Summary
- Automaton missions in Helldivers 2 are challenging, leading to frequent player deaths and frustration.
- Lack of communication in public lobbies hinders teamwork, making coordination difficult against tough enemies.
- Playing with friends allows for better coordination and strategy, leading to successful missions and more rewards.
I hate killing Automatons in . This isn’t a hot take – it’s evident that a lot of players feel the same way. The most recent Major Order asked players to travel to the Automaton-controlled Trigon Sector to carry out Operation Swift Disassembly, an attempt to stop an Automaton rebellion called The Reclamation. Troost has a deep-space comms array that we have to capture in order to find out what they’re planning. Despite the order, almost half the player base is still in Terminid territory, unwilling to brave the big robots for some medals. Why? Because it’s really hard.
A couple days ago, I ventured onto Mantes with a couple of randoms to do an escort mission, and got TPKed so violently that I logged right off and went to bed. It was so bad that one of the level 7s who tagged on to my mission started yelling at us in Chinese, which reminded me too much of my mother for me to tolerate. That was on Challenging difficulty. Challenging.
I’m not the most skilled of players, and I’m only at level 15 (I have a life outsiꦆde of games, okay?), but throw me on a Terminid planet 🐼at that difficulty and I can hold my own just fine. On that same difficulty against Automatons, I’m a goner. It’s absolute chaos. Everybody dies over and over until we’re out of reinforcements, the mission ends with no rewards, and everybody shamefacedly leaves my ship.
I could just lower my difficulty, and last night I did exactly that. I did an operation on Ustotu on medium, again with a party of strangers, and everything was fine. I didn’t die a single time, despite half of my party constantly running away to do oth𝔍er objectives without warning – it’s that easy. But because it’s so easy, there’s basically no challenge to it, and it’s not as fun or satisfying.
I’m realising as I keep playing that the problem is a lack of communication. It&rsqౠuo;s easy to get dangerously outnumbered by Automatons because there are so many types, and they can do a lot of damage from a distance very quickly. Turrets aren’t as effective on them, because stronger enemies can destroy them within seconds of de𝔍ployment. Taking them out methodically requires coordination and planning, from stratagem and weapon selection to how you spread out on the ground in the midst of a firefight.
I’ve always favoured a more static, precision-based approach to the Auto༺matons – they tend to have smaller weak points, and can be resistant to weapons like rockets that would usually take a Terminid out. I’m a big fan of the anti-materiel rifle in this situation, which usually means I find a high point and snipe enemies with stronger armour from there, aiming for headshots. I usually cover my back with a turret and throw on a rover pack to eliminate weaker enemies that might sneak up on me, but again, it’s easy for bigger enemies to get past those defences and kill me within seconds, especially if I’ve missed a big bot drop in the chaos.
This Week's Helldivers 2 Conspiracies Include A Joel Imposter, A Missing Gun, And A Suicide Mission
Damn, can’t a soldier catch a break?
Most people in public lobbies don’t play with their mics on. I get it – I don’t either. I’m not trying to get hate crimed, though I’ve noticed Helldivers 2 is 168澳洲幸运5开🉐奖网:much less toxic than other live-🔥service games. But that also means that nobody is talking to each other. If I suddenly get swarmed by a group of bots, I won’t be able to ask for help or tell my other patriots there’s danger coming. If my teammates need me to urgently move to another position to tackle a big enemy, they won’t say so. Tꦦhere’s no strategy, only adapting to each other as best we can without communication. Pings can only go so far, and adding language barriers on top of this (there are lots of Chinese-speakers, and while I might be passably bilingual, most people aren’t) means lots of people end up getting thrashed on Automaton planets.
The obvious solution: get some friends. I’m lucky enough that I have some friends who also play Helldivers 2, and I’ll usually see them online about once a week. I’ll join their game, we’ll do some missions, chat about what’s going on in o🧜ur lives, and call it a night. It’s nice! But more importantly, these are people I know and have hung out with. We know how to communicate efficiently with each other, we’re willing and happy to accommodate each others’ different levels (I have the lowest level right now, so they’re mostly carrying me), and we can discuss strategies and tactics in detail before ever diving in.
I’ve had a better time fighting Automatons with these friends than with strangers, not because they’re all at a higher level than me (trust me, I’ve failed missions even when all three squadmates had playe🧔d much more than me), but because we’re able to strategise and coordinate our attacks. Every time we’ve taken on the robots, we’ve come out on top, with plenty of rewards to boot. Don’t fear the Automatons, dear Helldivers – fear radio silence. Call up your friends and make a post-work date of it, or plan a cheeky weekend session. I love playing with strangers, but this Major Order is going to take more than pings.
Helldivers 2 is the sequel to the third-person shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios. This time out, the Helldivers are deep in the Galactic War, and it's up to you to bring Managed Democracy to the masses.
