Helldivers 2: For Managed Democracy!

[unkempt lily]

for the AT mines? two

[mortal wing]

[tight zephyr]

I've been getting a lot of mileage out of incendiary mines because my friends have been dragging me away from the bot front the past couple of days.

[naive dragon]

Did we fail the new one already? I thought the defend four planets one was a softball

Or am I misreading

[ionic holly]

Misreading

pretty sure the current is still ongoing

[burnt vapor]

I think overall we’re at 5 or 6 failed major orders?

[tall stone]

The defend is currently perfectly on track to succeed.

It would take something pretty extreme to fail it at this point.

[strange vine]

what do you mean the plasma punisher is amazing

like you say it feels weak against devastators and berserkers but its great against them actually

it heavily staggers them and fires fast enough that you basically lock them down until theyre dead

its one of my top picks for bots whenever i bring an AT weapon

also can 2 shot scout striders

[tall stone]

2-shotting scout striders is the real draw there tbh.

Scout Strider Headshots are just behind Heavy Devs for things that kill me the most during bots.

[tight zephyr]

The best solution for striders I’ve found is to charge directly at them and dive to get behind them.

Is it smart? Not really. Does it work? A surprisingly large number of times.

[keen zinc]

https://www.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1ctxv2i/quasar_could_never/

[strange vine]

RR is great imo

[pure wave]

To be fair
SEAF are less of an expendable force (they're also a sort of military police)

Also they don't get capes and can't dive

[honest acorn]

I was also under the impression that Helldivers have SEAF training already

[pure wave]

It'd make sense if they did

[hollow plover]

It'd be hilarious if they didn't

[cobalt patrol]

I actually find it's great against both, just due to the stagger. It's not the fastest kill on either, but it'll stagger lock both of them and the aoe is big enough you can bully entire groups.

Real reason for Plasma Punisher into bots though is a: deleting Scout Striders, and B: annihilating troopers.

[unreal merlin]

never underestimate the value of someone just killing all the small chaff as priority

[hollow plover]

The PP is efficient for chaff and a threat to heavy infantry, and being an explosive weapon it can threaten medium armor weakpoints on bots

[cobalt patrol]

Yep. Like I can delete heavies and mediums with the autocannon, what I need is a way to remove troopers from the field

And boy does the PP do that

[reef raven]

tbh with scout striders I've just come to like just....shooting them in the hip from 100m+ with the anti-materiel rifle <.<;

[cobalt patrol]

This is a valid and sensible approach

Healthy even

[reef raven]

since the hip shot from that will one-shot them and generally from ranges at which they're not even a threat to you if you can be a decent shot

(tbh my experience with the AMR is such I have a hard time not using it when facing bots ^^;
With stealth scout armor, I've sometimes used it to do weak point kills on tanks and the turret towers on sometimes thanks to the armor and range making it easier to flank)

[steady flame]

I read that as shooting from the hip from 100m+. Which is impressive.

[rustic night]

If you're careful (and it helps to be prone) you can pretty reliably blast a tower from behind with the AMR before it can turn around.

But you need a bunch of direct hits, if you fire too rapidly and miss any of your shots it'll get around before you finish destroying it.

For best results, get a friend to shoot it too.

[strange vine]

made her tits bigger because

anyway im working on the automaton tanks now

[pure wave]

I can't tell if you're using your powers for evil or good

[strange vine]

[pure wave]

Whatever boats your float

The details on the leg armor is real nice though.

And the tank automaton has calf treads
Wheelies :D

[strange vine]

these are the ones ive done so far

[short rune]

I just now noticed the proportions.

[steady flame]

I always enjoy seeing your art here, Skaian. :3

[pure wave]

Its just metal plating

[strange vine]

thank you!

[pastel igloo]

yeah it's really nice

[pastel igloo]

also, damn

certainly an increase

[strange vine]

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Kel0kX

oh shiiiiit https://www.artstation.com/artwork/04JKb4

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/LRq5oR

damn i actually dig the retro ww2 aesthetic of the early automatons

[pastel igloo]

damn

that is pretty cool ngl

i do still prefer what we have now

but that is neat

[steady flame]

I'm trying to figure out what this reminds me of.

skaianDestiny ↩️

[Reply to:](#1204832579287519292 message) oh shiiiiit https://www.artstation.com/artwork/04JKb4 📎

[strange vine]

it looks like a chi-ri, tiger I, charioteer, and isu-152 had a lesbian orgy that resulted in this baby

[steady flame]

Charioteer, that'swhat the turret reminded me of, yeah.

[strange vine]

oh man what if the initial factory striders we encountered in the final push to "get rid of the automatons forever" were these and then the full production versions came out with heavier armor and the cannon turret
wouldve been cool

[pure wave]

T1 and T2 enemies would have been great ngl

Like, oh, regular automaton grunts too easy? Congrats, all red

[shy prairie]

Isn't that already a thing with the troopers

Like, some(?) of em have black heads on higher difs I think

[strange vine]

yeah id love more enemy tiers

esp if they have visual differences

bile spewers have 2 tiers, tier 1 ones are lower diff and are lighter colored and dont have the mortar ability

warriors also have 2 tiers, lower diff is whiter colored and dies immediately after a head pop

[gusty heron]

Yeah, and especially if they could give some visual distinction to the bugs relating to their roles. Though, to be fair, right now it might just be that most of the bugs to something similar to one another, with a few exceptions of stalkers, chargers, bile titans, and bile spewers (as opposed to the differences between devastators, where you need to engage with a heavy pretty differently then you would a rocketeer).

_ _
Also, ballistic shield is still such a beautiful tool for automatons. I no longer fear heavy devastators because I can just run at them and shoot them a few times in the head while their shots ricochet off of my shield. It's actual armor, like enemies have, and it feels great. You can stay moving constantly, engage one group of enemies with your heavy weapon while keeping another group facing your back (since your shield will be backslung), you can draw fire from anything short of a hulk (rocket devastators are dangerous, but mostly because they can send you flying out of position; their rockets don't do that much damage through the shield).

[civic apex]

Full of freedom and democracy

[golden ledge]

OH MY GOD that's so cool

[cobalt patrol]

This poor lady has spinal issues for years now D:

[strange vine]

Tbh comments like that are just kinda idk not funny? Like im well aware those are unrealistic sizes idc its hot let me draw what i like

Anyway super earth has perfume that literally rewrites your dna assume she got like a super spine or something

Only the breast for super earth's finest

[cobalt patrol]

Fair, and apologies for any hurt

[tight zephyr]

Are frag grenades any good? I haven't seemed to get many kills out of them against the bugs.

[meager saffron]

`they're Fine™️

impacts just have higher ease of use for mostly similar killing power

[cobalt patrol]

They're fine, tm as Thresh says. Tbh, i think you're best going anything else than them though

Impacts are well, impacts.

HEs have a bigger damage, at cost of being more finnicky

[tight zephyr]

I like the HE grenades because they're easier to kill holes/fabricators with.

[cobalt patrol]

Impact incins/Incins are both potent as hell

Stuns are really good

Smokes should be good

but are held back by not killing fabs

oh, and THermites are awful, but probably will get buffed i imagine

[tight zephyr]

I want more stick grenades.

Because I think they look cool.

[tall stone]

The best thing I can say for Frags: They cost you nothing to get.

[meager saffron]

they're worth what you pay \

[honest acorn]

Don’t frags cost some medals?

[tall stone]

Nope, that's the starting grenade iirc

[honest acorn]

HE is the starting grenade

[tall stone]

Huh

I was mis-remembering.

Oh, it's 2 medals.

For more area.

It exists for bugs.

[honest acorn]

My experience with frags is that they were kind of meh and then I got incendiary nades and those did a much better job in that role

[tall stone]

Correct.

But first page on the free warbond and 2 medals, so...

[honest acorn]

Yeah and they work

With the huge area don short fuse they can clear hunters

Which is enough reason for a grenade to exist

[strange vine]

hope we get a new free warbond

the free warbond is a great medal sink; the paid ones really arent

[steady flame]

Oh, also, didn't notice this the first time round, but very enjoy the chest freckles. Incredibly cute.

skaianDestiny ↩️

[Reply to:](#1204832579287519292 message) made her tits bigger because 📎

[sour whale]

agreed

[hazy oriole]

gave the mounted mg a try today

[cobalt patrol]

You know, i never thought to combine the two emplacements like that, that's v. clever.

And i feel very silly for not considering it, lol

[last mauve]

oh damn that just tears through walkers like its nobodies business

[strange vine]

hmg emplacement is fantastic

you basically have 2 rapid fire AMRs

[hazy oriole]

shield gen relay can do some great stuff if you position it right, and the cooldown being shorter than the HMG means you can use it even when the emplacement's on cooldown

one of my fave uses for it is trivializing gunship fabs by putting it over the hellbomb so those flying fucks can't blow it up

[hazy oriole]

it'll tear through anything short of a factory strider tbh

[tall stone]

A person I know just had A Time on a dive.

[hazy oriole]

even hulks go down if you aim for their face

[tall stone]

Stims used: 20

[hazy oriole]

holy shit

[tall stone]

Right?!

[cobalt patrol]

...You uh, you've never played with me then

stims used 20+ is very commo nfor me.

I'm pretty sure i've broken 30 before

(but i will like, stim at the drop of a hat, and paly very aggressive)

[gusty heron]

Stims are beautiful things, and if StimCorp didn’t want me stimming constantly then they wouldn’t have made them so darn nonaddictive

Also, I wear medic armor and no one ever picks up the stim packs at POIs so I might as well use every stim I can while I can

[tall stone]

Jokes on you, I love those things. Little candy packets.

[gusty heron]

As you should! They’re great! Same with the POI ammo; I let up the trigger on my SMG as infrequently as possible because I know there’ll be like 12 magazines waiting at the next one and no on else is going to pick them up

[tall stone]

It's great for when I go "I'm just gonna go do things alone for now"

[pure wave]

Good one

[keen zinc]

tits are the tits

[unkempt river]

what?

[keen zinc]

you heard me

[unkempt river]

I don't disagree, we love a little bird, but how do they relate to current topic?

