Helldivers 2 players are on the way to earning a new mech, with a cool jet or bomb-based stratagem possibly to follow
Arrowhead's been taking pitches for an Eagle stratagem, and by god have folks been pitching.
If you've been a bit frustrated with the state of Helldivers 2 and are looking for reasons to jump back into the Galactic War - well, Arrowhead's here to provide 'em. The latest Major Order will reward a new mech if completed, and the studio's been taking community pitches for a new stratagem.
In case you missed it, Arrowhead's Johan Pilestedt recently stepped aside as CEO, in order to focus more heavily on helping oversee Helldivers 2's development. While the wider effects of this will likely take a little while to come to fruition, that hasn't stopped the developer from getting off to a quick start - he's already asked the community for some stratagem ideas they'd like to see become a thing.
Before we get to that, though let's start with this latest Major Order. The task is to liberate one planet - Varylia 5 - something players have already gotten around 30% of the way through as of writing. The reward would be "the dual-autocannon EXO-49 Emancipator exosuit", a mech that'll be possible to produce if an automaton "Petafactory" on the planet can be secured for Super Earth.
Given it's just one world and there are four and a bit days left on the order, I'd assume the automatons will put up a pretty strong fight to hold Varylia, but we've seen what the game's community can be capable of, especially when something people really care about is on the line.
While that's going on, Pilestedt's been busy asking players on Twitter for some ideas of what they'd like to see in an Eagle stratagem. Most of the responses are focused around either some form of air support or bombs, with the developer having casually shared a picture of the proper model for the Super Earth bomber folks can currently sometimes find downed versions of as a POI in-game as a reply on one.
On the other hand, one player wrote: "I don't know if it has to be an eagle strike, but something to deny enemies from reinforcing for like a minute or 2 would be very strategically useful." Pilestedt seemed to think that was cool, saying that it could be "like a disruption beacon - similar to what the bots have". He also enjoyed someone's pitch involving a helldiver casually riding a bomb just like Major Kong does in Dr. Strangelove.
Before you get too excited, the developer closed out this thread by saying that we'll just have to see if any of these stratagem ideas actually get picked up, but he did also tell folks to keep them coming. Make sure to stay tuned for more Helldivers 2 news as the Second Galactic War rages on.