreat atm against bugs.

plus the flamethrower can deal with chargers

armor doesn't do much against fire

[stone bridge]

I've taken to Gas over napalm personally

The gas DPS is a lot higher than fire and the cooldown is comically short, it trivializes bug breaches so neatly

[keen zinc]

Cluster bombs for life

Solution by saturation

[barren iron]

I'm not huge on the stalwart but I love the other machinegun

It's reload is a lot slower but it is imo more versatile against everything that isn't a heavy

[stone bridge]

Yeah, the MMG's medium armour pen scythes through a lot of stuff

[quick crown]

Once again I have to give a salute to the devs for letting us change the RPM of the machineguns

[oak crow]

i've used the stalwart once, when i picked it while on the retreat, and i found it was surprisingly mobile

[quick crown]

Because thats such a satisfying thing to be allowed to do

[sinful bay]

Agreed

[blissful sparrow]

Orbital EMS be goated for that, why kill enemies when you can just lock them in place and run away and stop more from spawning

and you can still kill them more efficently cause now all the enemies run into the area frombehind and bunch up for more efficent Call ins

[keen zinc]

Awful ammo economy

Imo

One drum per pickup

Gross

[glacial light]

I like stalwart better, it's like a better liberator primary to me. Like when I used it early on I constantly used it and always had ammo for it, never felt scarce despite mowing down bug hordes

[keen zinc]

Exactly

It's also super accurate for medium threats

[quick crown]

does the EMS stun bugs too?

[blissful sparrow]

yes

[quick crown]

I only use it on bots so

[keen zinc]

Plus you can set it to FUCK SPEED in chaotic situations to carve your way out of a swarm

[blissful sparrow]

EMS stuns everything excepts Tanks and Bile Titans

and i'm unsure on the Tanks actually

[glacial light]

EMS is good on chargers to keep them still

[blissful sparrow]

2 weeks or so the EMS was freely available to everyone and since then i just can't run missions without it anymore

[oak crow]

i typically go for the orbital railcannon for tanks and whatnot

[keen zinc]

I listen to Aesop Rock while Helldiving

[oak crow]

i go for 60s and 70s rock personally

[glacial light]

110 rockets is great for tanks

3 tank killing rockets every 240 second (at fastest) is great

Iffy on hulks compared to railcannon

[blissful sparrow]

I just run away from tanks screaming in panic and let others deal with it

too busy eagle airstriking 3 bases in a row

[lethal granite]

110's, orbital laser, and walking bar are what im looking to run

And then just slap autocannon for supp weapon

I will not suffer armor

[hexed steeple]

i don't have very good experiences wiht hte grenade launcher but i think im just using it wrong cause i've seen people go sicko mode with it

[lethal granite]

I dont think its bad but im not buying it

[quick crown]

I always opt for the Autocannon instead,

Like yeah the nades are prolly quicker to reload

but I prefer not needing to aim when killing nests

[hexed steeple]

i don't understand where to aim to explode charger abdomen with impacts/grenade launcher

[rotund marten]

You want to be throwing impacts either at the exposed abdomen or at the ground underneath it

can even do it from the front although it can be hard not to hit the mandibles

GL vs charger can be a little touchier since they aren't as mean as impacts, still working on that

Railcannon plus a few GL shots also kills a bile titan, which is nice

[sinful bay]

gib playlist

[keen zinc]

I use Pandora

[undone veldt]

So last night while playing with friends we decided to do a difficulty 7 mission for the bit even as half of us were new to the game

So I was running around mostly getting concussions from chargers barely killing the normal bugs because I had nothing armor piercing

But I finally got to be useful as a I needed to keep a Bile Titan directly under a 500 KG bomb

So I dodged around it and got under it and saluted as the bomb dropped

Except somehow the thing survived and I still did nothing!

[glad marsh]

ah...

I just

throw a 500kg in its general direction and I've got a 100% kill rate for those things so far

but you wouldn't be the only one to say 500kg is inconsistent when it comes to killing Bile titans

[glad marsh]

oh, so their underside is a weak point huh?

[blissful sparrow]

yesn't

[glad marsh]

I'm told their face also has a small weak spot

[hexed steeple]

only for explosive damage

[glacial light]

500kg has an issue with clipping where even a head height rock can block the cone of explosion

[hexed steeple]

it doesn't take full damage from non-explosive damage

[undone veldt]

Oh it was absolutely damaged by the thing

It looked fucked up

Most of its carapace was just gone

[blissful sparrow]

Titans are weird in that the big sacks under them are weak points, but destroying them doesn't reveal a weakpoint and destroying them isn't enough to kill them by itself

[undone veldt]

But it still standing and fighting

[rotund marten]

The reliable kill method for 500kg Vs Titans is to drop one slightly in front of it, bait it to stand directly over the beacon and then get it to try the spit attack so it stays still

I've steadily been logging more ways to kill them efficiently

One hellpod hit and a couple of impacts grenades to the sacs from the person who is now underneath it works

[glad marsh]

They do have some trouble with pathing too, it's usually pretty easy to predict which route they'll take to you

[glacial light]

So far the dozen or so biles I've faced and had 500kg I've had a 100% success rate but I don't do bugs much anymore

And I'm usually too slow compared to railcannon from teammate

[keen zinc]

Rocket pods are my preferred solution to tanks and titans

Titans sometimes take one but usually two

But against bots the 500kg is an auto take because of Detector Towers

Sometimes you get no hellbomb or no way of placing the hellbomb

500kg takes them out

Only thing that does that I know of

[quick crown]

I have had nothing but issues with landing the 500k to kill structures asside from the depots and fabricators

[glacial light]

It has the effective range of a precision orbital

[keen zinc]

Less than

I actually like that it's a such a safe danger close option tbh

[idle hollow]

friendship ended with punisher now defender is my bug killer

[quick crown]

I soloed a jamming tower up to the "Destroy it" part and had to pull out of the area because it was getting over run, tried to get it with the 500k on the way out and had to basically shrug and hoof it to extract before my team escaped without me

[keen zinc]

You can drop that thing really close to you and be fine

[glacial light]

If someone drops a 500kg I just ignore it unless it's touching me

[keen zinc]

I wish the hellbomb call in actually worked for it

Instead of bouncing around

Then it'd be easy because they're not often super well defended

[blissful sparrow]

yesterday i managed to land a 500kg on a jammer tower which looked very pretty 😄

[keen zinc]

Ooh can the 500kg take out a disabled jammer?

