u/CaptainSunny7997

I love the new heavy seaf presence modifier, but it has one MAJOR problem. It completely murders stealth as a playstyle. An enemy looks at you regardless of if they are aggo'd? Spawn in the seaf. Sneaking around a large amount of enemies? The helldiver must be surrounded, spawn in the seaf. Seaf far away and at max spawns so they won't spawn on the stealthdiver? Brave seaf soldier fires from 50+ meters away to alert the entire base to their presence (because enemies aggro to whoever is closest regardless).

So how do we solve this issue? I would try to expand upon the operation system by changing Commando, Standard, and new introducing Frontline Operations.

For Commando operations, next to nothing would change except being available for all fronts with missions that have a similarly stealth theme. For the illuminate missions like: Destroy exospire, Condemn illuminate experiments, Eradicate void blossoms, Destroy gazer spires, with possible reworks to make them more stealth friendly (like gazer spires no longer aggo the entire base if they spot you from across the map, or their gaze is now marked in the same way as a detector tower). Terminids will be hard to balance around stealth as they are the hardest faction to avoid detection from, although it IS possible. Missions could include: Extract research probe data, Cleanse infected district, Destroy spore lung, (alternate) Enable oil extraction. For additional general missions regardless of front: Retrieve recon craft intel and retrieve valuable data.

For Standard operations, all that I think would need to change is (only when the heavy seaf presence modifier is active) the chance for the seaf support modifier in an operation drops from 100% to 50-60%. This once change can enable stealth gameplay on HSP modified planets. As the, "
Just don't play," argument would normally work UNLESS the modifier is active on an aggressive campaign (like how it is being applied to the void right now).

For newly introduced Frontline operations the following modifiers will be active: Heavy seaf presence, Heavy enemy presence (increased enemy spawnrate, and patrols of the faction's flying units). Other changes include: 2 sub objectives are guaranteed to be beneficial (Seaf artillery, Sam site, Radar, with possible new ones thrown in), 2 sub objectives are guaranteed to be enemy owned (Bio-processors, jammers, detector towers, compromise automaton defenses, cognitive disruptor, stalker lair, etc), the final sub objective can be neutral, enemy owned, beneficial, or an additional objective like raising a flag or launching an ICBM (like what the gloom did). Frontline operations would also include seaf strongholds that are filled with supplies and are guarded by seaf squads. Once you destroy an enemy base the seaf will gain control of the area and can now be dropped in the surrounding area of said base. Enemies will also be spawning in increased numbers, and enemies start in the alerted state instead of their normal unaware state (meaning if they see you they will immediately become aggressive). Frontline operations will have a high chance to spawn on HSP planets, will be partially active on mega city missions, and can spawn near mega cities on planets without the modifier (as the seaf want to prevent more enemies from taking over the cities in defensive situations).

All of these operation types can be active on the same planet at the same time, and can be re-rolled if the options do not appeal to the host of the lobby. (Hopefully in a way that doesn't require the host to restart their game anymore.)

As for why I am doing all this for stealth, it's because its the ultimate alternate playstyle (IMO). With stealth you are trading lots of direct power for improved speed and easier objectives, to the point where with a stealth based loadout if you get caught in a fight you can't escape you are at a major disadvantage than what you would be otherwise with a normal loadout and have little to no chance of survival. Stealth being as much of a knowledge check as it is shouldn't be punished by NPCs who spawn in whenever they want and reveal your position to the enemy without it being the fault of the stealthdiver. The playstyle (with enough practice and a good loadout) can work on any front, sub-faction, and planet so why should a simple planet modifier completely remove the player's ability to use it effectively at no fault of their own?

I have been thinking ever since the release of the Censor’s introduction of the suppressed marksman rifle, what is my most wanted weapon now? After a while I realized my number one weapon fantasy that nothing had covered yet, or at least not to the extent that I or other players had felt comes with the one weapon that comes closest. A heavy bolt action sniper primary, like what the Double Freedom is to shotguns. The Double Freedom is tailor made to kill medium enemies and higher, being able to kill all but the heaviest standard enemies in 1-2 volley shots due to its high damage and durable damage. It does all of this despite not feeling over powered due to a relatively low ammo count, and dealing so much damage that using it on weaker enemies feels like a waste. I want to see this thought process in weapon design return, but in the form of a sniper. Having so much power that using it on certain enemies just feels wrong, but not too much power that it can beat anything that stands in your way so you actually have to build a proper loadout. For my dream rifle I would imagine (hope) that 450 damage per heavy pen bullet with 225 durable to match the AMR would perfectly represent this threshold. This damage would come at a cost however, as no weapon should be able to fulfill every role at once even if I think there is one weapon that does.

