This is not a training exercise Following the latest balancing patch for Helldivers 2 and the mysterious mothership spotted a few hours earlier, two new threats have appeared on the automaton's planet.

The largest is the Factory Strider, a giant four-legged walker that represents a new class of enemy in the robot wars; the second is the Gunship, a fast-moving variant of the bot dropship that rains fire from the sky.

According to an early field report by Reddit user CappedPluto, the Factory Strider is essentially a mobile fortress of automatons, with large laser cannons, mounted miniguns, and factories that can spawn devastators on the move. The worst part, says Pruitt, "is that there are no easily found vents."

Meanwhile, new gunships are swarming to attack the divers. Contrary to our assumption that the ships shielded in the sky in robotic space are gunships, the real culprits are smaller and travel in swarms. Lesser known are the lasers and missiles they fire. According to user Bigglettt, gunships also have "nests."

"They also have dropship facilities (fabricators) that need to be killed with hell bombs," they write.

User Jackpknm, who fought off a gang of gunships, returned with an intimidating description of their power.

"They are heavily armored flying rocket devastators with regular devastators attached to the other side. They fire missile salvos and continuous-fire lasers. Each factory can deploy three gunships, so a medium-sized outpost with two factories can fight up to six at a time."

The good news is that, like regular old dropships, "an EAT to one quasar cannon or engine will bring down the gunship itself."

As soon as we learn more about factory striders and gunships, we will update this page. Don't sign up for a bot mission now.