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I'd love to be there killing those cyborg terrorist bastards, but unfortunately I'm busy here on Super-Earth taking a required Theory of Guided Liberty Initiatives class. Once you get to the rank of General it's just non-stop classes and paperwork. What I'd give to be a grunt again...
My personal trick is one of those little eleptical machines, let's me reclassify "gaming time" as "exercise time". If the pedometer is right I covered more distance spreading Managed Democracy last night then my toon did, darn snow world.
Pro-democracy cyborg activists this week staged peaceful rallies across Cyberstan in support of the recent removal from power of the cybernetic military junta by Super Earth's armed forces. The activists also called for proactive measures aimed at deterring counter-democratic activity in upcoming elections, set to commence upon completion of the planet-wide census of surviving population centers. The proposed measures include compulsory electoral participation and a pronounced military presence at polling stations, the better to protect patriotic cyborgs carrying out their civic duty.
Senior officials within DEMAND, the agency charged with off-world application of the tenets of Managed Democracy, today responded by calling the measures "thoughtful, forward-thinking, and appropriate," stating that they expect to be able to put these completely unsolicited suggestions into practice by Polling Day.
Zoku Gojira on
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
I've logged a solid 36 hours now into this game, the last few have been exclusively on the Illuminate warfront. In all honesty the only really annoying part about them are the the illusionists, and I've learned a few tricks for taking them down; first, any weapon can take them down if you shoot them enough times in the center. They are armored so anything armor-piercing works best, but you can still take them down solo with just the MG-94 (takes about a 1/4 of a magazine). Combining fire on them will keep their homing orbs from being effective and take them down faster. So really the best way is to announce your nickname for them ("chair," "asshole," "tank") with an o'clock position and have everyone focus on it. Additionally if you are in a vehicle, or have any sort of shield active (as in the SH-20 shield generator pack) you won't get reversed from their mind-control AOE. Speaking of, that AOE has an animation preceding it: the illusionist will wave their hands for about one second.
Other general tips for fighting the Illuminates are to concentrate on their scouts. Until you get to level 8 or higher, the scouts won't have a shield and can be killed from a single pistol round. As such I prioritize weapons with high rates of fire and spray in their direction to take them out ASAP; I find that the Patriot is best at this. Once the shielded scouts arrive and fly in packs, your options become more limited. When it gets to this point it can be really tough to take them out before being surrounded. I find that the MG-94, Justice, or Patriot can quickly dispatch the waves where the laser weapons (Scythe, Sickle) take too long to kill. While the shotguns are still effective, I think their lower ammo capacity and spread actually make them worse than the assault rifles. If you're really really good with the sniper rifles they can be effective as well, but I have yet to meet someone who can reliably take out scouts with one of those before they sound off. I haven't experimented with the SMGs; I assume that they'll work well enough to clear out waves as they're AP, but their limited range makes them poor for taking out scouts.
I can solo the Illuminates up to level 7 but past that I find capture points really hard to take on my own, and my time/xp ratio plummets. In groups I've found that you either need a good amount of teamwork and synergy or else a shitton of mechs to play from level 6 and up: a group that has good teamwork and excels at level 6 will make it through level 10 IMO, so that's where I 'pre-screen' pubbies (if I can help it). I'll close this post out with some thoughts on specific stratagems:
EXO-44 "the mech" - I personally don't like it, but it's very effective against the Illuminates. They tend to be able to do a lot of damage to the mech if they manage to swarm it, so if you're going to bring them bring a REP-80 as well (you can ask someone else to carry it). If you have one of these be aware of the group and try not to slow them down too much. I like to put this at the end of the party and have it walk backwards covering the rear.
M5 APC & M5-32 HAV "the truck/tank" - I really like these as it literally forces everyone to go in the same direction. Either is effective but the turret in the APC I find is just a bit too slow and underpowered compared to the HAV's. Again if you bring one or two of these you should probably bring a REP-80 as well.
MG-94, LAS-98, FLAM-40, Obliterator, MLS-4X, REP-80 "heavy weapons" - Out of these I like the MG-94 as it's effective, has a good ROF & magazine capacity, and doesn't require a backpack. I think it's better at taking out waves than the laser cannon and flamethrower. I've seen the Obliterator and MLS-4X used as well, though their effective range makes them niche weapons. The REP-80 "healy gun" is also a heavy weapon but I'd only use it if you're heavily invested in mechs, turrets, or tanks.
RL-112 & EAT-17 "anti-tank rockets" - I don't think these are useful when fighting Illuminates as a shield will absorb the first hit. About the only time I bring one of these is to take out beacons on higher difficulty zones. Coincidentally the tank will also take out those beacons.
A/MG-II, A/RX-34, A/AC-6 "the turrets" - Generally I really like turrets, especially for solo play, but they just don't work very well against Illuminates: the snipers will kill them from outside their range and they won't engage cloaked scouts. That being said the Telsa turret is the best as it will attack cloaked scouts and resists being surrounded (a problem with the machine gun turret). They really want a dedicated healer to be effective.
