Helldivers 2 Game Master Joel says sike, the previous Automaton force was "merely a vanguard," and now a massive fleet is assaulting Cyberstan and beyond

Sweet mother of Joel, Helldivers 2's Automatons have returned in force after being temporarily vanquished, and that means the new Major Order is to sort them out - again.

Over the past weekend, Helldivers 2 players thought they had dismantled the Automatons and pushed back the Terminids on a number of frontiers. If you thought everything was going too well, you'd be right. Now, just several days later, the Automatons are back in a big way, this time taking to new planets to batter Super Earth's forces along the northwestern edge of the Galactic War board.

As you can see above, Cyberstan is currently threatened by the Automaton resurgence. Fierce battles are also raging across planets like Choohe, Chort Bay, Penta, and Lensath, with 'Defend' campaigns being initiated on these planets.

It's chiefly the 'Hydra' sector that's coming under attack now from the Automaton forces. This is just slightly clockwise around the Galactic War table from where Super Earth's soldiers originally fought the Automatons in the most recent campaign, so the frontier has shifted slightly.

If this all sounds predictable, it's because a lot of Helldivers 2 players called it earlier this week. Numerous players were quick to cite Game Master Joel's history of deliberately disruptive efforts across the Galactic War board, like the time they halted the mech output when the manufacturing planet Tien Kwan came under attack from Automaton forces.

If there's a silver lining here, it's that Helldivers 2 can once again be Platinumed, now that the Automaton-centric Trophy to take down a Hulk can once again be obtained.

Earlier today, a new Helldivers 2 patch remedied the mission-crashing bugs that nearly derailed the Automaton war effort's finale, just in time for the next Major Order.