[keen zinc]

follow the reply chain above to this morn

[unkempt river]

Listen. Breasts are best, so why are you talking about birds? (/j)

[keen zinc]

[unkempt river]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3rpTIMY0sdl6Xjz8ul3CjwbFc4XX0wagOHukWVedBVQ&s

[cobalt patrol]

Woo! We gout out of a helldive with two whole surivours

[tight zephyr]

This is a shockingly low percentage.

[cobalt patrol]

Eh, check the % on people completing the tutorial too

It's often very revealing how few people have that, a lot of people will ahve the game and havent played yet

and lioke, it doenst always come up? i'm incredibly fast to self-stim

so you only get to stim me if i'm entirely out of stims

(at which point i am probably following you spamming I NEED STIMS)

[stone bridge]

the stimmerrr

[tight zephyr]

"I hate it here."

I know that every time you respawn your guy's a new Helldiver, but I've been imagining it being the same guy every time and he's just having the worst time imaginable.

"Why do you keep sending that Helldiver in?"
"Because he's like the perfect combination of disposable and indestructible. It's uncanny."

[shy prairie]

it's at 95.4, i would call that basically equal to 100 for like, the purpose of saying 66.4 is low

it's not super surprising to me though, stimming friends isn't exactly like, an obvious signposted move

[glacial light]

Amateur
turns around with supply pack and medic armor

Come back when you use up 30 stims in a mission

Anyone sneezes in your direction you stim

[pure wave]

Free stamina/temporary immortality

[cobalt patrol]

I've moved to using 50% armor, just because it really fucking helps against a bunch of stuff medic armor cant save you from

likle surpise hellbombs

or @stone bridge cluster bombs.

[stone bridge]

lollll

[cobalt patrol]

MEDIC ARMOR WILL NOT SAVE YOU FROM BRIAR

[oblique storm]

Is this meant to rhyme

[quick plinth]

diesel punk

[unreal merlin]

Today's still Double Gas Strike day and it's super good.

[cobalt patrol]

I couldnt take advantage because i was on helldive with increased scatter ;.;

Absoloute tradgey, really

[cobalt patrol]

Right

I forgot the other reason i wear the shield backpack with the flamethrower

idiot fucking teamates who cannot be trusted to not friendly fire me all the fucking time

[tight zephyr]

I think all the guns should have a laser on them so you know where your friends are pointing their guns.

[honest acorn]

Yeah that would be great

[unreal merlin]

had some really good synergy with a friend earlier where, without coordination, we formed a flamethrower/pummeler tag team to effortlessly manage down a bug swarm

felt good

having friends you naturally synergize with feels good

[tall stone]

The coinflip armor is great for survivng traitor barrages.

[tight zephyr]

I think if your barrage team kills more than three times, they should take away your barrages.

[cobalt patrol]

This will not stop team mates seeing me burning a breech and then throwing a air strike ontop of me ;..;

[cobalt patrol]

On Helldive earlier I was being chased by a pack of bile Titans. Saw a hell bomb. Was manuvering to set it off safely and take out the Titans when one of them stepped on it.

Cue me getting Yakety Saxed across the map and dusting my self off. That Armor is so good

[tight zephyr]

"a"

[cobalt patrol]

Look my hell dive teammates were good.

My Suicide mission ones were not

[tight zephyr]

I haven't done Helldive yet. I get killed too much on Extreme as is.

[cobalt patrol]

(actually the Helldive crew were great. Very chill, even when friendly fire happened)

The usual response to someone dying or friendly fire issues was it's cool, it's Helldive

[tight zephyr]

I did a Suicide Mission one yesterday where we were getting mobbed by gunships and the host kept apologizing.

[cobalt patrol]

Even when I roasted a few of them ;.;

[tight zephyr]

My favorite ones are the guys who somehow don't notice the flamethrower and run directly through your line of fire.

[honest acorn]

Seems like it’s complaining about them on discord haha

[cobalt patrol]

No the people in grousing about were in a Suicide mission

The Helldive crew were a different group, and were genuinely great

We had a bunch of friendly fire incidents just because of how hectic Helldive bugs is, and no one got titled or anything

[honest acorn]

Ok I guess I’ll clarify

[cobalt patrol]

Mostly a lot of laughter when the end of the first mission went pear shaped

[honest acorn]

I’m sick of you using this thread as a dumping ground to bitch about randoms

So stop please

[cobalt patrol]

Apologies, I'll endeavour to be better on that

[honest acorn]

Thanks

[honest acorn]

we did it!

[tall stone]

What an oddly specific number.

[honest acorn]

That's pi right?

[rapid plover]

yeah

[tall stone]

Oh

Oh it is.

[glacial light]

I wonder if this is a setup for SEAF stratagems after the AT mines

[glacial light]

This helldiver is using dialup to call pelican one or something
https://www.rxddit.com/r/LowSodiumHellDivers/s/pvmOLtPwQc

[supple siren]

Flew into a black hole v-v

[shy prairie]

KπBFE

Or maybe KΠBFE

[tight zephyr]

Stalkers are the worst thing I've ever encountered.

[strange vine]

my team dropped on two stalker nests next to each other once

we lost half our reinforcments in 10 minutes lmao

[glacial light]

Stalkers are one reason I really like shield pack on bugs, no knockback 20 feet

[blissful sparrow]

tfw no eagle airstrikes 😔

[stark ether]

how frends today?

[glacial light]

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

I saw this and had a funny thought, what if Helldivers have a chance when being brutally killed to keep firing the gun when they ragdoll because their finger is still on the trigger

It would be an epic clip to see someone fall the ground and their autocannon goes off and clutches

Or a funny clip of a helldiver being clustered bomb and their severed hand holding an SMG is spraying until it runs out of ammo and shoots the person who threw that cluster

[honest acorn]

That would actually be really funny

[quick plinth]

I'm just waiting for the spear fix to come back and play again

[keen zinc]

im waiting for a balance passover

[hazy oriole]

been trying to get myself super creds for a warbond since i'm almost full on medals and nowhere near enough super creds for another one

keep getting this contact support error, anyone know what it's about?

[stark ether]

the only super credit error i'm aware of (there are for sure others) is the japan one

and if it is that one you just have to wait for a fix they're working on it

[tight zephyr]

Wait do stalkers only spawn if there's stalker nests?

[wide mural]

yeah

you have to figure out where the nest is based on where they're coming at you from and go blow it up

[tight zephyr]

Well that's helpful.

Because fuck them guys.

[wide zenith]

<@&1206091872716595200> Send dudes! I finished my final paper, so I'm celebrating with some Helldiving.

[wide zenith]

Never mind... tired now lol

[stone bridge]

Whuh

[tall stone]

OOOOOO

[stone bridge]

Like what is this exactly

[strange vine]

datamined stats of bile titan's body parts

its

arcane

[stone bridge]

Yeah I have no idea how to divine this

[tight zephyr]

H... how many do we kill?

[stone bridge]

A Pi amount

[tight zephyr]

Three and a bit?

[stone bridge]

Well, Pi multiplied by a lot :p

[tight zephyr]

What a weird way to do it.

[stone bridge]

I found it funny

[tight zephyr]

Guess I'll kill three bugs, then blow the leg off of a fourth.

Hhhuh.

The squad I joined is speaking a language I can't identify.

[tight zephyr]

I'm pretty sure this is Cantonese.

[zenith maple]

Democracy knows no language barrier

[tight zephyr]

Nope, Taiwanese.

[lethal badger]

Y’all

Question

I’ve heard people saying online that the satire of Helldivers was toned down in order to appeal to a wider audience of more moderate gamers

But I’m not sure what that looks like

In general, I quite like the satire and think it accomplishes its task pretty well of making you the bad guy (and vilifying the US as well)

I never played HD1 so I don’t know what toned down looks like

[meager saffron]

it turns out people can just say whatever on the internet

for free

[daring monolith]

If anything I think it’s more prominent tbh

[tight zephyr]

Yeah it's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

[lethal badger]

I knew it

My confusion was mounting

Figured it was bullshit but it was a valid question in my mind

Especially as HD1 and 2 are very different games

[copper crest]

I mean it could be less subtle if you wanted to

[lethal badger]

Nah

Media needs to be sledgehammer Esq in this day and age

You need explicit trans characters, explicit rebuttals of capitalism, etc

People just won’t get the message if you don’t

[copper crest]

No I mean it could swing the sledgehammer even harder

[lethal badger]

Oh sorry

Yeah uh

All media needs to be sledgehammer incarnate for the sake of media literacy

(Actually that might worsen the problem)

[ionic holly]

Complete aside but

i really wish the ballistic shield had a unique melee while in use

i don't care if it's functionally the same, i wanna shield bash things

[tight zephyr]

Good game though.

[steady flame]

Random fact about this: The main Chinese languages spoken in Taiwan is Hokkien.

Fang [He/Him] ↩️

[Reply to:](#1204832579287519292 message) Nope, Taiwanese.

[cobalt patrol]

While i'm not sure on a lot of the part names, the rest is pretty simple - it's armor rating, how much health, what % of that requires durable damage weapons (explosive) to do in etc

[tight zephyr]

I think I've just been struggling to find weapons that work for me. I hope the Dominator works out for bots because I'd prefer to fight bots but the Liberator Penetrator has been disappointing.

[hearty pier]

The diligence counter sniper has been filling that role of anti-medium against bots well for me. At least on missions where you can create space to reliably headshot devastators.

The other approach I've been enjoying is bringing an ammo efficient primary of choice and the HMG. Use the HMG to shred the swarms of mediums and the primary to clear trooper sized bots.

Costs you your carried support slot, but really puts in work

[cobalt patrol]

So, TIME FOR PENGUIN TO GO IN DEPTH IN STRATERGY

First off: What support weapon do you run?

Becvause priamry weapons exist to be paired with support weapons, imho.

