Are Helldiver units cannon fodder?

[Blozzy]

I saw how they treated these elites looking childish with all those patriotic democratic nonsense they spout about in those videos.

I'm new to the game and i don't know bout the lore but are Helldivers the real deal? We know theyre capable but expendable too. Are there tougher military branches?

[Scarlet]

yes they are the combat readiness is that of 27% and average age is that of 18 year olds

[Pride Lizard Pride Lizard]

Yeah.

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by The Colgate King:

Originally posted by Blozy:

I saw how they treated these elites looking childish with all those patriotic democratic nonsense they spout about in those videos.

I'm new to the game and i don't know bout the lore but are Helldivers the real deal? We know theyre capable but expendable too. Are there tougher military branches?

The ones that survive are the real deal. All of the others didn't believe in the empowering force that is managed democracy.

Until they die 30 seconds into the next mission.

[Nightfall]

Hot take: Helldivers are just normal people who are stupid enough to be willing to be shot from a spaceship into bug-infested planets, meeting certain death.

They are hailed and treated as heroes to make them FEEL strong and noble, just to fan their ego and their suicidal tendencies.

In reality, they are stupid foot soldiers and every time one dies, their Super Destroyer is given to someone else (just like you got one immediately after graduating, probably taking over someone else's who just died).

Basically, Starship Troopers (the novel).

[Mesond]

Originally posted by Blunkn:

i'm not sure why they would spend so much of their defence budget giving every helldiver a personal space destroyer, an arsenal of weapons and armour, and a whole crew of technicians, pilots, and political officers supporting them if they're cannon fodder

Easy explanation for this one. 1: The ships don't get blown up. 2: Multiple helldivers on the ship.

The ship is a troop transport as much as a defense ship. So the "like space marines" comment is actually fitting. Loses get resupplied from drop pods. If you ever played Dawn of War then you'll know what I'm talking about.

If I had to compare Helldivers to a Dawn of War unit it would be the Kasrkin squads. They're basically the SAS of Warhammer. Spec ops units getting things done.

It starts off like being Soap in Call of Duty training though. You start at the bottom. Just because you just passed training doesn't mean you proved yourself yet.

[Hexagoros]

Originally posted by The Rookie:

I saw how they treated these elites looking childish with all those patriotic democratic nonsense they spout about in those videos.

I'm new to the game and i don't know bout the lore but are Helldivers the real deal? We know theyre capable but expendable too. Are there tougher military branches?

Having read through the last few pages, I've come to the conclusion that the lore is simply at odds with itself on the subject of the Helldivers.

We are cannon fodder, but we're not.

Consider the following points, and how utterly contradictory they are.

1) We are doing "elite" things. "Cannon fodder" does not 4-man army entire bases containing hundreds of enemies as we do with the Automatons. That would be like four Ukrainian conscripts somehow overrunning an entire Russian trench network by themselves with some artillery support. That's just not how Cannon Fodder works.

2) On the other hand, the game 'really' tries to drive home the idea that HellDivers are super expendable joke soldiers. Our combat readiness is "27%" and our training was....not great. And yet....

3) Our guys are super fit. They leg it everywhere, all the time, with lots and lots of gear on. How does that meld with only being 27% combat ready? And yet....

4) We have INSANE weapons proficiency. Our guys use a vast array of weaponry proficiently and under fire. Multiple assault rifles, multiple side arms, energy weapons, several types of anti-tank weapons, and even freaking mechs. They use all of it. That kind of weapons proficiency represents intense and lengthy training. Right now in Ukraine, the average conscript on either side has just two to four months of basic training just to be able to put rounds down range with a rifle. Ukrainian specialists had to be brought to the UK and trained for over six months (!!!) just to properly use certain American anti-tank weapons.

5) But we're instantly expendable, as represented by the cryo pods.

It's a mash up of contradictions, meaning no one here is actually right or wrong - because the game is at odds with itself on the subject.

[Das Trojanische Pferd]

Originally posted by Hexagoros:

Originally posted by The Rookie:

I saw how they treated these elites looking childish with all those patriotic democratic nonsense they spout about in those videos.

I'm new to the game and i don't know bout the lore but are Helldivers the real deal? We know theyre capable but expendable too. Are there tougher military branches?

Having read through the last few pages, I've come to the conclusion that the lore is simply at odds with itself on the subject of the Helldivers.

We are cannon fodder, but we're not.

Consider the following points, and how utterly contradictory they are.

1) We are doing "elite" things. "Cannon fodder" does not 4-man army entire bases containing hundreds of enemies as we do with the Automatons. That would be like four Ukrainian conscripts somehow overrunning an entire Russian trench network by themselves with some artillery support. That's just not how Cannon Fodder works.

2) On the other hand, the game 'really' tries to drive home the idea that HellDivers are super expendable joke soldiers. Our combat readiness is "27%" and our training was....not great. And yet....

3) Our guys are super fit. They leg it everywhere, all the time, with lots and lots of gear on. How does that meld with only being 27% combat ready? And yet....

4) We have INSANE weapons proficiency. Our guys use a vast array of weaponry proficiently and under fire. Multiple assault rifles, multiple side arms, energy weapons, several types of anti-tank weapons, and even freaking mechs. They use all of it. That kind of weapons proficiency represents intense and lengthy training. Right now in Ukraine, the average conscript on either side has just two to four months of basic training just to be able to put rounds down range with a rifle. Ukrainian specialists had to be brought to the UK and trained for over six months (!!!) just to properly use certain American anti-tank weapons.

5) But we're instantly expendable, as represented by the cryo pods.

It's a mash up of contradictions, meaning no one here is actually right or wrong - because the game is at odds with itself on the subject.

1. well cannon fodder gets thrown at a task and if they manage to successfully destroy the base then all is well if not send the next wave.

