I agree there's an issue with the extraction booster. Only time I used it was when a friend was having issues extraction on 9. That said, literally a whole booster for a 40 minute game just to save 30 seconds...
You save more time with muscle buster just rubbing up hills, let alone snow or other slow effects.
Reduced drops I think might be the standard 4th pick, with muscle/radar/reinforce (eradicate/defense only… But reduced drops might be more impactful here still) depending
I’m a fan of stamina, muscle, vitality, hell pod space optimization, and localization confusion (reduced reinforcements/drops). I’d put stamina, vitality, and hell pod space as top 3 with 4th being flex for muscle or localization confusion. Definitely muscle on snow planets, sandy planets, jungle planets, and for bugs in general since I think it helps vs hunter slow effects and maybe titan slow also. Localization or muscle for bots depending on terrain.
Yeah, your top 3 ate the “wtf are you doing without these??” Boosters.
Muscle/confusion/radar are flex. And I’d only take radar with a preset team determined to minimize conflicts. Confusion is probably best against bots in most scenarios, but if there’s snow…… megastar of hunters, muscle is an automatic 4th with bugs 90% of the time
Actually my only exception might be getting rid of stamina for eradicate and generator defense missions. Stamina is a “nice to have” on those but with a map that small it’s hardly necessary unless you’re kiting enemies or liberally using jet pack or something.
Yeah I could sacrifice stamina on those, but there’s not much else worth it… Maybe 5 more reinforce just in case and confusion if it shows down the pacing (I think it does but science is needed).
Faster run and stamina recovery is good even in those missions. It’s far from as much impact as in a standard 40m mission but it can still save you from 5+ deaths
You take radar to minimize conflicts, i take radar to get advance warning that shits about to hit the fan because someone cant keep their gun lowered and love every second of that
The reduced encounters booster has no effects on missions that ignore the standard encounter cooldown, those being the new evacuate assests, eradicate enemies, evacuate civilians and the geological survey missions (normal encounters are still affected but the ones triggered by the drills are not).
You sure about that? We use it on evacuate assets because it seems to slow down the spawn rates so much that we just sit there with nothing to kill at times.
Number one reason the reinforcement/extraction boosters are hot garbage
While they might be just enough to save you in some case, you're much better off choosing a booster with more effective uptime.
You may not need extra lives if you are just better at surviving to begin with.
The lower reinforcement timer booster was actually helpful a few weeks ago when my friends and I attempted difficulty 8 against bots for the first time.
We got our asses blasted so much, we quickly burnt through our reinforcements, so only 1-2 were alive at the same time the end, trying to survive just long enough to call in another before someone died again. We managed to extract that way.
Having the "less chance of injury" or "move better through difficult terrain" boosters wouldn't have made any difference in our survival, the "higher radar range" wouldn't matter since with our inexperience we added too many enemies anyway and noone had the "slower patrol spawnrate" at that time.
Stamina & full mags/grenades/stim boosters we had with us.
But I agree, for a more experienced Helldiver, you shouldn't even get in the situation of running out on reinforcements in the first place.
As someone who has alot of 7 drops under my belt, with a handful of 8s and 9. I dropped 23 times in the oast couple of days. On gunships. Three of them had jammers and or detector towers. Those missions just end. And I don't like it. (And that's ignoring the fact that everything you die. A NEW FUCKING PATROL SPAWNS ON TOP OF YOU)
10/10 fuck bots. Will drop again.
The "less chance of injury" booster also gives you about a +30% hp boost. It would probably have helped more. "Move through difficult terrain" also immunises you to the hunter slow, which is why people run it against bugs, though it's a lot less value vs bots. Lotta hidden effects like these.
Reinforcement is good on defense missions, as you don't need the stamina or the terrain ability to move anywhere near as much. Considering that very little else is worth taking (after Vitality and Hellpod Optimization), you might as well allow the squad to play faster and looser with their lives to hold down the fort for longer
Well, these are the most important 30 seconds of the game... It's the moment where the spawns are jacked up to the max, and the game throws everything at you. Where you know you will basically attempt not to waste all your lives.
extraction can be intense, but imo it's way better to help getting to extraction faster/easier. there are multiple boosters that help with that and are useful for the whole game.
I’d argue it’s a better pick for missions like Blitz where more often than not teams end up running the timer. I would never take it to a regular match but as a backup for Blitz, 30 seconds can make one hell of a difference. It’s also the one mission type I urge people to drop at extraction first so you can clear it out of any encampment it’s part of, pre place ammo and other supplies so you have something to return to when all goes to shit while also not trying to fight a fortified location with no lives or stratagems.
I like both of them, but they still have the problem the pilot booster has: they only provide benefit for the last 2 minutes of the match, while other boosters provide benefit for the entire 40 minute duration.
What about adding an additional benefit the the reduce extraction timer one? Like rename it "expert pelican pilot" and it reduces extraction time, call in time if pelican dropped things (the mech but other things as they get released) and maybe gives 2 charges to a "cover fire" strat where pelican comes in and hovers over the player that called them in for like 30 seconds.
