*Disclaimer: since I have no experience with digital art whatsoever, the following pictures have been made using an AI (Gemini in particular); however, only the pictures have been made with an AI, but the concept of the stratagem and the look of it are genuine (it took a while to make the AI make images that appear close enough to how I wanted it...). This might seem an unnecessary disclaimer, but this is the age we live in*

Hello Helldivers! I've been thinking about a new stratagem concept in the past months that I think can fit well in the game and also give one more tool for players who enjoy a more stealth/saboteur playstyle:

MEET: **A/M-35 Semi-Autonomous Siege Howitzer**

Despite the name, it is neither entirely an autonomous turret nor a heavy emplacement. It behaves as a hybrid of the two, but counts as a backpack stratagem. Here are the details:

DEPLOYMENT AND MECHANICS:

• Pelican delivery: due to its massive size, it doesn't drop in a hellpod, instead it needs to be delivered by the Pelican much like a vehicle;

• The "backpack factor": with the howitzer is delivered a backpack containing 6 Magnetic Radio-Beacons (MRB);

• Manual targeting only: the howitzer can't target anything on its own. To fire, you must physically infiltrate enemy territory, reach whatever you need to blow up and attach the MRB to it or on the ground near it. Note: MRBs cannot be attached directly on enemies *and cannot be thrown like a grenade or C4*;

GENERAL STATS:

• Range: it has 500m range (radius);

• The countdown: once a MRB is placed, a 10 seconds countdown begins, after which the howitzer will fire on the target MRB. Note: the countdown starts immediately. After the MRB has been placed there is no way to stop/delay the timer. The only way to stop it is destroying the howitzer before it fires;

• Area of Effect (AoE): the explosion is 15m wide (diameter), plus another 12m of pure shockwave (no damage, just push-force and/or stun). The damage of the explosion and the strength of the shockwave decay drastically the further you are from the epicenter. Demolition force works the same way, with the highest being applied within a 2m radius from the epicenter;

• Damage: 6000 "normal" damage and 6000 durable damage. Damage decays dramatically the further the target is from the epicenter;

• Destruction power: the projectiles have a demolition force high enough to destroy highly durable structures such as Stratagem Jammers and Detector Towers, however (as "mentioned" before) you have to place the MRB really close to the objective in order to apply enough demolition force. The highest (necessary to destroy structures such as jammers, detector towers and illuminate monoliths) is applied within a 2m diameter circle around the point of impact of the projectile, which means that you cannot place an MRB at the base of the "hill" big structures are often placed onto and still be able to destroy them, as you can often do with detector towers using hellbombs. You must reach the structure;

BALANCE:

• Blowback danger: when the howitzer fires, it releases a massive shockwave. Any Helldiver (or light enemy) standing within 7m (*range, not diameter... so stay back!*) from it will be violently knocked back and possibly killed by impacting against surfaces. It is not recommended to place the howitzer in a highly helldiver-frequented area. Note: before firing, the howitzer will emit a charging sound, so you know when you have to move away from it. This sound does not attract enemies;

• Vulnerability: the howitzer is a bulky beast (medium armor), but enemies who see it will actively try to destroy it, as if it were a normal sentry. It is advised to place a sentry to defend it from immediate danger;

• Projectile trajectory: similarly to standard SEAF Artillery it fires projectiles in a ballistic arc, but considering it is an air-dropped piece of artillery (thus without a shooting mechanism as strong as the one of standard SEAF Artilleries) it fires in a medium-to-low ballistic arc, thus by placing it in a canyon or between skyscrapers you risk your shots to impact on the ground/walls instead of on the target;

• The "beep" factor: upon placement, MRBs emit a beeping sound similar to that of activated SEAF terminals. This will attract the attention of enemies in immediate vicinity, *potentially giving away your position if you are playing stealth*. Note: MRBs cannot be destroyed by enemies, you don't need to protect them while the countdown happens. You should just run away from them.... for obvious reasons;

• The howitzer fires *at the end* of the countdown. Compared to SEAF Artilleries, the countdown is not the time needed by the projectile to reach the destination. However, the projectile will reach the destination *really quickly*, so do not linger too much in the vicinity of the MRB after its countdown has ended. See "Appearence" section for the explanation;

AMMO AND COOLDOWN:

• Ammo: 6 total shots. Once depleted, the howitzer shuts down and becomes unusable;

• Needs 60 seconds to load the next shot (*so no MRB spamming*);

• Uses: only 2 deployments per run;

• Cooldown: 7 minutes (without upgrades).

APPEARANCE:

As you can see in the pictures (read the disclaimer at the top of this post), the howitzer consists of a large cannon that uses magnetic acceleration (through the 4 rails that make the barrel) to fire its projectiles. Why magnetic acceleration? It is an air-dropped artillery cannon, so without a whole system that allows it to carry high amounts of highly explosive gunpowder (otherwise not even the Pelican could transport it), so a railgun-like mechanism to shoot its projectiles seemed a plausible solution to the problem to me. Also, it has only 6 shells because the magnetic rails can only bear 6 shots before becoming too damaged to work (as you can see in the third picture, with the rails showing clear signs of damage/burn). As rail damage is one of the main problems concerning the development of railguns in the real world, I thought I could use it as a way to justify the limited shots and the impossibility to load the howitzer manually using something else... Also, the fact it functions this way explains why you have to be very precise about the position where you want to put the MRB: railguns shoot particular ammo made specifically to endure the monstrous acceleration used to shoot them, thus they can't contain much explosives inside, on the other hand, however, the sheer velocity at which they impact on a surface is enough to cause a "kynetic explosion". For example, take an iron sphere and drop it on the ground: little happens. Take that same sphere and drop it from the third floor of the Eiffel Tower: that sphere will be so fast when it hits the ground that it will make a small "crater". This is (*quite poorly explained*) why railguns are useful and what is the main mechanic that moves the whole concept of them. Now, as the Helldivers universe is set in a not-so-distant future, we can assume that railgun technology has developed enough to allow the construction of railgun-ammo with a decent amount of explosives inside, thus this howitzer uses that small amount of explosives inside its shells to compensate the damage that the sole impact can't do (which is still a considerable amount of damage even without the explosive supplement); however, the explosives inside each shell are just a small amount, so, to destroy big structures, the damage dealt by the impact force of the projectile is needed, thus why the damage decays drastically the further you are from the impact point and why you have to place the MRB almost ***onto*** what you want to destroy.

Also, I took inspiration from the fact that I've seen that a railgun sentry seems to be really desired by the community (and by sentry enthusiasts like myself) as it was present in Helldivers 1, so I thought that in a hypothetical sentry-themed warbond where the railgun sentry would be added, a stratagem like this one I came up with could fit inside (as it is not just a new sentry, but a hybrid between an emplacement and a sentry)

What do you think? Do you think such a stratagem can fit inside the gameplay? Would you buff or debuff it (I personally don't know if 6 shots is too much and maybe 4 could be more viable??)?

Let me know!

Stratagem concept for stealth/saboteur playstyle enjoyers