'The Automaton front needs reinforcements': Helldivers 2 players are pleading for help for a bot-threatened planet, but no one's stepping up

Helldiver soldiers planting a flag while one stands guard — (Image credit: Arrowhead Game Studios)

Things are looking desperate on the Western Front in Helldivers 2 as some players are trying to recruit soldiers to rush Mantes and stop the breakout in the Xzar sector, but their calls for aid aren't being answered.

Right now, the Major Orders in Helldivers 2 are directing soldiers toward Zagon Prime and Fori Prime to fight against the Terminid hordes. But as the fighting dies down on these planets, some are trying to turn attention towards Mantes, a planet in the Xzar sector that has seen constant threats from the Automaton forces—if it falls, then the rest of the sector will go with it. "The Automaton front needs reinforcements," one recruitment poster reads. "Please redeploy to Mantes and save the Xzar sector."

A couple of players on Reddit have pointed out that there's also a fairly good chance that Mantes will be involved in the next set of Major Orders, meaning tackling the problem now will make further fighting easier in the future. "Bots are done massing their forces," Managed-Democracy says in the Reddit thread. "I expect a full-scale attack on multiple sectors to spread us thin. Then a spearhead on Cyberstan."

With less than 17 hours to defend Mantes and a prediction of failure, it's not looking good. But even with the stakes raised and the planet needing democracy now more than ever, it's pretty hard to convince soldiers to fight against the Automatons. Redditor Praise_the_Tsun seems to think that it's simply because the playerbase doesn't like fighting robots: "I think we've seen consistently that 75%+ of the playerbase doesn't go to the bot front. I enjoy the bugs more than the bots, but will hop over to the bots for dailies or situations like Mantes today. But it seems tons of Divers just don't want to go to the bot front." And they're not the only one who thinks so.

Plenty of other Divers responded in the thread, agreeing with the sentiment that fighting robots is just too much of a pain. "I used to like fighting bots, more than bugs even, but something changed when the armour patch hit," Reddit user Chimerathon says. "Something went wrong with bots that are making them abnormally frustrating, and it's not entirely clear what it is."

If you're having a hard time facing up against the bots and are looking for a couple of tips, then these quick suggestions from Shadow-Fang25 will hopefully help you out. Along with reminders that rovers are pretty much useless and to deny the enemy a line of sight, the biggest recommendation is simple communication: "Even if you don't have a mic. Use the in-game quick prompts. (Follow me, Affirmative, approving smile, disapproving frown). And mark dangerous enemies."

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.