For bots, straight off, i like the following:

Scorcher, Dominator, Plasma Punisher, Slugger, Redeemer, Senator, Stun Grenades, Impact Grenades (okay, some of these are not primary weapons, but shush)

Bots in general, i feel you're looking for three things in a primary:

-How well does it beat up troopers? Assaults and MG raiders are incredibly dangerous, and being able to one shot body shot them is a big deal. Ability to body normal troopers is also very useful, as they can come in suprsingly big packs.

-How well does it kill Scout Walkers? Very dangerous due to head shots, ability to put these in the dirt fast is a big deal. PP and scorcher both wreck Scout Walkers.

-How well does it pop heads? This is for killing Devastors and Beserkers, where precise shots are your friends - Beserkers fold to headshots or red-glow shots, Devastors all ahve vey fragile heads.

And then you start crossing that with your support weapon - Arc Thrower, for instance, rips through Troopers and everything else, but is terrible against gunships (a serious demerit these days).

Autocannon can one hit kill devs really well if you can pop heads, but it's more reliable to go for the body shots. it doesnt do so well against troopers though, so i really like the plasma punisher

[cobalt patrol]

Following this up a bit further:

Dominator is very good at popping devastators. For troopers, it'll kill them in one shot i belive, but it's ROF makes it struggle agaisnt swarms of them. It can drop beserkers pretty fast, but you really need to hit the head. It does, however, blow their arms off really fast, so you can make them harmless.

It's got a lot of stagger, which is really nice. It has enough AP to get through tank vents and hulk vbents too. Likewise, it's limb destruction is really strong.

IT struggles agaisnt Scout Walkers - you have to aim for the joints of the legs where they connect to the hip, which is a tricky shot. This is the main reason i dont like it agaisnt bots, but that's something you can work around (Autocannon or Laser Cannon will wipe out Scout walkers really fast, i belive the varisous HMG/MG can do so as well, AMR can one shot em, etc)

[unkempt river]

Not to pile on advice, but to mention some points Pengu missed (probably cause they aren't running a DMR 😎)
I build in the following order

1. Support Weapon
2. Primary
3. Secondary + Grenade
4. Red Stratagems (occasionally I will take a green, but usually not)
5. Armor

Slot 1 into Bots (in order of personal preference):

• LasCannon -> It's incredibly reliable after only a little practice, ammo-free, pops hulks with just a single application of a stun 'nade, and can actually trash Gunships faster than you'd expect. It struggles to kill tanks, walker hordes, and its TTK on an Un-Stunned Hulk is pretty bad, the faceplate bobs in a way that's a little hard to track with the beam
• Autocannon -> Trashes basically all the bots, tremendous range, kills bases. It's a great allrounder. It struggles sometimes with keeping ammo in stock, especially if you roam away from the rest of the team and don't wanna call resup just for self. Doesn't allow for pack.
• Quasar Cannon -> Pops tanks and hulks through frontal armor, kills mortars and AA from anywhere within LOS, ammo free, allows a pack and kills bases. In exchange for this power, it has a really big cooldown time that means you may not get to fire off the two shoots into whatever is threatening you before you die. Stuggles with horde situations and often doesn't have the cooldown to deal with Heavy Devs or Walkers (forcing you to handle with alternate methods) and also has to deal with the pre-fire charging.
• EAT -> Everything good about the Quasar plus no prefire charge up and has better damage. In exchange, you get 2 shots per 70 secs that have to be called in. This means it is pretty bad for horde situations and I find that (at high levels) I need 1 more eat shot than I have access to.
• Recoilless -> Lower damage EAT that uses your pack slot for ammo. Pretty good overall, but a tremendous loading time, so getting more than one shot into anything is going to require cover or great distance.
• AM Sniper -> Hits like a truck and can 2 (ish) tap hulks in the faceplate, as well as cut ANY dev in half if you hit 'em square in the midsection. It struggles to deal with tanks and turrets without some RISKY plays. Number of bullets per mag means you can shoot it at any dev you run into. In exchange, it does very poorly against swarms. Does let you carry a pack.
• All MGs -> Very good at popping hordes and can even deal with walker clumps, but outside of the HMG gets bogged down into devs, especially heavy devs. Everything with big armor is pretty dang painful. Hulks and Tanks almost require flanking to reliably kill with these.
• All Others: Probably have merits but I haven't tested them enough to figure out how/where they shine.

For Slot 2 into bots:

• CS Diligence is my #1. It pops devs in 1 head shot, body-shots troopers, can crack Walkers in the "hip", and even pop chin turrets on the FactStrider. Downsides are ammo hungry, slowish handling (better than the dominator though), and trouble with swarms of littles.
• Standard Liberator is actually my next choice for its sublime flexibility. Ammo efficient, ability to kill swarms or switch to burst/SS to pop Dev heads, etc., it's the standard for a reason.
• Sickle is very similar to the Liberator but in exchange for having the very best ammo efficiency loses out on a little dps and firing mode options.
• Slugger operates much like the dominator but with a faster firing rate in exhange for a little damage and a little stagger. Quick to reload and a great handling, it pops dev heads, damages vents on heavy enemies, and can empty into swarms to scythe down their numbers.
• Punisher is the "I really need to deal with hordes" option. It struggles into devs, especially heavy devs, but bersekers and troopers hate this 1 weird trick (just bring a trench sweeper)

Avoid taking a slot 1 and 2 that struggle with similar things, unless you are postive that your secondary can handle the shortcoming

[naive dragon]

I like smg+shield and railgun 👍

You do a funny vooOOP and then kablam

New warbond smg + senator also, sen does wonders if you get good at landing headshots with it

I wanna test something stupid

I cannot surf a 500kg

[naive dragon]

You can however get pretty close to one and survive

[cobalt patrol]

Always nice when someone runs an off meta loadout and is just amazing with it

guy who's been running laser drone, Gattling turret, autocannon turet

and just doing fantastic with it in my games

[unreal merlin]

A sleeper pick is the vanilla MG turret. Gatling is loud and high DPS but MG turret just puts in solid work over a long duration.

[unkempt river]

Nice

[unreal merlin]

Orbital Gas is honestly a favorite of mine, though Orbital EMS is kinda underwhelming I think.

[unkempt river]

Orbital EMS isn't great, yeah.

[unreal merlin]

Very long stun, but I run stun grenades and if I'm stunning something it's because I think I can kill it in < 4 seconds so I don't need a 15 second stun.

[blissful sparrow]

funnily enough i think the DoT fix made the EMS less necessary

[unreal merlin]

Orbital Smoke is also a cool pick on bot missions. Use it to help hold a position, or what I like to do: throw it onto a base we're assaulting and running at it into the smoke so we have an easier approach.

[unkempt river]

Truly based!

[unreal merlin]

Or face left/right (perpendicular) to your direction of travel and throw it at your feet to get a longer line of smoke cover if you're fleeing.

since it'll go perpendicular to your facing direction, making a line parallel with your running direction

[unkempt river]

That's for Eagle Smoke, right?

Orbital is just bubble, iirc

[unreal merlin]

Eagle or Orbital, both come down perpendicular to your facing direction.

Orbital is like, 3 spots of it IIRC. It's a lot fewer than eagle.

[civic apex]

https://fixupx.com/Neytiirix/status/1792112253384479191

[unkempt river]

They're perfect

[cobalt patrol]

Oh, Orbital smoke is very slept on

and i should run it a lot

[tight zephyr]

Recoilless rifle is my usual go-to. I’ve gotten pretty good at hit-and-run with it. The bots that give me the most trouble are Berserkers and the Devastators with the shields, mostly because I’m not very reliable with headshots.

Tanks and Hulks aren’t as big a threat in my experience as a bunch of those shield fuckers showing up.

[cobalt patrol]

Dominator will be a great pickup then 🙂

or Slugger

both will treat you very well.

[tight zephyr]

Although I heard that they might’ve fucked the spawn numbers up for bots and we’re seeing much larger hordes of Berserkers than is intended.

I’ve noticed that since I got the incendiary Breaker(?) the bugs have been a lot easier.

I’ll get the Dominator since it’s the closest one I have to unlocking.

[cobalt patrol]

I think you'll be very happy

I accept zero responabiltiy if you're not

[naive dragon]

Thinking about fielding the EMS turret for more missions. Anything I'm gonna be at for more than a few seconds drop one behind some cover and let it wreak havoc

I'm just trying to think of a good offensive to go with it for bases and hardened targets

[unreal merlin]

Mortar turret.

Both are exceptionally good vs bots. EMS is great vs bugs but mortar is inadvisable.

[naive dragon]

I am a bots guy you're not wrong

[cobalt patrol]

I would def side eye youi for brining mortar into bots as well, but i'm a madman who thinks "Jetpack and laser cannon is how you beat tanks"

(Youi jetpack onto the tank and laser out the vent)

[naive dragon]

That's very cool

I was thinking about whether or not precision strike is enough to just get the job done

[unreal merlin]

Mortar is great vs bots due to them generally being so slow.

It doesn't do anything for hulks or tanks but it lets you deal with devastators and smaller from great distance and safety.

[naive dragon]

Ah, tanks and hulks are mostly what I worry about

Railgun makes devas disappear, and while railsniping smokes hulks sometimes they're not facing me

Rocket pods could work 🤔

[unreal merlin]

110 rockets is super good vs tanks but I found didn't do much vs hulks because they're too small-profile to hit all the time (and they can RUN)

110s are great vs tanks and for easily breaking assemblers tho

[naive dragon]

One day I wanna make a compilation of my hunting hulks with rail and do a crappy CoD no scope montage like it was the early 2000s again

[tight zephyr]

I should invest in the 110 pods next. I usually take the 500kg but I don’t think it’s as good as the memes say, it’s just flashy.

[naive dragon]

It is very flashy

[unreal merlin]

500kgs aren't universal problem solvers but they do solve a number of problems really well.

• you can drop them on bot detection towers to instantly destroy them without hellbombs
• you can use them to kill bile titans assuming you know how to manipulate their AI to make them stand still
• you can use them to kill chargers/hulks/tanks for similar reasons (or use stuns to make them hold still) as 500kg bomb drops quite quickly
• you can use them to destroy 2+ assemblers/bug nests at once

[hollow plover]

I treat the 500kg as a bigger OPS, for hitting one target hard. It just so happens to also kill two extra enemies in range

[tight zephyr]

I usually bring the orbital railgun if I think there’s going to be bile titans.