[alpine seal]

indeed it can

[sinful bay]

Dang it

[keen zinc]

Poggle

[alpine seal]

and detector towers for that matter

[keen zinc]

Ye that's what I use em for

[quick crown]

oof

[alpine seal]

which is more reliable than trying to hellbomb it since the hellbomb call rolls off for some reason

[keen zinc]

I run Cluster and 500kg for Bots

[rotund marten]

orbital laser works if you toss the beacon onto the metal collar that surrounds the base of the tower

I like laser and eagle strike for bots

[alpine seal]

ah, that was just discussed

[quick crown]

Yo yeah this just fuckin blows.

I'm tired of the strats bouncing 20 meters away

[alpine seal]

the hellbomb part that is

[keen zinc]

My first three stratagems are basically locked in. Jump pack, stalwart, cluster strike

Final one changes based on mission and enemy

[rotund marten]

500kg and railcannon for bugs since las rover and grenade launcher handle hordes, and I want three titan kills available

[alpine seal]

i've become too jaded to run anything but the shield in high diff but i should try the jump pack at least once, live a little

[keen zinc]

I focus on horde clear so people like Misc can kill titans and such

[rotund marten]

I'm not actually great at Titans but once there's more than three I can generally count on some help from team

[quick crown]

I want to say I bring 500KG because its a tactically sound choice but, I'll be honest, I love seeing a big explosion and I think about that Eagle 1 art Colodraws drew.

[blissful sparrow]

Airstrike, EMS, Autocannon for me
but i'm looking forward to more vehicle strategems in the future when i'll just skip on a support weapon cause i won't ever be touching the ground anyway 😄

[rotund marten]

for bots I admit I am usually a shield enjoyer at high difficulties

it helps so much with Not Exploding

[keen zinc]

I can't take off the jump pack

[quick crown]

Strong pilots are the reason I fight for democracy

[keen zinc]

I hear Blood Upon The Risers deep inside my head whenever I launch HD2

I must jump

WE'RE AIRBORNE HELLDIVERS, WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SURROUNDED

NO FEAR HERE

[alpine seal]

airstrike is a mandate on my arsenal for the versatility for both add clear and building sweep. i run the 500 frequently to add a second building clearer and big enemy mayyyybe killer in a pinch

also because it's iconic and i've committed the input to memory. 2 of them from the level 3 sample upgrade makes it significantly more versatile

though that one i swap out for other things frequently

[keen zinc]

My thought is I'd rather have 5 horde clears and 2 elite kills than 3 of an all purpose

[glacial light]

I used to have airstrike all the time but I can rely on my 3 other teammates having airstrikes

[keen zinc]

Clusters can actually take out Factories too

Haven't seen it work against bug holes tho

But they can sometimes get clusters into the vents/doors and destroy factories

[alpine seal]

huh. the more you know

[blissful sparrow]

true, but it ain't reliable enough for me
and the stuff clusters kill on bots are just as well killed by an airstrike

[rotund marten]

eagle strike is my go-to for bots, it kills buildings, tanks, devastator packs and infantry lines and is extremely spammable

[meager sandal]

For factories, do they only blow up if you get lucky and hit a vent or do airstrikes blow them up without that?

[keen zinc]

Vent

[rotund marten]

eagle strike and heavier artillery kills fabs, orbital laser too

[keen zinc]

And clusters are expendable enough that I feel fine throwing it at anything

Which is nice

[rotund marten]

orbital laser will actually path from building to building which makes it very helpful for clearing big bases

[keen zinc]

Especially scout striders

[rotund marten]

I am not a cluster enjoyer when I can have reliable base clear with eagle strike and two-tap striders with my Scorcher

[blissful sparrow]

Striders just get autocannoned for me

[keen zinc]

I love cluster bombs I love cluster bombs

[rapid plover]

Does it actually track onto the bot buildings?

[glacial light]

I'm surprised airstrike wasn't touched in the balance patch since I've basically never seen a game without 2 players having it

Although I think it's perfect as is

[keen zinc]

I actually struggle against scout striders more than heavy devastators lmao

[glacial light]

It's a good general eagle

[keen zinc]

Just because they aren't worth the resources

[rotund marten]

yes

grenade launcher, scorcher and impact nades in a pinch make striders a non-issue for me

I have three cheap ways to kill them from the front, although I prefer to save my impacts for devs and tanks

[rapid plover]

Oh nice
Unfortunate it doesn't do the same for bug holes but still good

[keen zinc]

Yeah, diff load outs

I am geared for close range and horde clear

[alpine seal]

i ought to unlock the scorcher eventually

been slacking on my medals recently

[keen zinc]

I struggle against hive guards and scout striders

The former I carry the magnum for

My beloved Senator

[alpine seal]

need to actually host a mission instead of grabbing onto random lobbies

[keen zinc]

You can ping the role here whenever

[final frigate]

bout how long does it take to get to lvl 20

[sinful bay]

https://tenor.com/view/senator-armstrong-metal-gear-rising-mgr-armstrong-gif-26250693

[keen zinc]

Not long

Though might not be the best for determining that with my 100+ hours in the game

Rank 50 Master Sergeant

[glad marsh]

Took me about 15, and I didn't rush missions or anything

15 hours, I mean

[rotund marten]

I do think that when going for solo raiding the GL or autocannon is invaluable because you can waste functionally infinite holes and fabs

and putting a grenade into the firing slit of one of those bot bunkers and killing half a squad of infantry is pure dopamine

[keen zinc]

Autocannon is probably the most universally useful support weapon

It just costs a backpack slot

[rotund marten]

yeah, I like the GL as a cut-down autocannon because it does everything the AC does at shorter range besides hulk-murder

and frees up the backpack

[keen zinc]

The autocannon is a workhorse

[rotund marten]

but having the AC on the team is great

[final frigate]

what difficulty is that on? I'm usually loathe to play past medium-hard or hard on these games
don't like getting sweaty

[keen zinc]

I usually play 4-6, only occasionally 7+ for super samples but I don't super enjoy it more than occasionally

[glad marsh]

same here

just had my first 7s actually

[glacial light]

I'm level 25 at about 44 hours

[glad marsh]

they're... okay

lots of bile titans

[glacial light]

I can do 7s fine but not more than that so far

[glad marsh]

and people telling me I need to rebind my keys -_-

[keen zinc]

I rebound my strat keys to arrows but that's it

Just because sprinting while calling in reinforcements is very good

[final frigate]

iirc my buddy I've been playing with said he usually does impossible, which I think is 7 or 8

[glad marsh]

that's 7 i believe?

