Helldivers 2 planet liberation isn’t working as intended yet, but Joel will flip the switch

The Helldivers 2 galactic war system is supposed to have the successful liberation of certain planets directly impact the status of others, according to Arrowhead Game Studios. This system currently doesn’t work outright in the live game, but it turns out that Arrowhead will still honor it under what the team is calling the “Martale gambit,” where the liberation of said planet will end the defense event of an adjoining one.

Last I checked, the planet of Martale is 90% liberated from Automaton control in Helldivers 2. It’s been grueling for me and my friend on Extreme difficulty, but still loads of fun. Now, one of the community managers on the co-op game says that Joel, the real-world game master in control of Major Orders and the Automaton and Terminid fronts, can actually honor the planetary defense systems Arrowhead has in place, as they aren’t automatic just yet.

“Capturing Martale will not automatically end the Charon defense event, the system does not work that way,” community manager ‘Spitz’ says in an update from game master Joel. “But Joel can award the win manually, and if the Martale gambit is successful, he will honor that commitment by granting the win on Charon.”

As you can see from the galactic map image below, Martale is almost liberated thanks to our efforts, with six hours left to defend neighboring planet Charon Prime. Sadly though, the enemy (the red bar) is destroying our defense efforts (the blue bar) on Charon, but the successful liberation of Martale will automatically help us defend Charon, basically.

This type of connection between planets should happen automatically according to Arrowhead, with Joel stepping in for now to flip the switch manually. “Our galactic war systems are meant to work that way, but don’t have that functionality yet, and so a lot of it has to be done manually (and, as such, is a bit inconsistent).”

“Since things like the Martale gambit are meant to be possible automatically, if we ever do pull off something like this in the future where we cut off an enemy planet by capturing the attached planets – ping me or DM me to let me know, and I’ll pass it on to Joel so he can make the system adjustments manually. Stuff like that should be consistent but won’t be unless one of our teams notices it.”

While I think this planetary linking system is really interesting for a constantly evolving live service game, I do find it odd that Arrowhead relegates the explanation of it to a single, buried Discord post. It should be front and center in the game, if I’m honest.

If you’re trying to liberate Martale and need a little extra help, we’ve got your back with all the best Helldivers 2 weapons, Helldivers 2 armor, and Helldivers 2 stratagems for all your loads.

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