[unreal merlin]

railgun is too long a cooldown for me, so I use OPS instead

[azure pewter]

500 kg is my fav giant slayer and it can also do hellbomb stuff and you get 2 of them in case the first misses

[tight zephyr]

Its cooldown is a pretty big drawback but I like it for the ability to go “SEND HIM TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE AND HAVE HIM EXPELLED!” with absolute accuracy.

[unreal merlin]

I think my push-away of railcannon is all the times I've used it and it DOESN'T kill the bile titan I really would like to be dead right now.

[azure pewter]

If it consistently 1 tapped biles I’d like it a lot more but it is the best option for surprise chargers

[shy prairie]

I wonder if it consistently onetaps if the bile is facing the super destroyer/direction the rail comes down from

[royal lantern]

OPS I find to be more reliable than the 500kg recently

Especially for bugs

500 sometimes doesn't do anything at all to big enemies for what I have to assume are janky hitbox reasons

[hollow plover]

Explosions don't really travel around walls and other indestructible obstructions

So you can dive behind a nearby rock and survive it

[tight zephyr]

Which makes sense, if you ask me. I kind of like that.

[shy prairie]

[uneducated comment about wave diffraction]

[tight zephyr]

Is this useful?

[unreal merlin]

It can be, but you gotta play around it. It's not critical by any means but it can be really cool.

[shy prairie]

I don't see it that often but I'm going to say yes, just because of protecting gunship hellbombs

[unreal merlin]

A few times I went full Engineer Gaming and brought mortar, shield generator, and HMG turret and just set up a little firebase anytime we needed to fight a big wave

[shy prairie]

It's probably more easy to effectively use than the tesla tower

[unreal merlin]

you may think it's useless vs bugs, but the shield DOES block bile titan spew

[strange vine]

the 30% recoil reduction armor is active all times
https://i.imgur.com/C0pBThk.mp4\

[keen zinc]

i hear what it does is make each stance as effective as the next most stable stance, and prone 30% better

so standing is as effective as crouching, crouching as prone, and prone 30% better

[trail nymph]

<@&1206091872716595200> Anyone up for some Sunday diving?

[tight zephyr]

I just jumped back in, an hour late for this call.

<@&1206091872716595200>
If anyone's up to do some Suicide Mission level stuff.
#9506-7070

[modest fiber]

sounds like a plan

[modest fiber]

can't connect to the game somehow.. i'll try later

[tight zephyr]

Let me retry. One sec.

[tight zephyr]

#9678-6924

[modest fiber]

i mean i can't connect to the game servers, as in i can't log into the game

[tight zephyr]

Ahh, okay. I misunderstood.

[ionic holly]

Alright i'm just
hard stuck AT i guess

Brought supply pack/HMG cause i wanted to have some fun, spent like... 5+ minutes kiting a single BT and repeatedly asking for any teammate to help

[unreal merlin]

Always gotta have some kinda plan on higher difficulties. I bring precision orbital usually.

Either that or 500kg

[ionic holly]

I had precision orbital

it was stratagem interference

So even if i nailed the spot and timing the game just gets to go "lol, lmao"

it took me 3 of them to kill the bastard

would've used the free 500kg but i kinda
admittedly forgot i had it

Apologies i hope i don't sound mad at you i'm just

frustrated

the one time i don't bring an AT option is the one time my only stratagem for it is unreliable and my team just refuses to help

[cobalt patrol]

It also blocks charger charges. Which is very funny, they make a giant clonk

[tight zephyr]

Got stuck with a group who went overtime and wiped but I did manage to kill a Bile Titan with a dud Hellbomb.

[strange vine]

Railcannon + popping the sacs is a guaranteed Bile Titan kill ime

[tall stone]

OK, I have found my eruptor replacement until it's fixed.

Plasma Punisher rocks.

[strange vine]

Yeee

I love it

[tight zephyr]

I got this one before the one for Commons.

[wide mural]

common one needs you to have all of them personally, rare is across the team

so the rare one is actually a lot easier to get done

[tight zephyr]

Ah, I see.

I need to start doing missions specifically to farm Commons. I'm always running short on them.

[ionic holly]

I
know? i don't really know what you're expecting me to do with a railcannon when i explicitly didn't have one

[strange vine]

Did you not know there was stratagem interference into the mission?

[ionic holly]

No, i didn't.

it was quickplay, i tend to try and go in ASAP incase they're in need of help

[glacial light]

I was being support so hard

[ionic holly]

Hell yeah, good job sevens

[glacial light]

Supply pack is mandatory for my friend crew. Constantly giving out ammo and stims like it's candy cause no one calls in resupply

[zenith maple]

I try to support but usually my random teammates unknowingly run from me when I'm chasing them down to stim them

[tight zephyr]

Randoms are... well, random. I tend to think of them as AI with variable programming.

Oh shit the Recoilless Rifle actually has backblast?

[strange vine]

https://www.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1cvpgrm/fabricator_laptop/

[tight zephyr]

https://tenor.com/view/helldivers-bile-titan-terminid-typing-gif-3878607013866196344

[cobalt patrol]

The laptop memes remain my absolute favourite

[tight zephyr]

I need to return to the Automaton front.

I've been shooting bugs all weekend. But I don't want to go back until I have the Dominator.

[pastel igloo]

The "i'm not a big fan of the government" meme was quite amusing i think

https://youtu.be/FMyknwRYWKU?si=SxM33vaPHuOThwys

[glacial light]

Both EATs and RR will kick up a cloud of snow when you fire it

I love the tallest desk for the laptop

[cobalt patrol]

Not only does it have b ackblast, it'll knock people behind you on their butts etc

[tight zephyr]

Huh. Guess I never thought to even check.

[ionic holly]

God i adore the tenderizer
i know statically it's worse than the liberator but it just feels good

[tight zephyr]

Sometimes that’s what’s important.

Actually, I had a question. Is the Concussive Liberator good for bots even though it has lower damage?

[ionic holly]

I'll be frank if you wanna use lib conc just use pummeler

and this is from someone who liked the gun

standalone it's

fine
i guess
it's slow and it doesn't feel like like it can actually capitalize on its stunning like the pummeler does

which yeah i know i just compared the two while saying standalone but it's still a flaw even if i removed my pummeler comment

[tight zephyr]

I see.

[shy prairie]

it generally doesnt rate very high on anybody's tier list

[tight zephyr]

I’m just shopping around a lot right now while I’m unlocking the Dominator and Slugger so I have other things to look for in case I end up not liking them.

[ionic holly]

Complete aside but
now that's something i want

i crave a concussive shotgun now, i know the blitzer has some good stagger but it ain't conc

[tight zephyr]

That would kind of rule.

[azure pewter]

Beanbag them bugs

[ionic holly]

Honestly i kinda just
want a standard ass pump action, 8 shell tube, no fuss, just loads conc rounds and fires

punisher is cool but i want a more uh

normal one

[azure pewter]

I’d also really like a tube fed semi

[ionic holly]

Technically the punisher is tube fed but it's based on a really weird design

[azure pewter]

Even less ergonomic ksg

[tight zephyr]

This made me laugh so hard that it startled my pet rabbit.

[tight zephyr]

Yeah it’s visually based on the KelTec DP-12.

[ionic holly]

Yeah, i just want a boring ol remington 870 myself

load it with conc and see the lil fuckers stun

it also solves a different quibble some folk have by putting the old slugger stagger on a different gun that can be more finely tuned for that purpose wheras the slugger can focus in on the identity of more accurate/damaging

but hey that's just some armchair stuff, sides i know some folk would still get pissy cause "oh look they removed the slugger stagger to paywall it later!!1!1!1!"

[tight zephyr]

Oh yeah, once I go back home to the bot front I’m going to spend some time deliberately learning how to fight striders because I’m still not as solid on it as I’d like.

It’s kind of a crapshoot, I still don’t know where its weak spots are.

[ionic holly]

Scouts or fabs?

[lethal badger]

Fabs are the ones with weird weak spots

They have the bottom turret as a weak point

I've seen varients with vents on the sides but those are rare

[cobalt patrol]

No?

The machine gun turrets can be shot off (and should be)

The joints are a weak point on the legs.

The head "Visor" is a weakpoint, but the entire head can be turned into a weakpoiint if y ou land two quasar/rr/eats into the face.

The underbelly is a weakpoint to various anti-vehicle guns, and the fastest way to kill - get underneath and unload up into it's tummy and it'll go down very fast

[unreal merlin]

"factory striders have a giant weak spot right on their back that you can hit with three consecutive 500kg bombs"

[ionic holly]

shoutout to the fab strider i killed by landing on it, calling a 500 down on its back, and then jumping off onto a nearby cliff

[cobalt patrol]

Also that. They're a fun enemy, a nice mix of genuinely intimidating while also being something you can play around

[quick plinth]

yeah! railcannon into 2 to 4 AC shots into the underside is a guranteed BT kill

[shy prairie]

GP/impacts also to be remembered in such cases

[cobalt patrol]

Comedy moment: asking my team if they're all okay as I'm holding down extract, they've been in a big brawl and are burning reinforcements.

The second I send that message, I eat a bunch of Devastator rockets, get popped up nearly vertically in the air and come back down hard enough to break my characters neck

[shy prairie]

I wonder when info on how the heck enemy HP actually works will be disseminated

[cobalt patrol]

And that friends is why you don't offer to help your team.

[cobalt patrol]

We have a pretty solid idea already.

Each body part has a health pool, armour value, and destructive value. Emptying the health pool of a part either destroys it or kills the target outright.

Emptying the destructive value transforms the part in some way - this can trigger bleedouts, or change the armour value or similar.

Mobility kills also appear to exist, where eliminating a creatures ability to move kills them - destroying a tanks treads, a Hulk or chargers leg etc.