[keen zinc]

8

[glad marsh]

oh

[keen zinc]

7 is Suicide Mission

[glad marsh]

ohhh

my mistake

thought that was 6

[keen zinc]

I like Hard, 5

[final frigate]

... he did tell me one time that if I practiced at overwatch I could probably be a decent competitive player so maybe that's just him in general

[keen zinc]

Sometimes Extreme, 6

[glad marsh]

5-6 with a good squad are great fun, you get the full roster of enemies

[keen zinc]

Ye

[final frigate]

I tried mccree vs anabot practice one time and then I stopped playing OW entirely

[keen zinc]

[glad marsh]

speaking of...
<@&1206091872716595200> anyone up to do some dives? (4-6) (in activity 1)

[glacial light]

Really there's a variety of playstyles that work in HD2, for example I contribute enough and cannot aim to save my life literally

I rely on a bunch of stuff that requires being being vaguely close to my cursor

[final frigate]

yeah if you can get me out of work

[rotund marten]

don't remember seeing this statue before

[glad marsh]

it's been there the whole time

[final frigate]

do you mean shotguns

are you werfing flammen

[candid finch]

https://tenor.com/view/game-changer-dropout-sam-reich-ive-been-here-the-whole-time-gif-25231055

[glacial light]

Shotguns, throwing stratagems, autocannons, EATs, Recoiless Rifle

I've gotten real good at throwing with the throw armor, trying to unlearn that

I'm like 80m away? Easy throw don't even have to dive to get that and it falls short cause no throw bonus

[final frigate]

how long am I gotta get these free mechs

they're so fun I don't wanna give em up

[glad marsh]

probably for a week

[glacial light]

Enough to level to 25 quick

[keen zinc]

Flamer is great

But the Stalwart is babygirl

[sinful bay]

Gotta respect the dakka

[keen zinc]

https://www.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/s/aFqjUHIEF5

[blissful sparrow]

How to avoid Death by Mortar: Be dead already

[keen zinc]

The stalwart is a buzzsaw at max rpm

You can't even stand on it and be safe like other sentries

[glacial light]

Hey now, shield pack works

[sinful bay]

I don't trust no sentry with a mortar

[keen zinc]

I trust no mortar without a mortal

[glacial light]

Except that one hill bot defense

[keen zinc]

Nah

[glacial light]

Mortars are goated there

[keen zinc]

They drop too close now

Used to be

[glacial light]

Simply don't be close

[keen zinc]

Now they drop inside the base and will get you killed

[glacial light]

Ez

[keen zinc]

Berserkers will get you mortared a lot

[sinful bay]

Just have faith in the democratic elected AI inside the sentry :3

Spoilers: it was a rigged election all along

[glacial light]

These shells are rated E for everyone

[keen zinc]

EMS Mortar my beloved

Autocannon sentry my beloved

[sinful bay]

https://tenor.com/view/sentry-turret-locket-portal-glados-gif-15748605688010100904

[glacial light]

I am the autocannon sentry

[keen zinc]

Summon autocannon sentry

Crouch on top of it

Equip autocannon

Twinlinked autocannon sentry

https://tenor.com/view/helldivers-helldivers-2-mischief-mischief-mode-mischief-mode-activated-gif-15827932577000824336

[glacial light]

You'd know whatd be fun? Being able to drop a sentry on a mech

Just bring your sentry friend around on top of your mech

[glad marsh]

sweats in earth defense force

[sinful bay]

I would love to be able to get on top of a mech
but honestly? They feel really frail

[glacial light]

Love sticking turrets to the APC

[lethal granite]

LMAOOOOOO

[glacial light]

Stick shield generator on a motorcycle, then turrets on the shields

[lethal granite]

THAT IS SO COLD

[graceful bluff]

Someone mentioned that they feel like what the SEAF would field not helldivers

like it feels like they're intended to have like ~10 of the fuckers in a group

[lethal granite]

Probably

[sinful bay]

But realistic :3

[sinful bay]

Yeah
And like, ammo is empty? Just drop that fucker like an empty mag

[lethal granite]

The line and context of it is so absurd it is peak

[keen zinc]

Yeah I feel like exo suits are supposed to come in whole squads like StarCraft marines

Their limited ammo makes sense for SEAF who have front lines to fall back behind to rearm

For us? Shit just gets left there

[glad marsh]

I..
Considering what ||the buggy|| looks like (we've seen it wrecked at POIs)
I have to say all our vehicles, or at least most of them, are actually SEAF stuff

[glacial light]

Against bugs they're like glass tanks, you can walk into a heavy nest and just mow everything down and take out a heavh nest yourself no sweat. Unless a bug cuts off an arm

[sinful bay]

what SEAF means

[keen zinc]

I do wonder if SEAF legitimately have it better than us, it would be SO fitting for the standard grunt to be less expendible than the ELITE Helldiver

[dusty spruce]

Maybe, maybe not. They don't seem to be having a great time at the abandoned artillery and SAM sites

[sinful bay]

Tho in-game dialog state an single operation costs more than a small spaceship, so

[keen zinc]

The TV says millions of names are etched into the Wall of Martyrs every day, but that's actually a low number based on how many die in Helldiver campaigns

[glacial light]

SEAF is a division that does artillery like the SAMs and SEAF artillery

That's all I know

[keen zinc]

With all due respect, those are not very high causalities compared to Helldivers

[graceful bluff]

SEAF is regular military, in the first game helldivers were drafted like paratroopers from it

[blissful sparrow]

you are safe aslong as you don't walk into a puffball. then you instantly die

[keen zinc]

The SEAF are the Super Earth Armed Forces, it's the catchall term for the actually standing rank and file army, air force, etc

[sinful bay]

What are the casualty rates in-lore of helldivers?

[keen zinc]

They "hold the line" whereas we drop behind the line

[keen zinc]

Massive

[graceful bluff]

20% per mission iirc?

