Update: Developer Arrowhead has acknowledged that the Democracy Space Station that Helldivers 2 players spent months fighting for is, in fact, more of a nuisance than anything, causing "an unexpectedly steep increase in heroic sacrifices." To help mitigate all the friendly fire, an emergency "temporary" change has been rolled out, giving all players fighting on DSS-guarded planets extra lives and free shields for a little added buffer. "This is a temporary change, while a full assessment of the optimal number of sacrifices is underway," the announcement reads.
Great! Weather the storm while the devs work out a permanent solution. Just another day in the trenches for divers. In-game, under the Planetary Bombardment action tab, you'll find that the DSS now "increases Reinforcement Budget by +1 per squad member and augments all loadouts with FX-12 Shield Generator Relay Stratagem." An extra life and a free defensive Stratagem might not prevent all DSS-related "sacrifices," but it ought to help, and most importantly it is deeply funny. Original story: This week was supposed to be a triumphant one for Helldivers 2 players everywhere, with the dawn of a "new era of Galactic Freedom" brought in by the Democracy Space Station.
However, it appears that our potent new Weapon of Mass Liberation might be a bit too strong for our own good. It took almost two months of Major Orders to complete the DSS, which was originally said to be a "powerful strategic tool" with the potential to "change the course of the war." Upon its activation this week, things seemed promising – accessible from the Galactic Map, Helldivers are given the option to vote for where to move the Space Station to, and donate Samples and Republic Points to fund 'Tactical Actions' such as 'Planetary Bombardment,' which does exactly what its name would suggest, and a bit too well.
Helldivers have now experienced what it's like to fight on the front line of a planet with the bombardment in effect, and it's, uh, a