Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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Helldivers 2 is a blast. Haven't had this much fun in a coop game in ages.
I don't understand @Cjet 's objection that the guns aren't satisfying to shoot. They're chunky, with intricate mechanics (they simulate rocket backblast! You can adjust the rate of fire on the MMGs!) and they provide visceral feedback, enemies have detailed damage models and aren't just bullet sponges, you can blow off limbs and see bugs limp, perforate them enough and they'll bleed to death. The robot enemies get blown into scraps in an eminently enjoyable manner. And it's not like the "normal" guns are only an appetizer for support call-ins, they are more more than capable of dealing with 90% of what the game throws at you, and it makes sense that you need to bust out the big guns for tanks of both the biomechanical and engineered kind.
My online buddies have had a great time just fucking around, running through the woods, swamps, taigas or desert with tracer fire lancing overhead, or away from an absolute horde of bloodthirsty bugs.
It's the best Starship Troopers game. It's the best ODST game. It's the best Tempestus Scion versus Tyranids game. You drop heavy fucking ordnance on some very unsympathetic foes, and laugh your ass off when your buddies respawn you in the middle of a minefield or your drones and turrets blow your head off (friendly fire causes half the fatalities in the game, and it's hilarious), and you generally have a great time.
I would heartily recommend it, and hopefully they'll get around to a balance patch that makes some of the off-meta builds less suicidal on the highest difficulties. They're adding mechs and other vehicles soon, and if you wanted a 40k Dreadnought game, this is it.
IMO, the best 'Starship Troopers' game is running around in the nuclear powered tank in Factorio and shooting off hundreds of mini-nukes or just pasting the bugs using the 70 odd tons and the energy shield.
(Yes you could load a hundred nukes into a big tank, even in the real world. )
Are you talking about the Spidertron?
Spidertron isn't squashing the bugs. It steps over them. You can drive over them with a tank, this is a valid way of dealing with most of enemies unless they're really thick on the ground / very late game.
I play with the Rampant AI and the associated 'arsenal' mod which adds some more flavors of weapons -mortars, miniguns, faster-firing rocket launchers, more ammo types and two more variants of tanks and cars - advanced and nuclear, which are bigger, heavier and have more slots / better weapons.
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Well, if you're a fan of the book I can't argue that isn't a faithful representation, all the more if the tank has legs. The Mobile Infantry weren't grunts with assault rifle, they used nukes as primary weapons. And even fought super advanced alien midgets, assuming I'm not getting it muddled up with another mil SF novel.
Yeah, I meant the vibe of using sf or almost sf-weaponry -nuclear cannon shells or RPG warheads are essentially that even if they exist - to kill untold hordes of extremely dangerous alien bugs and still essentially not even winning because no matter how fast you kill them, there's always more.
Of course killing them personally in Factorio is not a winner's strategy, usually you just carpet bomb them with nukes and pave the wasteland over with defensive lines.
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The opposite, they were tall lanky things called 'Skinnies.' They also jumped around with jump packs, powered armor and I think laser swords.
Just to add context: these are the first enemies the protagonist is in combat against, but they switch sides and for most of the book the main conflict is the same as in the movie, humans-vs-bugs.
(for a loose definition of "the same"; e.g. in the book the humans are trying to capture a brain-bug so they can figure out how to communicate and negotiate peace rather than fight-to-the-genocide, whereas in the movie they want someone for Nazi Doogie Howser to torture)
I was going to joke about you confusing Starship Troopers with Star Wars or Halo ... but I pulled down my copy to check, and what do you know, the protagonist cuts through a wall with "a knife beam at full power". I swear I just reread it a few years ago...
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I have no idea how anyone can call guns weak or unsatisfying when the autocannon exists, blasting apart armored bugs/hulks or crowds of regular shitters with it is nothing short of a spiritual experience. Even when you're the loader you can feel yourself partaking in it alongside your comrade. Ultimate male fantasy.
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The game works best in unexpected moments of chaos. Like, you and the squad will be running to the next objective when suddenly an enemy horde side swipes you out of nowhere, so you start sprinting away with lazers flying over head, and you dive into cover, and you start fumbling with stratagems to get an eagle cluster out there but the fucking arrows are weird, and then a robot gets around your cover and you have to switch back to your weapons and you start shooting wildly and then your idiot friend died and he's calling for a reinforce but fuck fuck fuck youre barely surviving. Stuff like that.
Sure, there's that, but I also find it very nice when you happen upon a competent squad and you high-speed low-drag operate your way through the map, wiping out patrols before they can call reinforcements, ticking objective boxes left and right, and generally being the elite of Super Earth's finest.
And then one tiny thing goes wrong and everything's back in your scenario!
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I understand how the game can be fun. I think I'm in the minority in not preferring guns that blast enemies apart at short ranges.
The three maps I played didn't really allow for long range engagements. There were terrain obstacles that severely limited line of sight. Maybe I just didn't play enough maps.
Ammo felt frustratingly limited for the main guns. And it all came back to "throw a [grenade]". Ammo is out, throw a grenade for new ammo crate. Big baddy is around, throw a grenade for artillery strike. Or throw a grenade to call down a big rocket launcher.
I think the cape signified my movement issues with the game. Commanders wear capes. I like playing a recon/scout/sniper build in most shooting games, and wearing a cape while playing any of those rolls would be downright stupid. Its slow, conspicuous, and does not allow easy movement.
I am also starting to become a shooting game elitist. The base mechanic of a shooting game in my mind is clicking on tiny things on the screen. Doing it quickly and accurately represents skill. Doing it quickly and accurately while also doing a bunch of other things (like managing resources, moving around a 3d environment, and coordinating with others) represents mastery of the base skill. A bunch of "shooters" these days tend to focus on the "other things" and the base "shooter" mechanic is nerfed down to nothing. And I understand and get that. I don't just like playing shooters, there are many other genres I like. But whenever I play something vaguely with "shooter" mechanics I inevitably enjoy the base shooter stuff a bunch and just want more of that.
If hell divers at some point supports a more shooting focused playstyle, I'd be happy to jump back in. Just doesn't seem like that is the game's strength right now, and probably also why its popular.
Precise shooting vs Hordes of enemies.
Nah, complete change of style for the game. If you're dealing with hordes, the thing to do is area damage.
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There are some longer range support weapons you can call down. Like the auto cannon. The shooting also requires accuracy as the bugs/bots have different vulnerable parts to them that make all the difference when shooting them. You have a problem with the visual of a cape in a very non-serious send up of Super Earth's MANAGED DEMOCRACY at war? Maybe you're just looking for more of a PvP style camping trip. This ain't that. I also enjoy a good old school shooter, but it is nice to mix it up. Shellshocked servers on HL2 maps were the best of the best for that kind fast twitch play. The old school MOH franchise on PC was up there too.
Not really, as i said, core gameplay is pointing and clicking at a specific spot on a screen. Being prevented from doing that pointing and clicking is a side mechanic in my mind. And often a very unwelcome side mechanic in my opinion. I generally prefer singleplayer. PvE is a somewhat close second. PvP is something I usually dislike.
I find it a breath of fresh air, there are a million people that are split second 100% accurate with a mouse and can no scope you on CS till you quit. The move mouse to pixel 124fa and press mouse button is a solved game. I still enjoy it, but it is nice to mix it up!
Good description. I'm just not interested in competing with others in the sport of "optimize rapidly clicking on a particular pixel". I still like to play shooters, but I want them to check for skills other than the core of pretending to be an aimbot.
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