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 lot. 

“I just finished my first mission with the DSS’s Orbital Barrage active, and this community’s worst fears are correct: the orbital bombardment is, in fact, a totally random 380 barrage that covers the entire map,” one Helldiver on Reddit writes, adding that it “can only be described as having gone outside the map boundaries and being deemed a ‘traitor’ except this effect persists the entire mission.”

The Orbital Bombardment feels a bit counterproductive… from r/Helldivers

Others are equally frustrated, saying that “the DSS does nothing but team kill you.” They add: “Wasn’t this supposed to help us? This is honestly kind of insulting, we made a Super Weapon to kill ourselves. Who thought that randomly and frequently bombing where the players are at random would be a fun experience for the player?”

Some players are now begging others to “never donate everything ever again” to the DSS, after our first attempt at doing so led to the mass destruction of our own side. “It’s like I just gave away 50 samples to the Automatons’ GoFundMe,” another adds. After Super Earth told us that the space station’s first test fire successfully destroyed a “small moon,” maybe we should have expected this, but for the time being, it seems one of the DSS’s main functions might be more of a hindrance than anything else.

From Warhammer 40K to Star Wars, Helldivers 2 creative director “would love to do a take on” loads of IP, but doing them all would be a “not Helldivers” experience.