Throughout all the buffs and nerfs that've rolled through Helldivers 2 as of late, the Autocannon has remained—for the most part—beloved.
It's not the best anti-tank weapon in the world, meeting a wall against more heavily-armoured Terminids, but it can deal nicely with most enemies the Automatons have to throw at you. It also fires pretty dang rapidly, meaning you don't need to have great aim to use it unlike comparable options such as the Anti-Materiel Rifle.
Arrowhead Games has clearly reasoned, then, that what red-blooded Super Earth patriots really want is a mech with not one, but two Autocannons strapped to the sides. I am not immune to intergalactic propaganda because yes, yes I do want that.
As announced on the game's official Twitter, the latest major order sees players headed to Varylia 5 to receive the new bit of bot-smashing kit.
MAJOR ORDER: Surveillance has uncovered an Automaton "Petafactory"; its only purpose to mass-produce heartless weapons of war.Liberate it and we can convert it to produce en masse the dual-Autocannon EXO-49 EMANCIPATOR EXOSUIT. pic.twitter.com/r2yZeCvY2DMay 23, 2024
"This automaton 'petafactory'" on Varylia 5, reads an in-game transmission, serves the purpose of mass-producing "weapons of war, in order to further the Automatons' totalitarian agenda. Its worker drones are forced to labour nonstop, and the environmental impacts are devastating," unlike our environmental, planet-glassing, 500kg impacts. Naturally, all of Super Earth's bombs are environmentally friendly and are an excellent source of Vitamin C.
"With low-cost alterations, the Petafactory could be retrofitted to allow the construction of a dual-autocannon Exosuit variant: the EXO-49 EMANCIPATOR EXOSUIT."
There's a little nervousness among the community, though—remember those MD-17 Anti-Tank mines players were able to 'vote' on? While they chose the RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher instead, those mines were later available for liberation during Operation Metallic Harvest. Unfortunately, players failed that major order, and the mines once again slipped through freedom's fingers.
Granted, I'm sure Arrowhead Games still has plans to release those mines later down the line—but that's still proof that the studio's more than willing to deny players their toys if they beef it.
The last few major orders in a nutshell from r/Helldivers
While I'm not one to ascribe to doomerism regarding player numbers—Helldivers 2's steady "decline" in concurrent players is to be expected, and it's still very healthy for a game of its kind—I do think it strange that the current structure is fine withholding stratagems as punishment, but doesn't really confer much for succeeding on other orders apart from, well, medals.
Either way, this one should be a slightly easier cinch. It's very possible to liberate a single planet, and players have almost a full week—including the weekend—to achieve their goal. Like my local Democracy Officer told me (just now, while pointing a patriotism checker that is absolutely not shaped like a gun to my head) doubt is for traitors. Hopefully Johan Pilestedt's pivot from CEO to CCO should also give the game a much-needed shakeup in the future.
