Recap / Helldivers II

The following data record of the Second Galactic War is being closely monitored by the Ministry of Truth. If you see any suspicious or undemocratic edits being made, report them to the nearest available Democracy Officer posthaste! For the Glory of Super Earth!

Since Helldivers II has an even greater focus on Emergent Gameplay created in collaboration with the playerbase, this has lead to many Story Arcs much more unique than in the first game unfolding.

A complete list of all historical and ongoing operations is available at the Galactic War page of the Helldivers series official wiki.

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Automaton Front

The Automatons, with their inability to feel or express loyalty, are driven by their desire to free their Cyborg "parents" from Super Earth's loving embrace. Following Super Earth's victory in the First Galactic War, the Cyborgs were disarmed and given the chance to express their newfound fealty to Damsel Democracy by working in the mines of their former homeworld, Cyberstan. However, in secret, the Automatons were made outside the galaxy to prevent their full reeducation. Beginning with an invasion on the Western edges of the galactic map, the Automatons began a campaign of terror against Super Earth-controlled planets. Now, they bide their time kidnapping babies, killing voters, and spreading the sadistic, seditious socialism Managed Democracy simply cannot abide. The history of Helldiver operations on the Automaton front is recorded here.

The Fall of Malevelon Creek

In the early weeks of the galactic war, the Automaton-controlled planet in the Severin sector known as Malevelon Creek swiftly garnered a reputation amongst Helldivers everywhere as a fiercely territorial battleground, with the Bots fighting tooth and nail to maintain their baby-snatching grip over the planet's lush jungles. This period also gave rise to the "Creek Crawlers", an informal sub-group of Helldivers defined by their will to liberate the Creek. Millions of valiant Helldivers gave their lives ceaselessly attempting to liberate the planet from Bot control, but to no avail as the Bots' hold on the planet was simply too tight. Eventually, on Februrary 27, 2184, evacuations were made and the last remnants of the planet controlled by Super Earth were overtaken by the Automatons. This dealt a crippling blow to Helldiver morale, and fingers were pointed in all directions about how the battle was mismanaged.

Operation Swift Disassembly

After Automation transmissions were intercepted hinting at a "reclamation" and some kind of massive Automaton counterattack, a multi-stage military operation known as Swift Disassembly was put together by High Command to strike the Bots while the iron was hot.

• Phase I: Liberation of Ubanea and Tibit

The first stage of Swift Disassembly immediately hit a snag; the simple goal of asserting control over Ubanea and seizing Automaton production centers on Tibit was not being as focused upon as High Command had anticipated, with numerous Super Destroyers deployed on the Automation front still attempting nobly to retake Malevelon Creek despite its strategic unimportance. As such, the stage of the major order failed and the Automatons were able to relocate their production centers off of Tibit, allowing them to maintain their war effort.

• Phase II: The Return to Malevelon

At this stage of the operation, High Command took notice of the fragmentation between the "Creek Crawlers" seeking to restore Super Earth's pride and the other Helldiver legions attempting to follow their orders to the letter. Since factionalism and division are ANATHEMA TO THE IDEALS AND PRINCIPLES OF SUPER EARTH, High Command gave the order to reunite all Helldivers under a shared objective and retake Malevelon Creek once and for all. The Major Order was a resounding success, with Super Earth's forces dealing a critical blow to the Automaton forces stationed on the Creek and finally liberating the planet once and for all. April 3rd was subsequently declared Malevelon Creek Remembrance Day and commemorative capes marking the occasion were given out to all Helldivers in honor of their restored pride and cameraderie.

• Phase III: Severin Automaton Counteroffensive

Finally taking notice of their dire situation, the repulsive Automatons launched a major counteroffensive targeting Draupnir, Ubanea and once more Malevelon Creek. These pitiful counterrattacks were repelled with marginal casualties, despite the supposed deployment of new powerful Automaton war machines. Sightings of these have been dismissed by intelligence as nothing but rumormongering amongst scared Helldivers. Remember, Fear is UNDEMOCRATIC!