Creatures appear to have a total health pool too, and each part destroyed contributes to that, but it's also affected by stuff like burning or toxic gas (you can test this on Devs - they take 2-3 autocannon rounds normally, but bathing in the toxic gas will often fail to kill them... But leave them all a point that a single autocannon shot or senator too the waist kills them). It's possible but unlikely that dot effects hit all body parts at the same time (stalkers should die really fast to burning if that was the case, as they have very low head HP)

Different weapons do different amount of destructive damage - anything with the explosive tag usually has a high destructive bit. Charger and spewer butts are actually mostly destructive HP, which is why they're so tanky to non explosive weapons

It's a bit more complicated than that, and I'm probably getting a few fine details wrong, but that's the general gist

[unkempt river]

<@&1206091872716595200> anyone interested in some killing of the enemies of democracy?

[quick crown]

I went back to my AMR Sheildbackpack life

Feels good to be able to kill hulks

[glacial light]

Kill >:(

[tall stone]

Well, looks like we'll be loosing one of the training worlds. Not enough people defending Vernen Wells. That'll change the decay rates again.

Also, 11k along the entirety of the bot front, which is beaten by the number 2 and number 3 bug planets combined. The number one bug planet is at over 3 times the amount of fighters on the entire bot front.

[quick crown]

I can't blame them, it feels like the last 3 major orders were bot focused.

[tall stone]

No, this just consistently is what happens with the Bug vs. Bot front.

[quick crown]

I can't blame them, Bots aren't as fun for a lot of people as Bugs.

total respect for those soldiers that don't play the grand strategy part of the game.

and just play Me and my bros shoot bugs all day

[tiny owl]

Once I found my feet, bots became super fun for me; being able to deal with most of what they throw at me with AMR is just nice

definitely my favourite enemy type

[tall stone]

The fact that the vast majority of people don't care about the grand strategy part of the game makes it so that those of us who do can't actually play that part of the game.

[quick crown]

you don't pay their sub.png ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I get it tho

but the alternative is forcing people to play a playstyle that isnt comfortable for them and thats just horrible conceptually

You'll end up like Exoprimal where you never get to REALLY pick where you wanna go

[tall stone]

If I have to consistently go over for Bug MO's because otherwise I'm not actually making a difference on the bot planets I want to actually play on, then at the very least some people can actually help us win Bot MOs.

[quick crown]

that said i'm sure the solution is just having "Priority Operation target" and give like 10% extra medals for missions there will direct players better

[tall stone]

Part of the solution is getting rid of the stupid galaxy-wide liberation cap.

[quick crown]

Or have the freedom officer have a line like
"Helldiver, the call of freedom sings out for your help from Planet name, should we answer their cry for democracy?"

[ionic holly]

i had a job to do

[ionic holly]

Caught myself almost ventin' about frustrations with my hd2 group again

[tight zephyr]

Back to the bot front I go. I’ve been looking for an excuse.

…Vernon Wells is on the bot front right?

[tall stone]

It is

[zenith maple]

This one's pretty good

[ionic holly]

Yeah

[tight zephyr]

Saved.

[cobalt patrol]

Dear shieldbakcpkac, i take back everything bad i said about you.

[tight zephyr]

Okay so the Dominator really helps.

It's a little awkward at first but man it's really good at cracking Devastators, which is what I wanted.

[cobalt patrol]

@tight zephyr awesome. do try it into bugs too

[tight zephyr]

Nah, I have the incendiary Breaker for that.

I don't think this would work anywhere near as well on bugs.

(For me, specifically, knowing my playstyle.)

[cobalt patrol]

I like it into bugs because it kills everything in one hit, or puyncehs through mediums in a couple

Most notably it punches straight through spewer skulls

[tight zephyr]

Okay that goes a long way to convincing me.

[meager saffron]

anything that says fuck spewers is an immediate plus

[tight zephyr]

Aboslutely.

The only bugs I hate more are Stalkers.

[honest acorn]

It works on stalkers

Not so good for hunters but it’s not terrible

But hunters are way less of a problem now that they can’t headshot for 66% max HP

[cobalt patrol]

Eh, it one shots hunters

not good agaisnt swarms of them, but it'll take them down in 1-2 bullets

Stalkers drop in 2-3 if you go for the head

which tehy tend to liek to offer to you

[tight zephyr]

I had a personal order for Hunters which was solved with one well-placed gas strike.

[honest acorn]

Yeah it’s just easy to miss with the slower slew and relatively low shot velocity

[tight zephyr]

My problem with Stalkers is that I can't usually kill them in the three microseconds after they chop off half my health and knock me on the ground before going for a second swing.

And I'm really bad at spotting them.

[cobalt patrol]

Ah, i reaslly dont enoocunter that as an issue much perosnally. Fairly literal skill issue! Which isn't meant to b e dismissive, just it's literally a matter of handling the gun well

[cobalt patrol]

Shield backpack helps a lot. You can watch for their shadows too

[tight zephyr]

I usually run Recoilless Rifle because I like it for Chargers, is the thing.

[cobalt patrol]

They also tend to come straight at you once you know when they're coming from

[honest acorn]

I don’t think you can say dismissive stuff and then follow it up with “not meant to be dismissive”

[tight zephyr]

The Dominator has been a huge boon against bots though. I'm glad I unlocked it because I like fighting bots way more.

[honest acorn]

Yeah it’s my goto for bots

I use a bunch of other stuff but it’s so reliable

[cobalt patrol]

I'm not meaning to be dimsissve, i'm being literal that it's a high skill weapon and shooting hunters with it is tricky. It is a skill problem - this isnt a bad thing, just an accurate thing. Phrasing could probably be better.

Same as me using adjucator or laser cannon or similar guns - all of which i'm terrible at, they're a skill issue for me. I suck at persistently tracking stuff.

Or Orbital Precision Strike vs Railcannon. OPS is a lot better in a number of areas but it has a dramactially higher skill floor - and dramatically higher skill ceiling. (Barring increased orbital scatter, at which point ORC pulls ahead)

[cobalt patrol]

I'm curious, what do you run into bots as your support weapon?

I like it well enough into b ots, but prefer the Plasma punisher because the Devastor's basically a baby autocannon, so doubling up doesnt do me a lot of good

[tight zephyr]

RR all the way.

[cobalt patrol]

Ah, yeah, excellent choice then

[honest acorn]

What you intend isn't actually important, its what you actually type and send which matters, and you clearly knew how you were coming off or you wouldn't have felt the need for that disclaimer.

I'm not really a fan of "actually you just suck the weapon has no inherent problems" when it comes to a discussion of weapon balance. I'm especially frustrated by the implication that I'm just bad for bringing them up.

[cobalt patrol]

I sincerely wasn't trying to imply you were bad, that the wepaon has no problems or things. And i'm seriously sorry that i've caused hurt, my sincereset apologies there

[honest acorn]

This is a mod thing - speaking for myself I don't really care what you think - but its about tone and channel safety

This channel already struggles some with how toxic the wider helldivers community is

(Which is why I'm doing this in public not DMs and why it isn't like a strike or anything)

Cause I want to define more productive norms about discussing the game

And sorry "I don't really care what you think" is ruder than I intended - I just meant I'm not actually offended

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, that did not translate at all, it came off as "Your apologyi s crap" to be perfectly frank.

Okay. I.. am not trying to be unproductive here. I think genuinely recognizing that the game has weapons that require high skill investment, and weapons that dont is a useful thing. Not everyone has the same skillsets or things that come naturally to them in games, and expecting everyone to be equally skilled in all areas is a ridiculous thing, and contributes to that toxicity.

In general, i think that Helldivers is a high skill game, and recognizing that is something that's worth doing, because it helps better set expectations and tone for people, and what they'e getting into. Being bad at something doesn't make you a bad person, but it might impact your ability to have fun with the thing you're doing. Many people equate Winning = Fun, and get frustrated if they loose. So accoutning for that and ensuring you're still having fun is important, and accoutning for your skill as a player honestly is part of that.

I need to figure out away to better express all this, because I'm not trying to be dismissive of people by brining up skill differences, I'm trying to identify that "What works for X may not work for Y, this includes because of various skill things". And my tone is obviously Badly off here if it's causing hurt.

Could i request/suggest you @honest acorn (and or other mods/curators) maybe workshop a guide to posting in here and examples of tone, and sticky that please? Because i would like to keep talking here, but i really dont want to be tripping over people and causing hurt

[honest acorn]

I'll see about writing something up

[tight zephyr]

I uh... I just like the feel of the Dominator. It's entirely vibes-based.

[honest acorn]

I wish it had a slightly deeper report

But I like how hefty it feels to use yeah

A lot of helldivers guns have I think a fairly grounded high crack but I wish some of the semis had a more booming report

It also just hits like a truck

[cobalt patrol]

The vindicator has a very satisfying boom not at all matched by it's impact ;.;

[honest acorn]

Is that the new desert eagle?

[tight zephyr]

I like the Senator a lot.

[cobalt patrol]

It's just a good gun.

Tip for berserkers - it can pop their heads really well, but that's a very hard shot. Instead go for their arms, and you can render them well... Harmless in short order

[stone bridge]

I really enjoy the Verdict as a middle of the road option between the Redeemer and the Senator

[honest acorn]

It also kills zerks pretty fast with gutshots

[stone bridge]

It's got a deep ammo pool with very respectable stopping power

[tight zephyr]

Like Flood Combat Forms in Halo: Combat Evolved.

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, page 3 of polar patriots. I thought it was called vindicator but verdict is probably correct

[ionic holly]

Aye, verdict is definetly meant to be a nice inbetween

something i desperately wanted since i don't click with revolvers

[honest acorn]

I haven't gotten polar yet but its nice to hear its got good stuff in it

[cobalt patrol]

I think it's very in betweenness is why it didn't click

[alpine seal]

verdict is correct

[honest acorn]

I'm just still digesting all the other ones so I'm not in a huge hurry to get more weapons

It's very hard for me to give up the Senator, having medium pen on a secondary feels really clutch

And I am bad about switching to pistols haha

[alpine seal]

i love it for bots, amazing oneshot for troopers without the clunkiness the senator sometimes has

[ionic holly]

Two shot headshotting devastators with it outweighs any issues i could have

specially with its far deeper ammo pool

[cobalt patrol]

The purifier is sadly awful, but hopefully will get buffed. The smg is very strong, but is physically painful to use due to it's strobing effect. Your mileage may vary

[honest acorn]

I'm interesting in that SMG

[steady flame]

I wonder, is a loadout of HMG, supply pack, SMG and grenade pistol any good?

