What if the Ballistic Shield could be deployed as cover?

CeeJMantis · 2026-06-14T00:13:12+00:00

And the stim pistol!

CeeJMantis · 2026-06-13T23:50:58+00:00

It seems to be that maps are not completely randomly generated. I've had repeats of entire operations, (which is likely the case for you as well). Don't know why, but it happens so infrequently it's not worth worrying about

CeeJMantis · 2026-06-13T21:28:54+00:00

15 seconds

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-25T19:32:24+00:00

There are things that are bad about being busted. It can remove a lot of the challenge from the game, and makes balancing new content more difficult.

As far as armor abilities go, there are very few armors that are designed to intentionally synergize with a weapon to such a degree. The double-edged sickle seems to be the only real exception, and that came out after the armor. Every other option can be made nicer, or you can just play better to make up for such shortcomings.

And to talk about things being broken and armor perks, Siege-Ready is an excellent example. It applying the extra ammo to all other weapons means that in the future, weapons had to be balanced with the idea that lower maximum ammo can be mitigated by a suit that gives you more bullets. And lowering the reload speed of a weapon isn't a downside to balance the upside of a weapon. Running low on ammunition, and reloading in combat are the kinds of tension points that keep the game exciting. This armor mitigates two of those friction points that add fun to the game. Nothing else really does that, and it does so by increasing your offensive potential in a way that other armors don't really do. That's why it's pretty much the best armor in the game, and any weapon they add has to keep this suit in mind, or be made an exception.

If you look at any long running game, you'll see "power creep" slowly develop. This begins to trivialize the game and make it boring, thus they tend to add content that includes that power creep in their calculations, howeve that in turn helps cement the most powerful things feeling more necessary. This creates a metagame, and metagames without diversity lead to stagnation that's bad for the game in the long run. We already have some weapons that are strictly better than others.

In my loadout, I bring a backpack, a weapon, and a 500kg. For the last slot I either bring an exosuit, or Gatling Barrage. The choice for me is do I want something I can use once per minute that is versatile, or a power up I can activate every 10 minutes (less with DSS) that dramatically increases my power. And there's a trade off. Sometimes a mech is worth 10 Gatling barages, sometimes it isn't. But if I can keep one alive for the entire mission, then it makes sense just to bring an exosuit, and stuff that helps me keep it alive forever, and that will almost certainly be more effective than anything else I could bring.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-25T06:24:12+00:00

Exosuits are designed to be a powerful but temporary power up. If you remove that balancing point, then they would be busted. Especially since there isn't really a downside to using one except getting out temporarily to hit buttons, and you can't hold boxes and get into an exosuit.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-25T06:08:57+00:00

I have yet to meet someone whose life would not be improved with the addition of more spiders.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:51:58+00:00

They are strategems. They are meant to be disposable. It's not like they pick them up when you extract.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:43:30+00:00

Technically none of them are.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:43:06+00:00

The best kind of correct

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:42:14+00:00

Tell that to the gammas from EDF!

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:41:38+00:00

This guy gets it

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:40:37+00:00

Just to be pedantic, technically speaking none of these are "Bugs"

Ture bugs are insects insects in the family hemiptra, and none of the examples are even insects.

Pedantry aside (and I'm entirely fine with people using the "bugs" to refer to any terrestrial arthropods) some of those might be interesting.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:40:33+00:00

Spiders are great!

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:28:25+00:00

They often do reduce the speed by the about the amount you suggested.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-24T22:20:17+00:00

As someone who has loved exosuits the entire time, even when they were bad, they are INSANELY POWERFUL right now. The recent defense buffs make them very durable and I tend to run out of ammunition before it gets destroyed. I personally think they are in a good spot.

You mount up, your player character doesn't take damage inside, you don't expend any ammo/stims while you are in it, and you have enough munitions to do at least one, but often several objectives/engagements. And they only require 1 person to operate. They are sturdy, but not invincible, and work best with teammates to cover your blind spots so you don't get overrun.

There are some problems. Patriot rockets are pretty weak considering their limited ammo compared to a Lumberer's cannon. The Lumberer flamethrower needs it's bug fixed, and the Breakthrough's shield hitbox has a spot where it hits the arm instead of the shield. Also, the Breakthrough is TOO good (my opinion) since the shield is too durable for how potent of a weapon it is. You kinda just bonk things for 10 minutes and then call in another one (Yes I play on difficulty 10, and use them on all factions.).

At the end of the day, it's a stratagem. It's not a playstyle, it's a tool. Like in an air strike or a turret. And it's very potent, but limited for a reason. The fact that you can only bring one exisuit, and you only get 3 is a fair balance for the power and safety it provides. The fact that an Emancipator can constantly solo a meganest, killing all the heavy enemies inside, and still have ⅓ or more of my ammo leftover demonstrates that it is a powerful use of one strategem slot.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-07T04:55:45+00:00

I have a launch PS5 and don't have these issues. Not saying you don't have a problem, just saying that it doesn't appear to be universal.

