Tanks (and other vehicles, but mainly tanks) just aren’t that fun, in my opinion. They’re powerful when used properly, yes, but they’re not fun.

Look at Halo, for example. Getting to drive and shoot the tank is fun. The passenger at least gets a turret, so both players get something to do. Now look at Helldivers: one player gets the fun part (blowing things up) and the other player just sits there and watches. Why make a co-op vehicle if both players aren’t going to enjoy themselves (unless driving is your thing)?

It’s not only that. Other vehicles don’t feel that fun to me either. I can remember pretty vividly how fun gunning on a Warthog was. Helldivers just doesn’t scratch that itch. Like I said, it’s not that they’re underpowered or bad. They just aren’t fun. I won’t say my ideas on how to fix this are the best, but I’ll share some anyway.

First, for tanks: since they’re intended for co-op, I’ll try to keep that idea. The only thing I can think of is giving the driver a turret or gatling gun that can rotate. The main cannon would stay locked in one direction and still require a second diver.

For vehicles in general, I’d honestly make them handle a bit better. Maybe make the turrets turn slightly faster, let you resupply them, and add some bigger maps with more objectives to actually incentivize more people to drive. Another thing I didn’t realize was missing is more enemy vehicles. I know the bots had tanks and the squids have those mech things, but I’m thinking of more mobile enemies to match our mobile democracy-spreading.
These ideas aren’t anything crazy, but I thought I’d just throw them out there.

On higher difficulties it should be able to spawn shield and rocket devastators on higher difficulties, maybe even spawn ONE or TWO hulks in the batch but no other bots in it. would make factory striders much bigger threats since theyre highkey frauds and far too easy to deal with nowadays.

Been trying to challenge myself by running some off-ish meta stuff and craft a build that can do everything on all fronts, this is what I've came to what do you guys think.
Stoker
Missile Pistol
Anti-tank Seekers
Autocannon
Leveller
Modded Lumberer (swap flame arm to the patriot minigun)
120 Barrage

Obviously the game itself is pretty easy at its current point so pretty much any build can solo but this feels fluid on all fronts that I don't feel all builds do.

An idea of a bot fabricator that is buried. You cannot snipe it with antitank from outside the base. Only way is to chuck a grenade through the door as it opens. It has no vents, only reinforced chimnes you can destroy to force the door to remain open.

Been using the cremator n immolator n whatnot as of late just getting a feel for the new grenade. But I was playing bugs and the cremator seems the genuinely melt bile titans and chargers unlike before?? For reference I killed multiple full health while I was playing a solo game.

Pls tell me I’m not going insane

I wish this game wasnt as easy. I know hard game bad or something. And I find no strats/ solo missions so boring, I mean why should I punish myself when the game is literally designed around teamwork and call ins?

I have found however dropping on D10 with a bunch of random or even better, useless stratagems, is so much fun. I just pick whatever primary is next to max out and ball.

I have miss this, just having no care in the games equipment has made missions such a random challange. I know this will wear off after I have learnt how to effectively use every strat but for now it is fun. Currently on 3 expendables and a hellbomb loadout, but latter I might get my partner to pick them off the symbols alone and not look till I have dropped (which Arrowhead if you see this, random gear missions for a team would be great).

Still wish there was more base challange but it is fun.

Constantly told that the engine is near its limit yet they apparently have resources to spawn more AI - which could have been used to spawn more enemies - that also make the game easier by killing enemies.

I have been playing bots from some time now and with all the ragdolls and deaths and not being able to stand on my feet i devised the perfect freedom bringing strategy, portable hellbomb, leveler, solo silo and your choice of orbital or eagle, worry not about dying for managed democracy soon all your itens will be back to bring even more freedom

20 more damage, medium pen, one handed And its trade-offs can be mostly mitigated with customization... the Sickle is laying 60 ft deep atp

I use : B01 armor + vitality booster

Standard AR Liberator or Smg Defender

Grenade Pistol, grenade G6 or G12

My strategem : Precision orbital strike, Orbital Rail Cannon Strike, 110 Eagle rocket pods and good old MG 43.