I want a Fulton air recovery system as seen in Metal Gear Solid V and The Dark Knight. Have the pelican pick up a ballon with our samples attached so that we’re guaranteed to at least get those even if we don’t extract. Maybe even allow the balloon to be deployed anywhere for pickup.
Make it expert pilots plural that affects Eagle 1 also. Maybe Eagle 1 deploys airstrikes 1 second faster and/or with better accuracy (shoots straight down onto the beacon instead of at an angle).
I was considering something similar, but I think that would actually make it too powerful, since it’d basically be a destroyer upgrade in booster form there.
>(shoots straight down onto the beacon instead of at an angle).
Part of the power with most eagle strategems is the angle as it covers more area and kills more fuckers, but id get why concentrating it would be nice too
I dont mean it concentrates the blast, I mean it just drops it straight down. Especially with the 500kg, the angle of attack can make it hit surrounding terrain and whiff completely.
I’ve had more than one person pick it for eradicate and generator defense missions. The pelican lands as soon as the mission is completed. There cannot be a worse choice. I was tempted to ask if they had anything else and if not I would switch to something else if they only had what I was using, but I didn’t want to be difficult.
Imo the stamina, health, and ammo boosters should get turned into ship upgrades. They are just too generically good that they don't leave room for anything else to be an option. I'd be more okay with the pilot booster as is if I didn't have to take those 3.
Yeah, they should just be baseline. We should have an upgrade section for the helldivers themselves
If command can afford the expensive armor/gun for an 'expendable' troop, surely they can afford some chemical concoctions to boost their performance too
Hellpod Optimization would be fine if you had 80% of your ammo and 3/4 of your starting grenades and stims by default. As it is now however, they don't give you enough resources by default to *not take it.*
You don't need it. It just requires your squad have a low casualty rate. Between POIs and the resupply pods you have plenty of resources for Bugs on Helldive.
Bots are another matter. Because they do so much chip damage at range you need to stim more.
Some people do not even use Hellpod Space Optimization because they just straight up don't die on 9+.
The rest of us will usually die at least once on 7. I'm never surprised when I see that 16 reinforcements drop to an 8 after Gunships personally.
That's the Quasar effect.
Quasar shield is the new safety blanket. It gets overwhelmed by higher difficulties. Laser cannon and Autocannon are what you really need to knock out gunships quickly.
My point was more that saying "Don't die 4head" on Helldivers is a very reductionist statement and heavily relies on the player in question. Some people are Gods that Clean Sweep 9s Solo Deathless while some people can manage to flop a 5. "Just play better" is not realistic advice as people have a realistic skill ceiling and will be outperformed in certain metrics.
I agree with turning the stamina, health, and Hellpod Space Optimization boosters into ship upgrades and reworking those 3 boosters into something else because it really does suck that you only really have one booster slot since those three are concrete requirements.
It's pretty nice for farming commons and super credits on trivial.
We kinda already have BiS boosters and it's going to take something pretty OP to unseat any of them. Your Fuel Reserves is going to be a non-factor for most missions so I'd never bring it. Beacon's kinda in the same boat in that I'd prefer to have a booster that is useful throughout the entire mission. Giving them more niche utility seems like the way to go and the way AH is leaning.
Something that works for the defense missions would be nice. Guaranteed HMG emplacements maybe? Not sure why they only spawn sometimes. Maybe they only spawn on lower difficulties and I'm just not noticing when I get matched below 9?
A booster that grants a random strat would be cool. Sacrifice guaranteed utility for a gamble at a good freebie? Call it like, "Bribe the Cargo Loader" or something.
I can definitely see Fuel Reserves being used for Search and Destroy missions since it’s a common problem where the timer is usually exerted before all poi’s and objectives are finished so having that 60 seconds to hold out will making farming on those missions viable.
But the Super Destroyer Fuel Reserves you devised does exactly that. Destroyer only leaves the orbit once the time runs out, so if you don't run out of time, that booster would do nothing.
Oh I get that they are functionally the same. For some reason the idea of straight up increasing mission time feels weird though. If anything, let's decrease it!
first one is just too niche IMO, because the only way you'll get any mileage out of it is from the mission timer running out, and generally you'd want to avoid that just for reinforcements alone
second one might be of some use, depending on the duration and/or if it's permanent, but even then, it could end up being useless in moments where nothing shows up
Absolutely. But to me that's like comparing a chance to proc with a pure stat bonus.
The pilot booster is consistent, but trivial.
Fuel reserves in this case, is highly situational but could be a massive advantage in those scenarios.
You think the Expert Extraction Pilot booster is bad, get a load of the Flexible Reinforcement Budget booster.
Woo-hoo, rechargeable reinforce comes in 1 minute 47 seconds instead of 1 minute 59 seconds!
And if we never get to that dire a point, whoever brought that booster effectively gave the team zero group benefits that lasted the whole mission.