• Phase IV: Automaton Annihilation

With the Automatons failing to regain their lost ground and Swift Disassembly lagging slightly behind schedule due to the initial failure to liberate Tibit, High Command rolled out the final stage of the operation; nothing less than complete and utter extermination of the Automatons and liberation of the last three remaining worlds under their control. Though the ultimate stage of the plan was initially slow to gain momentum, the liberation of Maia provided a noticeable decrease in the Bots' reinforcement efficiency, leading Intelligence to hypothesize that they had relocated their Tibit production centers to Maia and the Helldivers had rediscovered them through a stroke of luck. With all the prior objectives of the operation fully achieved, both Maia and Tibit were swiftly liberated in lieu of newly-deployed and deadlier Automaton war machines (which High Command has always acknowledged the existence of), leaving the planet Durgen as the Automatons' last redoubt.

At last, on April 7, 2184, Durgen was liberated. With the Automaton threat thoroughly eradicated, Super Destroyer war tables throughout the galaxy showed an empty western front. Operation Swift Disassembly was a resounding success for Freedom and Managed Democracy. Left only with four Terminid-controlled sectors to deal with, the citizens of Super Earth would rest easy in their sufficiently-sized homes knowing that the Automatons would never be heard from again.

...Or so they thought.

The Reclamation

• Cyberstan Rises

Somehow, the Automatons returned. In a completely unforeseeable turn of events, it was revealed that the enemy forces previously dealt with were the mere vanguards to the greater Automaton legion. Over a few short hours, a fleet ten times larger than the Automatons' initial strength invaded the northern portions of the galactic map. This invasion rapidly swept across and overtook the entire Valdis sector, and revealed the true intentions behind the Bots' mysterious "Reclamation": The reclamation of Cyberstan, the Automatons' ancestral homeworld and prison of the Cyborg menace from the First Galactic War. Helldivers across the galaxy entered a LIBCON-1 alert, and scrambled to hastily and valiantly defend at least five planets from the encroaching onslaught of the Automaton armada in Operation Courageous Defense. Unfortunately, despite these heroic measures, the Helldivers' resources were simply stretched too thin across such a large area in need of defense and the unrelenting Automaton war machine was able to totally overrun the Lacaille Sector and establish a significant presence in the adjacent Andromeda and Hydra Sectors. Any Super Earth citizens who failed to evacuate are feared lost to the cruel whims of the uncaring machine menace.

• Courageous Defense versus the Red Flood

As the initial Automaton assault paused to consolidate its gains, High Command saw an opportunity for a counterattack. A subsequent Major Order was issued to liberate the recently lost worlds of Menkent (itself already beginning to earn a reputation as the "Hellmire of the West" for its similarly volatile ecology) and Lesath before the infernal machines could fully secure their defenses, hoping to use these worlds to anchor a series of orbital defenses known as the "Menkent Line" to protect Super Earth itself and the surrounding core worlds of the Federation from direct assault. After a few days of heated battle, the Helldivers managed to liberate both Menkent and Lesath while simultaneously withstanding a sneak Bot counterattack on Menkent with inferior numbers, leaving only the objective of defending both planets while Super Earth's engineers got to work. Thanks to their valiant efforts, the Menkent Line was firmly established, creating a bulwark for Lady Liberty herself to shine throughout the galaxy. In addition, a SEAF forward command post on Vernen Wells was established, securing supply lines to nearby liberated worlds and fully cementing Super Earth's foothold against the Bot tide.

• The Battle of Marfark

Forced to divert their plans, the Automatons began to solely concentrate their efforts on preventing the liberation of the ice planet Marfark, unleashing a torrential attack like nothing seen yet in the war in an attempt to secure a flank of the Hydra Sector and presumably open an avenue of attack on the newly-established Vernen Wells command post. Reinforced with far larger numbers of imposing Factory Striders (their previous low-appearance rate suspected to be from a limited batch of prototype models), the Automatons were relentless in their siege against Freedom™ and the glory of Super Earth. Taking the Automatons' vicious assault into consideration, the Helldivers were forced to redeploy their forces away from liberating nearby Martale in an effort to contribute to victory at Marfark. The battle was hard-fought, but not even the full might of Automaton resistance could prevent the Helldivers' inevitable triumph, and with Marfark's liberation, all direct lines to Super Earth's core worlds were secured against the machine menace.