[strange vine]

20% survival rate

[sinful bay]

PPFPF GOD

[hallow hornet]

At least 1

[keen zinc]

That's for training

[sinful bay]

It's worst than the astra Militarum rates

[keen zinc]

That's TRAINING SURVIVAL RATE

[graceful bluff]

the training lasts five minutes canonically

[sinful bay]

It's worst than Muv-Luv even, holyhell

[keen zinc]

Actual missions? Helldivers have an average life expectancy of TWO MINUTES

[glacial light]

I mean our ships are basically small troop carriers for a "super destroyer", half of it is just cryo for Helldivers and the other half is for stratagems launching. Ig our ships are cheap and disposable steel tubes for throwing bodies and bombs

[keen zinc]

Yeah

It's all propaganda

[glacial light]

I don't think we have much in terms of space offense or defense on a super destroyer

[sinful bay]

HAH

[strange vine]

helldivers are just the super destroyer's ambulatory targeting system

[sinful bay]

Oh god I love it

[strange vine]

youre literally fired out in a bullet

[keen zinc]

We are expendible, whereas normal soldiers have families and get mail and bonuses and mortuary affairs and stuff

[strange vine]

the cryo storage is like an ammo belt

[glad marsh]

Tbf
I don't think super destroyers are that cheap
Considering the ordnance alone on one costs more than a cruiser

[keen zinc]

Stuff we see examples of

[sinful bay]

Wait so they aren't clones, each and every single Helldiver it's an actual person?

[glad marsh]

Ye

[keen zinc]

Yep

[hallow hornet]

I think the Super Destroyers are relatively cheap in terms of how they're used

[rotund marten]

OK, now's the third time I finished off a charger by dropping resupplies on it and did not get the chieve

[sinful bay]

That's hilarious, surprises me they don't have a renegade faction

[strange vine]

yes, super destroyers are expensive, theyre the real important part; the helldivers are just the ammunition

[keen zinc]

Super Destroyers are cheap in that they are essentially infinitely reusable

[hallow hornet]

yeah

[keen zinc]

The only thing they expend is Helldivers and stratagems

[glacial light]

I think the fact our ordinances per mission cost more than a super destroyer is indicator of how cheap a super destroyer is to me

[glad marsh]

looks at the suspiciously empty top quarter of the map
Yeah.. haha...
Cyberstan won't rebel, right?

right?

[hallow hornet]

I also think its funny how the game almost leads you to believe your first helldiver is the "owner" of their super destroyer

as in they command it

[keen zinc]

Yeah, a Helldiver mission costs more than what the average civilian makes in a year speaks more to the low income of average civilians

[sinful bay]

I mean, actual humans rebelling

[keen zinc]

Cyborgs were humans

[glacial light]

The chain of command for each super destroyer is longer than the ship itself

[strange vine]

note how the automatons are pushing towards cyberstan

[hallow hornet]

yeah lmao

[sinful bay]

.
Wait the bots we kill aren't full automatons?

[keen zinc]

Absolute narrative control

[hallow hornet]

really wanna see what happens when they get to cyberstan

tbh

[rotund marten]

considering one modern missile costs more than the average salary in basically any nation on earth they could even be quite well paid

[keen zinc]

The Automatons are robots, but they are the "children" of the Cyborgs

[glad marsh]

Oh the ones here are, but they used to be human
Presumably

[rotund marten]

we do go through a lot of hellpods

[strange vine]

who do you think all the dissidents and traitors they keep talking about

[keen zinc]

Whom they are trying to free from slavery in the mines of Cyberstan

[velvet pollen]

my pet theory is that they just tell this to every body they thaw. "greetings commander! get in the pod!" next guy steps out, "greetings commander! get in the pod!", repeat until all automatons are dead

[hallow hornet]

yeah

[barren warren]

from the sound of the upgrades it also sounds like the ships we have truly are running on Minimum Everything to Fly

[hallow hornet]

that's my read too

[glacial light]

Doesn't like a patriot missile irl cost 4 million

[blissful sparrow]

i find it interesting that the terminids and automatons are not actually at 3 and 9 o'clock on the holomap, but more like at 2 and 10, so with even spacing there could be 5 factions on there in total

[rotund marten]

you are in charge, you tell them where to do and where to drop, you just also die immediately

[velvet pollen]

theyre breachloading yeah

[barren warren]

like, handcarts are an upgrade you can buy! handcarts!!

[hallow hornet]

upgrading the targetting system to the premium version because you're using the free one by default is hilarious

[glacial light]

Javelins are like 6 figures each?

[sinful bay]

I though the dissidents are just people that aren't 100% buying in the propaganda, like how they mentioned some dissidents want an actual democractic voting system and not rely on the algorithm
Because apparently all elections are made with the algorithm

[barren warren]

i would not be surprised if the like, 3 people on the bridge are the only 3 actual staff beyond your frozen buddies

[strange vine]

just spike the loading crew's food with drugs to make them work faster

[velvet pollen]

its been a joke/lament/point of contention for decades that us soldiers fire ordinance that costs more than they will ever make in their lives

[keen zinc]

The cyborgs were a rebel faction in the first game, before they were defeated or shortly after they created the Automatons, who have been in the outer frontiers doing small raids but now are launching a major campaign to rescue their creators from slavery

[hallow hornet]

the only way those Super Destroyer even get close to expensive is by having helldivers supply them with money they earn on missions

[strange vine]

oh definitely true, but theres absolutely people fighting back too

[hallow hornet]

in a way your helldiver is a small buisness owner

in this ted talk I will-

[strange vine]

the engineering lady talks about helldivers being deployed on "anit-dissident" operations

[keen zinc]

Super Earth has bugs "escape" farms on dissident planets

[dusty spruce]

oh yeah, the 'voting' in Super Earth is that you press a button and it automatically chooses your candidate based on your 'preferences'. Which isn't suspect at all

[sinful bay]

.
Oh
So we probably have Servitors-like in HElldivers
Oh god

[glacial light]

Radio broadcasts confirm some bug farm outbreak are result of sabotage in some way

Or super Earth's fault

[keen zinc]

Cyborgs believe in transhumanist socialism

[sinful bay]

the lore thickens

[keen zinc]

Super Earth wouldn't have that

[strange vine]

anyway i wish this would be real
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMUbPm8Qp1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBBt8oTUzVY

[hallow hornet]

Really curious what they'll do with the third faction because so far every faction in Helldivers 2 is a sort of "descendant" of the ones in helldivers 1

[keen zinc]

So we conquered and enslaved them in the mines of their capital world

[keen zinc]

Illuminate Splinter

[barren warren]

"The bugs only escape because of deregulation in fence suppliers codes-"

[keen zinc]

We're the baddies.

[strange vine]

the illuminate leaks show them being p fucked up somehow

[meager sandal]

I'm hoping the illuminate forerunners show up and get pissed for what happened to their "kids"

[strange vine]

theyve got 4 arms instead of 2 now

[lethal granite]

Yeah the illuminate are comin

[hallow hornet]

oh hell yeah

[hallow hornet]

oh leaks?