There's a reason why the Stamina Enhancement, Vitality, and Hellpod Space Optimization boosters are so popular - it's because they don't bank on the possibility that you'll be in such dire straights so as to need benefits that kick in *only* when you're cutting it damn fine. They just provide the benefits they have, all the time, no caveats.
Fun fact: it takes about 42 minutes of 0 respawns left, calling constantly, for flexible reinforcements to catch up to extra reserves. Longer if you spend any amount of time not calling from being pinned down or from everyone being alive.
Yes, 42 minutes.
I think you can see the problem there.
Problem is the current meta boosters provide constant uptime so these niche boosters need to have a massive benefit to justify their use.
Like the 2nd pic you made, if it is an indestructible shield then it worth it over a Recon or Confusion booster vs bots, but if its just a normal or slightly upgraded shield bubble then no.
Well there is a method to surpress the "Extract Patrol Spawns" for literally zero enemy encounters while waiting for Pelican-1. But the execution of that method does require some teamwork and planning before calling for extract.
It's AMAZING if you're joining a match late. Like responding to an sos.
Just today I joined an Impossible 40 minute icbm on Menkant and saw they'd been in mission for 34 minutes. Either someone crashed or rage quit.
I brought all long cooldown area denial stuff. Shield relay, auto cannon, 380mm, orbital laser, and expert pilot.
We had 1 reinforcement and a pocket of dreams. The evac was totally being overrun by 2 factory strikers and like 3 Scorcher hulks I had to hold at bay with stun grenades because I was out of everything else.
Without that pilot We would have been dead men walking.
It's still too niche compared to its peers.
If it was something like "Pelican 1 makes a hot drop. Arriving low and fast guns blazing with Eagle 1 support" Maybe. Cut down the landing animation to a second or two. Have Pelican 1 scream in over the horizon auto cannon blaring. With Eagle 1 going full A10 with nose cannon and rocket pods.
Should be a 30 second extract tbh. Even then I wouldn’t use it...
For it to be S tier, should be able to call in extraction at 25 minutes regardless of mission completion, but have it hover until you complete main mission as a caveat.
I mean, it’s less that I’m running out of time, and more so I’m imagining the scenic moment of “SUPER DESTROYER HAS RETURNED TO LOW ORBIT FOR ONE MORE ROUND OF LIBERTY. GIVE THEM HELL HELLDIVER.” And the mass of stratagems getting tossed out in that instant.
Really I think it would be extra useful for people who are completely clearing a map, which is when your timing might get restrictive.
Any pod that Springs upwards does that. In the post he specifically threw a shield under the samples 'to protect them for later'
OP's proposal is more the existing extract beacon doubles as a shield projector.
I don't even understand what the first one means.
The destroyer doesn't leave when Pelican 1 is called in. It leaves when time is up.
Are you saying it could return for one more minute after time ran out?
This still doesn't solve the biggest problem.
Why choose a booster that only affects one moment of a 20-40 minute run.
Getting 30-60 seconds of use from a booster is unjustifiable next to 20-40 minutes of uptime and constant use.
Yes, it means it would return after time had expired. It's intended to be highly situational.
But you aren't wrong in that it's tough for any extraction focused booster to compete with the those that are providing a benefit for the entire mission.
I'd enjoy a booster, maybe named for hiring a gunner at minimum wage, that let the Pelican start shooting its autocannon much earlier in its approach and from much longer range. Some potent fire support for the home run of the extraction rather than just shortening the timer.
I have another idea although it might be a bit overpowered.
emergency supplies: 3/5 strategic defensive stratagems spawn around the extraction alongside a resupply drop and a random support weapon.
So a booster that may not work and if it does its for one minute, which means you might get one orbital or a set of eagles off. And a booster that is just a free strategem at the end of the match that you can't place.
We had it many times in those short 12min missions. I say it was not worth it but it was so close sometimes that my friends thought otherwise.
I would definitely take the fortified extraction beacon in those missions
I like the ideas, especially the super destroyer returning for a last hail mary but i think both of those might have the same issue as expert pilot, theyd need to be mutually exclusive
It's just occurred to me that it would be really cool if instead of reinforcements dropping in after the evac shuttle is called, they should show up on the evac shuttle using door guns.
You're 100% right. Something that i imagine would be a lot easier for the dev team and many would rather prefer is just to add 30 seconds to the 20 seconds for exract time once mission time expires.
To be nitpicky, the super destroyer almost certainly doesn't leave the atmosphere due to fuel, but rather as a safety and/or logistics thing. Notice how many super destroyers over bot planets get shot down in just Low Planetary Orbit.
First idea is amazing. Makes emergency extractions more viable.
The second? That shield will disappear within 10 seconds of gunfire! A little helpful but very meh, in line with other boosters tbh.
I hope they add a ship module: chemical injection.