[ionic holly]

and the tenderizer feels good but desperately needs a damage bump

[alpine seal]

though i continue to run grenade pistol for bugs because i hate bile spewers and no other motive

ditto for impact grenades

[honest acorn]

I ran all of that except the backpack vs bots and it worked well

Only issue I had was lack of long ranged weapons

[cobalt patrol]

Explicitly listed in patch notes as an issue to be fixed, so I think it'll be fixed

[ionic holly]

My current bot build is ballistic shield, pummeler, and verdict

[stone bridge]

It's far nicer to aim down sights with too, even with the Senator's sights being altered it has like no ADS zoom

[honest acorn]

But that's pretty easy to play around, you just must play around it

[alpine seal]

i love the incendiary impacts as a bug b gone tool but it doesn't pop bile spewers like acid piñatas and whenever i don't have them and engineering kit they always spawn

[ionic holly]

I'm aware, i've mentioned that in here a few times too.

[cobalt patrol]

Senator works for me because it's a better clean up tool I find, and after I've Autocannoned and plasma punished everything, sometimes I just need something to punch a couple of bots out quickly

Also it's a weirdly good stealth gun

[ionic holly]

senator needs far too much upkeep for my taste, even with the speed loader

[cobalt patrol]

Since one shotting a target makes things less likely to alert. So you can scoot up on heavy Devastators and execute them

[honest acorn]

I like it for occasional unexpected problems up close

(The senator)

[cobalt patrol]

Looks at bot Loadout of autocannon/plasma punisher/senator. Looks back. Looks at Loadout. Retreat!

[honest acorn]

But I mostly carry it so I can just 2 shot hive guardians without needing to sweat support or primary weapon choices

[cobalt patrol]

My loadout is like maximum awkward maintenance

[ionic holly]

I don't mind maintenance, i'm the resident server spear guy, i just don't like the kind it wants

[cobalt patrol]

Stun grenades into reloading the autocannon while the Hulk waits patiently happens a lot

[ionic holly]

and it's also just really down to personal taste, i've no love for revolvers

form over function ain't my thing

[cobalt patrol]

Flamethrower go brrr, but also means I'm locked into the Grenade pistol on bugs.

I forgot it one mission today and it was very painful ;.;

[honest acorn]

Oh I haven't checked, is the lack of pen on the explosive crossbow fixed yet?

[ionic holly]

No

we've not gotten a patch for a while, they're focusing on a big balance one

[honest acorn]

ah ok

I had finals so I haven't been playing much

[ionic holly]

I'm just hoping we don't come out the other side with the game becoming too easy

I'm here for a struggle, not a power fantasy
if i wanted the second i'd play... iunno, fuckin' d2 or warframe

[honest acorn]

I agree I think a certain amount of friction with the weapons is part of the game's identity

I like how awkward a lot of the ergonomics are and such

[ionic holly]

Yeah, i still think ergonomics could be a nice way to look for balance than just raw numbers

see example, how much the dominator and adjudicator benefited from buffed ergonomics

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, I'm really scared of the game getting too easy

[ionic holly]

Sure your gun is strong but you're gonna turn like a fuckin' truck with it

[cobalt patrol]

And I find anything below diff 7 to be a snooze fest

[ionic holly]

Considering how many helldive solos i've been pulling off just to feel something you know how dire it is for me

(partially joking)

[cobalt patrol]

Diff is my comfort food difficulty. I'd play more diff 8/9 but getting players together is annoying

Diff 7*

[honest acorn]

Sorry - I meant just narrative stuff like how awkward the bolt is to work on... many of the guns

[ionic holly]

Oh

[cobalt patrol]

(also the negative modifiers start getting irritating when reduced strats or increased scatter is on everything)

[honest acorn]

Eruptor in particular is really funny to watch a diver try to wrangle

[ionic holly]

Yeahhh i'd appreciate more negative modifiers just to spice things up

I don't need ways to disable em myself, but more variety so i don't just keep getting "inaccurate and -1" so much

admittedly playing bugs helps a bit since one of their negatives is borderline nothing

[honest acorn]

Yeah the variety got pretty low when they removed some of them

Or was it only jamming?

[ionic holly]

Just jamming

which to be fair, jamming was bad

not being able to call down the right stratagem in the heat of the moment didn't feel like a challenge, it was just luck of the draw

now if it got reintroduced as a side objective...

i can fuck with that

[honest acorn]

I think if it was slightly less random it'd be good

Like if it swapped around the call in codes

[ionic holly]

Alternatively, retool it into a bug side objective like how bots have the actual jammer

[honest acorn]

Like say, Eagle Strafing Run and Shield Backpack just traded, so you always get the opposite

And it just shuffles around all your non-yellows like that

[ionic holly]

keep its luck, but make it so you can snuff it yknow?

i mostly prefer this cause the days of random strats and one less slot fuckin SUCKEDDDD

[meager saffron]

just randomise the input for a strat each time you punch it in but it always calls it down consistently

I think it would be funny to have your strafing run input be hellbomb

[ionic holly]

Mm... i still think just
turning it into a side objective would be best

that way it's just a temporary annoyance like the jammer tower or AA guns

rather than "oh this mission rolled with random stratagems, not doing it"

[honest acorn]

That'd work for me too

[ionic holly]

cause that's kinda just what happened before
if folk saw random stratagems they just didn't do the mission 8 times out of 10

[cobalt patrol]

I actually liked random, but I learned to abuse it

It couldn't randomise if you didn't have multiple options

And you could just dial in your fastest code and check what it was going to give you

[ionic holly]

My problem with random was it sorta just
fucked with AH's at the time insistence to use stratagems to deal with heavies primarily

[honest acorn]

Yeah random strats pretty quickly turned into "take airburst" for me

[ionic holly]

cause what good is that philosophy if my 500kg is actually an ems strike

[honest acorn]

Or eagle strafing or similar

[cobalt patrol]

Fair enough. But yes, more negative modifiers would be good

[ionic holly]

i sorta have similar issues with inaccurate orbital but that has a genuine counter of "bring eagles, lmao"

[cobalt patrol]

I'd like an reduced reinforcement budget one

[ionic holly]

now that i could fuck with

obviously for solo it would only bump you down to 1

otherwise, takes 5 off

[cobalt patrol]

Where you have 16 rather than 20 in a 4 player team, or even 12

[honest acorn]

Oh that would be interesting

I think a split drop one could be fun

[ionic holly]

actually, oh wait
doesn't the increased budget booster give 4?
could make em the same number so there is a way to gear around the debuff

[honest acorn]

Adds significant scatter to reinforcement/initial drop hellpods

[cobalt patrol]

Dry scavenge (less ammo etc in the map, more reliance on supply packs etc)

Needs a better name

[ionic holly]

i like the negative modifiers you can actually work against, i don't wanna snuff it but i wanna have to play around it

[ionic holly]

Famine if 343 doesn't get pissy

[honest acorn]

GUN CONTROL

[meager saffron]

bungie also uses famine lol

THERE WE GO

[ionic holly]

was mostly a joke thresh

[honest acorn]

Low ammo on map would be a legit one

[ionic holly]

but yeah
Oh here's one i'd be down with even if it's minuscule effect wise

[honest acorn]

I just like the implication that its because that part of the planet had laws against well armed settlers

[ionic holly]

Overrun, minimal to no human buildings/treasure spots

not directly annoying but very much a removal of looting

[honest acorn]

An explicit "hellbomb bombardement" one would be funny at least

Where there's just a lot more of the duds around

Which... some planets seem to do anyway

[meager saffron]

adding an extra hellbomb modifier on top of the average level 7-

yeah

[ionic holly]

"Aftermath" and it's just like
all craters

[meager saffron]

i don't think you would be able to fire a shot without accidentlaly clipping a dud

[ionic holly]

"Aerial disadvantage" and it's just a shit load of aerial unit spawners

also gives an excuse to slightly tone their chances of spawning normally

[honest acorn]

hahaha

I think it might have been with some of the people here but we got 3 of the bot aircraft spawners in a cluster one time

[meager saffron]

scream

[honest acorn]

And just had to skip them because we didn't have enough good weapons for killing planes

[ionic holly]

yeah like having that for a modifier you can prep for before drop is cool

a random ass thing that can ambush you the moment you're in? not so much

[honest acorn]

Bile mission would also be nice to know ahead of time

[meager saffron]

bile bile titan

bile charger

[ionic holly]

Oh last enemy modifier i have in mind

'On call' enemy reinforcement timer is reduced

[honest acorn]

That'd be so scary haha

[ionic holly]

I know right?

[honest acorn]

Not that its bad but it'd be a rough one

"game is harder"

If localization confusion is fair game it is as well

[ionic holly]

Yep yep

granted i would like to keep their numbers similar cause again, negative modifiers you can build around are more fun than ones you have to brute force

fun but bug exclusive one

spliced genes, all non heavy units have a (much shitter, ala first iteration) stalker cloak

literally cloaked spewers to give everyone nightmare fuel

[glacial light]

Thinking of the most evil combinations of enemies

Stalker Charger

Cluster Rocketeer

[meager saffron]

great

[honest acorn]

Factory Gunship

[cerulean sluice]

Another bug exclusive one: Former Farms. Bug nests have more holes, need 2 nades to kill have more health, and are changed to look like artificial structures. Really rub it in that the bugs are Super Earth’s fault

[honest acorn]

Oh that could be fun

augh that edit

2 nades to kill is rough lol

[ionic holly]

Yeah i think 2 nades might be a bit much

maybe just more abundant and different look

also on enemy combos
stalker spewer but it's tongue attack does the bile damage/effect too

[tight zephyr]

Someone just grabbed my RR and then pointed at the EAT he dropped.

[ionic holly]

w-
what the fuck?

like sure they do the same damage but ????

