For the most part, the way the Galactic War metagame works in Arrowhead Game Studios' co-op shooter Helldivers 2 is pretty simple. Players both liberate enemy planets and defend Super Earth-controlled ones by completing series of missions called Planetary Operations, with each finished op contributing a small amount to the community's overall war effort — AKA, the blue bars that represent liberation percentage. If they can add to a world's liberation percentage faster than the Terminid bugs or Automaton bots drain it (reductions happen at hourly intervals), they'll eventually free/protect the world successfully.
Something Helldivers 2 doesn't tell you, though, is that there's actually another mechanic at work here. And without understanding it and factoring it into its strategies properly, the wider community may find itself wondering why some Major Order planets are unavailable, or could be stuck watching in shock as worlds it's actively fighting for suddenly get cut off.
