VETERANS OF HELL
Earn your edge. Lose it all.
Earn your edge. Lose it all.
What it does
A roguelike rank for Helldivers 2. Complete missions to earn points toward the next rank; every rank gives you a perk point. Each rank costs more than the last, and how you can lose it is up to you: any death, a failed mission, both, or neither.
The catch: your perks replace your armor's passive. At rank 0 your armor has no passive at all - every bonus has to be earned. Rank up on easier difficulties until you can survive the hard ones.
Watch the demo here!
Features
- 31 perks in 3 trees - Stealth, Shooting, Survival. Points go in one at a time (Low Profile 2/5 = -5% detection range); deeper rows open as you invest in a tree
- Points spent are permanent - no respec. Only a reset clears them
- Scoring: lives left plus Helldivers extracted, per player, times a difficulty multiplier (D7 = x1.00, each step x1.25 up / x0.75 down). Read straight from the game: the mission difficulty, who boarded the Pelican, and the objectives
- XP mode: progress by the game's own mission XP rules instead - 100 per main objective, 50 per side objective, 20 per Helldiver extracted, plus 10 per life left, times the game's difficulty bonus. Rewards doing the side objectives
- Level Lock: play without gaining or losing anything
- Objective done but nobody made it out? No points, but it counts as a death, not a failed mission
- Kicked mid-mission? You keep playing in your own lobby with your share of the squad's lives
- Results panel on the destroyer after every mission, in the game's own font
- Works as host, client and solo
Perks
- Stealth: Low Profile (detection range), Soft Steps (movement noise), Prowler (walk speed), Recon (POI spotting), Braced (recoil crouched / prone), Sure Footed (no leg injuries)
- Shooting: Steady Hands (sway), Recoil Control, Fleet Foot (sprint speed), Aimed Movement, Ergonomics, Endurance (sprint stamina), Quick Recovery (stamina), Second Wind (recovery delay), Brawler (melee damage), Quick Reload / Support Drill / Quick Draw (reload speeds) and Extra Mags (ammo capacity) (experimental)
- Survival: Blast Padding, Tough Limbs (limb health), Chest Plate, Fireproof, Gas Filters, Insulated (arc), Limb Guard (injury avoidance), Rooted (knockdown), Impact Padding, Field Medic (+stims), Long Stims, Adrenaline (stamina when hit)
Requirements
- HD2 Arsenal
- Bingus Shared Loader
- Squad-Safe Passives 1.2.0+ - needed for armor perks and for replacing your passive. Without it your armor keeps its passive and armor perks stay off; everything else still works
- Recommended: Mod Bindings Menu (to bind the perk menu key)
Installation
- Import the ZIP into HD2 Arsenal
- Enable Veteran Mode (and Squad-Safe Passives)
- Deploy with the game closed
- In game: Options > Controls > MODS > Veterans of Hell> Open Perk Menu - bind any key
The perk menu (on the destroyer)
- Open Menu: Bind a key in Settings -> Keyboard and Mouse -> Mods -> Veterans of Hell
- Mouse: point to select, click twice to add a point, wheel or scroll bar to scroll
- Keys: arrows to move, Space twice to add a point, TAB for Settings
- Each perk shows its points (2 / 5) and a gold outline that fills as you add points
Settings (perk menu > TAB)
- Veteran Mode - on/off
- Any Death Resets Rank - every death, even reinforced, resets rank, points and perks
- Failed Mission Resets Rank - failing, abandoning or closing the game mid-mission resets you
- Perks Replace Armor Passive - on (the challenge) or off (perks add to your passive)
- Level Lock - no points, no resets
- Progress By - Lives or XP
- Difficulty For Points - Auto (read from the game) or D1-D10
Good to know
- Ergonomics counts from your next weapon spawn; extra stims from your next resupply or respawn
- Reload and ammo perks are experimental: the game may take those spawn-time stats from the armor itself rather than the passive you wear
- Bonuses the game takes from the armor piece itself (Siege-Ready / Gunslinger reloads, Extra Padding's armor rating) are not removed by "replace"
- With TCO Ghosts and Goliath installed, the few passive effects that work just by being present (Unflinching, Feet First's leg immunity) stay - G&G needs them to find your passive
- The menu can't stop the game from also seeing your keys (that's why it uses Space, not Enter, which opens chat)
- Your rank and perks: %LOCALAPPDATA%\CowboyBingus\Helldivers2\VeteranMode\state.txt (delete it to start over)
Works with
- Squad-Safe Passives - required for armor perks
- Tactical Combat Overhaul - optional; movement perks merge with TCO Core and Run-N-Gun through TCO's shared runtime. Veteran Mode carries its own copy of that runtime, so TCO is not needed
- HD2Runtime - optional; its cursor handling is used when it is loaded
For mod authors
Global RojoVeteransOfHell (read-only): rank, points, perks ([perk id] = points), and mult / add / flags by stat key. Veteran Mode applies its perks itself - read them, don't apply them twice.
Logs
%LOCALAPPDATA%\CowboyBingus\Helldivers2\Logs\VeteransOfHell.log - every mission, perk write and setting, plus a cost line once a minute
Credits
- Game addresses for this build from the research published with Stratagem Announcement 0.3.7, which credits HD2Runtime (SkyeShade) and HD2 HUD+ (DDRK1NG)
- Pelican boarding, objective state and the main / side objective catalogue follow Mission Debrief by Rosensterner
- Passive catalogue and layouts from HD2 Transmog by tyrypyrking, as used by Squad-Safe Passives
- Free-cursor approach from HD2Runtime's mod cursor (SkyeShade)
- Built on Bingus Shared Loader and Mod Bindings Menu by CowboyBingus
- Performance checked with Mod Lag Watchdog by VeganSquid
Planned Changes
- Additional perks
- Multi-point perks (i.e. perks which require more than 1 point/rank)
- Max level (?)
- Better perk layout / more trees, more in line with Borderlands.
- Exclusionary perks
- Perks w/ drawbacks
- "Insurance" (buying a perk that allows you to die without resetting).
- Fault protection- if a mission ends within 30 seconds, no gain/loss.