The 'Offensive' stratagems The problem with most of these is the fact that their first strike is negated by shields. That being said I've found that the Thunderer Barrage is very effective when paired with the Stratagem Priority perk. The Orbital Laser Strike is also pretty effective, while the Railcannon strike seems to have trouble taking out illusionists (it's been too hectic for me to figure out if it's because of their shield or teleporting). The Airstrike can clear out waves but it's got quite the delay and cooldown while the Strafing Run and Vindicator just don't clear out waves like they do on the other fronts.
Static Field Conductors, Mines, and Incendiary Bombs "area denial" Because the illuminates have so many ways of bypassing crap on the ground I haven't found these things to be very effective.
Distractor Beacon "the decoy" - While I love the crybaby on other warfronts it'll get taken down much too quickly by illuminate snipers. I've yet to experiment with it at higher levels when those snipers disappear.
After holding off from playing multiplayer because I'm always pretty tentative about playing multi with randoms, I jumped in over the weekend. A couple of the teams I encountered were awesome. Just great teamwork, everyone knew their role and we got bogged down on one objective, we could rely on each other to pull ourselves out of it. A few other teams were pretty bad but there was one that was just abysmal. Accidentally killing each other, bad aim, bad teamwork (there was one time when one guy wanted to go one way but another wanted to go a different one, we just waited there like 30 seconds for one to concede), accidentally walking off cliffs and so on but the absolute WORST part was that whenever an alarm was triggered, they'd just stop and fight. WHY? There was no objective nearby, so what's the point? It's just a waste of time and ammo. I ended up moving to the edge of the screen to try and drag them along, but it didn't work. We didn't get far before we were all dead and I ditched that team the minute I got back to the ship. Easily the worst experience I've had with the game.
I'm hoping we'll get to the Illuminates home planet by Wednesday and have this entire campaign wrapped up by Friday. I've already unlocked all the currently available stratagems but since I started the game relatively late, I seemed to miss out on a lot of the ones offered on the bug planets, so I'd like to get those (especially the distraction beacon, which would be great for level grinding and those 2-3 trophies that basically require it).
I was showing the game to my brother when he came to visit and we were playing some co-op and with 10 seconds left on the extraction timer, we got an error and our game crashed.
One huge plus of incendiary bombs is it walls off scouts and let's you regain control of an objective. Using three staggered over time will let one person wall off half the screen fairly reliably.
Granted if a pubbie gets bored and walks up to the firewall scouts can still alert and cause close in spawns again.
Yeah, I revisited a few of the claims I made this weekend. I standby my assessment of the laser weapons: they're alright while soloing, and you could make a case for not needing to reload (and taking up a valuable stratagem slot with supply) but as the enemies scale to group size the bullet spewing weapons quickly pull ahead. I assumed that the hunters and scouts would simply float over the flames like they do with mines but they're damaged by them and will actively avoid them. You're right about being able to use incendiary bombs to wall off a direction, which can be helpful, and I think it's more helpful than the static field that the hunters simply walk through, and with stratagem priority you've got almost 100% uptime. I might spend some points to upgrade the FLAM-40 and test it out. The range is still lacking but I wonder if setting the teleporting mobs on fire would kill them with the DOT before they could reengage and have you waste more ammo.
I was really hoping the webcomic today would spur a little more interest in the thread. I've yet to group with anyone from PA (though I've got most of you friended now at least). Initially grouping with random pubbies was a fun if frantic diversion, but too often now I see them as dead weight: I can clear a level 6 desert or forest in about 10 minutes grabbing all 11 samples. I don't even use the distractor beacon anymore (snipers kill it too quickly). Then some random jackoff and his 3 mech loadout will stretch that time into 23 minutes. Even guys that communicate can be inept. On the other hand I did randomly drop directly into a group where no one talked on a level 10. We all had our SH-20s and MG-94s (they must have read my guide ) and we used solid group tactics and tight positioning to get through each level in about 12-15 minutes. The extractions became pretty hectic with 2-3 illusionists spawning at once, and things could go downhill quickly if we left behind our gear, but still it was solid fun without a word being said. Unbelievable. Especially compared to this one guy I was grouping with who used his mic as an internal dialogue transmitter. Or the other guy who wanted everyone to know exactly when he was taking a hit.
Oh, and I noticed that by agreeing with Unco-ordinated's post I look a bit conceited. I was agreeing with your frustration at pubbies and assessment that we'd be on the home planet by Wednesday.
Illuminated home world siege is down to around a day, dear lord please login and help get them.finished. new folks are starting to burn getting constantly rolled by them, nevermind lack of choice on stratigems. Seriously, player count dropped to under 1500 total for the hour I played last night.
Highly recommend either piles of mechs or red strats if your pubbing level 6+ maps. It's almost always a wipe if people stand and fight or try to immediately recover gear. Only 2 successful out of ~12 pubbie matches on mission 2 home world attack so I'm not kidding about gear having to be commonly abandoned. Granted good friends list folks can do mission 2 quick and painless.
Well I feel silly. Shredder nukes don't care about shields on destroy targets after all. Just chucking them and running on is a pretty big advantage. Seems like a bug though, the shield is still there after the objective is destroyed.
Did a couple of hours. Had better luck than @DreadBert . Contributed about 20 influence to the cause. 2000 or so divers on when last I looked. I think we may pull this off.