The Eruptor is the closest to the fantasy I am after however it is held back by one major flaw (or in this case strength), it’s too good at everything. Groups of small enemies? Eruptor can demolish entire patrols in 1-2 shots. Medium enemies? Eruptor takes them out in 1 shot. Heavy enemies? Eruptor can kill all but the heaviest enemies in just 2-3 shots in the right place, all while also granting the utility of being able to destroy fabs and bug holes. It was the first weapon I mastered and I loved it from release, but even I can admit, especially after mastering every other weapon, nothing can stand in its way other than the crossbow but even that takes more shots on average. The one actual downside it has, is you are basically forced to use heavy armor if you don’t want to risk randomly being killed by shrapnel from across the map. The only time the Eruptor is close to being a sniper rifle is when you deal with hulks on the bot front, as they are the only thing that the heavy pen buff lets you kill in a way you couldn’t before. With all of that being said, there is still good to learn from the Eruptor’s balance; extreme power comes at a cost, and in this case it is speed and weight. Helldivers 2 lacks heavy primaries. Weight is a key factor in the feel of a weapon, it can easily enhance or take away from a weapon’s identity. Too much weight and everyone hates it, too light for the amount of power and it doesn’t feel real. Speed (RPM) is also extremely important for a weapon such as this, but due to the single target only nature of my ideal bolt action sniper I feel like it should be in the middle of the two bolt actions we currently have. 45 RPM or roughly 50% faster than the Eruptor and 25% slower than the constitution I feel like is a fair speed, and the former’s 25 ergonomics work well enough as a baseline (aka without attachments considered) for weight.

Now here is what we have so far:

• 450 Damage at Heavy pen, with 225 durable.
• 45 RPM or roughly 0.75 shots per second.
• 25 Ergonomics (21 with 10x Scope).
• High recoil, forcing you to manually align every shot you take regardless of hitting or missing the target.

Here is my big answer to the elephant in the room that hasn't been brought up until now, how do we make a heavy pen long range primary that DOESN'T outclass the AMR or other marksman rifles? Other than what we have so far, I think the answer is simple: Ammo. The AMR has a total of 63 rounds, this one would have at max 5 rounds with 6 total magazines (1 starting, 5 reserve max, total of 30). The combination of low fire-rate and ammo, prevent the rifle from overshadowing the AMR unless you play it as slowly as possible. As for the marksman rifles, not only would they all have more ammunition but they will also not be a waste to use on small units due to their lower damage. The only stats I haven't covered yet are demo force and stagger, which will both be shared with the AMR's with 20 demo force and 25 stagger force. These mean that it would be able to open cargo containers, always destroy gazers, and lightning spires (illuminate tesla) while only staggering up to warriors, cyborgs, but not overseers (for some reason).

Here is the full stat list:

• 450 Damage, 225 Durable (All breakpoints equal to the AMR)
• Heavy Armor Penetrating
• 5 Round Capacity, 6 Total magazines, 30 total rounds
• 120 Recoil (80% of the AMR, so still very high)
• 45 RPM (Puts it in the current middle of bolt action weapons)

Attachments:

Optics:

• 10x Scope (Default)
• 4x Combat Scope
• 2x Tube Red Dot
• 1.5x Tube Red Dot
• Reflex Sight MK.1 + 2
• Iron Sights (Unsure if this would be too good, possibly replace with the "No Optics" sight of the Coyote that has the same stats as the 1.5x Tube Red Dot [+0 Ergo instead of +5])

Muzzle:

• Muzzle Break (Default)
• Flash Hider
• Compensator
• No Attachment (will be available at the start)

Underbarrel:

• No Underbarrel
• Bipod: -5 Ergonomics, can be toggled like an alternate fire-mode but doesn't change the bullets and instead removes weapon sway while reducing recoil by 50-75% at the cost of an additional -5 ergonomics while active (-10 total) [If this is too hard to implement or too OP, it can be skipped or re-adjusted].

As for the main image, the Blue is the DF and AMR's ability to deal with mediums both quickly and consistently, the Green is the support weapon like feel of both the Eruptor and DF, and the Red is the long range heavy pen power of the AMR and Eruptor. This has been an extremely long post about my dream mini AMR primary that I've always wanted, I've been tweaking what the stats would be in ways that I hope are balanced enough to not uproot the other marksman options in the game. If you have any suggestions for things I can do to improve it's balancing in any way, please feel free to let me know. Personally I am not a fan of how the Eruptor is able to (although unlikely) 1 shot Harvesters, Hulks, Impalers, Chargers, Stingrays, Tanks, and Cannon Turrets. I am not sure what to choose for a real world inspiration, but my one wish is that it looks and sounds cool as hell however it gets made (and the bolt being at the rear of the weapon instead of the front). Possible name: Guillotine (For it's ability to remove the heads of even the largest tyrants).

Edit 1: Decreased total reserve ammo from 45 to 30, almost being able to kill 3 factory striders to the face is WAY too strong for a primary, I forgot to do the math.