• The Noose Tightens

By April 21st, it was becoming clear that exhaustion was beginning to set in for the Helldivers against the simultaneous endless assaults from the bugs and the un-tiring advancements from the Bots. High command's major order to successfully defend 10 planets was faltering, especially due to the failure of the "Martale Gambit", an attempted counterattack on Martale which would have also resulted in a successful defense of Charon Prime due to the only linked supply route to it coming from Martale. By the end of the day only one planet had been successfully defended, and it was Estanu on the Terminid front. Meanwhile, the Automatons once again seized control of Marfark and smashed through the Menkent Line's defense to capture Lesath as well. With the entire Hydra Sector flanked, Super Earth's presence in the region seemed in dire danger of being wiped out, especially with a new assault on the Vernen Wells forward command post coming not long after. To make matters even worse, a critical long-range communications array on Vernen Wells was destroyed, rendering Liberation percentages and incoming war data miscalculated and unreliable. By the next day, Vernen Wells had been lost despite a valiant defense, and the Automatons were still refusing to let up as they pushed even deeper into Super Earth territory.

And yet, against all odds, Operation Enduring Bulwark was a success. When all hope seemed lost, the Helldivers were able to defend their holdings on Varylia 5 and Ustotu, completing the Order with less than a day left as well as narrowly regain control of the Vernen Wells command post before it could be fully reinforced. Though the Menkent line was smashed, Helldivers nonetheless rejoiced following a week-long battle of attrition and reported infighting among dedicated "Bug" and "Bot" focused Helldiver forces regarding deployment priorities.

• Super Earth Strikes Back

By late April, Super Earth High Command had grown tired of being constantly on the defensive from the Automatons' unfeeling and uncaring assault. Therefore, in their infinite wisdom, they conceptualized Operation Legitimate Undertaking, a multi-step plan to finally make a decisive strike against the Bots. The first stage of this plan involved the rescue of civilian researchers developing new weaponry on the worlds of Choohe and Penta, which at that point had become heavily garrisoned by Automaton legions. High Command knew that there would probably only be enough time to rescue civilians on one planet, so they cautioned Helldivers to choose wisely about which Stratagem they would rather add to their arsenal when deciding which planet to liberate first. The Helldivers ultimately chose liberating Penta first rather than Choohe, granting them access to the recently-developed (and extremely useful) RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher^note Any complaints amongst Helldivers that the RL-77 is notoriously unstable and frequently blows up in its wielder's face are to be considered speaking ill of the brave researchers who gave their lives to develop it and therefore treasonous. once the planet had been freed from Bot clutches.

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Terminid Front

The Terminids represent everything Super Earth stands against. Their rampant expansionism, fascistic society, and utter lack of self-awareness or independent thought make them incompatible with democracy on the molecular level. It is also on the molecular level that Super Earth's Ministry of Science discovered that they produce Element 710, a substance that fuels FTL travel. Following the First Galactic War, the Bugs of Kepler Prime were peacefully herded onto E-710 farms where Class 2 Super Earth farmers would do their patriotic duty and convert Bug corpses into the backbone of the democratic fleet. In their wisdom, the Super Earth government even approved growth-additives and mutations to better allow the Terminids to suit Super Earth's (fueling) needs. Despite the harmonious and symbiotic relationship that was fostered between the two races, the bugs would repeatedly breach containment and cause havoc on the Eastern galactic fringe. The Helldivers' daring exploits on the Terminid front are recorded here.

