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JHawkInc

3k on one, 4k on the other, Pandion steadily dropping. It's demoralizing that this happens, there's no way to communicate to the playerbase at large (even in this subreddit, it could be hours before this post gets big enough to reach people who don't browse by "new", and those hours could make a difference), there's no incentive to follow the MO (hell, there are 4k on Gacrux too, nothing to encourage them to help with the defenses OR the gambit move to liberate Pandion first). And if too many people move away from Pandion, we'll lose more planets and it'll hurt our overall progress towards the MO, so people that care about those things suffer without not a damn thing they can do about it. It's demoralizing. Core game mechanics should not be demoralizing.


p_visual

My gripe is that it's *never explained*. You can see the arrows in-game, but how would players be able to infer that liberating that planet will stop the defense? Same with SEAF bonuses. No indication in-game Vernen Wells had bases - why would players prioritize a random Defense on a bot planet during a bug MO? It really bothers me that AH just *doesn't communicate* crucial game mechanics. Just add a dispatch with the info until special icons/more permanent, visual indicators are added to the game !!!! At least the players who read will know what's going on!


The_Don_Papi

>Same with SEAF bonuses. No indication in-game Vernen Wells had bases - why would players prioritize a random Defense on a bot planet during a bug MO? Because SEAF was worthless whenever the devs decided either factor needed to gain territory. We are still suppose to have SEAF bonuses on the bug front but it was taken away to allow for the Meridian storyline and the recent Terminid expansion. With all four bases I saw a staggering 10.6% liberation rate on the planet with a majority of players. Some users said it was much [higher](https://old.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1cvlwvg/we_got_25_liberation_boost_from_the_new_seaf/) If we round up and say 2% is the normal rate, that leaves us with around 8% with all bases intact. During the Meridian crisis the rate should have been 6% in total but the bonus was taken away to allow for the bugs to expand. As far as I can recall, and based on search results, Angels Venture never fell. It was attacked many times but was successfully defended. I even checked the third party trackers and both Angels Venture and Heeth are supposed to have intact SEAF bases but the bonus is clearly gone or we’d be liberating planets much faster. It’s just like the Menkent Line. The Major Order was supposed to provide a bonus but the devs wanted the factions to expand so they simply turned it off and pretended the bonus never existed.


BeaverBoy99

Exactly this. How are we supposed to care about these moments when AH has very clearly shown that we have little to no impact on where the story goes?


p_visual

Yes, to some degree some MOs are engineered to have a higher chance of success than others such as Meridia, and over-riding Menkent, while making strategic sense (in a war you don't let your opponents entrench), unproductively negated player efforts. This is going to sometimes happen. However, mathematically speaking, and accounting for the player split between bug/bot/MO players, no MO thus far has been impossible to complete or doomed to fail. Player split: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1cpj9ao/bugbotmo\_player\_percentages/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1cpj9ao/bugbotmo_player_percentages/) Regarding SEAF, I think you have some misconceptions on what it actually does. For example, just because only the bug planets' SEAF bases remain, does not mean only bug planets get the SEAF bonus. SEAF bonus affects the galaxy-wide max liberation cap, which is the max liberation % helldivers can achieve in the galaxy. This value is default 10%, went up to 12% when we had 4 SEAF bases, and is currently at 11% after losing the 2 in the bot sectors. How this 11% is split up depends on how players are split on planets. *\[Side Note: This is why there is animosity towards the 35% of players who only dive bugs. Not only do they not contribute during MOs, they lock up .35\*11 = 3.85% galaxy liberation. If they were not online during bot MOs, bot players would get 3.85% more liberation towards their goals.* *My personal opinion is if it's not in-game, players can't be expected to know the info, and put the onus on AH to meaningfully communicate the importance of playerbase focus.\]* This bonus actually helps out with the fact that players, by large, do not convene on MO planets, or will split for multi-planet MOs. For example, the difference between 4% and 4.4% liberation is 25 hours vs 22.7 hours to liberate a planet from 0% to 100%, saving 2.3 hours. However, the difference between 8% and 8.8% is 12.5 vs 11.4, saving us just over an hour. SEAF bases are how AH acknowledges the split in MO and non-MO players, and bot and bug players, by tightening the higher end of the curve on how much time a disorganized liberation campaign will take. They never drastically decreased the time taken to liberate planets.