[strange vine]

and some of them look really mutated

[hallow hornet]

worm?

haven't seen them yet

[rotund marten]

I like to think that they never make Pelican stop shooting other mechs or stop the orbital laser pathing over you to get to enemies because no technically-in-charge helldiver lasts long enough after seeing these events to order them to cut it out

[keen zinc]

Yeah I think the Illuminate fled this region of space after HD1 and are going to send back war-forms to try and get revenge

[strange vine]

spoilers || https://youtu.be/aX_ttsibiDo ||

[lethal granite]

They are for sure diff lookin but there aint denying those fugly squid faces

[glacial light]

I imagine illuminate got a bit desperate assuming HD1 endings are canon and we essentially wiped them out. My current head canon is they mutated themselves with terminids to regrow their number quickly

[sinful bay]

Oh no doubt about it
And we are smilling all the time

[quick crown]

Thats cool

[glacial light]

There is no doubt we are evil

Or at least the government is

[meager sandal]

Also has anyone else gotten the announcement yet about volunteering to the bio-repurposer vats if you're too old to be productive

[keen zinc]

The Illuminate were good guys is the funny part

[quick crown]

I hope they aren't too annoying to fight like the first game.

[sinful bay]

Yeah, is literally starship troopers
The goverment is super evil

[quick crown]

Me with my allies in HD 1

wall upon u

[sinful bay]

bio WHAT

[blissful sparrow]

Pelican pilots are probably about 2000 times more qualified and actually valued than a squad of helldivers

[sinful bay]

What they gonna do to you?
Turn intop corpse starch to feed the troops?

[lethal granite]

Yea

[dusty spruce]

Yeah, the Illuminate were maybe the least messed up culture in the last game, interesting to see what being kicked into the void between galaxies has done to them

[keen zinc]

Illuminate literally monitored humans hands-off for millennia and then came forward peacefully when we became space faring

[lethal granite]

iirc the terminids were enslaved for element 110

[keen zinc]

And we attacked them for technology and "WMDs"

[quick crown]

They literally should have known better if they were monitoring us lmao

[keen zinc]

They were too nice

[sinful bay]

good point

[quick crown]

"Dude these dudes aren't ready yet"

[lethal granite]

The illuminate made a good move at a bad time making said good move a very bad move

[quick crown]

"Let them stay in the oven a bit longer"

[keen zinc]

They figured themselves safe because of their technology, underestimating the insanity that is the Helldivers

[strange vine]

E-710, aka if you flip it upside down its OIL

[lethal granite]

710 yeah

I got the numbers wrong my b

[barren warren]

do you think the bugs and the bots would get along

[keen zinc]

Cyborgs did have cyberdogs

[sinful bay]

I also love how apparently they have light beer
Can you imagine
You can ONLY Have light beer

[keen zinc]

Maybe they could make cyberbugs

[quick crown]

[keen zinc]

The Bugs were sentient and peace could theoretically be possible

[sinful bay]

Have your goverment approved LIGHT beer, citizen

[lethal granite]

Unsure. Mostly because i am unsure how far terminid cognitive capacity goes but i think that if the automatons could find a way to talk to them they could strike something up

[quick crown]

Mfw the only beverages superearth approves, TEA AND LIGHT BEER

why

why lady liberty

[sinful bay]

Yeah, the Iluminate could team up with them right.

[keen zinc]

Yeah, termanids might be modified to be less intelligent than the Bugs were

Because the Bugs were revealed to be sentient

[sinful bay]

And you start working at factories at age 6...

[strange vine]

iirc first game implied terminids were sentient/sapient

[lethal granite]

Then it is possible

[keen zinc]

Probably, illuminate smart as hell

[lethal granite]

Automatons just need to bridge the language gap

[graceful bluff]

Automatons speak whatever super earth speaks

as seen in their marching songs

[lethal granite]

Yeah but i doubt they speak what terminids speak

[graceful bluff]

point to helldiver, flip off helldiver

[sinful bay]

They could not outsmart boolet tho

[blissful sparrow]

Terminids just speak shakespearian English

[sinful bay]

That's adorbs

[graceful bluff]

Or Doric

[hallow hornet]

neat

[lethal granite]

Then why are they insistent on stabbing me when i challenge them to a battle of wits?

[dusty spruce]

If you wanna have some 'fun', consider reading this.
https://helldivers.fandom.com/wiki/Helldiver_Contract_of_Employment

[graceful bluff]

||I still love that reading it breaches the contract||

[blissful sparrow]

Because they refuse to fight with someone who is unarmed

[lethal granite]

😔

Also i had my first encounter with someone using the thousand pounder

Almost blew our squad off in the blink of an eye since they dropped it near extraction

We were gettin overran by terminids

[final frigate]

proud to say I maintained the training survival rate
I died to the turrets 4 times because I kept holding down shift while trying to belly crawl

[lethal granite]

I do not blame them but holy shit it was close

[keen zinc]

I died twice to that

[wraith furnace]

Oh yeah my motto with the 500kg bomb is

"Get back get back back back back back back"

[wraith furnace]

SAME

[keen zinc]

I mean it's probably the safest airstrike

It's radius is small

[quick crown]

[keen zinc]

The blast is huge but the actual AOE is small

[wraith furnace]

True, probably much safer than the cluster bombs

[blissful sparrow]

i got through unharmed because it was instantly familiar 😄 its the exact same tutorial as in HD1, just in 3D 😄

[wraith furnace]

🙃

[lethal granite]

I was dropping my walking bar and napalms and all i see is a redlight and 500kg in my left side peripheral and im like "OH FUCK GET DOWN"

[graceful bluff]

Yeah, not with cluster bomb though

[quick crown]

Cluster bombs are the realest.