Well I feel silly. Shredder nukes don't care about shields on destroy targets after all. Just chucking them and running on is a pretty big advantage. Seems like a bug though, the shield is still there after the objective is destroyed.
Yeah, I was initially puzzled when I had some crazy bastard drop the shredders on the destroy objectives when one of them still had shields up. Then the next set I just let him drop the shredder without shooting the shields and saw they still got destroyed so I didn't bother thinking about it even more. Hey, it saves a stratagem and equipment slot on hauling around a recoilless rifle and it was quick and painless so why question?
Aye, why they didn't have "Insurrection/Peacekeeping Alerts" every few hours in captured sectors is a head scratcher.
It's not too bad. Still have access to the mech and SH-20 so you can still roll with a SH-20 + MG-94 which carries through for the most part for difficulty 6 so long as you've got a team who'll keep firing lines open and don't shoot out each other's shields for those bloody Illuminates. It's just so satisfying to see one of those chair sitting bastards, swapping to the MG-94 and taping down the trigger to watch it die in a bullet storm.
I used to think that the laser primaries were great because lol, infinite ammo but I'm really coming around to the fact that the bullet spewing guns like the Patriot are just so much more superior due to the firing rate and the sustained damage they put out. Plus the spread is great when you're sweeping across to kill a scout. I'm sure that'll change once we take down the homeworld because all the experience I have so far is just with this one faction. I haven't shot a single bug or cyborg yet...
First, commendations are in order on your goodthink in preparing these first drafts of press releases for prospective future conflicts so soon after the victory over the Illuminate forces. The surviving Helldivers will of course have their three days' leave, the proles will have their parades. But as long as Managed Democracy is not spreading to new frontiers, it is under threat, and we must remind all Super Earth of this funtrue.
'Triumvirate of Evil' is a plusgood turn of phrase, to your credit. However, the Director would like to interview you on the morrow with regards to your historical reading materials. Party representation is of course available should you request it, but I urge you not to be overly concerned. The Director is not upset with you, and merely wishes to ensure that publishers are not working to circumvent or undermine the Free & Well-Regulated Press, so essential to the security and liberty of Super Earth.
'Subversive,' it has been agreed, is insufficiently strong language to describe enemies of liberty. Should the need arise to use softer language than 'Terrorist,' the Director encourages us to go a step farther in extrapolating the belief systems of the guilty parties to their logical extent, which I am sure you can see would eventually rise to a level justifying the more severe condemnation.
Well I feel silly. Shredder nukes don't care about shields on destroy targets after all. Just chucking them and running on is a pretty big advantage. Seems like a bug though, the shield is still there after the objective is destroyed.
Yeah, I was initially puzzled when I had some crazy bastard drop the shredders on the destroy objectives when one of them still had shields up. Then the next set I just let him drop the shredder without shooting the shields and saw they still got destroyed so I didn't bother thinking about it even more. Hey, it saves a stratagem and equipment slot on hauling around a recoilless rifle and it was quick and painless so why question?
Aye, why they didn't have "Insurrection/Peacekeeping Alerts" every few hours in captured sectors is a head scratcher.
It's not too bad. Still have access to the mech and SH-20 so you can still roll with a SH-20 + MG-94 which carries through for the most part for difficulty 6 so long as you've got a team who'll keep firing lines open and don't shoot out each other's shields for those bloody Illuminates. It's just so satisfying to see one of those chair sitting bastards, swapping to the MG-94 and taping down the trigger to watch it die in a bullet storm.
I used to think that the laser primaries were great because lol, infinite ammo but I'm really coming around to the fact that the bullet spewing guns like the Patriot are just so much more superior due to the firing rate and the sustained damage they put out. Plus the spread is great when you're sweeping across to kill a scout. I'm sure that'll change once we take down the homeworld because all the experience I have so far is just with this one faction. I haven't shot a single bug or cyborg yet...
The illuminates is actually the only place I like the Patriot. They don't really have a lot of armor, but their shields will absorb heavier weapons, so really ROF is what you need to take them out. The Cyborg though? Don't even bother. Cyborgs are kinda tough to take out prior to their alarm sounding: on medium to higher difficulties there will be multiple guys who call down the alarm (I've seen them travel in packs of four) which means you need something that can take them out immediately and at long range which the Patriot just can't do. Justice works, as does any of the sniper rifles (though I find that I need the laser pointer to make them work). Alternatively you can use a laser weapon like the Scythe and do these long sweeping movements outside your field of view (using the minimap to target. It's not perfect, but it works well enough. AP weapons are more important here, as are tank-busters because of those big armored guys and the IFVs that are all over the freakin place. Cyborgs seem to be a lot more group friendly than Illuminates (I hate that fucking mind-control). I'm still working on my solo load out, but it usually includes EAT-17s and Distractor beacons. Protip, the IFVs take two hits from EATs, so the better option is to drop the beacon directly on them and kite then use the EATs on the fat machine gun fuckers.
Yeah I'm finding that while the low level Cyborgs are just a zerg pack, I've finally come across the big fat fuckers with the invulnerable to small-arms armour except the front. I'm pondering if the recoilless rifle with its ignore armour property could be an effective 'piss off' tool for them
And after playing a bit more in the difficulty 6+ stuff I'm finding there's a contrasting need between clearing and sheer power... the snipers are doing ok but they're obviously not great in destroying the rabble.