2. I have a feeling that it's just the last step of Training.

3. you can be sure as hell that they would have more then enough Physical training in school we sadly have no idea how they handle school but if i think managed democracy i only remember a certain german youth that also got trained and learned how to use weapons to be of use in the war.

4. can also be explained with school could be some choice you make in the last years of school for extra credit

The problem is we know about helldivers but we know nothing of the culture of Super-Earth or how they are managed in school.

[Silverlight]

It depends on the player.

[[BRO]Ingvar]

70 million casualties taking Umlaut Sector and we're still going strong. Do the math.

[Toastie Buns]

Originally posted by Veldaz:

Easy explanation for this one. 1: The ships don't get blown up.

This guy doesn't fight Automatons lol

[Riepah]

Considering they bother to send an extraction shuttle even if you run out of time instead of just leaving you behind, I think Helldivers aren't all that expendable. Those shuttles don't look cheap enough to risk for cannon fodder that's threatening to fail a mission.

[Valhalla Awaits]

Originally posted by The Rookie:

I saw how they treated these elites looking childish with all those patriotic democratic nonsense they spout about in those videos.

I'm new to the game and i don't know bout the lore but are Helldivers the real deal? We know theyre capable but expendable too. Are there tougher military branches?

Bootcamp was a five minute crash course. Just think about that for a second, then you have your answer.

[Trooper #900129-H]

We're glorified, yet expendable artillery spotters.

It's the Super-Destroyers doing the real work, we're just there to provide target data and doing menial tasks like pushing planet-side consoles and telling evac-ships where to pick up civillians.

Being hailed as 'heroes' and being designated 'elite' is a propaganda tool in order to get people to sign up.


We are not elite teams of 4 doing behind-the-lines operations either
Yes we operate in 4-man squads, but look at the background when diving into a planet: There is usually a hail of hellpods being shot from other destroyers into zones right next to you

Low orbit is bristling with destroyers, deploying wave after wave of helldivers en-masse, we can see this out of our bridge-windows.

We are definately part of mass-invasions.


Reason its done this way, is probably becouse we have an entire planet worth of ground to cover and a full galaxy of planets to liberate
While we are many and expendable, we have not bug-like near-limitless numbers, so its likely an efficiency thing.

So no, we dont march up with batallions worth of troops, shoulder to shoulder Omaha beach-style, but that is likely becouse we have a lot of ground to cover
The mass invasion is certainly there, just spread our across an entire planet


Reason why we are so good with weapons is becouse Super Earth is a highly millitarized society, seeing as how the state issues everybody a free rifle at 16
Its likely children grow up around all kinds of weapons and know all about them.
Bootcamp is mostly a quick crash-course in strategems and bug-holes
The rest is on-the-job learning.
We already know how to use weapons, they dont need to teach us.

They freeze us as soon as we leave bootcamp, when we wake up they tell us we have our own destroyer, making us feel important, then give it to the next guy as soon as we get unalived

In short: we're fodder

Just my thougts :)

[Eshtian]

Yes. They literally have several cyro pods of replacements on board.

[Hexagoros]

Originally posted by Troja:

Originally posted by Hexagoros:

Having read through the last few pages, I've come to the conclusion that the lore is simply at odds with itself on the subject of the Helldivers.

We are cannon fodder, but we're not.

Consider the following points, and how utterly contradictory they are.

1) We are doing "elite" things. "Cannon fodder" does not 4-man army entire bases containing hundreds of enemies as we do with the Automatons. That would be like four Ukrainian conscripts somehow overrunning an entire Russian trench network by themselves with some artillery support. That's just not how Cannon Fodder works.

2) On the other hand, the game 'really' tries to drive home the idea that HellDivers are super expendable joke soldiers. Our combat readiness is "27%" and our training was....not great. And yet....

3) Our guys are super fit. They leg it everywhere, all the time, with lots and lots of gear on. How does that meld with only being 27% combat ready? And yet....

4) We have INSANE weapons proficiency. Our guys use a vast array of weaponry proficiently and under fire. Multiple assault rifles, multiple side arms, energy weapons, several types of anti-tank weapons, and even freaking mechs. They use all of it. That kind of weapons proficiency represents intense and lengthy training. Right now in Ukraine, the average conscript on either side has just two to four months of basic training just to be able to put rounds down range with a rifle. Ukrainian specialists had to be brought to the UK and trained for over six months (!!!) just to properly use certain American anti-tank weapons.

5) But we're instantly expendable, as represented by the cryo pods.

It's a mash up of contradictions, meaning no one here is actually right or wrong - because the game is at odds with itself on the subject.

1. well cannon fodder gets thrown at a task and if they manage to successfully destroy the base then all is well if not send the next wave.

2. I have a feeling that it's just the last step of Training.

3. you can be sure as hell that they would have more then enough Physical training in school we sadly have no idea how they handle school but if i think managed democracy i only remember a certain german youth that also got trained and learned how to use weapons to be of use in the war.

4. can also be explained with school could be some choice you make in the last years of school for extra credit

The problem is we know about helldivers but we know nothing of the culture of Super-Earth or how they are managed in school.

I don't think school cuts it as an explanation, because there is an entire off-screen faction Infantry, the SEAF. and there's a lot hinting at Helldivers being a few notches above the SEAF.

Except of course when the lore is telling us Helldivers are a joke. :S

The SEAF are the ones doing the mass invasions off-screen, holding down defenses, and other "in the trenches" kind of fighting.

So either Helldivers are no better than the mass formations of the SEAF, or Helldivers really do get a lot of training that we don't know about.

But then "why" entrust the kinds of tasks Helldivers are seen doing to troops no better than regular SEAF infantry?

Once again - the lore is simply at odds with itself.