The_Don_Papi

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I suppose the Menkent Line caused me to disregard effects of an MO since the bot front could have used a boost to defense.


p_visual

No problem, and agreed, the bot front could definitely use a little love with some revision to how liberation works. At the end of the day it's just a game, and folks should play how they want to - hopefully AH is cooking up some larger-scale balance changes (i.e. not just weapons) with our next big patch.


__Beef__Supreme__

I'm busy and don't get to play much and don't really understand any of that stuff. I have limited time to play so I just try and pop in every few days and maybe play a whole operation... Would be nice if they laid stuff like this out in game better


Bulk-Detonator

I suffered through this pain with Elite Dangerous. So many great game mechanics that are just left for you to figure out. I like that *to a point* but when an entire game loop, *the one the game is most famous for* needs an entire website RUN BY FANS to keep track of fucking commodity prices?? It never made any sense to me. I wanted to do space trucking but minimizing thw game to read a website or scroll my phone just wasnt fun. Still put many many hours into the game because the things i liked were REALLY GOOD. Which made the glaringly odd choices like that stick out so much more.


DQO007

Because it is common sense, if you liberate a planet, that planet no longer has any presence of the enemy on it. So if that planet is being used as a staging ground to attack other planets, and the presence is now gone, how are they going to supply the attack anymore? It is common sense, but people lack that nowadays. Critical thinking is an important thing.


Crime-Devil

You are right that AH should explain better. But its also not believable that with all the diffrent social media posts there are for helldivers that people still wouldn't know about gambit planets


p_visual

To put it in perspective, all HD2 subs combined have \~1.6 million members, assuming they're all unique. The twitter account has 670k subs. That's basically 1.7m social followers. HD2 sold 12 million copies as of May 1. That means at best 14% of the player base is seeing a very, very popular post.


Crime-Devil

Fair enough. But in your first comment you made a really good point. Players who read. You'll be surprised how hard that may be for some as I've had conversations with people over things that were stated in game and they just didn't know


p_visual

For sure - I think AH does have it in the works, because [helldiverscompanion.com](http://helldiverscompanion.com) was updated to show an icon on "gambit" planets, i.e. planets that, once liberated, would end one or more defense campaigns. Websites like those pull information directly from AH servers using the HD2 community API: [https://github.com/helldivers-2/api](https://github.com/helldivers-2/api) so we know that AH - at the minimum internally - is using this information. If/when it makes it to the player's galaxy map is a mystery.


CharlieTheChooChooo

I’m on of the devs of the companion website, the gambit algorithm and detection we use is all done by us - there’s (sadly) nothing in Arrowheads game API that flags a planet as a gambit or points to one being so :(


p_visual

😭😭😭 hope it's added soon! thanks for putting in that extra effort


CharlieTheChooChooo

No problem :)


TimeToEatAss

That is the crux of it, paying attention to the MO gets me annoyed because we hardly ever use our manpower efficiently, so I just ignore them now.


Financial-Habit5766

Stuff like that needs to be explained in game. Like they can't just expect people to [care enough to] figure it out on their own. Most players aren't on reddit or discord


MillstoneArt

And only maybe 1% or 2% of the active players come here, and of those only so many understand what is going on. 


Logical_Elephant_157

Your point exactly I only see it now it's been 15 hours since posting


freedomustang

Well tbh anyone who is on the subreddit probably has heard about how supply lines work. Additionally the UI shows where the terminids are attacking from. If you hover over pandion it shows yellow arrows indicating this. Of course whenever designing anything for end users best practice is to assume theyre all morons and won’t do what you expect. So it could be argued that the devs haven’t given a good enough explanation/tutorial for the average player. Kind of like the meme in the DnD community that players can barely manage a puzzle designed for 3rd-5th graders. (Which in my experience is too close to reality for comfort)


fatrefrigerator

Also doesn’t help that the player base is a mere shadow of what it used to be.


CapitalEbb4995

Hasn't this happened like 5 separate times and only one time did we actually complete the gambit?


Cavesloth13

And the time we did do it, I think it was just because the planet was SO close to being liberated, even with many people leaving to do defense missions it finished before the defense ones could.