Another big trophy bug, this time one that will take another god damn month to repeat. This is so stupid.
Apparently something similar to that homeworld bug happened, where the campaign failed at first but then the new campaign immediately succeeded just after it, so the successful campaign notification that's popping for everyone that logged in afterwards is for the second one and thus, no trophy.
LutExIVThieves Guild ChairmanIn the ShadowsRegistered Userregular
Man, spend a little time vacationing at Super Disney and miss half the war! I was at least able to throw in a little influence on the illuminate campaign.
I will say I am looking forward to the fronts opening back up. I seem to be stuck were a level 7 planet gets me jack, but I am not properly geared to solo an 8. I need to jump in with some of you fine fellows and spread some properly managed democracy.
Man, spend a little time vacationing at Super Disney and miss half the war! I was at least able to throw in a little influence on the illuminate campaign.
I will say I am looking forward to the fronts opening back up. I seem to be stuck were a level 7 planet gets me jack, but I am not properly geared to solo an 8. I need to jump in with some of you fine fellows and spread some properly managed democracy.
The only thing I'm missing is the Shredder Missile, and I'm not able to tackle all level 8 missions on my own; patrols just come too fast to kill at capture points.
Another big trophy bug, this time one that will take another god damn month to repeat. This is so stupid.
Apparently something similar to that homeworld bug happened, where the campaign failed at first but then the new campaign immediately succeeded just after it, so the successful campaign notification that's popping for everyone that logged in afterwards is for the second one and thus, no trophy.
Yeah, this is getting ridiculous.
The classy thing for them to do would be to patch the game so it immediately unlocks the trophy on the next load-up for everyone who played prior to the end of that campaign.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
Heh, lots of pubbing the 6+ Illuminated missions dropped me down to ~70% success rate. At least they finally drowned in the ocean of helldiver blood. I know some folks like them but the everyone in a nearly unkillable mech strategy just gets old quick to me.
Missing the bugs but it's nice to play against cyber again. Way more unlock missions in the matchmaker as well so folks are getting new toys now.
I haven't put much time in to this, short of playing through the tutorial and a couple of missions, I've absolutely no idea what's going on when I play online though...the war is won, I'm on to war 3 and I can't fight the bugs?
I'm thoroughly confused. I just wanted to shoot some Starship Trooper style aliens...
If it hasn't been noted yet, grab your stompy boots because bugs are back (started sat or sun?). Kinda comical to do a pug game where 20's are getting rolled due to lack of AP/AT.
I saw a kid get handed a JB poster by who I presume was his parents outside my store today....he tore it in half infront of his horrified parents.....There's hope for our youth yet!
Biggest thing is if you participated in the last war, you'll get awarded the Peace and Prosperity trophy when accessing the armoury.
Cool. Kudos to Arrowhead for taking care of that.
Checked the campaign map lately? I'm interested to see what a last-ditch defense of Super Earth looks like, and it seems we'll have the chance soon. And then, maybe a rebalance for the next war to reflect active player counts going forward.
"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are." - Bertolt Brecht
HELLDIVERS Turns up the Heat today!
By Malin Hedström on May 12, 2015
Honored HELLDIVERS,
With your help and determination the 1st Galactic War was won, then the enemies of freedom retaliated and we were forced to find a new home. New Super Earth is safe… for now.
But how can we stand by while so many still suffer under the burden of independence, outside the democracy and justice that Super Earth brings? We have a responsibility as human beings, to liberate once more.
So today we announce a new expansion in the war against terror, because freedom has no bounds.
The liberty we enjoy today we owe to the heroic HELLDIVERS that have fought relentlessly in the wars so far.
10.9 BILLION Shots fired by the HELLDIVERS (Avg. Accuracy 55%)
1.2 BILLION Enemies of SUPER-EARTH neutralized (killed)
5.2 MILLION Successful Missions
1.6 MILLION Planets liberated
26 MILLION HELLDIVER Deaths
2 MILLION Trophies awarded
(90k HELLDIVERS have earned the Cape Spinning DANCING QUEEN trophy)
Now we need to join them as together we march into HELL!
TURNING UP THE HEAT EXPANSION
HELLDIVERS: Turning Up The Heat is a free content update for HELLDIVERS accompanied by the release of the Reinforcements 2 DLC.
FREE EXPANSION FEATURES:
Increased rank cap from 25 to 27.
6 new trophies.
New environment: Volcanic planets, full of dangers.
New Bug type: The Bug Impaler
New Cyborg enemy: The Cyborg Hound
New Illuminate enemy: The Illuminate Obelisk
Three new objective types: Repair and Fire Artillery, Disarm Unexploded Ordnance, and Geological Survey.
New customization outfit: The Volcanic Camouflage set.
New perk: Strong Arm, allowing you to throw further.
To celebrate the release of the expansion, we are releasing the HELLDIVERS™: TURNING UP THE HEAT EDITION Bundle for $19.99 – This bundle includes: HELLDIVERS Game plus the new SPECIALIST PACK including the Specialist Uniform (helmet, armor and cape), LAS-12 ‘Tanto’ ultra compact laser SMG, and the Close Air Support powerful strafing run Stratagem. Available for a limited time only.
