Appropriators on Sangis giving you combat cramps? Here's a tactical treatise that may help!

With our current MO being spread across the bug front, the squids showed they are the most opportunistic foe of Democracy and sprung an ambush us on Sangis deep inside their territory!

More over they deployed arguably the most tactically challenging variant of any enemy front, the Appropriators. A heavily armored, highly mobile and obnoxiously coordinated cadre of the Illuminate the pushes the limits of we as Helldivers can do in ways that break from the doctrines that have been proven effective for months.

The bad new first, the speed at which and Appropriator engagement can get out of hand is frankyl frightening. Unlike bug breaches and bots drops that have clear triggers and easily identified areas to saturate fire, Appropriator reinforcments can arrive along two different means, first the classic Illuminate ship beam down, but more importantly, Adjudicators have much higher denstiy of roving patrols that can lock onto high intensity engagemetns from a fair bit further away and thus piling on and stretching combat resources to the limit.

The good(ish) news? Appropriators have a shallow bench of units which means the tools you'll need don't have to cover quite as wide a range of engagement types. Additionally Depsite the size, the mech units are plastered in medium armor, meaning you don't have to rely on anti-tank weapons.

Speaking of range, that's the real sticking point, Sangis's topography and ecology makes fighting at more comfortable ranges unlikely.

So what's this mean for us boots on the ground types? Well it means learning to fight on the move and being able to sustain accurate fire with minimal downtime.

The key is being able to focus fire down a mech efficiently. Obvious thinking says hit them as hard as possible with the biggest stick, so things like the EAT, Quasar or Recoiless, but for once overkill is working against you in those cases. Why? the Illuminate mechs operate in larger numbers than than those weapons are suited for, and you'll find yourself oin the back foot trying to find time to relaod the Recoiless or for the Quasar to cool down, the EAT is passable but in pairs, it's more of a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option and that limits how you can employ it and so it's taking up a valuable slot for something that you don't have to call-down every couple minutes just to keep at hand.

This makes space, however, for what I'd call the middle-weight contenders. Weapons that aren't going to be cracking heavy armor necesarily, but ones that have a good amount ammo, decent damage output and tactcial flexibility that can do a lot of work. Good examples include but are not limited to:

• Railgun
• Grenade Launcher (belt fed or standard)
• Laser Cannon
• Speargun
• Machine Gun (MG 43)
• Maxigun
• Epoch
• Autocannon
• W.A.S.P.
• Honrable mention: Eruptor

These are not the only examples, but they cover a wide range of favorites and playstyles to make the case: Appropriators, depsite being heavily mechanized, are not a heavy formation in the same way that the Automatons are. Bot detachements can be chock full of heavy armor, tanks, Hulks, Striders (War, Factory), and thus saturating an area with the heaviest ordnance is the answer. But Appropriators are medium armor forward, so provided you have a decent aim, or at least one decent option for Harvesters, you can build for their numbers rather than the armor.

Before we get to loadout recommedations, things to keep in mind: The Veracitor and Gatekeeper mechs are your priority first and foremost. Obtruder swarms have Watchers imbedded in them, which will call in further drops if left unchecked. And lastly, Harvesters and Overseers are easy to lose track of when an engagement starts cooking off.

Now, having covered how the Appropriators stage their assaults as a glorious tactical ass-ache, lets get you kitted in ways that can add the most combat value to you squad to deal with them.

First up, for your consideration, Unsubtle Defender

• Primary- Sweeper shotgun
• Secondary- Warden
• Grenade- Seeker
• Support- Maxigun
• Sentry- Machine Gun
• Sentry- Rocket
• Eagle- 110 Rocket Pods
• Armor Passive- Engineering Kit

The name says it all, this setup is not clever, but it is effective. Once the fight kicks off, park yourself with the best visbility put out the sentries and get your Seeker grenades in the air. The Maxigun is accurate and can find the weak points in the mechs without much fuss and with enough space can even hit the eye on Harvesters. The spread here is the use the 110's to knock-out high threat targets while the setnries and seekers do the heavy lifting. The Warden should be equiped as you move so you can take out Obtruders, watchers and the occaisional Elevated Oversee on the hop, and the Sweeper for when you need to clear the space around you to put the Maxigun to work. While it requires a lot of swapping, you'll almost always have the right tool at hand.

Working another avenue, Warning Warden

• Primary- Stoker
• Secondary- Missile Pistol
• Grenade- Giga
• Support- Speargun
• Support- Laser Dog
• Orbital- Gas Strike
• Eagle- Strafing
• Armor Passive- Seige Ready

Where the Unsubtle Defender is great for locking down and area, the Warning Warden is about being more manueverable and interdicting problematic enemies. The Speargun is the workhorse, it can one-shot either of the mechs with a good aim (and also Harvesters in the eye), and eve n if it doesn't the gas effect will buy your squad time while the Laser Dog picks off Obtruders and other pests. The secret side sauce here, is the Gas Strike and the underslung flamer on the Stoker, gives you an area denial option when the situation presents itself. The Eagle Strafe is your repeat-offender stratagem that you can lay down relatively indiscrimately to pick on patrols or to whittle down mechs. This kit might look like a hoodgepodge, but I've found that once you get the rhythm down, you can be a force multiplier.

One last note I've had great runs with both of these setups, and I think you'll have a good time and should fit nicely into most squads, if you're so inclined, swapping in an Exo Suit for the Eagle in either loadout can give you some hard hitting firepower at the expense of overall uptime.

In summation, I hope this has been informative and helpful. For Democracy!