Helldivers 2 dev offers rare insight into how Major Orders and the Galactic War get written: "It's not as fun of a story if we just steamroll the Automatons and win"

gamesradar.com:

After tumultuous back and forth, there's a new Major Order to liberate all Automaton planets in Helldivers 2 and crush the bot threat in the Western front. It's looking like the climax for an arc of the Galactic War that's now defined several consecutive weeks of Helldivers 2, and as players continue to spill oil in the name of democracy, the nature and direction of the game's emergent narrative has gotten some timely details straight from developer Arrowhead.

Community manager Spitz shared some fascinating insights on the making of Major Orders and the shifting chronicles of the forever war in recent Discord comments. Some specifics pre-date the current Major Order, but it all ties into the overarching story orbiting planets like Tibit and Malevelon Creek. On March 31, right around the time a previous Major Order suffered an ultimately lethal setback, Spitz explained:

"Here's the thing. No matter what happens with the [Major Orders], there's going to be a fun narrative set up by the [Game Master] that leads into future operations, and frankly it's not as fun of a story if we just steamroll the Automatons and win everything. Some losses and failed operations make the greater story more interesting, it's not like the GM is going to take a single MO failure and start making the game un-fun." 

In a follow-up comment, Spitz offered an example of how the narrative may branch: "If we capture Tibit late and fail the Major Order but still end up capturing it, the GM is still going to work it into the story and have us focus somewhere else next week. Only thing the timer affects is the medal reward."

The line that stands out to me is this, also dated March 31: "Capturing Tibit after the MO expires won't get you the medal reward, but it'll still make a difference in the upcoming narrative and future MOs." This helps put the lens of Game Master Joe into perspective. He's making a list and checking it twice, and he's looking at more than just the current Major Order's planets.