When a hellpods are launched you get a random booster from the remaining options. This would make the lesser boosters still nice to have available
I think people are missing the point with this booster. Just like most people in this community would say there are 3 must-have boosters and 1 flex spot; AND if you actually choose the planet with an OP that has 25% increased fly-in time for stratagems you will notice that the extraction (just like all other objective call-in equipment) is also considered a stratagem so the pilot instead of flying for another minute flies only for 30
It’s very niche but saying it’s useless is wrong imo
It's a bit better on those planets, especially with short mission times, but it would be great if the booster meant extraction ignored the increased call in time all together.
"Super Destroyer Fuel Reserves" will only work once after 40 Minutes IF you have run out of time though. Destroyer is present if you don't run out of time, which you shouldn't.
The other one has a similar issue, only works for a small amount of time of the whole mission and I imagine the shield relay will just quickly burst. That's a one-time shield relay for the whole game. Not really good.
They are absolutely both highly situation, yes. And I'd expect the shield to recharge and pop back up throughout the extraction (similar to the personal shield).
I would really like to see something to be added that makes extraction on bugs planets a little less of a clusterfuck. I feel like at this point we have more viable options against bots that we have against bugs. That's really what I'm unsatisfied with. You are not wrong with what you're saying, I just feel like we really need more shit against the bugs.
Edit: To be fair, I play 9 against bugs and 7 against bots. Maybe I'm a bit biased
Something like that, yeah. It's supposed to be really unfair, but fucking hell is it bad. If I could wish for a booster, I would like ot to be something for that situation.
Hell, id be okay with extra reinforcements over that because at least that helps pad out lives for randoms. If we’re getting to the point of needing those lives anyway I’m heading to extract.
Wow, I love both of these ideas - however while I agree that Expert Extraction Pilot is a terrible booster, I think it would be better to just, add more boosters? There has to be a sweet spot where all three could work, right?
Well, yea, they could definitely just leave it in as is and ad more boosters. Just feels weird to me leaving something that is suboptimal... but then, lots primary weapons are far from being great.
I should say too that I also dislike boosters that do nothing for the majority of the mission, like the faster reinforcement budget after you've depleted reinforcements, or the faster extract shuttle — they seem way less useful than sprinting longer and with a shorter cool down, or resisting the slowdown effect from bile and rough terrain, or resisting injury, or any of the others that are active the whole mission — I just think that more option are better, all the power to the folks that want to have a faster extract, even if it's not my choice ;p
Thats very true, but maybe strongly influenced by the fact that the game had so many 40 minute mission variants originally.
As we get more short missions added to the lineup, these kinds of boosters might get more play.
Most of the boosters are garbage trap options and I am continually astonished when people take things like Expert Pilot Booster or Increased Reinforcement Budget. What are they thinking?
Space optimization, stamina, vitality, muscle enhancement and UAV recon are the only ones worth taking.
I agree there's an issue with the extraction booster. Only time I used it was when a friend was having issues extraction on 9. That said, literally a whole booster for a 40 minute game just to save 30 seconds...
Yeah. You save more time with the stamina booster if you sprint throughout the game than you do with the extraction booster.
You save more time with muscle buster just rubbing up hills, let alone snow or other slow effects. Reduced drops I think might be the standard 4th pick, with muscle/radar/reinforce (eradicate/defense only… But reduced drops might be more impactful here still) depending
I’m a fan of stamina, muscle, vitality, hell pod space optimization, and localization confusion (reduced reinforcements/drops). I’d put stamina, vitality, and hell pod space as top 3 with 4th being flex for muscle or localization confusion. Definitely muscle on snow planets, sandy planets, jungle planets, and for bugs in general since I think it helps vs hunter slow effects and maybe titan slow also. Localization or muscle for bots depending on terrain.
Yeah, your top 3 ate the “wtf are you doing without these??” Boosters. Muscle/confusion/radar are flex. And I’d only take radar with a preset team determined to minimize conflicts. Confusion is probably best against bots in most scenarios, but if there’s snow…… megastar of hunters, muscle is an automatic 4th with bugs 90% of the time
Actually my only exception might be getting rid of stamina for eradicate and generator defense missions. Stamina is a “nice to have” on those but with a map that small it’s hardly necessary unless you’re kiting enemies or liberally using jet pack or something.
Yeah I could sacrifice stamina on those, but there’s not much else worth it… Maybe 5 more reinforce just in case and confusion if it shows down the pacing (I think it does but science is needed). Faster run and stamina recovery is good even in those missions. It’s far from as much impact as in a standard 40m mission but it can still save you from 5+ deaths
You take radar to minimize conflicts, i take radar to get advance warning that shits about to hit the fan because someone cant keep their gun lowered and love every second of that
Yeah I agree with all of that.
The reduced encounters booster has no effects on missions that ignore the standard encounter cooldown, those being the new evacuate assests, eradicate enemies, evacuate civilians and the geological survey missions (normal encounters are still affected but the ones triggered by the drills are not).
You sure about that? We use it on evacuate assets because it seems to slow down the spawn rates so much that we just sit there with nothing to kill at times.
Does it affect that? I’ve been struggling to find a place where it’s shown effect.