[tight zephyr]

I wanted the RR, that's why I brought it.

[ionic holly]

Yeah, that's what's baffling

is he just using...? like what kinda jackass just steals someone else's support weapon?

[tight zephyr]

And then when I stare at him, he just turns around and tags the EAT pod he dropped.

[honest acorn]

Yeah that's such an unspoken code in HD2

[meager saffron]

kill him with the EAT

and then pick up the gun

[oblique hazel]

at that point I think a little teammateicide is justified

[honest acorn]

"thou shalt not take your buddy's support weapon without asking"

I did once and felt real bad

I thought it was a random POI grenade launcher!

[ionic holly]

Yeah like
it's one thing if it's extract and folk are calling in support stuff, at that point it's just fiesta mode

but to take it and than try to push them to use your thing is fucking stupid

[quick crown]

Type in chat: bro thats mine lmao

[honest acorn]

honestly yeah

[ionic holly]

Genuinely hope he responds cause i wanna hear the batshit reasoning

[tight zephyr]

I just got on with the mission because we were getting shot at by bots by then and it was one of those missions where you have to defend a pair of generators.

I really wanted to confront him, but I had other shit going on. Also I didn't get to do that much because everyone else brought both kinds of mortar sentries and I was dealing with constant screen shake.

[ionic holly]

Blegh

[tight zephyr]

A friend and I are gonna go do some Difficulty 5 stuff for a bit because we both had a nasty couple of rounds.

[cobalt patrol]

I'm very fast to go on voice chat and tell someone to drop my gear if they take it

If they don't, they get executed

If they make a fuss about it, they get kicked. No mercy >.>

(I have found ruthlessly culling players to be the best way to have a good time when hosting)

Though to be clear, I'm not like kicking all day every day - it's saved for stuff like "hey, please stop team killing/chill with the airstrikes" and people ignoring that

The only ones I kick straight off are people just being massive dicks, or have things like Maga or Trump in their name

[honest acorn]

Yeah I've done that a few times with names I didn't like

I've mostly had pretty good luck with strangers, though I did have a couple of people who would just not stop talking in a language I didn't know

But that was relatively minor

[quick crown]

I've only had the rare "mixtape blaring over the mic" experience a couple times

On the one hand its incredibly heartening to know that some aspects of culture never change and that despite the world some things will never change

On the other hand lmao i'm throwing a 500kg down on myself and quitting back to ship

[honest acorn]

I barely get that any more now that its not tf2

[quick crown]

Killer Instinct has the microphone always on if one is plugged in

[cobalt patrol]

Ah, see noisy players I just mute instantly

[tight zephyr]

I've had mostly good experiences. A few bad ones but nowhere near as many as I'd expected from a game this big.

[daring monolith]

The only times I’ve had peoole blaring music over the mic were back when I played Insurgency Sandstorm and someone would rush at the enemy with music through prox chat.

I’ve had nothing but good experiences with randoms in helldivers

[cobalt patrol]

If they weren't playing Sandstorm by Darude, what's even the point?

[daring monolith]

3/5 times it happened it was a very australian lad blasting anime openings

[mortal wing]

howdy, are patrols still as borked as they were from around before announcement they made about them?

[honest acorn]

I don't think so

[strange vine]

They havent made any changes if thats your question

[mortal wing]

danke

[strange vine]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1209568164141207552/1242186509872795698/SPOILER_442476553_7783561331683656_2610148798830933107_n.png?ex=664cebd6&is=664b9a56&hm=e95132ee221ba38019ee64d427ff8cc95173d657ba81358159f9cd45a2dea66d&

[tired mulch]

would radiation that strong affect the automatons tho 🤔

[quick plinth]

in short: yes (depends on the amount and type)

[crystal canopy]

almost certainly

it's the core of a nuclear bomb

[tired mulch]

ah yeah, frazzling their circuits with the unmatched power of Plutonium

[keen zinc]

gotta say

plutonium is a good name for a rock that kills you

[cobalt patrol]

Hadesrock!

[keen zinc]

Killstone

[tight zephyr]

Nuclear orbital when

[crystal canopy]

uh i believe that is called Hellbomb

[tight zephyr]

Yeah but that’s a special drop.

[quick plinth]

oh no-

they fix the spear
people use it now because it got fixed
they nerf it because they see a usage spike

[ionic holly]

Ehhhh i doubt it

its already gatekept by the whole "needs lock to fire"

but it is why i dont want a buff alongside the fix

[junior badge]

They do look at more than just a usage spike.

[quick crown]

Yeah i'm not worried about it getting nerfed

Its got 4 shots and is trash against anything within like 20 meters

Can't hit Devi's and isn't good against striders aside from back turret

Locks onto ranger walkers for somereason

[unreal merlin]

Gonna use it more when the lockon is fixed to be consistent though, for sure. I really enjoyed how much it trivialized clearing automaton bases from afar.

[quick crown]

hitting jammers at a distance is so strong

[unreal merlin]

I didn't enjoy that it took so many rockets to kill an annihilator tank though.

[quick crown]

its random for me

Sometimes its 3 sometimes its 1

[quick plinth]

it dunks it into the hull for some reason a lot of the time

rather than oneshotting onto the roof

so ig its better to shoot from the side where the likelyhood of it diving into the hull is lower

(the hull side, turret position is irelevant)

also the Spear trivializes gunship fabs if you have any kind of resupply within reach

as you can keep them permanently out of the air

even now- probably because empty air can't interfiere with the lockon

[unreal merlin]

I was running with an ally who carried a spare missile backpack for me and did team loading. Good stuff.

[quick plinth]

like the thing can be incredibly powerful if you play around it's weaknesses- but also is just annoying sometimes

[unreal merlin]

weaknesses are things I can work around, bugs that make it nonfunctional 70% of the time however...

[cobalt patrol]

No patch this week, apparently (not sure why people were expecting one, but maybe I've lost track of patch timing). No ETA on next patch, but they're reconsidering patch cadence and probably slowing it down because of wellgestures

[ionic holly]

and of course people are complaining despite in the same breath having said wanting stuff to slow down so it can be more thought out

[quick plinth]

I just want my spear fix so I can use like- the one good implementation of selfguided weapons in a game where you control a humanoid

(I will not play arma for my javelin fix you can't make me)

[glacial light]

Ironic that the AT weapon that works like a real life Javelin meant to hit the weakest point of the tank from the top wouldn't do the same to a literal tank whose weakest point is the top (2 impacts kill)

[quick plinth]

misses the roof because it dives too early if the hull is facing you

[tight zephyr]

The balancing in this game is kind of ?????? sometimes, I've noticed.

[tall stone]

Eh, it's less the balancing (which is largely fine except for very recent stuff)

It's that this thing is held together by spaghetti code.

[upbeat vector]

Didn't someone say it uses the same engine as the first Helldivers, that had support dropped in like, 2017?

[honest acorn]

2018 but yeah

[tall stone]

So yeah. On a engine that's no longer supported that has spaghetti code with a player base that's disproportionately large for the staff they have.

[tight zephyr]

Ah shit it's early PlanetSide 2 again.

[tight zephyr]

<@&1206091872716595200> I need some help with two missions on Difficulty 7. #2422-5830

[tight zephyr]

Horrible. Completely covered in goo.

[tall stone]

That's a good day.

[ionic holly]

Once more my respect for pilestedt grows

Dunno how this'll actually go. it i atleast respect it

[keen zinc]

https://tenor.com/view/come-at-me-bro-bring-it-taunt-come-get-some-starship-troopers-gif-18834367

[glacial light]

It sounds good on paper assuming the CEO only handles like financial and operating side and not making decisions that counter the game designers. But also removing yourself as a CEO to be more involved is a respectable move

[ionic holly]

Aye, its respectable if nothing else

[glacial light]

The downside is I won't be able to use Pilesedt as an example of a CEO that's not a terrible person but hopefully new guy steps up

[modest fiber]

well.. i don't know what to think about this, remains to be seen

[ionic holly]

God that was
a thrill
was playing helldive, i go to take a radar station and holy fuck almost 100~ enemies flood it to the point i got 50 kills off one cluster bomb

[glacial light]

Cluster so good for clearing ads before jumping into a base

[ionic holly]

Oh no Sev you misunderstand

i was on site

i was just in heavy fortified

that mission as a whole was kinda batshit ngl

cause when we dropped in we dropped near some bugs, they called a hole and it spawned 2 BTs plus all of its other shit
everyone else just starts booking it but i see something very fun very close

undetonated hellbomb

So instead of just running the clock on when the BTs had to be dealt with i just fucking go in and lure em to the bomb before blowing it up

Not a situation even fortified heavy can save you from mind you

And then there was the closer where 3 of em were at extract and i was at an artillery site loading it half way across the map, i finish loading it and theres a swarm rushing me
so i just
place a cluster bomb, emote, and go out the only way i care to

[tired mulch]

hrm. Reads to me he got fired and is tanking it

at least he's going down like a champ

god.

[glacial light]

He's still working on them in a chief position though

[tired mulch]

still, I don't think he'll have control on whether or not Helldivers gets PSN stuff or not

[glacial light]

If I were him after the whole Sony thing i'd step down and let someone else be CEO and deal with the Sony execs hovering over them.