The early weeks of the war against the Terminids focused mostly on preventing the Bugs from making any advancement towards Super Earth and its controlled territories. Once Super Earth began to gloriously go on the offensive, however, no Terminid could stand in her path, with the Draco and Mirin sectors swiftly losing ground to the march of Helldiver boots. The most vicious fighting was carried out over the planets of Hellmire and Estanu in particular. Though Super Earth's legions could not be matched upon the battlefield, Bug resistance prevented Helldivers from penetrating as deep into the quarantine zone as High Command would have hoped.

The Terminid Control System

To keep the Terminid threat at bay, the Terminid Control System ("TCS") was deployed on the barrier planets of Fenrir III, Erata Prime, Meridia, and Turing. These towers would democratically dispense termicide throughout the planet to quarantine the bugs, and allow the brave Helldivers to focus their attention back toward the bot front. In short order, the Helldivers succeeded in activating the TCS, eradicating 99.6% of the alien menace in the affected sectors. Despite this victory, veterans would later report sightings of new Terminid breeds capable of flight following the activation of the TCS. Some cowardly voices believe the TCS itself created mutations in the surviving bug population. This is, of course, dissident propaganda, and any doubts about the efficacy of the TCS should be reported to your local Democracy Officer.

Resource Replenishment - Operations Prime Liberation and Hell-Draco

With Super Earth's core worlds shielded behind the TCS, High Command issued orders for Operation Prime Liberation, an ambitious plan to liberate several worlds in the Mirin and Draco Sectors in order to cull excess Terminid populations and reestablish vital production centers for the all-important Element-710. Despite the Helldivers' valiant efforts, confusion and divided priorities resulted in the failure to capture all the objective planets, leading Super Earth's government to temporarily restrict reproductive privileges nationwide in anticipation of the projected E-710 shortfall. A subsequent follow-up operation, Hell-Draco, was successful in protecting civilian Biomass Collection Teams on the liberated worlds as they harvested raw E-710 for offworld processing, somewhat alleviating the situation and allowing High Command to safely shift its priorities to the upcoming Operation Swift Disassembly on the Automaton Front.

New E-710 Farms

By early April of 2184, the Galactic War had been won in all but name. The Automatons had been smote upon the dunes of Durgen where they made their last stand, and the TCS was preventing the Terminids from making any further advancement towards Super Earth's territories. But High Command cautioned the Helldivers not to hang up their capes just yet, as there was still yet more work to be done for the glory of Super Earth regarding the Terminids. High Command unveiled its plans to construct safer, more efficient and more humane E-710 farms on the planets Estanu, Crimsica and Hellmire to further sustain Super Earth's economy and help recoup material losses from the Automaton front, giving the order to liberate said three planets from Terminid control.

Easily, the Helldivers completed their order. SEAF expeditionary forces would soon establish more advanced E-710 farms and procedures (including Terminid growth-additives) to increase E-710 and human-resource production. As a reward, C-01 procreation permits were reintroduced. Thankfully, this objective was completed just as the Automatons unveiled their main battle fleet and launched their gigantic Reclamation offensive, meaning Super Earth was able to secure stable resource production for the impending ferocious battles to come with the Bot legions.

Bug Resistance

Strangely (and due to circumstances completely beyond Super Earth's control), the Terminids were able to easily breach containment once again on numerous farms across the newly-liberated Quarantine Zone worlds, forcing the Helldivers to once again liberate several planets from Terminid control and reestablish E-710 production in the region so more attention could be given to the rapidly heating-up Automaton front. Due to brutal ongoing combat operations against the Bots which required greater attention from the Helldiver fleet, the defenses of several planets, including Hellmire once more, were lost, and Helldiver retaliation in the area was slow to come.

And yet when it did come, it came with a vengeance.