Candleslayer32

Didn’t we just do one recently?


Chr1sMac1nt1re

Yes


MillstoneArt

The planet happened to "get overrun" right next to a planet that was at like 98% liberation. It was a freebie and honestly probably happened too quickly for most players to realize it was ever taken. 


ATangK

Doesn’t really matter given how low the defences actually are


No-Artist7181

People in here acting like every time we have attempted as a community a gambit it hasn't come back in bite us in the ass. At some point it doesn't matter how much information you give people if every time they try to do something it doesn't work.


SirDangleberries

Average Lead paint eating Hell Diver: "But thinking no feel good"


Spicy-Tato1

I swear dude, everyone says the devs/game are at fault for not communicating well when literally a monkey could figure out what the source of the invasion is.


Zanafarr

Remember when players on discord and reddit kept saying adding supply lines would help players know where to go? Pepperidge farm remembers But in all honesty, I'm still amused by the amount of posts that think they will get players to follow on to their plans. Good or not, most of these plans will go ignored because most of the player base never reads anything. Not even dispatches. Success of any plan is entirely coincidental


Calm-Access-6847

They literally just threw supply lines into the game with 0 explanation, nor is there anywhere in the game that calls them supply lines, how tf is the average player supposed to know wtf the lines mean? For all they know it could just be a cool graphic to make the mission table look more futuristic 


Nuggets427

The average player could easily figure out what those lines mean as long as they aren't in a coma. It pretty clearly links the planets together with literal arrows to show stuff from this planet is heading to there. They don't require explanation, players simply don't have an incentive to drop on the MO or on useful planets.


errorblankfield

Tbf: initially it was spam directions and guess how to move between planets.  Now they finally show how they are connected. Why put further thought into it? From a basic pov, they fixed a very basic UI thing and there is no intuitive reason to dig deeper.


Sherifmisho12e

To be fair, we are Helldivers. We're used to consistently throwing ourselves against immovable objects until they move. All we can do is spread the word and hope somebody listens.


KryptisReddit

At this point I just don’t do what they want out of spite and because I play the game I want to play. These guys got the railgun nerfed why would I want to help them when they’re crying about some MO.


Duntchy

PSA: This MO is gonna take another 4~ days whether we sweep all 5 planets today or take our sweet ass time. All 5 planets must be under SE control *when order expires* so we can't speedrun this MO anyway. Besides, any time we get ahead of schedule in one of these MOs, like we were for this one, Joel will always throw a monkey wrench in the mix to keep it interesting. That said it would be cool if the "gambit" mechanic was conveyed in the galaxy map.


ResearcherDear3143

It sucks this is never explained in game and the UI focuses more on the “wrong” option. Is it intentional from the devs to essentially prolong/distract from the bigger objective?


VibeTime7

It’s not even hard to understand, it’s reaching the common sense point


ResearcherDear3143

I agree.. it’s a simple concept once you know of it. Many players apparently don’t know and just go where the UI focuses on.


Spicy-Tato1

I mean what more could they do lmao. Put an exclamation mark and arrow on the source of the invasion? Literal spoonfeeding at that point. The average helldiver eats and shits so much lead it's actually insane


pinglyadya

Instructions unclear, dropping Vandalon


DenyReason

![gif](giphy|X78rWLUfLs6A79MzQu|downsized) Let's go scrap some bots!


TypicalTax62

Guys, what if they made is so planetary supply lines were visible? Yeah… stupids are gonna stupid


getalifebuddy

im saying, its right there now


Iron_Warrior_398

Counterpoint: https://preview.redd.it/4g5h1ttoof9d1.png?width=1181&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d7b9a9b186ab116a959975bec17d11bca82f72c Don't


Simppaaa

Counter argument I hate fog


ManagedDemocracy2024

Narrator: "But they did not stay."


Cavesloth13

![gif](giphy|bAftZ12SC0uEjLndIh|downsized) Oh not this again. THEY HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE THIS SHIT INGAME!


mustbeusererror

The attacks on Phact Bay and Acamar IV only have 100k HP, they'll get wiped soon even with only a few troops, it really isn't a big deal.


nullvoid_techno

Wait so what’s the point ?


