The funny thing is that as satirical as Super Earth is there have been far worse regimes in real life. Every man woman and child seems adequately fed and cared for, all while the SEAF and Helldivers both are adequately armed and provided with high quality armamants, ordinance, and other materiel on a scale far beyond even Earth's entire population currently. Realistically the quality of life of the average person is as high as the average first worlder today, and on a galactic scale easily dwarfing the entire population of every human to have ever lived up until now, probably by several factors of 10.
That's impossible, I've been informed by plebbit that Super Earth's tyranny knows no bounds, and that Helldivers are expendable meat puppets the equivalent of your average farmer conscripted to fight the Mongol hordes armed with nothing but a wicker basket and a pussywillow.
But as you write - Super Earth treats its people well. Helldivers are sent far behind enemy lines and destroy an incredible amount of enemy forces and installations, armed with everything from laser weapons as 'mere' primary weapons, armour capable of resisting a hit from a
rocket, or a mini-nuke to strap to their back and use as they see fit. What's more, Helldivers are given 40 minutes to get in, do some damage, and then get the fuck out again, presumably because the enemy's main forces start arriving after that point. And that's in addition to the fact that SE is not willing to sacrifice more than 20-25 men per mission. Helldivers are a valuable resource, but just like any military personnel, their loss isn't the end of the world.
The more I think about Super Earth the more I realize arrowhead is kind of retarded and just threw everything they thought was 'bad' into a melting pot (but still appeasing daddy Sony by making Super Earth racially diverse and in support of gay marriage). Just goes to show you really can't parody something you hate.
They're a Swedish company, don't expect them to think much further than 'hurr durr nigger overlords'. 9 out of 10 times that I pick an armour with Peak Physique I'm a nigger. My SD is crewed exclusively by sub-saharan and mocha niggers. (At least they'll all die when my SD inevitably gets blown up by Automaton planetary defense guns.) Are SE in support of gay marriage though? That doesn't really make sense, unless it also comes with a requirement to have at least 1/2 kids. Where did you read it? Not calling you a liar or anything - it would certainly be in line with Arrowhead.
...Now it's gotten me thinking, what if instead they made Helldivers (the game) into an in-universe propaganda advert where the battles players fight aren't quite accurate to what it is really like out there. Super Earth likes to depict four men thwarting entire enemy campaigns but through small lore details the cracks of how awful things really are can be seen by players interested in the small details. Every 'on-screen' death represents millions. One devastator effortlessly destroyed by some stray liberator fire represents a murderous 9 foot tall walking tank of solid steel shrugging off small arms fire as enlisted teenagers desperately try to stop its advance with their peashooter rifles.
Now, that's also possible, and an interesting thought. (It also seems to have been what Arrowhead initially wanted, given how they kept nerfing weapons to ensure every victory was hard-won.) However, with such attrition rates, the population would start to notice that none of those recruited into the Helldivers were returning to tell tales of their great accomplishments, and would probably turn their weapons on the government.