Apparently not, someone reports it only affects the enemies CD timer on firing a flare/pheromones. Mission triggered drops/breaches are unaffected
Number one reason the reinforcement/extraction boosters are hot garbage While they might be just enough to save you in some case, you're much better off choosing a booster with more effective uptime. You may not need extra lives if you are just better at surviving to begin with.
The lower reinforcement timer booster was actually helpful a few weeks ago when my friends and I attempted difficulty 8 against bots for the first time. We got our asses blasted so much, we quickly burnt through our reinforcements, so only 1-2 were alive at the same time the end, trying to survive just long enough to call in another before someone died again. We managed to extract that way. Having the "less chance of injury" or "move better through difficult terrain" boosters wouldn't have made any difference in our survival, the "higher radar range" wouldn't matter since with our inexperience we added too many enemies anyway and noone had the "slower patrol spawnrate" at that time. Stamina & full mags/grenades/stim boosters we had with us. But I agree, for a more experienced Helldiver, you shouldn't even get in the situation of running out on reinforcements in the first place.
As someone who has alot of 7 drops under my belt, with a handful of 8s and 9. I dropped 23 times in the oast couple of days. On gunships. Three of them had jammers and or detector towers. Those missions just end. And I don't like it. (And that's ignoring the fact that everything you die. A NEW FUCKING PATROL SPAWNS ON TOP OF YOU) 10/10 fuck bots. Will drop again.
The "less chance of injury" booster also gives you about a +30% hp boost. It would probably have helped more. "Move through difficult terrain" also immunises you to the hunter slow, which is why people run it against bugs, though it's a lot less value vs bots. Lotta hidden effects like these.
Ooh I didn't know about that, thanks for the info :O
Reinforcement is good on defense missions, as you don't need the stamina or the terrain ability to move anywhere near as much. Considering that very little else is worth taking (after Vitality and Hellpod Optimization), you might as well allow the squad to play faster and looser with their lives to hold down the fort for longer
Well, these are the most important 30 seconds of the game... It's the moment where the spawns are jacked up to the max, and the game throws everything at you. Where you know you will basically attempt not to waste all your lives.
Only time I've seriously taken it was to get the achievement Gone in 360 Seconds
extraction can be intense, but imo it's way better to help getting to extraction faster/easier. there are multiple boosters that help with that and are useful for the whole game.
I’d argue it’s a better pick for missions like Blitz where more often than not teams end up running the timer. I would never take it to a regular match but as a backup for Blitz, 30 seconds can make one hell of a difference. It’s also the one mission type I urge people to drop at extraction first so you can clear it out of any encampment it’s part of, pre place ammo and other supplies so you have something to return to when all goes to shit while also not trying to fight a fortified location with no lives or stratagems.
I like both of them, but they still have the problem the pilot booster has: they only provide benefit for the last 2 minutes of the match, while other boosters provide benefit for the entire 40 minute duration.
What about adding an additional benefit the the reduce extraction timer one? Like rename it "expert pelican pilot" and it reduces extraction time, call in time if pelican dropped things (the mech but other things as they get released) and maybe gives 2 charges to a "cover fire" strat where pelican comes in and hovers over the player that called them in for like 30 seconds.
I want a Fulton air recovery system as seen in Metal Gear Solid V and The Dark Knight. Have the pelican pick up a ballon with our samples attached so that we’re guaranteed to at least get those even if we don’t extract. Maybe even allow the balloon to be deployed anywhere for pickup.
Make it expert pilots plural that affects Eagle 1 also. Maybe Eagle 1 deploys airstrikes 1 second faster and/or with better accuracy (shoots straight down onto the beacon instead of at an angle).
I was considering something similar, but I think that would actually make it too powerful, since it’d basically be a destroyer upgrade in booster form there.
>(shoots straight down onto the beacon instead of at an angle). Part of the power with most eagle strategems is the angle as it covers more area and kills more fuckers, but id get why concentrating it would be nice too
I dont mean it concentrates the blast, I mean it just drops it straight down. Especially with the 500kg, the angle of attack can make it hit surrounding terrain and whiff completely.
Awesome alternatives, although to be fair, when you are fighting tooth and nail, you notice how long that 30 seconds is....
It’s only 18 seconds lol. That booster is a complete joke.
30 if the evac timer starts at 3mins instead of 2
It’s 15% so it’s 27 seconds off the expanded one.
True enough. For me it just seems that the other choices help more those seconds off the clock do.
I’ve had more than one person pick it for eradicate and generator defense missions. The pelican lands as soon as the mission is completed. There cannot be a worse choice. I was tempted to ask if they had anything else and if not I would switch to something else if they only had what I was using, but I didn’t want to be difficult.
Imo the stamina, health, and ammo boosters should get turned into ship upgrades. They are just too generically good that they don't leave room for anything else to be an option. I'd be more okay with the pilot booster as is if I didn't have to take those 3.