[tired mulch]

fair. But still, I have a huge hunch he just got the boot

[glacial light]

He never did though, it was mostly a Sony thing

[tired mulch]

Ohhh 🤔

[glacial light]

Sony said to have PSN and AH had to implement it since Sony owns the Helldivers IP

[tired mulch]

still, this reads of Sony just... booting him from CEO, but still recognizing they need him, so they let him stay

given how... everything in the video game industry is and shit, I don't trust that this was done voluntarily from Pilestedt

like there's no way he just stepped down

[keen zinc]

I mean he's still C-level

[tired mulch]

hm, perhaps

[keen zinc]

In some companies the creative officer is on the same level as the executive officer

And sometimes even paid more even if they're a level lower

[tired mulch]

idk

I don't like thinking this is a good thing

[ionic holly]

I feel like you're just looking for a reason to dislike this andy, with all due respect

[tired mulch]

sorry

maybe I'm just a bit pissy tonight

I'll just shut up, my bad

[ionic holly]

Like im neutral cause we'll see how it pans but
he's still in a higher up position, and sony already booted someone over the PSN stuff

[keen zinc]

Yes the CEO of a company is technically like "the boss" but the point of a C Suite is to not have the same problem as older businesses where the Founder/Owner was in complete control

[ionic holly]

A decent but not exact way ive heard it put is that he's still in a similair prestige, he can just actually work directly on the game rather than be stuck at the desk

[keen zinc]

The boss is the board and the boards boss is the pagan god of the stock market Shaer'Hol'Dar

[tired mulch]

🤔

[ionic holly]

Its kinda like how gabe newell mentioned a few years back he wishes he could work directly on the games again

granted in his case he stays out of it cause he says he's worried about spooking folk cause "oh shit the boss is here"

and he doesnt want em to just be yes men
mind you this was years back

[tired mulch]

ahh I see

[ionic holly]

Is it a good thing? we'll see cause the new guy is ex-paradox

but for pilestedt himself its likely of choice rather than a boot

[tired mulch]

is the new guy like

ex-paradox ceo?

because if he is

oh dear

[ionic holly]

"chief chaos pilot"

So, no, not a ceo but a high ranking position never the less
parsing the joke aside

[tired mulch]

ahh

Well, hopefully things can start moving forward for the better

[ionic holly]

There we go

"Chief Business Development Officer."

So yeah no, its in line with pilestedt's sentiment of wanting to get someone else better suited for the business side of things so he can actually focus on the game side of things

[tired mulch]

ahh I see

that does make sense,

[ionic holly]

Should also note he hasnt been with paradox since 2021, in the gap he became a part of hooded horse who did manor lords

Oh and against the storm

[tired mulch]

oooh

against the storm is a good game

[ionic holly]

Like said, if its a good thing we'll see, but as it stands its just kinda
a thing

[tired mulch]

ah, my apologies if I got all doom-and-gloom-y earlier

[ionic holly]

It happens

I just wanted to offer reasoning as to why its sorta just in the middle currently

[tired mulch]

gotcha gotcha

[ionic holly]

Either way, it IS pilestedt's choice unless some more information crops up

[strange vine]

AH is not owned by Sony

[tired mulch]

ohh

[glacial light]

Sony owns the Helldivers IP

But AH could always break away from Sony if they really want to but if they did that then AH couldn't work on Helldivers

[graceful bluff]

While they don't own AH, they do have an extreme amount of pressure they can use

[glacial light]

And money

[ionic holly]

Enemy or player TTK?

[strange vine]

enemy ttk

[glacial light]

Hopefully enemy, but even then most enemies die to like 1-2 headshots and HP doesn't go up with difficulty. I'm guessing they mean like berserkers or spewers

[strange vine]

honestly i do like that enemy hp doesnt go up with difficulty

but i think more enemy types would really help

[graceful bluff]

Spewers specifically being a really weird one because there's three of them and only one of them looks different at a distance

[honest acorn]

I… I don’t think enemy TTK is too high

[graceful bluff]

there's a light armored and medium armored green spewer

[strange vine]

they need to use enemy tiers more

[honest acorn]

Spewers maybe some of them are very spongy

[ionic holly]

If enemy HP goes up then density has gotta go down and i
really don't want that

[strange vine]

we have 2 tiers of warrior bug, a lighter colored one at low difficulties and a darker colored on at higher difficulties

according to datamine spoilers ||the illuminate use the tier system a fair amount, for example their tripods have a lower armored tier 1 and a (visually) thicker armored tier 2||

[glacial light]

Ig like BT or Factory Striders are tanky, they're the only enemies I can think of that usually uses more than 1 magazine to kill. Most enemies can be killed with a single AT weapon shot or less than a full magazine of other weapons.

Coming from Destiny 2 where like a grunt takes like 3 sniper shots to kill the enemies in HD2 have like reasonable TTK

[ionic holly]

wait i'm a fucking idiot
my brain mixed up high ttk and low ttk

[strange vine]

like that old factory strider concept design wouldve been perfect for a tier 1 factory strider imo

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Kel0kX

this thing

less HP

[unreal merlin]

I like the majority of TTK tuning as it is. If you're prepared for threats, they're quite easy to handle. If you aren't, they're a big wrench in your plan you gotta deal with.

[strange vine]

[re pilestedt stepping down to be CCD]

Oh my fucking god.

He literally just did what that guy did in Starship Troopers. Demoted himself so he could be in the action.

[glacial light]

I wonder what specific has a high TTK to them.

[ionic holly]

Honestly i just hope we don't come out of all of this going from "underdogs who can die from any enemy" to "rambos"

[glacial light]

Most enemies can be killed in like less than 5 seconds with the right weapon

[strange vine]

honestly i think the only ones with stupid high ttk is chargers and bile spewers

and thats when youre trying to kill the "weak spot"

[unreal merlin]

Yeah. Like, hulks are a joke if you're aware and capable of shooting their eye, or manipulating them to get behind them.

[strange vine]

aka the big glowing ass

without an explosive weapon

[glacial light]

It is kind of counterintuitive that what looks like a weak spot is actually extremely tough to non explosive. It's faster to kill a spewer to the head than the sack.

[unreal merlin]

I've gone back to the railgun and it's really great. Oneshots all spewers in the head, no I will not tolerate your tick existence.

[strange vine]

like bile spewers specifically i think have the biggest issue where unless you have a medium AP weapon or an explosive one youre just fucked against them

compared to devastators where at least you can hit them in the head

or chest or arms

[ionic holly]

I will note the blitzer is also on the short list of weapons that stuffs a spewer without hitting the prior two notes

[glacial light]

Spewer take normal damage to the head dont they? It takes about the same amount of damage as those black bugs that aren't hiveguards but similar to them

[strange vine]

if you cant manage head shots the arms and legs of a devastator are actually like armor 2 or something, since you can shoot them off with the basic AR

[ionic holly]

since it just forces them to stop/be unable to spew

[strange vine]

no their heads have medium armor

[glacial light]

I think like 3 blitzers shots kills a spewer, maybe 2.

[ionic holly]

It's inconsistent, but yeah 2 is the minimal i've seen

as long as it connects it'll stop their spewing though

[strange vine]

unlike brood commanders who have a head armor of 2 but are 60% durable

[ionic holly]

Spewers as a whole are kinda
the most poorly balanced enemy in my opinion

they lack a lot of sound queues, can track weirdly well at times, can be uncomfortably durable, and have a OHKO

well i guess it's debatably not an OHKO but they can kill you in less than a second

And the green ones even have access to super long range AOE attacks

[strange vine]

yeah bile spewers need to be much easier to kill with small arms fire

with how prevalent they are

[ionic holly]

Yeah, i'd rather they go the way of glass cannon than removing their danger

[strange vine]

the bugs really just need more unit types

[ionic holly]

Like... im honestly thinking on it and i can't think of any other enemy as poorly designed as em

[glacial light]

It's a lot of factors, they're silentness, their relatively frequent numbers, their deadly attacks, their durability. Remove like 2 of these and they'd be fine

[ionic holly]

Stalkers sorta come close but they're tied to a side objective

and even then if you're me you just
see through their cloak even now

[tall stone]

I would be happy if spewers made more noise while moving tbh.

Also give me back Eruptor being able to kill them fast

[ionic holly]

Yeah, glass cannon or loud as fuck in close quarters

like some kinda... iunno i guess a sloshing sound when they're close?

[glacial light]

The bot troopers are like chattering so loudly you can hear them from like 30m away. Meanwhile Bile titans, chargers, and spewers are the largest ninjas that you won't hear until it's really late

[glacial light]

Yea right when they start to spew it makes a sloshing noise

[supple siren]

Bot Troopers actively sing songs about killing you while a tanker truck's worth of acid waddles up like a ghost

[ionic holly]

Don't BTs and Chargers shake the fuck out of your screen or is that just me?

[supple siren]

Chargers I can feel coming for sure

[glacial light]

Chargers do shake the screen when close and charging

[ionic holly]

And BTs do when they move

like
in general

[glacial light]

BT I haven't noticed, they also make a sloshing when about to spew.

[ionic holly]

BTs absolutely do shake the screen when on the move

even more if they're throwing a tantrum

[tall stone]

I will also say that a lot of secondary weapons can kill a spewer fast if you get the head.

Laser Cannon, as ever, is just so versatile.

[ionic holly]

i mean GP pops em in one doesn't it?

[tall stone]

Yep, same as impacts.

[ionic holly]

Enemy complaints aside i really just
do hope we stay more in the underdogs position gameplay wise

Like i said before, i don't want a power fantasy

[tall stone]

Honestly, I don't feel like an underdog tbh.

[ionic holly]

... alright?

[tall stone]

I have the might of the 380 on my side. 😛

[ionic holly]

Okay?

[tall stone]

This is not me trying to insult you, sorry if it comes off that way.

[ionic holly]

It didn't i just don't know what im expected to say here

[glacial light]

Yea impacts work kind of, but like when a dozen spewers come out and you've got 4, maybe 6 grenades start to feel like not enough. I would be more fine with current spewers if I knew they were coming up and I don't want to take anti-spewer stuff to every bug mission.

[tall stone]

Fair!

[ionic holly]

My main point is i don't want the game to turn to a power fantasy type

[tall stone]

Yeah, I'd like the Bugs to be more interactable rather than a loadout check.

[glacial light]

I mean it's already a power fantasy, we kill so many more enemies for each helldiver death and we have our own super destroyer throwing down massive artillery every few minutes.

[ionic holly]

Yeah but we can still die to literally anything and pretty much any enemy is a threat

I don't want to lose that

[tall stone]

Because high tier bugs go "Do you have the tools to deal with 5 BT's and the horde at the same time?"

[ionic holly]

that's something that makes helldivers actually feel fun to me compared to something like DRG

[tall stone]

Whereas Bots go "Are you good enough with your selected weapon to kill the Hulks and Tanks?"

[quick plinth]

I dont really see the comparison here