[graceful bluff]

I always underestimate the range on that one

[keen zinc]

Clusters are the best and most dangerous

[barren warren]

i just think it'd be funny and rad to have an automaton riding a bug like cavalry

put some real fear into a helldiver

[keen zinc]

I know the range to stand for all strikes and bombardment

[wraith furnace]

I've never confirmed if clusters can take out the larger targets

[keen zinc]

Cluster is 40m

Airstrike is 30m

500kg is 20m

[wraith furnace]

Really? Shit

[oak crow]

i wonder what the 380 and walking are

[blissful sparrow]

until there is orbital scatter that you forgot about

[keen zinc]

120 is 50m, 380 is 65m

[oak crow]

cause those feel real good at annihilating me and my friends

[wraith furnace]

Just change zip codes

[keen zinc]

This is how I stand next to explosions so much

I know where I am safe

[wraith furnace]

Do you happen to have a spreadsheet

[keen zinc]

"A3 get back get back"
"no"

I also like to call airstrikes on myself and Sprint jump pack away to get out of radius

[oak crow]

i've gotten good at judging the eagle strikes, but 380 and walking barrage both still feel like a "move move move move move" situation

[lethal granite]

I just eyeball the walking as going about 70m

[keen zinc]

Walking can strike as far as 30m behind it's marker on the first shots

[oak crow]

the issue for me is the initial strike. i feel like it always hits far behind where you throw it, often killing me

[lethal granite]

Yeaaaaa it aint very precise on that first hit

[keen zinc]

Rule of thumb: stay at LEAST 30m from all explosives, and at least 50 from high yield explosives

But this isn't guaranteed because of scatter and outlier shots

Add 10m-15m for additional safety

[wraith furnace]

Wherever possible if you're thinking about being anywhere near the explosion

Simply

Do not

[keen zinc]

Nah

[alpine seal]

500kg is exactly 30 radius, eagle airstrike is 20x50

[wraith furnace]

Actually if you prone out I imagine you can get away with being somewhat closer?

[glacial light]

Me with shield when someone calls out a 500kg, no I don't think I will

[keen zinc]

500kg I swear you can be like 20m from and be fine, I've done it alot for Detector Towers and stuff

But maybe that'd With Cover

[wraith furnace]

Likely it

[lethal granite]

Also HYE or mini nuke rounds from SEAF you just gotta hit the bricks and double back away from as quick as you can

[alpine seal]

ah, that's true

[glacial light]

Mini nuke is basically a hellbomb that's been yeeted

[alpine seal]

my assumption is the 500kg is mathematically 30 radius but has very quick damage falloff from the center

[keen zinc]

HYE and Mini Nukes are on the high end get away scale

60m at least

75m for safety

[oak crow]

mm, i love the hellbombs.

[wraith furnace]

I kinda wanna do some mythbusting on this

[oak crow]

i hope that one of the later upgrades for the mechs is a hellbomb self destruct

[unreal merlin]

Shoutout to all the folks who wait until I throw an Airstrike beacon with clear line of sight and then run forward into it at the last second

[lethal granite]

Also unrelated but i love seeing illegal broadcast side obj's

Because i just take autocannon

And snipe it

[jolly mortar]

versus the not new folks who do it on purpose for the bit

[lethal granite]

From across map

[wraith furnace]

Me: "hehehe I'm going to do the funni"

[unreal merlin]

I deal with the middleground of "WHY DID YOU DELIBERATELY BLOW ME UP" accusers more than I would like

[glacial light]

A funny upgrade for the mech would be 2 bricks, one brick to hold down the pedal forward, and another brick to hold down the self destruct, and you just get out

[keen zinc]

But yeah, I don't like the whole "oh shit a strike I need to run and hide", simply get to the proper distance for the power of the strike, get in cover, and keep fighting

[wraith furnace]

That said I hate the fucking jammer side ops because they take like 15 bazillion grenades and are still up

[keen zinc]

You're exposing your buddies by not fighting

[graceful bluff]

Ah, you're one of those titanfall players :v

[alpine seal]

from what ive heard the 380mm turns a 100x100 meter square of the map into team death and maybe a base kill if youre lucky

[lethal granite]

Remember, one handed weapons expressely made for firing on the move

[wraith furnace]

I think they've tightened the radius actually

[jolly mortar]

I mean the serious answer is just basic situational awareness. the funny answer is finding out how close I can be to the big boom without moving away.

[keen zinc]

Yeah, you need to be at least 60m from the center to be safeish

[unreal merlin]

Proper situational awareness means you can fight perilously close if you know what patterns a strike has and where it was thrown from (to know where "perpendicular" is)

[keen zinc]

65m is best in my experience

[keen zinc]

Yarp

[jolly mortar]

and failing that: the ability to find a bigass rock to dive behind is vital

[cobalt patrol]

The Authorized Command Structure may, at any point, with no prior notice, make amendments to the schedule of services outlined in Appendix A. A copy of Appendix A may, if required, be obtained by the Enlisted through contacting the relevant authorities in the SEAF Administrative Corps, with a hard copy of the Appendix to be delivered to the requesting Enlisted within 5-10 business years.

[keen zinc]

This is how I stand in front of 500kgs and do the hug pose like iron man

[wraith furnace]

Situational awareness? I don't know where Ness is!

[lethal granite]

I do the explosive handshake

Cool people handshake with me while a big explosion goes off

[merry cosmos]

Decided to play HD1 again

[unreal merlin]

• identify someone threw a beacon via audio callout or visually seeing it
• identify what the beacon is labeled as when you look at it
• use your noodle to determine who threw it (it was probably the closest person that isn't you) and determine if you're within its strike radius
• move accordingly to not die

[keen zinc]

Most importantly, don't panic

Don't just rout and flee blindly

[unreal merlin]

on the flipside it's the responsibility of the thrower to also not call in strikes at really stupid angles or timings

[wraith furnace]

Alternatively

Coordinate with your team before throwing shit if possible

[wraith furnace]

Stiiiiill working on that sadly

[keen zinc]

And there will always be outlier situations such as bounces or staggers messing up a throw

[wraith furnace]

Like I've gotten much much better

[lethal granite]

Still im finding a good strike setup for each side of things

[keen zinc]

In which case the proper response is forgiveness and understanding

[wraith furnace]

But sometimes I just whiff things

[jolly mortar]

that's another serious answer/funny answer for me

[glacial light]

I play by one simple rule "git gud"

I am a major rule breaker

[keen zinc]

Don't get mad at someone who got their throw blocked by an air raider jumping at them

[unreal merlin]

My ideal is that coordination is intrinsic and doesn't need specific callouts. I keep enough of a swivel view to identify when someone threw a calldown near me and don't expect them to say "CLUSTER BOMB INCOMING", I trust that they'll call it down as necessary.

[jolly mortar]

if we're taking the mission seriously I'll call that 500kg out on voice. if we're not, i'll drop it on the charger chasing you and watch from a distance.

[lethal granite]

If someone is like "wtf" im like "yeaaa i screwed that one. My b. i will get the samples dw."

[wraith furnace]

Generally I don't burn 500kgs on Chargers alone unless they're stationary

[jolly mortar]

I mean me neither

[lethal granite]

Walking bar usually is the cause of these interactions

[jolly mortar]

but seeing my partner who's being chased by one realize there's a red beacon too now? priceless

[glacial light]

When I say "keep running" I am dropping a strike near you but if you keep moving then you'll be out of its range faster than the enemies chasing you

500kg is like, move 3 feet and you'll be fine

[keen zinc]

Universal rule: if someone tells you to dive, immediately dive. Do not ask why, do not think about it. Dive.