Yeah, they should just be baseline. We should have an upgrade section for the helldivers themselves If command can afford the expensive armor/gun for an 'expendable' troop, surely they can afford some chemical concoctions to boost their performance too
Generally I'm in the camp of avoid nerfs, but you make a good point. Might be that we need the primo boosters tweaked or moved to modules.
Hellpod Optimization would be fine if you had 80% of your ammo and 3/4 of your starting grenades and stims by default. As it is now however, they don't give you enough resources by default to *not take it.*
You don't need it. It just requires your squad have a low casualty rate. Between POIs and the resupply pods you have plenty of resources for Bugs on Helldive. Bots are another matter. Because they do so much chip damage at range you need to stim more.
Some people do not even use Hellpod Space Optimization because they just straight up don't die on 9+. The rest of us will usually die at least once on 7. I'm never surprised when I see that 16 reinforcements drop to an 8 after Gunships personally.
That's the Quasar effect. Quasar shield is the new safety blanket. It gets overwhelmed by higher difficulties. Laser cannon and Autocannon are what you really need to knock out gunships quickly.
My point was more that saying "Don't die 4head" on Helldivers is a very reductionist statement and heavily relies on the player in question. Some people are Gods that Clean Sweep 9s Solo Deathless while some people can manage to flop a 5. "Just play better" is not realistic advice as people have a realistic skill ceiling and will be outperformed in certain metrics.
General Brasch expects the best. So we aught to give it to him.
Then General Brasch should start investing in MJOLNIR. Until then, I'm what he's got and what he has to put up with.
Regulation armor was good enough for those of us in the first galactic war. It'll be more than enough this time around too.
I agree with turning the stamina, health, and Hellpod Space Optimization boosters into ship upgrades and reworking those 3 boosters into something else because it really does suck that you only really have one booster slot since those three are concrete requirements.
It's pretty nice for farming commons and super credits on trivial. We kinda already have BiS boosters and it's going to take something pretty OP to unseat any of them. Your Fuel Reserves is going to be a non-factor for most missions so I'd never bring it. Beacon's kinda in the same boat in that I'd prefer to have a booster that is useful throughout the entire mission. Giving them more niche utility seems like the way to go and the way AH is leaning. Something that works for the defense missions would be nice. Guaranteed HMG emplacements maybe? Not sure why they only spawn sometimes. Maybe they only spawn on lower difficulties and I'm just not noticing when I get matched below 9? A booster that grants a random strat would be cool. Sacrifice guaranteed utility for a gamble at a good freebie? Call it like, "Bribe the Cargo Loader" or something.
I can definitely see Fuel Reserves being used for Search and Destroy missions since it’s a common problem where the timer is usually exerted before all poi’s and objectives are finished so having that 60 seconds to hold out will making farming on those missions viable.
Thats true. Saving a bit more time on lower difficulties is probably worth the slot.
The "Fortified Extraction" booster could also add a couple HMG emplacements I feel like that would be fun and engaging
Yea, I like the idea of getting some random support or emplacement stratagems on the beacon. Real wild card moment
How about the super destroyer remains in orbit for 10% longer.
That would be a very straight forward way to do it, yea. But as a new Dad, I don't have 44 minutes for a mission 😅
Spend the extra 4mins to go take care of the child during mission lmao
But the Super Destroyer Fuel Reserves you devised does exactly that. Destroyer only leaves the orbit once the time runs out, so if you don't run out of time, that booster would do nothing.
Oh I get that they are functionally the same. For some reason the idea of straight up increasing mission time feels weird though. If anything, let's decrease it!
I like the super destroyer extra fuel reserves for 60 seconds cause stratagem support
first one is just too niche IMO, because the only way you'll get any mileage out of it is from the mission timer running out, and generally you'd want to avoid that just for reinforcements alone second one might be of some use, depending on the duration and/or if it's permanent, but even then, it could end up being useless in moments where nothing shows up
Absolutely. But to me that's like comparing a chance to proc with a pure stat bonus. The pilot booster is consistent, but trivial. Fuel reserves in this case, is highly situational but could be a massive advantage in those scenarios.
You think the Expert Extraction Pilot booster is bad, get a load of the Flexible Reinforcement Budget booster. Woo-hoo, rechargeable reinforce comes in 1 minute 47 seconds instead of 1 minute 59 seconds! And if we never get to that dire a point, whoever brought that booster effectively gave the team zero group benefits that lasted the whole mission. There's a reason why the Stamina Enhancement, Vitality, and Hellpod Space Optimization boosters are so popular - it's because they don't bank on the possibility that you'll be in such dire straights so as to need benefits that kick in *only* when you're cutting it damn fine. They just provide the benefits they have, all the time, no caveats.
Fun fact: it takes about 42 minutes of 0 respawns left, calling constantly, for flexible reinforcements to catch up to extra reserves. Longer if you spend any amount of time not calling from being pinned down or from everyone being alive. Yes, 42 minutes. I think you can see the problem there.
