Helldivers 2 hackers just tried cheating the Cyberstan Major Order with "in-game exploits," but the devs cracked down — and now it's harder for everyone

Well, my fellow Helldivers, the latest reports from the Battle of Cyberstan just came in, and I've got some bad news: as brutal as the fighting on the Cyborgs and Automatons' home world has been thus far, completing the current Helldivers 2 Major Order just became even more difficult — and it's all thanks to traitorous anti-democratic "dissidents corrupted by Automaton lies." AKA, hackers.

Originally, the Major Order required players to extract from 25 million successful missions by midday on Tuesday, February 17 to support Phase 3 of Operation VALID PRETEXT, the ongoing Super Earth Armed Forces (SEAF) ground invasion of Cyberstan, and the march towards its capital Megafactory Transcendence.

Helldivers were also given a Strategic Opportunity objective to kill millions of Chargers, Impalers, and Bile Titans on the Terminid front "to secure egg specimens for fundraising sales to high-value citizens," which will help replenish our rapidly dwindling reinforcement budget that's keeping the Cyberstan invasion alive (you can watch it drain in real time on the Helldivers Companion site).

However, after developer Arrowhead caught wind of hackers using "in-game exploits" trying to cheat their way to an easy victory for both the Major Order and the Strategic Opportunity, the studio had to temporarily take the Galactic War meta game offline, revert all the false progress the bad actors made, and change the Major Order to require 8 million full Operation (collections of three individual missions) completions instead to counter whatever method the cheaters used.

"At around 0615 this morning, we had several players attempt to auto-complete both the Major Order and Strategic Order using in-game exploits. We temporarily had to disable the Galactic War whilst our team investigated the cause but now believe we have addressed this issue," wrote community manager miitchimus on the official Helldivers Discord server. "The Major Order and Strategic Opportunity have been updated to reflect numbers close to the time the attacks began and have gone live again as we speak."

"Falsified mission data has been traced to dissidents corrupted by Automaton lies. The offenders have been volunteered to beta-test Permacura’s Bio-Safety Protocols. This exemplifies the magnanimity of Super Earth: even the disloyal may find redemption by contributing to scientific progress," reads an in-game announcement. "To ensure fleetwide integrity, Helldivers must now complete Full Operations to progress the Major Order. Proceed with your orders. Defection will not be tolerated."

It's great that the devs made sure to preserve all the actual legitimate progress the community's made towards our current objectives, and I love that Arrowhead always finds a comedic way to integrate instances of cheating like this one into the Helldivers 2 canon. What's not good, though, is the Major Order's new requirement for full Operation clears.

Firstly, some Helldivers 2 players only have enough time to play a mission or two on the days they're available to fight on the frontlines. That's not enough to finish an Operation, and as a result, those players won't be able to contribute to the Major Order. Last year, Helldivers 2 changed the Galactic War to make individual mission completions count towards campaigns because of this.

Also, as someone who's been diving there daily since the invasion started, let me tell you: Cyberstan got hands. Led by Cyborgs and their terrifying Vox Engines (here's how to kill them), the Automatons here are the hardest we've ever fought, and Helldivers are dying at alarming rates. That means it's easier to lose control of a mission and fail it than usual — and one failed mission also fails the Operation it's part of.

Once bugdivers finish off the Strategic Opportunity and come back to Cyberstan with our much-needed reinforcements, it's going to be an all-out slugfest for the Major Order — and with the new mission parameters making it more difficult, I'm not sure we'll complete it in time. That doesn't mean I'm not going to fight like hell to see it through, though, and I hope to see you on the battlefield too. Super Earth is counting on her finest troops.

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Helldivers 2 (PC, Steam): was $39.99 now $26.19 at loaded.com

Helldivers 2 was one of 2024's biggest and most popular games, and now it's on Xbox too! Though typically $40, it's discounted significantly on both PC and PS5 at the moment. The Super Citizen Edition that gives you access to some exclusive extras is also discounted on Xbox and PC, making it an attractive alternative option.

PlayStation version: $39.99 at Best Buy
Super Citizen Edition: Xbox | PC

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Are you participating in the Battle of Cyberstan in Helldivers 2? What are your thoughts on the new Cyborg enemies it's brought to the bot front? Let me know down in the comments.

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