Helldivers 2's new Major Order is offering players a new mech suit strategem - if they can liberate an Automaton factory that's making its own new weapons.
The new Major Order, announced earlier today, reveals that "the Automatons are building a giant 'petafactory' on Valyria 5." That factory is similar to the Exosuit factory that players fought to liberate on Tien Kwan, when they unlocked the game's first Helldivers 2 mechs.
The Order tasks players with liberating the factory, suggesting that if they do so "this facility could be converted to produce the Dual-Autocannon equipped EXO-49 Emancipator Exosuit." Essentially, if the community can free Valyria 5 from the clutches of the Automatons, they'll gain a new mech strategem.
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
The Emancipator Exosuit leaked a couple of months ago, suggesting that developer Arrowhead has had this latest twist in the Galactic War ready to go for a little while now. Equipped with double rockets, the Emancipator looks like the kind of tool that will rip through enemy units. It also looks like something of a step up from the previous mech, which was a little clunky, and had some questionable aim if you were a little too trigger-happy.
Whether players actually get to test it out, however, remains to be seen. Completing Major Orders is starting to get more and more difficult, perhaps as a result of a naturally-shrinking player base that's appears to also be suffering from the fact that Automatons are still not that much fun to fight.