MORE REINFORCEMENTS
In addition to the free content of Turning Up The Heat, HELLDIVERS also adds 4 more Reinforcement Packs for those in need of EVEN MORE DEMOCRACY.
Each Pack is available separately for $2.99 and the DEMOLITIONIST, HAZARD OPS and PILOT Packs are available together in the REINFORCEMENTS PACK 2 for $5.99
HELLDIVER Specialists are highly trained offensive support operatives. They specialize in the use of Stratagems and supportive fire. They are specially trained to receive enhanced air support. The Specialist Pack contains:
The Specialist Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
LAS-12 ‘Tanto’: An ultra-compact laser SMG with extremely limited range. The short focused beam is very powerful to compensate for the short engagement envelope.
Close Air Support: An ‘Eagle’ delivers a powerful strafing run followed by a pair of anti tank missiles. Effective at damaging almost all targets it does however have the drawback of being slightly unpredictable.
helldivers_specialist_pack
DEMOLITIONIST PACK
HELLDIVER Demolitionists are experts at tearing things down and blowing things up. They are rumored to be uncareful when handling explosives, though this is most likely just their familiarity with explosives being misinterpreted. The Demolitionist Pack contains:
The Demolitionist Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
MG-105 ‘Stalwart’: A light machinegun based on the AR-19 ‘Liberator’. It’s very powerful when used in sustained fire, but the initial recoil is often hard to handle resulting in unpredictable spread.
REC-6 ‘Demolisher’: A remote Explosive Charge capable of destroying both objectives and heavily armored enemies. The user can decide when to detonate the charge by pressing the detonator. Often referred to as a Satchel Charge.
helldivers_demolitionist_pack
HAZARD OPS PACK
The Hazard Operative HELLDIVERS are trained in chemical and biological combat and protection. Sometimes shunned by fellow HELLDIVERS for their use of inhumane warfare, many a Helldiver is happy to have them on the mission when it comes down to life or death. It’s not like the enemy is Human after all.
The Hazard Ops Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
AR-14D ‘Paragon’: A heavy semi-automatic rifle firing rounds similar to the AR-20L ‘Justice’, but without the penetrating capabilities. Instead the rounds are hollowed out and filled with a neurotoxin causing targets hit to become slow and sluggish.
TOX-13 ‘Avenger’: A high pressure liquid projection weapon similar to the FLAM-40 ‘Incinerator’. Instead of projecting flaming napalm, this weapon sprays a very potent neurotoxin resulting in slow movements and irreversible brain damage.
helldivers_hazard_ops_pack
PILOT PACK
The Pilot HELLDIVER is specially trained to operate the wide arsenal of vehicles available to the HELLDIVER troops. Especially trained in the use of the EXO-48 ‘Obsidian’ Exosuit, Pilots are some of the few that are given the honour of using this heavily armed monster. Though they prefer to use vehicles they are still HELLDIVERS and very formidable troops on foot. The Pilot Pack contains:
The Pilot Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
AC-5 Arc Shotgun: A further development of the Arc technology, the AC-5 fires a wide, short range cone and damages everything covered by the static discharge. The charge up is much faster than the original Arc Thrower but the discharge is not quite as powerful.
EXO-48 ‘Obsidian’: A powerful exosuit with two double autocannons. The firepower contained in this walking monstrosity annihilates light and medium infantry, and the two magazines allows for both maximum firepower or conserving ammunition. The only downside to this mech is its distinct lack of anti-tank capabilities.
Just soloed a lvl 10 mission for Shredder Missiles.
I feel like some kind of badass.
I dearly want to do a 16x shredder mission with nukes falling like rain from all directions. God knows 4x shredder with cool down reduction perk is a hoot, though it does make pugs twitchy for some reason.
Posts
Senior officials within DEMAND, the agency charged with off-world application of the tenets of Managed Democracy, today responded by calling the measures "thoughtful, forward-thinking, and appropriate," stating that they expect to be able to put these completely unsolicited suggestions into practice by Polling Day.
Welcome to democracy!!!
Other general tips for fighting the Illuminates are to concentrate on their scouts. Until you get to level 8 or higher, the scouts won't have a shield and can be killed from a single pistol round. As such I prioritize weapons with high rates of fire and spray in their direction to take them out ASAP; I find that the Patriot is best at this. Once the shielded scouts arrive and fly in packs, your options become more limited. When it gets to this point it can be really tough to take them out before being surrounded. I find that the MG-94, Justice, or Patriot can quickly dispatch the waves where the laser weapons (Scythe, Sickle) take too long to kill. While the shotguns are still effective, I think their lower ammo capacity and spread actually make them worse than the assault rifles. If you're really really good with the sniper rifles they can be effective as well, but I have yet to meet someone who can reliably take out scouts with one of those before they sound off. I haven't experimented with the SMGs; I assume that they'll work well enough to clear out waves as they're AP, but their limited range makes them poor for taking out scouts.