Trust your buddy.

[cobalt patrol]

Me: Don't run towards me.
Briar: runs towards me. gets vaporized by wild hellbomb
Me: I warned you.
Briar: You did!

[wraith furnace]

I am a sizable fan of orbital railcannons fucking up Chargers, Hulks, and Bile Titans

Oh and tanks

[stark ether]

the correct responce to "duck" is not "where?"

[glacial light]

teammates: hellbomb armed
"Me: running away from a horde and towards my teammate directly through the POI with hellbomb

[keen zinc]

It should be a reflex that if someone yells DIVE, you immediately dive

No questions asked

[alpine seal]

i want a stratagem that calls in a shoot to detonate hellbomb like the POIs

probably way too strong but it'd be kind of funny

[wraith furnace]

I should advise people to do that more tbh

Especially since I run a GL

[lethal granite]

Me: i got the tank, setup your shots and let me know when youre ready
Squad: ....ready
Me: drop'em

Area Secured: Medium Automaton Factory

[wraith furnace]

That feeling when you coordinate your strikes is peak

[keen zinc]

I remember playing with Misc iirc and the squad dropped THREE 500kgs on a single bile titan in rapid succession because lmao everyone wants to be the guy

[south temple]

sniping factories with the auto cannon > everything else

[keen zinc]

And so it was like an Eagle Airstrike but with 500kgs

[lethal granite]

Yeah getting a team like that is peak Helldiver

[jolly mortar]

coordinating takedowns on laser cannons scratches my brain good, whether I'm the distraction or the destroyer

[keen zinc]

Literally one after another

And the titan lived

Hilarious

THUNK THUNK THUNK CLICK CLICK CLICK BOOM BOOM BOOM

[jolly mortar]

honestly I enjoy playing bait in this game too much

charger marathons? peak

[wraith furnace]

Fuck I was running with a couple of buddies last night

We had such good coordination

We were stealthing, making calls as to whether to go loud, coordinating airstrikes and sentries

Shit was great

[keen zinc]

Bile Titan emerges from the massive blast cloud unscathed

[wraith furnace]

There's no way it took like no damage tjo

[lethal granite]

Bile titans are vexing sometimes

Sometimes they die to one big boom

Sometimes they are just a little bothered

[keen zinc]

To be fair

[rotund marten]

I've found the 500kg needs to be pretty much directly under the Titan for it to care

[keen zinc]

Although there were 3 bombs, none of us really bullseyed the thing

[unreal merlin]

I like when I can just make simple calls and everyone handles it.
"Tank landing, front."
"Patrol right."
"Berserkers, back left."
"Two hulks, front right."

[wraith furnace]

That would do it yeah

[keen zinc]

One was to the left aways, one was right to the right of it, one was to the right a ways

It literally looked like an Eagle Airstrike but with 500s

[lethal granite]

Tbh if you ask me in my experience so far what front i enjoy more, i will pick the western front 9/10 times

[keen zinc]

And the beast just emerged from the massive cloud of fire and smoke like Godzilla

Misc was there but on the other side from me

Not sure how it looked for him

[wraith furnace]

Honestly I prefer cardinal directions over things like front or back because

I could be facing a completely different direction holding a point lmao

[keen zinc]

I love yelling NEGATIVE IMPACT after a strike fails to take out a target

[unreal merlin]

My callouts are indeed contingent on a mutual understanding of what "front" is for the group, yeah. But if th squad has established that "front" is a given direction then the callouts work fine anywhere.

[oak crow]

my friends still haven't figured out how to play as a team or stealth very well. they also haven't learned the concept of retreating.

[lethal granite]

"Message to observer; all targets eliminated. End of fire mission."

[unreal merlin]

IMO bots are more engaging to fight. Bugs are neat but they're really simple to handle: don't get swarmed (you will get swarmed).

[rotund marten]

I spent a while going by compass bearings before realising that even when you're all grouped up people don't like reading the thing

[wraith furnace]

I need to actively convince my friends to fight bota

*bots

Draupnir is just getting absolutely demolished rn

[lethal granite]

Yeah i find getting into gun fights with bots to be thrilling

[jolly mortar]

I'm so directionally challenged and forget to check my compass half the time that I just waypoint everything

[unreal merlin]

That's another thing yeah, IDFK what direction is where most of the time, battle is to complicated and hectic for me to keep track of where the hell north is.

[keen zinc]

Yeah I wish people squadded up and stayed in relative range of each other

[unreal merlin]

thus, "front, right, left, back"

[keen zinc]

Cough cough

[wraith furnace]

Your compass is legitimately right at the top of your screen, in fairness

[dusty spruce]

My favorite 'oops' in this game is pulling out a 500kg, getting knocked down by a rocket sentry's backblast and dropping the beacon right at my own feet

[jolly mortar]

it's a reflex at this point to be able to flick my map up on a dime in the middle of a pitched fight

[wraith furnace]

Same hat

[rotund marten]

I will never stop roaming, sorry, I genuinely think it is very good for the team to have someone splitting aggro and taking all the easy shots

[wraith furnace]

Called in a 380 right where I died

[rotund marten]

but when in a team fight I do use the bearings

[keen zinc]

The Roamer is fine to have if it wasn't 3 people trying to be the Roamer

[unreal merlin]

It is! I'm looking at other parts of my screen, and when I do look at my compass it's to orient myself towards a coloful waypoint.

[glacial light]

I use the compass, I have no idea where left or right is when it's from another person's pov

Unless they specific, S1 your right!

[rotund marten]

two pairs is also good

since they can respawn each other

[quick plinth]

I cant wait for decoy grenades

[barren warren]

i dont like being alone, i like being the backup buddy to whoever has the biggest gun

[hot meadow]

How does one best use the auto cannon to kill chargers? Smack their butt?

[unreal merlin]

This isn't to say I'll never say N/E/S/W when we're just talking general directions on the map but it's definitely not going to be my pick in the middle of a firefight

[quick plinth]

they gotta add those right?

[oak crow]

yeah, i usually go for "2 chargers on X point" or "patrol to the east!" for that reason

[wraith furnace]

Strip the legs and dump a primary mag.

