0 Comments 
Sometimes it feels like you just can’t win. Some Helldivers 2 planetary war developments feel that way – like the story is just pushing the narrative, with no regard to players’ efforts. Some parts of the community feel like that, but is that the whole story or is there a miscommunication afoot? Maybe we just have to realize that we’re outnumbered and focus on Major Orders instead.
Planetary defense and liberation gone awry
Some front efforts seem daunting when faced with facts and numbers. For instance, Ciaran_h1 started a discussion on Reddit, noticing that two planets are going to fail despite the number of Helldivers involved. Planets of Darius II and Shelt are being focused on by a large number of our forces, yet they are still projected to fail. However, neither planet is a part of the current Major Order. Instead, that should be Turing, which if liberated would allow for the construction of Xenoentimology Center for the upcoming DSS.
So does that mean that those planets are doomed to fail because of the overarching story? Many players don’t think so. As Tall_Turn2759 points out: “Don’t stress about it too much, this is the whole reason we are getting the DSS, wherever we vote on its orbit, will be the main cluster of our forces, as long as the stratagems it provides are worth it.” We’ve faced losing planets before, and it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, with the number of players in the game, the numbers on those two planets can be deceptively small, compared to what the AI push seems to be.
You can beat bugs and bots, but can’t beat math
On that note, E170mm provides a more detailed analysis: “First of all: Liberation and Defend campaigns work differently. Defend planets generally have less health, and there is no enemy resistance. (Merely the progress bar. Divide 100 by (hours to defend) and you get the enemy rate). Liberation planets have more health and enemy resistance. As you can see, the Automatons are resisting by 1.5% on Shelt, while the Helldivers are providing +1.41%. 1.41 – 1.5 = -0.09%. We currently have 4.9% on Darius II, but since we are at 45% defended and the bugs are at like, 85%, we need 11.8% to outpace their attack. Darius II is losing because we are so far behind. The planet is already lost, even if we got every diver currently active I don’t think we could defend it in time – we are simply too far behind. We have 48% of divers on Darius II, and 19% on Shelt. We need about 21% on Shelt to be making noticeable progress. 23% would be great. Currently, nearly half the Helldivers are fighting a losing fight.”
This pretty much sums up the issue perfectly – players are focusing on planets that are doomed to lose simply because we were already outpaced. It’s a waste of an effort that could’ve gone to a more deserving objective, including liberating Turing for the MO. The faster we complete it, the faster we’ll get access to the DSS. And frankly, we can’t wait to see what the space station will look like. Is Arrowhead at fault for not recognizing where players want to fight and catering to that? While it could be fun, bending to every whim would tell a dull story, so we’re not surprised that there’s no effort to respond in this situation.