I can solo the Illuminates up to level 7 but past that I find capture points really hard to take on my own, and my time/xp ratio plummets. In groups I've found that you either need a good amount of teamwork and synergy or else a shitton of mechs to play from level 6 and up: a group that has good teamwork and excels at level 6 will make it through level 10 IMO, so that's where I 'pre-screen' pubbies (if I can help it). I'll close this post out with some thoughts on specific stratagems:
M5 APC & M5-32 HAV "the truck/tank" - I really like these as it literally forces everyone to go in the same direction. Either is effective but the turret in the APC I find is just a bit too slow and underpowered compared to the HAV's. Again if you bring one or two of these you should probably bring a REP-80 as well.
MG-94, LAS-98, FLAM-40, Obliterator, MLS-4X, REP-80 "heavy weapons" - Out of these I like the MG-94 as it's effective, has a good ROF & magazine capacity, and doesn't require a backpack. I think it's better at taking out waves than the laser cannon and flamethrower. I've seen the Obliterator and MLS-4X used as well, though their effective range makes them niche weapons. The REP-80 "healy gun" is also a heavy weapon but I'd only use it if you're heavily invested in mechs, turrets, or tanks.
RL-112 & EAT-17 "anti-tank rockets" - I don't think these are useful when fighting Illuminates as a shield will absorb the first hit. About the only time I bring one of these is to take out beacons on higher difficulty zones. Coincidentally the tank will also take out those beacons.
A/MG-II, A/RX-34, A/AC-6 "the turrets" - Generally I really like turrets, especially for solo play, but they just don't work very well against Illuminates: the snipers will kill them from outside their range and they won't engage cloaked scouts. That being said the Telsa turret is the best as it will attack cloaked scouts and resists being surrounded (a problem with the machine gun turret). They really want a dedicated healer to be effective.
The 'Offensive' stratagems The problem with most of these is the fact that their first strike is negated by shields. That being said I've found that the Thunderer Barrage is very effective when paired with the Stratagem Priority perk. The Orbital Laser Strike is also pretty effective, while the Railcannon strike seems to have trouble taking out illusionists (it's been too hectic for me to figure out if it's because of their shield or teleporting). The Airstrike can clear out waves but it's got quite the delay and cooldown while the Strafing Run and Vindicator just don't clear out waves like they do on the other fronts.
Static Field Conductors, Mines, and Incendiary Bombs "area denial" Because the illuminates have so many ways of bypassing crap on the ground I haven't found these things to be very effective.
Distractor Beacon "the decoy" - While I love the crybaby on other warfronts it'll get taken down much too quickly by illuminate snipers. I've yet to experiment with it at higher levels when those snipers disappear.
"Managed Democracy is NON-NEGOTIABLE!"
"Un-democratic forces detected. De-cloaking Illuminate. Probability of mission hindrance: ZERO PERCENT!"
After holding off from playing multiplayer because I'm always pretty tentative about playing multi with randoms, I jumped in over the weekend. A couple of the teams I encountered were awesome. Just great teamwork, everyone knew their role and we got bogged down on one objective, we could rely on each other to pull ourselves out of it. A few other teams were pretty bad but there was one that was just abysmal. Accidentally killing each other, bad aim, bad teamwork (there was one time when one guy wanted to go one way but another wanted to go a different one, we just waited there like 30 seconds for one to concede), accidentally walking off cliffs and so on but the absolute WORST part was that whenever an alarm was triggered, they'd just stop and fight. WHY? There was no objective nearby, so what's the point? It's just a waste of time and ammo. I ended up moving to the edge of the screen to try and drag them along, but it didn't work. We didn't get far before we were all dead and I ditched that team the minute I got back to the ship. Easily the worst experience I've had with the game.
I'm hoping we'll get to the Illuminates home planet by Wednesday and have this entire campaign wrapped up by Friday. I've already unlocked all the currently available stratagems but since I started the game relatively late, I seemed to miss out on a lot of the ones offered on the bug planets, so I'd like to get those (especially the distraction beacon, which would be great for level grinding and those 2-3 trophies that basically require it).
Granted if a pubbie gets bored and walks up to the firewall scouts can still alert and cause close in spawns again.
I was really hoping the webcomic today would spur a little more interest in the thread. I've yet to group with anyone from PA (though I've got most of you friended now at least). Initially grouping with random pubbies was a fun if frantic diversion, but too often now I see them as dead weight: I can clear a level 6 desert or forest in about 10 minutes grabbing all 11 samples. I don't even use the distractor beacon anymore (snipers kill it too quickly). Then some random jackoff and his 3 mech loadout will stretch that time into 23 minutes. Even guys that communicate can be inept. On the other hand I did randomly drop directly into a group where no one talked on a level 10. We all had our SH-20s and MG-94s (they must have read my guide
Oh, and I noticed that by agreeing with Unco-ordinated's post I look a bit conceited. I was agreeing with your frustration at pubbies and assessment that we'd be on the home planet by Wednesday.
Highly recommend either piles of mechs or red strats if your pubbing level 6+ maps. It's almost always a wipe if people stand and fight or try to immediately recover gear. Only 2 successful out of ~12 pubbie matches on mission 2 home world attack so I'm not kidding about gear having to be commonly abandoned. Granted good friends list folks can do mission 2 quick and painless.
It's not too bad. Still have access to the mech and SH-20 so you can still roll with a SH-20 + MG-94 which carries through for the most part for difficulty 6 so long as you've got a team who'll keep firing lines open and don't shoot out each other's shields for those bloody Illuminates. It's just so satisfying to see one of those chair sitting bastards, swapping to the MG-94 and taping down the trigger to watch it die in a bullet storm.