[barren warren]

like, my ideal role is "keep the guy with the autocannon alive"

[glacial light]

I usually do ping big targets which is great

[wraith furnace]

The backside is good for slowing it down

[glacial light]

I say both general compass direction and ping

[lethal granite]

Yeah i ping the bigs and just say a directional callout depending on squad formation and easiest to grasp terninology

[rotund marten]

I have steadily gotten better at grenade launching chargers

[unreal merlin]

love me Q pings...

[rotund marten]

if you're bursting the grenades on the ground under the abdomen it can take as few as 4-5 shots

I want to get that down reliably, it would be extremely handy

[lethal granite]

"D3, on your 9 oclock"

[wraith furnace]

I usually try and strip at least a little off the Charger's Armor with the GL but yeah getting 4-5 shots in and taking one out is nice

[keen zinc]

Catch me doing my best not to yell CONTACT [AZIMUTH], INFANTRY, 200 METERS

I just try to Q things

[wraith furnace]

(Amko, horrified that I am still using the grenade launcher)

(I have yet to get a friendly fire casualty in the last 5 rounds)

[glacial light]

New call-out strat, type out in chat "hey there's a guy over there"

[lethal granite]

"Eagle, wings level. Fox 4 fox 4."

[jolly mortar]

if I get a friendly fire casualty with the GL 9 times out of 10 it was the now-corpse's fault

[wraith furnace]

...Is fox 4 even an actual brevity code

I forgor

[rustic portal]

no

[keen zinc]

HOSTILES 12 O'CLOCK, 50 METERS, HEAVY WEAPONS

[jolly mortar]

half of those friendly fire GL kills are people running right through my line of fire when I pull the trigger

[lethal granite]

Firing 4

[undone veldt]

So are there any truly limited stratagems?

[wraith furnace]

OH

[lethal granite]

Fox is F, F is firing

[cobalt patrol]

Grfenade launcher's really good though

[lethal granite]

So yes

[oak crow]

but make sure you're standing up before you start typing. preferably in a nice field.

[rustic portal]

1 is semi-active radar, 2 is infrared, 3 is active radar

[wraith furnace]

Okay the thing about Fox X is- yeah what Anubis said lmao

[glacial light]

I mean tbf it's hard to see someone elses line of fire if they're not even on your screen

[wraith furnace]

It's missile type, not count

[glacial light]

I usually take point so everyone is behind me

[cobalt patrol]

also fun charger trick i learned from Misc, you can 2-shot chargers with impacts

Trick is to get it under them so the blast hits their belly

[wraith furnace]

I generally reserve pulling out the GL for when I have a set of targets like a sizable distance from any allies

Or an inbound charger

[oak crow]

whats your favorite pointman loadout? it depends on the map/mission for me, but light armor + a punisher is usually my go-to.

[jolly mortar]

same. I run it almost exclusively on bug maps, handy for when I see a breach before anyone else

or holes

gotta pop them holes

[oak crow]

btw people, the very first set of light armor you get in the Warbonds is really good. Scans enemies at your map pings and makes it harder for enemies to detect you.

[glacial light]

Heavy explosive resist for bots with shield or medium stim armor with shields (waiting for heavy stim>

[jolly mortar]

I know in my heart I should try out other armor perks.

but engineering kit and i are in a committed relationship

[glacial light]

The biggest reason I run shield is it will absolutely prevent most situations that will "one shot" you like negating knockback, hunter slow death loops, etc

[quick plinth]

but its not as light as it could be

[barren warren]

I like being orange

[quick plinth]

I must shave off every bit of armor I physically can when fighting bugs

[wraith furnace]

I generally run:

• Engineer armor for grenades
• Breaker
• Redeemer
• 500kg
• Orbital Railcannon or Laser (mission dependent)
• Autocannon Sentry or Guard Dog/Rover
• Grenade Launcher
• Impact Grenades

[rotund marten]

I find it's a very poor armour-stripping tool

great for devastators though

[quick plinth]

considering it does nothing at all

[rustic portal]

also, Fox is just air to air missiles, against ground targets its Rifle or Turret (or just Away)

[rotund marten]

kills all bots but Hulks, and that includes cannon towers, tanks and buildings

[oak crow]

yeah, i really enjoy sticking to the "base helldiver" aesthetic

[glacial light]

Do note my heavy armor strat works up to diff 7, I've never played higher than that

[rotund marten]

using the grenade launcher in CQC is an acquired skill but I think it's very much worth it to acquire

[wraith furnace]

This is true, it's why I have the autocannon sentry

[oak crow]

but oh man i'd love some personal detailing to be added to the default helmets and whatnot. i think i already mentioned it here today, but i would drop all my super credits for a default helmet with "Born To Dive" written along the side.

[wraith furnace]

I do need to get the health, ammo, and acquisition speed upgrades tho

[rotund marten]

knowing when you have the opportunity to pull that thing out and eradicate half an infantry platoon or wreck an entire bug nest is key

[wraith furnace]

The Autocannon's targeting is

Very very slow

[rotund marten]

dismantling heavy nests by dropping in there and popping grenades into the holes while running around the bugs is pretty much the most efficient possible route short of nuking it with a couple of artillery barrages

[wraith furnace]

Go full Vietnam with "War is Hell" or some shit

[rotund marten]

but you need the GL to actually have enough ammo

alternatively you can loop around the rim firing the autocannon, but that takes a lot longer

[wraith furnace]

If your GL runs out of ammo you can always use your grenades

[oak crow]

exactly. just something to give some personality to it.

[jolly mortar]

1000%. I saved a few runs last night because I was able to pop groups of two or three hive guards at a time by firing right underneath them when they were rushing me or someone else.

[graceful bluff]

Only if it lets me put both a peace sticker and a born to kill sticker on

[jolly mortar]

even if I don't kill outright, well, the hive guards are now sideways or upside down and a quick primary burst (or additional grenade) puts them down

[undone veldt]

So other then flavor, is there any mechanics behind the types of stratagems?

Like bridge vs robotics workshop?

[graceful bluff]

yes

[jolly mortar]

learning the blast radius of a GL launcher's grenade is useful as hell, too. cause you can semi-reliably use that thing to detonate a pack of pursuers while running away.

[graceful bluff]

orbital stratagems originate from your ships(which can be very relevant)

while eagle stratagems go from the side

[jolly mortar]

the edges of the map cause orbital stratagems to drop different, or something like that

[rotund marten]

yeah, but you need to bring the GL, 10 bug holes is too many for one roamer with a pocket full of impacts

[undone veldt]

Oh ok

[graceful bluff]

yeah, you can very much just end up throwing an entire orbital barrage into a big rock rather than your target out there