Helldivers 2's latest major order promises a mech with 2 entire Autocannons strapped onto it—though there's a small chance it could slip through players' fingers

Throughout all the buffs and nerfs that've rolled through Helldivers 2 as of late, the Autocannon has remained—for the most part—beloved. 

It's not the best anti-tank weapon in the world, meeting a wall against more heavily-armoured Terminids, but it can deal nicely with most enemies the Automatons have to throw at you. It also fires pretty dang rapidly, meaning you don't need to have great aim to use it unlike comparable options such as the Anti-Materiel Rifle. 

Arrowhead Games has clearly reasoned, then, that what red-blooded Super Earth patriots really want is a mech with not one, but two Autocannons strapped to the sides. I am not immune to intergalactic propaganda because yes, yes I do want that.

As announced on the game's official Twitter, the latest major order sees players headed to Varylia 5 to receive the new bit of bot-smashing kit.

MAJOR ORDER: Surveillance has uncovered an Automaton «Petafactory»; its only purpose to mass-produce heartless weapons of war.Liberate it and we can convert it to produce en masse the dual-Autocannon EXO-49 EMANCIPATOR EXOSUIT. pic.twitter.com/r2yZeCvY2DMay 23, 2024

«This automaton 'petafactory'» on Varylia 5, reads an in-game transmission, serves the purpose of mass-producing «weapons of war, in order to further the Automatons' totalitarian agenda. Its worker drones are forced to labour nonstop, and the environmental impacts are devastating,» unlike our environmental, planet-glassing, 500kg impacts. Naturally, all of Super Earth's bombs are environmentally friendly and are an excellent source of Vitamin C.

«With low-cost alterations, the Petafactory could be retrofitted to allow the construction of a dual-autocannon Exosuit variant: the EXO-49 EMANCIPATOR EXOSUIT.» 

There's a little nervousness among the community, though—remember those MD-17 Anti-Tank mines players were able to 'vote' on? While they chose the RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher instead, those mines were later available for liberation during Operation Metallic