Freedom isn't free, and the price for some helldivers is a lost limb (or four), so Helldivers 2 community manager Katherine Baskin has shared some tips and future plans for how to reduce the amount of collateral damage caused by the Democracy Space Station.
The DSS is a system that's managed by the community. You vote on where you want it deployed and then donate in-game resources to power up specific abilities such as planetary bombardments, eagle bombardments, and orbital blockades. The first two ensure frequent bombs are dropped on active mission zones, helping helldivers by killing terminids and automatons.
Players have noticed since the DSS was deployed that its indiscriminate bombardments can often target friendly helldivers. That's not new for the game, most of my matches have involved the whole squad diving for cover because one of us threw a 500KG bomb just a teeny tiny bit closer than we meant to.
Arrowhead is now making good on its promise to make the DSS better. In a message in the Helldivers 2 Discord server, Baskin writes, "For the planetary bombardment action, we are aiming to increase the precision and effectiveness of its orbital targeting systems. We are also investigating innovative ways to provide Helldivers with advanced warnings of imminent impacts, through the use of the mini-map and visual indicators." For now, just watch out or put on some heavier armor to keep your limbs intact.
Baskin also shared some tips on how to use these actions to best help in the galactic war. "Eagle storm is best used on a defend event, since it is pausing that timer," and "planetary bombardment dramatically increases the liberation rate of every successful operation and is best deployed on a default frontline planet (Liberation Campaign)." So use eagle storm to defend and planetary bombardment to liberate.
The orbital blockade is a little more cerebral and requires some tactical thinking. It stops a new defend event popping up on the planet its stationed above, so it's a good way to hold the front lines.
There are also going to be new improvements on the way, such as a clearer voting system, the option to vote to keep the DSS where it is, more tactical actions, and passive effects that affect a planet even when there's no active bombardment taking place. Sounds like it'll be the Super Democracy Space Station soon.