Operation Harvest

With the Hydra, Lacaille, and Andromeda Sectors secured against further Automaton incursions by the newly-established Menkent Line in mid-April 2184, Super Earth High Command felt the time was right to redeploy the Helldivers' main efforts to the Terminid front. Unlike previous efforts which had targeted specific worlds, this would be a pure population-culling exercise, with the Helldivers being given a target to kill a minimum of 2 billion Bugs across all accessible Bug-infested worlds to replenish E-710 stocks for a planned counteroffensive into Automaton-occupied space. In its infinite wisdom, High Command allotted a generous 6 days to complete the Major Order. However, to say that the Helldivers made short work of this objective would be something of an understatement. In just over 12 hours since the declaration of the Major Order, the seemingly impossible quota was met with extreme prejudice. Truly, freedom never sleeps for the mighty Helldiver corps^note Rumors that a glitch in Super Earth's statistical computers caused each Terminid kill to be counted as triple the actual amount have been thoroughly disavowed by the Ministry of Truth, and any such claims should be reported immediately for treason.

As a great patriot once said, "The only good bug is a dead bug". These words rang true across the galaxy on April 18, 2184.

A Divided Front

The enemies of Managed Democracy® wouldn't take the Helldivers' pre-emptive self defense efforts lying down. In what was surely a coordinated act of terror, the Terminids and Automatons launched large-scale invasions on both fronts, pushing Super Earth to its limit. Faced with distress calls throughout the galaxy, High Command gave a daring order to defend at least ten planets from capture by either enemy. High-ranking Super Earth analyists claimed that this Major Order was doomed to lose at least some territory. Such naysaying revealed them to be dissident traitors, and as such, they were summarily executed by Autocannon Firing Squad.

As the Major Order progressed, it became clearer that the Helldivers were having much greater success on the Terminid side of things compared to how they were rapidly losing ground to the Automaton menace. In particular, the bugs made assault after assault on the longtime battlefield of Estanu only to be repelled by flamers and heavy weapons each time. Indeed, it was on the fields of Estanu that nearly half of the Order's defense quotas were fulfilled. Ultimately, and despite significant losses to morale and troop coordination, the Major Order was completed with just a few hours to spare (See "The Noose Tightens" on the Automaton After-Action Report for more detail). Though ground was ultimately lost as our sadly martyred officials always knew would happen, Helldivers celebrated what was considered one of the greatest tests of their ability to coordinate and sustain their way of life.

The Umlaut Disaster

With Operation Definitive Undertaking underway against the Automatons and the Helldiver Corps' attention largely focused towards that front, other Helldivers continued to push back against the Terminids, repelling several Insectoid attacks against Oshaune and Estanu whilst beginning attacks on Omicron, a planet that Helldivers had attempted to liberate earlier in the War, but failed and were pushed back into the Mirin and Draco Sectors. This time, however, the Second Battle of Omicron was progressing well in Super Earth's favor, and by April 29th it is just about liberated fully. Helldivers were pleased with the progress they were making, despite the fact that Arthropod-occupied Hellmire continued to stood firm against Helldiver attacks. However, the near-liberation of Omicron only served as the calm before the storm, because something absolutely beyond prediction happened at the same day.

The Terminid Control System was an array of complexes across the planets of the Umlaut Sector such as Erata Prime, Fenrir III, Turing and Meridia that functioned to distribute into the atmosphere Termicide, a chemical designed to kill Terminids. It was installed onto these planets by the Helldivers in early March to serve as an impenetrable wall for the Bugs to not be able to stray too close to Super Earth. For almost two months, this system worked wonderfully, despite treasonous "concerns" (read: Dissident propaganda) that the Termicide would backfire and in fact mutate the Terminids in unpredictable ways instead of culling their population.

Then suddenly, without warning or prior indication that anything was off, the TCS failed, and catastrophically so. Instead of culling their population, the Termicide instead massively boosted the Arthropods' reproductive cycle, causing Terminid populations in all planets in which the TCS is active to absolutely explode. Within a matter of minutes, the Umlaut Sector was almost completely overrun by the Terminids with the notable example of Meridia which was fully and irrecoverably occupied and became a planet-wide supercolony, cutting the whole of the rest of the Terminid Front off in addition to Crimsica becoming assailed by Insectoids once more. SEAF High Command responded by putting Operation Definitive Undertaking on indefinite hold and ordering all Helldivers to scramble to the Umlaut Sector immediately in order to keep order, to salvage anything they could and to deactivate the failed Terminid Control System before it causes even more mutations.

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