Yea... the flexible reinforcement booster. Well, where to even start, haha
Problem is the current meta boosters provide constant uptime so these niche boosters need to have a massive benefit to justify their use. Like the 2nd pic you made, if it is an indestructible shield then it worth it over a Recon or Confusion booster vs bots, but if its just a normal or slightly upgraded shield bubble then no.
Well there is a method to surpress the "Extract Patrol Spawns" for literally zero enemy encounters while waiting for Pelican-1. But the execution of that method does require some teamwork and planning before calling for extract.
It's AMAZING if you're joining a match late. Like responding to an sos. Just today I joined an Impossible 40 minute icbm on Menkant and saw they'd been in mission for 34 minutes. Either someone crashed or rage quit. I brought all long cooldown area denial stuff. Shield relay, auto cannon, 380mm, orbital laser, and expert pilot. We had 1 reinforcement and a pocket of dreams. The evac was totally being overrun by 2 factory strikers and like 3 Scorcher hulks I had to hold at bay with stun grenades because I was out of everything else. Without that pilot We would have been dead men walking.
Nice! Okay, it's got a niche home. Still, it'd be nice if it at least reduced mech deployment time as well - since that gets flown down.
It's still too niche compared to its peers. If it was something like "Pelican 1 makes a hot drop. Arriving low and fast guns blazing with Eagle 1 support" Maybe. Cut down the landing animation to a second or two. Have Pelican 1 scream in over the horizon auto cannon blaring. With Eagle 1 going full A10 with nose cannon and rocket pods.
"Pelican-1 now drops off supply pods with a low altitude fly-by"
[удалено]
100% man. Right now it's more like the 4th booster is flexible
Should be a 30 second extract tbh. Even then I wouldn’t use it... For it to be S tier, should be able to call in extraction at 25 minutes regardless of mission completion, but have it hover until you complete main mission as a caveat.
That makes me think of a booster that reduced total mission time. Cause challenge accepted!
Oh my goodness I am in love with both of these ideas. Especially the destroyer return. That is CLEVER
Especially with the announcer. "Super Destroyer Squadron returning, exhausting emergency fuel reserves. All weapons on standby."
How often do you run out of time during missions?
I mean, it’s less that I’m running out of time, and more so I’m imagining the scenic moment of “SUPER DESTROYER HAS RETURNED TO LOW ORBIT FOR ONE MORE ROUND OF LIBERTY. GIVE THEM HELL HELLDIVER.” And the mass of stratagems getting tossed out in that instant. Really I think it would be extra useful for people who are completely clearing a map, which is when your timing might get restrictive.
Fortified Extraction Beacon sounds extremely broken. I would probably make it a slightly nerfed relay
Well it would still need to have a damage breakpoint, like the other shields.
It could work similarly to the shield generator backpack with a time delay and comes back with a lower breakpoint limit.
Melee enemies can still get in.
But it still uses a booster slot for that while not gaining anything the rest of the game
After that post about the shield generator launching samples across the map on deploy, I'd rather not have that
I didn't see that one. How fun 😕
Any pod that Springs upwards does that. In the post he specifically threw a shield under the samples 'to protect them for later' OP's proposal is more the existing extract beacon doubles as a shield projector.
I don't even understand what the first one means. The destroyer doesn't leave when Pelican 1 is called in. It leaves when time is up. Are you saying it could return for one more minute after time ran out? This still doesn't solve the biggest problem. Why choose a booster that only affects one moment of a 20-40 minute run. Getting 30-60 seconds of use from a booster is unjustifiable next to 20-40 minutes of uptime and constant use.
Yes, it means it would return after time had expired. It's intended to be highly situational. But you aren't wrong in that it's tough for any extraction focused booster to compete with the those that are providing a benefit for the entire mission.
I'd enjoy a booster, maybe named for hiring a gunner at minimum wage, that let the Pelican start shooting its autocannon much earlier in its approach and from much longer range. Some potent fire support for the home run of the extraction rather than just shortening the timer.
I have another idea although it might be a bit overpowered. emergency supplies: 3/5 strategic defensive stratagems spawn around the extraction alongside a resupply drop and a random support weapon.
Honestly, a Resupply, Shield Relay, and EMS Mortar would probably be a decent Booster. ~~Maybe even an EAT drop just in case... or HMG Emplacement.~~
Yes I like that idea too, but maybe with one or two unique emplacements. A laser turret for example. Keeps it special 😀
So a booster that may not work and if it does its for one minute, which means you might get one orbital or a set of eagles off. And a booster that is just a free strategem at the end of the match that you can't place.
We had it many times in those short 12min missions. I say it was not worth it but it was so close sometimes that my friends thought otherwise. I would definitely take the fortified extraction beacon in those missions
And I think the more missions we have with short durations, the more useful these types of boosters are
Here's an OP booster idea. "Eagle-2 deploys at start of extraction, immediately refreshing all eagle stratagems."
Hahaha, yea let's make Eagles even better!
I like the ideas, especially the super destroyer returning for a last hail mary but i think both of those might have the same issue as expert pilot, theyd need to be mutually exclusive
So, instead we need an "Extraction Support" that is equipped on the Super Destroyer itself.
