The Helldivers crushed through their most recent major orders, with large-scale destruction of the Automatons on X-45 unlocking both a fancy new quad rocket launcher and the mysterious promise of an “interplanetary battle station.” Players have to wait to discover what functionality the latter will offer (current speculation is some sort of clan system), but the galactic war waits for no citizen, and the new major order is for pretty much the first time encouraging some actual strategy beyond “blow them all up.” Even if that’s still what we’ll be doing.

Firstly, the X-45 MO was swiftly followed up with a new MO asking that players kill 100 million Terminids: which they achieved in a jaw-dropping eight hours. This resulted in the following Super Earth announcement of success, soon followed by yet another new major order:

“After an explosive force that took far less time than Super Earth High Command could have anticipated, there exists now one hundred million less fascist bugs in the Galaxy. Never underestimate the bug-killing capacity of Helldivers and an expanded arsenal! This application of controlled duress to the Terminid menace has resulted in some exciting findings, such as that the Terminids produce higher quality E-710 when harvested under extreme duress.”

“Close observation of the Terminids did uncover a new behaviour: the construction of spore-producing towers, roughly the size of small skyscrapers. This development appears to pose no threat, but will be carefully monitored.”

Sound familiar? Back in March the Helldivers had an MO focused on deploying Termicide towers, which were apparently going to pump some bug-genociding gas into the air and take care of business on a planetary scale. You guessed it: after the Helldivers had succeeded, it turned out the scientists got things wrong. The Termicide caused mutations and an explosion in the bug population, with the Helldivers once more called in to clean up the mess.

So the Terminids making their own copies of these towers seems… worrying? Though I did come across one persuasive player theory: “Fish & cargo cult behavior, they are building their own version of the (now gone) Termicide Towers,” writes KingShere. “The Termicide mutations that hatched there, now as ‘adults’ want the return of their spawning environment.” 

Ought to not?

Whatever the ultimate goal, these new structures aren’t doing anything yet. The strategic element of the new MO comes in the form of something players have previously theorised about: attacking supply lines and dividing enemy forces. Helldivers 2’s galactic map does have supply lines, which are currently hidden, but players have worked them out and tried to flip the script on Arrowhead: and with the Martale gambit, oh–so-nearly succeeded.

“Now, Super Earth High Command directs the Helldivers back to the western front, as a strategic opportunity of galactic proportions has revealed itself,” reads the new MO. “The Automatons have opened up the opportunity to split their forces down the middle, which would throw their cut-off forces into disarray and weaken their defenses for a short time on the cut-off planets. The Helldivers are ordered to cut a line through the Andromeda Sector, joining our X-45 forces and dividing the Automatons’ in two.”

Now we’re talking democracy. The idea of an MO that has the potential to alter the battlefield’s make-up in a meaningful way, rather than just rewarding us with a weapon and some progress in a given sector, is an instantly attractive prospect. In fact it’s one that players themselves have previously suggested as a community tactic for previous MOs, though without the kind of large-scale support required.

That doesn’t mean everyone’s on-board. No tactic is a guaranteed winner, and while the idea of chopping the Automaton forces down the middle may seem like quite an attractive one, the flipside is that it could all go wrong, leave the Helldivers fighting on multiple fronts rather than one, and leave X-45 to fall back into bot hands.

Aesir Pass, the first planet that needs taking, is standing at a little under 40% liberated and should be under Super Earth control in just over a day. Three more will need to fall in quick succession and, even then, the outcome is unknown. This could be a devastating strike against the Automatons’ capacity to reinforce target planets, and see a lot of dominos fall together very quickly… or it could be a very bad idea indeed. I’m a little concerned, but don’t tell the democracy officer.