After ruling out main battle tanks, Robert turned his attention to towed artillery.
These weapons were indeed cheap, and their power was sufficient to deter the poorly organized cultists. But their drawbacks were equally fatal: they were too cumbersome to operate, requiring a specialized gun crew, not to mention that deployment and repositioning were extremely time-consuming.
Their current mission was a long-range raid, emphasizing "speed," and towed artillery clearly could not achieve a rapid breakthrough. In some complex terrains, they would even severely slow down the entire company's advance. Evidently, this was not an excellent choice.
After this calculation, the remaining option was only armored vehicles.
Firstly, their price was moderate. Buying one or two would not exhaust his commendations, leaving a substantial amount to purchase ammunition and deal with emergencies.
Secondly, their speed was sufficient. Armored vehicles possessed decent mobility and some off-road capability, fully capable of keeping up with the players' advance speed. There would be no awkward situations where players had to drag them along, nor absurdities like needing to dismantle and carry them in extreme cases.
Finally, and most importantly, it was a plan for the future. Although all players' commendations combined couldn't even form a few decent tank squads right now, the Helldivers Company was destined to develop into a mechanized force eventually, and most likely would also have aerial vehicles for air-ground coordination—otherwise, how would they fight against those war-loving, overwhelming orks?
Therefore, it was also a good thing to let players adapt in advance to how armored vehicles should be used on the battlefield and how to coordinate with infantry. The Helldivers Company could not remain in its current impoverished state forever.
Thus, Robert scanned through the dazzling array of chimera armored vehicle variants in the system store, carefully selecting, and finally fixated on a model priced at only two thousand commendations.
With a thought, he confirmed the purchase.
Name: chimera "Wyvern" Suppressor
Type: Vehicle
Quality: Excellent
Attack Power: Strong
Special Effects: None
Remarks: The Wyvern is a successful anti-infantry specialized modification built upon the chimera chassis. Its mounted quad Storm Mortar often only requires one volley to dismantle enemy company-level infantry positions. Furthermore, due to the required firing angle of its mortar, this vehicle typically fires from the rear of the battle line or behind cover, rarely facing direct risk.
Robert looked at the description on the panel, always feeling something was off. He subconsciously drew the chainsword, Xeno Exterminator, hanging at his waist. Ever since players realized that he, as the company commander, was the protector of their commendations and missions, he had been strictly confined to the rear, forbidden from participating in any risky close combat. This fierce weapon had naturally not tasted the blood of heretics again.
He carefully examined the chainsword's description and confirmed that its attack power was also listed as "Strong." This puzzled Robert; a single-person melee weapon and a quad self-propelled mortar clearly weren't on the same level of lethality, so why did the system give them both an "Strong" attack power rating?
He thought for a while but couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking and directly exchanged for this "Wyvern" Suppressor.
With a soft "boom," a standard camouflage armored vehicle appeared out of thin air on the open ground beside the marching column, immediately attracting the attention of all players. It had the classic blocky chassis and track structure of a chimera, but the rear troop compartment had been removed, replaced by an open combat platform on which a menacing quad mortar was mounted.
Robert had already decided how to allocate this sole armored self-propelled mortar. He cleared his throat and shouted to the surrounding players, "RNGesus! Lend me your dice! Each squad will roll in turn, and the one with the higher number goes first!"
After speaking, he specifically looked towards the Seventh Squad and added, "Does the Seventh Squad want to roll?"
Indeed, the Seventh Squad players, including their squad leader Cain, all shook their heads in unison. They were all close-combat fanatics and were unwilling to sit comfortably in an iron coffin, staying in the rear as shadowy figures.
A player with the ID RNGesus Take The Wheel immediately squeezed out from the crowd excitedly, holding up a seemingly unremarkable twenty-eight-sided die: "Here it is, Company Commander! Use it as much as you want!"
Many players present had seen the information panel for this die.
Name: God dice
Type: Other
Quality: Legendary
Attack Power: None
Attributes: None
Special Effects: After rolling, a random number between 1 and 42 will be selected. The higher the number, the better the roller's fate for the next 42 minutes.
Remarks: Quantum phenomena are random, but quantum theory is not. In any case, God does not play dice... right?
This was precisely the prize RNGesus had received in a previous lottery event. At first, when he saw the dazzling golden light, he was ecstatic, eagerly proclaiming to those around him that he had won a legendary item. But once the information panel was posted, everyone couldn't help but crack up.
RNGesus was still not giving up, always thinking that if he rolled a top-tier 42 on the battlefield, wouldn't all laser fragments avoid him, while he himself would land headshots with every shot, and a casual grenade toss would precisely land in the enemy's ammunition depot?
As a result, in his subsequent dozen or so experiments, he never rolled a number above 12... Finally, he sadly accepted his fate, using this legendary item as an ordinary die, contributing his part to the tabletop RPG organized by another player who had won a 5E rulebook.
And the players participating in the tabletop RPG didn't care at all. Even if they rolled a "1," most of them were indifferent. No matter how bad the luck in the game, it was just death! To them, it was no big deal.
"Roll for it! Roll for it!"
"Fair and just, all up to luck!"
Hearing the company commander's decision, the players not only had no objections but became excited and started cheering. This game-like allocation method was far more effective in boosting their enthusiasm than a direct assignment from the company commander.
For a time, except for the Seventh Squad, who had clearly stated their abandonment, the other squads quickly formed a circle and began to select their "chosen one." Some squads indeed had recognized "European Emperors" whose luck was usually better than others, and they were immediately nominated by everyone. Those squads with more average luck adopted humanity's oldest and fairest decision-making method—rock-paper-scissors.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
"Hahaha, you lost, my turn!"
For a while, the open ground beside the marching column was bustling with activity, filled with a joyful atmosphere. Soon, each squad sent out its representative, lining up to participate in the sacred dice-rolling ceremony under the supervision of RNGesus .
"First Squad representative, come, roll!" RNGesus handed over the legendary die.
The First Squad's representative took a deep breath and solemnly tossed the die. The die rolled around a few times on the ground and finally stopped, with the upward-facing side showing the number: "5."
"Second Squad, 8 points!"
"Fourth Squad, 3 points!"
"Sixth Squad, 6 points!"
...The whole process went very smoothly. The Third Squad's representative took the lead with a high score of "9" (in this roll), successfully winning the first right to use the Wyvern Suppressor. The Third Squad players immediately erupted in cheers, excitedly rushing towards the armored vehicle, touching here and tapping there like children with a new toy.
Robert watched from the side, but he noticed an interesting phenomenon.
Although this god dice consistently rolled numbers below ten, appearing quite "humble," it respectfully did not roll any duplicate numbers. From the First Squad to the last squad, each number was different.
This made Robert fall into contemplation. Did this die, like his xenos must die chainsword, also have something akin to a "machine spirit"? It seemed to be maintaining a subtle balance in its own way.
However, he quickly lost the inclination to ponder these metaphysical questions.
"Zzzzt—"
His walkie-talkie suddenly crackled with static, followed by the slightly urgent voice of the player responsible for forward reconnaissance.
"Calling Company! Calling Company! Enemy spotted ahead!"