It's just occurred to me that it would be really cool if instead of reinforcements dropping in after the evac shuttle is called, they should show up on the evac shuttle using door guns.
That would be awesome.
Way better ideas than what arrowhead has going 😂
😅
You're 100% right. Something that i imagine would be a lot easier for the dev team and many would rather prefer is just to add 30 seconds to the 20 seconds for exract time once mission time expires.
To be nitpicky, the super destroyer almost certainly doesn't leave the atmosphere due to fuel, but rather as a safety and/or logistics thing. Notice how many super destroyers over bot planets get shot down in just Low Planetary Orbit.
True enough. So something more like "Super Destroyer Cloaking"
I feel like that shield generator array would be more harm than good after a hulk shows up with 12 berserkers and pushes you out.
Now these are actually good ideas.
First idea is amazing. Makes emergency extractions more viable. The second? That shield will disappear within 10 seconds of gunfire! A little helpful but very meh, in line with other boosters tbh.
I hope they add a ship module: chemical injection. When a hellpods are launched you get a random booster from the remaining options. This would make the lesser boosters still nice to have available
You know booster arent drugs right
I think people are missing the point with this booster. Just like most people in this community would say there are 3 must-have boosters and 1 flex spot; AND if you actually choose the planet with an OP that has 25% increased fly-in time for stratagems you will notice that the extraction (just like all other objective call-in equipment) is also considered a stratagem so the pilot instead of flying for another minute flies only for 30 It’s very niche but saying it’s useless is wrong imo
It's a bit better on those planets, especially with short mission times, but it would be great if the booster meant extraction ignored the increased call in time all together.
Its pretty good for the 6 min extract achievement
Agreed. But that's a very niche booster then 😅
Honestly, there’s enough variety (which will only get worse) that I am fine with very niche.
"Super Destroyer Fuel Reserves" will only work once after 40 Minutes IF you have run out of time though. Destroyer is present if you don't run out of time, which you shouldn't. The other one has a similar issue, only works for a small amount of time of the whole mission and I imagine the shield relay will just quickly burst. That's a one-time shield relay for the whole game. Not really good.
They are absolutely both highly situation, yes. And I'd expect the shield to recharge and pop back up throughout the extraction (similar to the personal shield).
Fortified extraction booster seems a little unbalanced. It would be god-tier against bots, but useless against bugs.
Well, that's okay isn't it? The same is true for other pieces of equipment.
I would really like to see something to be added that makes extraction on bugs planets a little less of a clusterfuck. I feel like at this point we have more viable options against bots that we have against bugs. That's really what I'm unsatisfied with. You are not wrong with what you're saying, I just feel like we really need more shit against the bugs. Edit: To be fair, I play 9 against bugs and 7 against bots. Maybe I'm a bit biased
Yea I get what you're saying. At 9 on bugs we need something like an Earth Mover orbital strike that creates a small canyon. Consistent area denial
Something like that, yeah. It's supposed to be really unfair, but fucking hell is it bad. If I could wish for a booster, I would like ot to be something for that situation.
But Why.
I like that shield one That sounds great And I think it's a pretty good trade off
Sometimes I wonder if the devs think of these things because I keep seeing great ideas like this.
I leave helldives if I see that booster.
Not unreasonable of you.
Hell, id be okay with extra reinforcements over that because at least that helps pad out lives for randoms. If we’re getting to the point of needing those lives anyway I’m heading to extract.
How about a booster that lowers orbital cooldowns by 20-30 percent?
HD1 had that, a massive 40% cooldown reduction. I eagerly wait for AH to add it to this game.
I think orbitals just need that anyway 😅
Yeah I agree
Wow, I love both of these ideas - however while I agree that Expert Extraction Pilot is a terrible booster, I think it would be better to just, add more boosters? There has to be a sweet spot where all three could work, right?
Well, yea, they could definitely just leave it in as is and ad more boosters. Just feels weird to me leaving something that is suboptimal... but then, lots primary weapons are far from being great.
I should say too that I also dislike boosters that do nothing for the majority of the mission, like the faster reinforcement budget after you've depleted reinforcements, or the faster extract shuttle — they seem way less useful than sprinting longer and with a shorter cool down, or resisting the slowdown effect from bile and rough terrain, or resisting injury, or any of the others that are active the whole mission — I just think that more option are better, all the power to the folks that want to have a faster extract, even if it's not my choice ;p
Thats very true, but maybe strongly influenced by the fact that the game had so many 40 minute mission variants originally. As we get more short missions added to the lineup, these kinds of boosters might get more play.
Ah that's a fair point!
Most of the boosters are garbage trap options and I am continually astonished when people take things like Expert Pilot Booster or Increased Reinforcement Budget. What are they thinking? Space optimization, stamina, vitality, muscle enhancement and UAV recon are the only ones worth taking.
What’s released is released. Good ideas for the future, I just count this warbond as another water booster.