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It is easy to overlook the lore of Helldivers 2, whether this is through the Major Orders, interactable items in the missions, or even on social media. But, the Helldivers series has a deep lore behind it that makes the game even more interesting to play. Sometimes reading the lore is a great way to understand the game because some players have recently just realized what E-710 is made from in Helldivers 2 and they are shocked.
The description for the most recent Major Order, which saw players eradicate 2 billion Terminids in just over 12 hours, says,
“The Automaton invasion has slowed, thanks to the valiant defense efforts. We must take this chance to refill our E-710 reserves in order to stage a counter-offensive.”
Although it is part of the Helldivers lore, it isn’t often mentioned or discussed in the game, so this news has caught some players off guard. Also, if you rotate 710 by 180 degrees it spells OIL, you’ll never unsee this now.
U/Gantref on Reddit gave a good explanation of how the E-710 oil plays into the lore of Helldivers 2 saying “In the lore, we were originally going to exterminate them in HD1 but then we found out they can be refined into oil then completely unrelated to anything we decided it would be better to conserve and manage their population rather than eradicate it.” This is due to the fact that “Terminids decompose at a very rapid rate and can be turned into oil and starship fuel really quickly. That is what Terminid farms are doing. Breeding and killing them.” according to u/Familiar-Living-122.
Earlier players of the game will remember that before the Automatons became the main focus of the game, many of the Major Orders were focused on liberating Terminid planets to build farms to harvest them for E-710. This was also revisited briefly following the eradication of the Automatons earlier this month when there was a one-day break before the robot army made its return.
When bringing democracy to the galaxy is as fun as it is, it is easy to overlook some of the lore in the game. If you’re more focused on liber-tea than the reason why you’re fighting the Automatons and Terminids, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide so you can be suitably equipped to eradicate every enemy that stands in your way.