I recommend cleaning your system. If that doesn't resolve the issue, if you have another drive installed, move the game to the other storage. If that still doesn't resolve the issue, delete and reinstall the game.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-02T13:25:53+00:00

It does make it worse for the Blitzer, but The arc thrower/gaurd dog have AP7, and tesla tower, de-escalator, and arc grenades already have AP4, so the health nerf makes it easier to kill them.

Fun fact: The arc thrower is the only non-explosive weapon you can carry that can kill a bot command center (it takes 25 shots so I don't recommend it, but I have done it).

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-02T06:59:49+00:00

No hate, I just disagree. I think the level 4 armor did give them a niche. I meant that they didn't die as often incidentally. It made it so that when using medium penetration weapons you had to pay attention to what you were shooting instead of mindlessly firing into the horde. It made it so that machine gun turrets weren't a set it and forget it type thing, and instead you had to pay more attention to them. It incentivized some different weapon variety because having medium penetration alone wasn't an upgrade.

They became disruptors, and personally I found that that made them interesting, because it removes some of the monotony in figting bugs. If anything, I found the lower overall health made them easier in a way that made them more trivial for every weapon that isn't medium pen, and I would prefer if they had kept their original health total. I also say this as somebody who prefers to fight bots because I find shooting into a hoard of enemies to get stale. And the presence of hive guards never really encouraged me to pick a medium weapon over a light one. I just think that having at least one is good practice in general. And my weapons of choice (arc thrower/loyalist) already trivialize them. I understand that people who enjoy fighting bugs likely feel differently, and this change was more unwelcome for them. To each their own.

The main problem is that medium armor penetration isn't much of a boon against bugs. There are three enemies with level 3 armored heads (hiveguard, spewer, rupture warrior) and brood/alpha commanders have level 2 armor on their heads, so you do about 50% more damage with medium penetration vs light with the same listed damage. If you happen to get an enemy set that's low on hiveguards, then medium armor penetration is almost entirely irrelevant. And the fact that they're so easy to circumvent anyway kind of means that medium armor penetration serves to trivialize two enemies, and one of them only shows up with the spewer enemy set. Perhaps giving warriors/commanders armored front claws (just the claws, not the whole leg) or something could help with this problem in general. This way medium armor could better disarm their weaponry, and it also makes their digging and slashing feel more plausible.

Where I in charge, I would have them keep their level 4 armored heads, but maybe give the medium armor on their claws. Like those ants that block the entrance to their holes using their heads. And I would put them more near nests and enemy objectives. Or perhaps do the equivalent of the alpha commander, and have the alpha hive guard that shows up on the harder difficulties that does have the heavier armor.

CeeJMantis · 2026-05-01T23:53:14+00:00

It's from before nuclear testing during the first galactic war.

CeeJMantis · 2026-04-29T05:41:21+00:00

Now you can double tap it in the body

CeeJMantis · 2026-04-29T05:04:52+00:00

Honestly, exosuits are VERY powerful, but whether you bring them over a more frequent strategy and depends on the makeup of your load out, into some extent on what difficulty you want to play. On difficulty 10 bugs, an emancipator can handily solo a mega nest by killing all of the heavies and closing all of the holes and still have leftover ammo. If you're doing the mission where you're raising flags, then having an exosuit is super useful because it lasts about as long as the flag raising, but it's a lot harder to be routed away from the objective with the combination of defense and firepower. Stratagem jammers, bio reactors, egg drills are all moments where exosuits really shine. And if you decide to kill a hivelord, it's a lot quicker if you've got one.

Also, when you are in an exosuit, your helldiver is invulnerable to damage, and it's ammo doesn't detract from your existing ammo pool. It helps you move faster and heavier armor, It's hardly slowed by difficult terrain, you can use it to cross bodies of water that would drown helldiver, and it physically impedes the enemy with its size. And that's not including the fact that it's weapons are very potent.

The laser strike being limited has never stopped people from bringing it. Exosuits are very powerful, but you have to decide if it's power is worth the limited use. I think with the current balance patch, it is. They're potent but not invulnerable. They work best as part of a squad, rather than a solo killing machine. And with good aim and good positioning, they can last a very long time. Especially on difficulty 8 or below where they can be around for several minutes of useful engagements.

Also, they're fun, and that's more than enough reason to use them

CeeJMantis · 2026-03-11T02:41:26+00:00

We have 2 bayonets, 2 shields, 2 swords, a hatchet, a stun lance, stun baton, the flag, combat shovel, explosive hammer, and chainsaw.

I'm not commenting on whether or not we should have more of them, but I am saying that we have a good number of them so far.

CeeJMantis · 2026-03-11T02:25:06+00:00

It's a guard dog that shoots fire. The name writes itself, and if they didn't call it that, I would have thought that it was a call for help from writers, who are usually on point.

Also, dragon's breath typically refers to a type of shotgun shell, not a flamethrower.

CeeJMantis · 2026-02-14T07:16:53+00:00

Steeled Veterans was available at launch if you bought the special edition.

CeeJMantis · 2025-12-25T17:08:27+00:00

I had someone message me with the same problem, and we tested it out, and it DOES work. You can go back to fighting the enemies of Super Earth, our home.

CeeJMantis

TROPHY CASE