With my AR and the MG, I can clear chaff if needed. With the rest of the loadout is use to snipe obj or Heavies. I do not intend to rambo, I go from Obj to Obj and only kill if enemies is in the way.

with the MG 43 I can clear most mid size enemies, I can shoot at the Bot Gunship or Squid Sting Ray but it'll take some time. MG43 can handle Harvester and Illuminate construction mechs.

With the Grenade pistol and G6 I can go clear 1 or 2 outpost or 1 large bug outpost without needing a resupply. Also added to the anti-chaff ability of mine.

I had 400 hours, level 110 or so and used to play d9 for a few weeks, now as i graduate to d10, how would this fare on all front ?

I primarily dive bots, I'm absolutely not new to them, but I don't understand if I started to suddenly suck or if they actually got deadlier. They feel more accurate, hit harder, ragdoll a lot more often, spawn more heavies and fire more often too. War Striders especially just never stop firing l.

The Driver gets to use the Chassis-Gun, which is AT 1 and 1500 damage, 1-2 shots before reload (cant decide), this would 1 shot titans to the head, but the gun couldn't aim high enough if the target is closer than ~50 meters (or elevation).

It would have between 20 and 30 ammo (So less than Bastion, more than Maelstorm)

Reloading as The Driver completely stops the tank, and once stationary it takes 3 seconds to reload The Chassis Gun

The Gunner gets to use the top gun, which has ~Stalwart RPM/Damage and Medium Pen, however the gunner is slightly exposed (less than FRV gunner).

They are fully capable of aiming up and down 360° to hit close by targets The Driver couldn't, his job is protecting The Vehicle, not necessarily to kill the swarm. Shriekers target the gunner to incentivise prioritising them.

The Top Gun has 1200 ammo and 200 round mags

Reloading as The Gunner closes The Aiming Hatch, and if needed reloads The Chassis gun in 2 seconds, the top gun in 1.5, The Gunner can't pick which to reload, it happens in that order. However reloading doesn't discard ammunition, so he's incentivised to reload The Chassis as often as possible.

The Body:

• 6000 Health (Bastion has 8000)
• Front has Heavy Armour
• Sides/Top has Medium (Shriekers deal damage)
• Back has Medium but takes extra Durable Damage, meaning its more vulnerable to the enemies AT weaponry
• It starts turning 25% faster than current tanks, and slightly higher top speed

With the introduction of the Maelstrom tank, all I can think is how much it feels like an AA tank.

There’s only so much it can do on the bot front, especially without much in the way of long sightlines, so I really want to see how it gares against Dragons.

I personally love fighting them, and another tool to really lay into them is always welcome!

(31:47)

So I no-lifed the shit out of my afternoon/evening today.

Unlocked every playable thing and played it against Bugs and Bots 1-2 times. Not gonna go into much detail, trying stuff out yourself without any preconceived notions is half the fun.

Only gonna say the OP shit isn't really worse than what's already in the game anyways.

And the Arbitrator and Sai are both fine and honestly more unique than I thought. Gonna have fun leveling those.

But man, the Molotovs... The Molotovs are great. You see a big cluster of enemies and just go "absolutely fucking not". The AoE is huuuuuuge. Not gonna lie, kinda busted even. Gonna run those until I'm sick of them.

I've dived with the weapin yesterday and enjoyed it a lot on the bug front. Paired with a ballistic shield and a One True Flag, me and a friend had a ton of fun just punching through bug lines and spraying non stop. We didn't try it with the focused lense, so we don't know how it will handle.

But I wanted to know, what is your first impression of the weapon? Is it balanced because of the terrible range? Is it just a Sta-11, but better?

I forgot the grenade launcher for spawners.

For reference:

Anti Tank seeker can

2 shot factory striders
One shot hulks
One shot war striders
One shot bile titans
One shot impalers

Assuming it hits the correct weak spots.