I used to think that the laser primaries were great because lol, infinite ammo but I'm really coming around to the fact that the bullet spewing guns like the Patriot are just so much more superior due to the firing rate and the sustained damage they put out. Plus the spread is great when you're sweeping across to kill a scout. I'm sure that'll change once we take down the homeworld because all the experience I have so far is just with this one faction. I haven't shot a single bug or cyborg yet...
First, commendations are in order on your goodthink in preparing these first drafts of press releases for prospective future conflicts so soon after the victory over the Illuminate forces. The surviving Helldivers will of course have their three days' leave, the proles will have their parades. But as long as Managed Democracy is not spreading to new frontiers, it is under threat, and we must remind all Super Earth of this funtrue.
'Triumvirate of Evil' is a plusgood turn of phrase, to your credit. However, the Director would like to interview you on the morrow with regards to your historical reading materials. Party representation is of course available should you request it, but I urge you not to be overly concerned. The Director is not upset with you, and merely wishes to ensure that publishers are not working to circumvent or undermine the Free & Well-Regulated Press, so essential to the security and liberty of Super Earth.
'Subversive,' it has been agreed, is insufficiently strong language to describe enemies of liberty. Should the need arise to use softer language than 'Terrorist,' the Director encourages us to go a step farther in extrapolating the belief systems of the guilty parties to their logical extent, which I am sure you can see would eventually rise to a level justifying the more severe condemnation.
Yours in victory,
Trujillo Vargas, Executive Officer DEMAND Operatives Eurosec
The illuminates is actually the only place I like the Patriot. They don't really have a lot of armor, but their shields will absorb heavier weapons, so really ROF is what you need to take them out. The Cyborg though? Don't even bother. Cyborgs are kinda tough to take out prior to their alarm sounding: on medium to higher difficulties there will be multiple guys who call down the alarm (I've seen them travel in packs of four) which means you need something that can take them out immediately and at long range which the Patriot just can't do. Justice works, as does any of the sniper rifles (though I find that I need the laser pointer to make them work). Alternatively you can use a laser weapon like the Scythe and do these long sweeping movements outside your field of view (using the minimap to target. It's not perfect, but it works well enough. AP weapons are more important here, as are tank-busters because of those big armored guys and the IFVs that are all over the freakin place. Cyborgs seem to be a lot more group friendly than Illuminates (I hate that fucking mind-control). I'm still working on my solo load out, but it usually includes EAT-17s and Distractor beacons. Protip, the IFVs take two hits from EATs, so the better option is to drop the beacon directly on them and kite then use the EATs on the fat machine gun fuckers.
And after playing a bit more in the difficulty 6+ stuff I'm finding there's a contrasting need between clearing and sheer power... the snipers are doing ok but they're obviously not great in destroying the rabble.
Apparently something similar to that homeworld bug happened, where the campaign failed at first but then the new campaign immediately succeeded just after it, so the successful campaign notification that's popping for everyone that logged in afterwards is for the second one and thus, no trophy.
I will say I am looking forward to the fronts opening back up. I seem to be stuck were a level 7 planet gets me jack, but I am not properly geared to solo an 8. I need to jump in with some of you fine fellows and spread some properly managed democracy.
Steam/PSN/XBox Live:LutExIV
The only thing I'm missing is the Shredder Missile, and I'm not able to tackle all level 8 missions on my own; patrols just come too fast to kill at capture points.
Yeah, this is getting ridiculous.
The classy thing for them to do would be to patch the game so it immediately unlocks the trophy on the next load-up for everyone who played prior to the end of that campaign.
Missing the bugs but it's nice to play against cyber again. Way more unlock missions in the matchmaker as well so folks are getting new toys now.
I'm thoroughly confused. I just wanted to shoot some Starship Trooper style aliens...
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
http://arrowheadgamestudios.com/patch-notes-1-04/
Biggest thing is if you participated in the last war, you'll get awarded the Peace and Prosperity trophy when accessing the armoury.
Cool. Kudos to Arrowhead for taking care of that.
Checked the campaign map lately? I'm interested to see what a last-ditch defense of Super Earth looks like, and it seems we'll have the chance soon. And then, maybe a rebalance for the next war to reflect active player counts going forward.
Notes from arrowhead webiste
(http://arrowheadgamestudios.com/helldivers-turns-up-the-heat-today/)
By Malin Hedström on May 12, 2015
Honored HELLDIVERS,
With your help and determination the 1st Galactic War was won, then the enemies of freedom retaliated and we were forced to find a new home. New Super Earth is safe… for now.
But how can we stand by while so many still suffer under the burden of independence, outside the democracy and justice that Super Earth brings? We have a responsibility as human beings, to liberate once more.
So today we announce a new expansion in the war against terror, because freedom has no bounds.
The liberty we enjoy today we owe to the heroic HELLDIVERS that have fought relentlessly in the wars so far.
10.9 BILLION Shots fired by the HELLDIVERS (Avg. Accuracy 55%)
1.2 BILLION Enemies of SUPER-EARTH neutralized (killed)
5.2 MILLION Successful Missions
1.6 MILLION Planets liberated
26 MILLION HELLDIVER Deaths
2 MILLION Trophies awarded
(90k HELLDIVERS have earned the Cape Spinning DANCING QUEEN trophy)
Now we need to join them as together we march into HELL!