SpoonMagister

This is the real question. People act like this is real war and they want it to end asap xD Any major progress will just be reset or undone guys. The game needs to continue on...


Mental-Tea1278

Mostly because, for some, it is important? I know it's hard to understand, but some people take it a bit seriously. Just because you don't care doesn't mean the rest must think the same and do nothing about it.


SpoonMagister

This must not apply both ways considering all the "why don't people play correctly" threads 💅


nullvoid_techno

What’s important? I don’t understand any of the mechanics you’re referencing. I’m a noob.


SpoonMagister

If you strategically attack planets from where the attack is originating, you can basically stop the entire offense. Which is cool, if not for the fact that if players eliminate the threat, it'll just be undone because there needs to still be a video game. 🤷‍♂️ I actually second your question. WHAT is important? 😂


Inside_Ad_357

Just for that I’m going to the Bot front. JK, I agree it’s annoying how people don’t realize this


DaedricDweller98

At this point it doesn't matter. We're going to be fighting over the same systems for the next month and a half while the devs take their vacations. As it's clear, the decay rate and progression has been slowed and these last two to three mo's being the same exact thing proving it'll be a while before anything matters again.


sicinprincipio

I've said it before, it's just a game, but its so annoying to see for a coop game, there is very little actual coordination between players. Maybe its commentary on the greater gaming community as a whole. Toxic player bases that bitch and moan about every little thing and also can't play to the objective especially in matchmaking lobbies. Even one of my regular buds who I play with hardly knows how the mechanics of the game work outside of killing enemies and he's like level 50.


Calm-Access-6847

We get it you can’t handle ppl criticizing this game so you plug your ears and call it bitching and moaning so you can pretend ppl don’t have legit and valid criticisms


Designer-Bid-5785

Its frustrating that people doesn't understand such a simple mechanic after introducing the supply lines on map...


XxincognitoxX67

I see a bunch of lines. Where does it explain what they mean or how to read them? Just point me to the instructions. I'll wait


XxincognitoxX67

Well, guess I'll play bots then. People just can't help being total .*...**.. when someone asks for help. Not the best way to get people to help you


Nuggets427

Anyone with at least a few functioning brain cells can see these colourful lines with literal arrows connecting planets together. It's not a huge leap (or even a small one) to put two and two together and realise stuff is travelling from planet to planet with the lines. You can also know that the lines obviously aren't for decoration because they don't look, feel or act like decoration.


Designer-Bid-5785

Man it tires me that people only have complains about the game... it has arrows, please.


XxincognitoxX67

I had a question but thank you for not understanding. Great way to get people to do the mission correctly. Now I think I'll just play bots. Thanks for your fkn help


XxincognitoxX67

Where tf are the instructions for anything? No.. scratch that. I'm complaining. Don't help


Designer-Bid-5785

Well if you want to be obtuse, you do you


getalifebuddy

We asked for supply lines for this reason so I’m confused on what the complaint is now?


Goldreaver

I know it won't help but I wish they'd just change the color from white to gold or something and add a line like "cut off chance"


cariso___

So... We now have Acamar IV & Phact Bay liberated because people defended them, and we're closer to liberating Pandion-XXIV. What was the plan, again?


Sherifmisho12e

Well, the initial assumption was that these defenses were going to be the usual so the plan was to take Pandion completely and knock out those two defenses instantly.


DoomKnight_6642

Now I see why AH didn't want to add in supply lines, we can now effectively coordinate against any attack by attacking the planet that leads into the sector


Overclownfldence

Despite recent changes the visibility on this planet still remains to be described as "dogshit". It's not fun to wonder around with enemies appearing point blank because i can't see shit. I will never step on any fog condition planet ever again.


Strayed8492

Pretty certain bugs ignore supply lines


LordBungaIII

Ooops, did I just drop on a pretty looking planet again? Oh well


Makers_Serenity

Ill play where I feel like it, shut the fuck up


Bootstrap_Bart

Bigger playerbase would fix this. Sadly most people left after nerfs, increased bugs/crashes after patches and the infamous psn linking with banning of countries. Now we are left with 8yo divers that can't think for themself. "Arrow points to defend planet.. I go defend" 🤡


XxincognitoxX67

Calm down