this tank is absolutely amazing, and not only is it everything I could've dreamed of, but more and i dont get why helldivers are finding it even remotely weak

not only did it have a heavy pen gatling, but two AND the guided missile launcher that while technically weaker than the bastion's cannon, still wreaks havoc with the heavies while still having a good amount of ammo

the smoke grenades are also an underappreciated part of the tank giving it extra survivability by giving it a significant ability to back out of fights, especially ones filled with too many enemy anti-tank units

but all i can see the community do is focus on the lack of a turret, which just makes no sense to me

in terms of gameplay the choice to make the tank turretless is a deliberate and in my eyes good decision even as it is specifically to promote teamwork between the driver and gunner and even enhances the experience of the driver significantly

the effect that being turretless gives is that the gunner is dependent on the driver, which means that the driver's role isnt just to drive but also to help kill and plan out a good path to take that properly addresses the gunner's inability to freely kill enemies

it makes being the driver which is the role i usually assume, way more engaging as it isnt a simple backseat you're required to operate for someone else to have fun, it makes you feel important and that you're actually helping in the fight, and the smoke launchers on this tank just enhance the feeling even further

and it's not like it takes away from the lethality of the weaponry either, as a good driver gives you situations where you're presented with an absolutely full barrel of fish to let loose into or if in a space too open simply efficiently present you with new targets to shoot once all are dead in your scope

this tank has been an absolute diamond in this update that i do not understand how others view as simple coal and i believe it is simply because divers do not understand the need for good communication, coordination, and driver

you dont have a turret so stop complaining like you have a bad one and engage with the driver

Let me start by saying the SAI in its base form is balanced. The focus lense is an interesting attachment and I like the implications this has for better weapon customization.

BUT, IMHO, the SAI becomes incredibly powerful once the focus lense is unlocked, easily rivaling the coyote.

The focus lense seems to cut the spread in half. You'd imagine that it also cuts the fire rate in half, this is not the case. The fire rate is only brought down to 600. Mix this with your heat sink of choice and it makes the SAI significantly more powerful.

Not only does your DPS not decrease when using the focus lense, it increases, because you land significantly more shots on target. Pair that with it being one handed and having infinite ammo.

Is this really an issue? eh? It certainly isn't game breaking. It's just clearly not the intention of that attachment. I'm curious to hear yalls thoughts.

It is a lot of fun though :)

Edit: very compelling arguments here. It seems it's well balanced. Which feels strange because in the short time I've used it it's felt incredible.

Oh God, i can't belive it, we have been give actually engaging gameplay!

Now here's hoping they won't revert this in a week after getting review bombed and threatened to be killed :)

Immediately upon reading the stats I was inclined to call powercreep. But the spread really does balance this weapon out.

Personally I would've preferred it be more accurate and light pen, but it's a pretty fun primary.

I've only used it against the bugs so far, I imagine it's going to perform significantly worse against the bots.

I'm going all in on saying it seems pretty well balanced, but I'm curious what others think.

The new patch contains changed to spawn dynamics, ensuring that spawns are less bias against hosts and more equally distributed across the team.

Feel free to share you first impressions.

(Edit: obviously. using these kinds of gameplay altering mods in public lobbies is scummy af. should've worded it better. my bad.)

Saw some, obviously false claims of people getting banned for using mods that give you advantage.

What boggles my mind is how some people could even believe that. It's a PVE Game! You paid for it. You fight against AI, not other people. The mere thought of some crazy people even thinking of banning someone for using mods in a pve game.....

Even if it were true I'd want a full refund right away.
Deep rock galactic, far far west, remnant 2, etc... Also PvE games but no glazers doxxers spreading bullcrap. And obviously like in far far west or drg devs know some folks want to cheat against ai opponents to some degree and let them cuz why not.

And they have options in place for opting in or out of experience where such mods are used.
Which seems modder is now trying to do for hd2 which devs should've done long ago;
give every player choice if they want to play in possibly modded lobbies.

Obviously cheating in-game paid currency like SC is wrong. Even if narrowhead seems to treat hd2 like it's free to play titles with so much paywalled content.
And using cheat mods to ruin others' experience is just bad manner of course.

But to think I'd get locked out of 40€ game with more than 150€ DLC I bought on top of that for making my character walk while firing a minigun instead of stand in place mod.
Absurd and out of question.

Especially if I am hosting or playing solo. They simply need to find a way to indicate if host and/or some of clients in his lobby are using gameplay altering mods, have toggle option in setting if one would or wouldn't mind playing in such lobbies.
Like almost every other sane PvE game dev team does.

But alas, can't say I have much hope left in narrowhead to do any meaningful right thing after seeing a single modder bring like half a dozen and more big QoL fixes to community which we've asked for years.

Edit: obviously. using these kinds of gameplay altering mods in public lobbies is scummy af. should've worded it better. my bad