TURNING UP THE HEAT EXPANSION
HELLDIVERS: Turning Up The Heat is a free content update for HELLDIVERS accompanied by the release of the Reinforcements 2 DLC.
FREE EXPANSION FEATURES:
Increased rank cap from 25 to 27.
6 new trophies.
New environment: Volcanic planets, full of dangers.
New Bug type: The Bug Impaler
New Cyborg enemy: The Cyborg Hound
New Illuminate enemy: The Illuminate Obelisk
Three new objective types: Repair and Fire Artillery, Disarm Unexploded Ordnance, and Geological Survey.
New customization outfit: The Volcanic Camouflage set.
New perk: Strong Arm, allowing you to throw further.
To celebrate the release of the expansion, we are releasing the HELLDIVERS™: TURNING UP THE HEAT EDITION Bundle for $19.99 – This bundle includes: HELLDIVERS Game plus the new SPECIALIST PACK including the Specialist Uniform (helmet, armor and cape), LAS-12 ‘Tanto’ ultra compact laser SMG, and the Close Air Support powerful strafing run Stratagem. Available for a limited time only.
MORE REINFORCEMENTS
In addition to the free content of Turning Up The Heat, HELLDIVERS also adds 4 more Reinforcement Packs for those in need of EVEN MORE DEMOCRACY.
Each Pack is available separately for $2.99 and the DEMOLITIONIST, HAZARD OPS and PILOT Packs are available together in the REINFORCEMENTS PACK 2 for $5.99
helldivers_reinforcements_bundle_2
SPECIALIST PACK
HELLDIVER Specialists are highly trained offensive support operatives. They specialize in the use of Stratagems and supportive fire. They are specially trained to receive enhanced air support. The Specialist Pack contains:
The Specialist Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
LAS-12 ‘Tanto’: An ultra-compact laser SMG with extremely limited range. The short focused beam is very powerful to compensate for the short engagement envelope.
Close Air Support: An ‘Eagle’ delivers a powerful strafing run followed by a pair of anti tank missiles. Effective at damaging almost all targets it does however have the drawback of being slightly unpredictable.
helldivers_specialist_pack
DEMOLITIONIST PACK
HELLDIVER Demolitionists are experts at tearing things down and blowing things up. They are rumored to be uncareful when handling explosives, though this is most likely just their familiarity with explosives being misinterpreted. The Demolitionist Pack contains:
The Demolitionist Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
MG-105 ‘Stalwart’: A light machinegun based on the AR-19 ‘Liberator’. It’s very powerful when used in sustained fire, but the initial recoil is often hard to handle resulting in unpredictable spread.
REC-6 ‘Demolisher’: A remote Explosive Charge capable of destroying both objectives and heavily armored enemies. The user can decide when to detonate the charge by pressing the detonator. Often referred to as a Satchel Charge.
helldivers_demolitionist_pack
HAZARD OPS PACK
The Hazard Operative HELLDIVERS are trained in chemical and biological combat and protection. Sometimes shunned by fellow HELLDIVERS for their use of inhumane warfare, many a Helldiver is happy to have them on the mission when it comes down to life or death. It’s not like the enemy is Human after all.
The Hazard Ops Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
AR-14D ‘Paragon’: A heavy semi-automatic rifle firing rounds similar to the AR-20L ‘Justice’, but without the penetrating capabilities. Instead the rounds are hollowed out and filled with a neurotoxin causing targets hit to become slow and sluggish.
TOX-13 ‘Avenger’: A high pressure liquid projection weapon similar to the FLAM-40 ‘Incinerator’. Instead of projecting flaming napalm, this weapon sprays a very potent neurotoxin resulting in slow movements and irreversible brain damage.
helldivers_hazard_ops_pack
PILOT PACK
The Pilot HELLDIVER is specially trained to operate the wide arsenal of vehicles available to the HELLDIVER troops. Especially trained in the use of the EXO-48 ‘Obsidian’ Exosuit, Pilots are some of the few that are given the honour of using this heavily armed monster. Though they prefer to use vehicles they are still HELLDIVERS and very formidable troops on foot. The Pilot Pack contains:
The Pilot Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
AC-5 Arc Shotgun: A further development of the Arc technology, the AC-5 fires a wide, short range cone and damages everything covered by the static discharge. The charge up is much faster than the original Arc Thrower but the discharge is not quite as powerful.
EXO-48 ‘Obsidian’: A powerful exosuit with two double autocannons. The firepower contained in this walking monstrosity annihilates light and medium infantry, and the two magazines allows for both maximum firepower or conserving ammunition. The only downside to this mech is its distinct lack of anti-tank capabilities.
helldivers_pilot_pack
REMEMBER — FREEDOM HAS NO BOUNDS
Get out there soldier! And #SpreadDemocracy
Again.
People who bought it on launch got the Ranger pack, so it's not like you got no extras.
I dearly want to do a 16x shredder mission with nukes falling like rain from all directions. God knows 4x shredder with cool down reduction perk is a hoot, though it does make pugs twitchy for some reason.