Welcome to Part 3 of the HD2Clans 'Fleets Update' teaser series! Part 1 covered the whole site redesign, and Part 2 covered the Paint Shop.

This entry is about the system that makes all of it matter: what your ships actually do once they're in the hangar.

Your Fleet Has a Pulse

Ships in your Clan Hangar aren't static trophies on a shelf. As part of the Fleets Update, we have also built a complete metagame that gives every ship a living service record. Every ship is always in one of five states:

Anchored. In port. No wear, no risk. Default idle state between missions.

Preparing. You've issued a Deployment order. The ship is fueling up and the crew is mustering. After a short prep window, the Deployment begins.

Deployed. Out in the galaxy, at a planet you chose. The ship earns experience over time, and that XP is what unlocks the Paint Shop customization we talked about in Part 2. But being deployed also means hull integrity degrades over time. Bonus: If your clan created an Order in Melchior, and the operation is ongoing, you can link your ship's Deployment to it!

Escorting DSS. Attached to the Democracy Space Station. A lighter form of duty: earn XP slower than a full deployment, but damage risk is lower, too.

Drydocked. Under repair. No XP earned, but hull recovers steadily. You can dock voluntarily to top up your ship's condition... or you can be forced there by what happens next.

Hulls, and your Clan Leadership's Decisions

Every ship has hull integrity, displayed as a 5-segment bar running from Combat Ready all the way down to Critical. Hull wear in the field is unpredictable on any given day. Some days are fine. Some days take a bigger chunk. You'll need to check on your ships regularly to decide when to bring them in for maintenance.

If your ship is in worse shape, you're at higher risk of a hull breach. A breach forces the ship into emergency drydock, locks it down for repairs, and forfeits the XP you would have earned after that deployment.

A ship that returns under its own power (even if you returned it early) keeps everything it earned. Will you bring it home safely every time, or push it harder, and play the risks while earning more rewards?

Shipmasters and Captains

By default, only your clan leaders can issue Deployment orders. Anyone who's a leader of your clan can always Deploy your ships and take them into the Paint Shop. That's fine for small clans, but if you've got a big clan, you might want to offer some more engagement for your members. So if you go to Manage Clan, you'll find a new 'Fleets' tab where your leaders can grant ship-based authority to anyone they trust. There are three roles:

Shipmaster. Can deploy any of your clan's ships.

Captain. The primary operator of one specific ship. They can deploy that ship, but no others.

First Officer. A backup Captain on the same ship, with the same deploy authority. Each ship can have one Captain plus one First Officer. A user can only hold a Captain or First Officer slot on one ship at a time. If you want a clan member to be able to Deploy more than one, promote them to Shipmaster.

Each of those 3 role assignments can optionally include Paint Shop access - so you can choose whether to also let a Shipmaster be able to customize all your ships, or whether you want your Captains/FOs to be able to customize the ships you assigned them to.

Shipmasters, Captains, and First Officers all get displayed on your Clan Hangar page. And, if you have one of those roles for your clan, it'll appear on your User Profile Page, too!

Crew: A Deployment You Sign Up For

Every ship class has a crew capacity. During the short preparation window before any departure, any member of your clan can sign up for that voyage. First come, first served, up to the ship's max capacity for Crew. No leadership approval required.

If you're crew when a mission completes successfully, that voyage is recorded on your user profile page under a new Fleet Service section, which displays your recent service history within your clan's Fleet! Leaving crew mid-voyage is allowed, but that deployment won't appear in your record. Your history only reflects the missions you finished.

Don't Fly Alone

When two or more clans each have a ship deployed to the same planet, all ships at that planet share reduced damage risk. Bring your alliances to bear, or find other clans on the frontlines and show your support. Solo deployments are still fully viable - but if your clan and a friendly clan happen to be working on the same planet, there will be a small net benefit.

Ah, shoot - I just realized we forgot to mention...

We Have a Live Galactic Clan Map

The HD2Clans Galactic Map will be a live place to see where clans are deploying their ships, all across the galaxy. Sure will make it easy to find places for that co-deployment bonus, huh?

The map is designed to be super quick to load, butter-smooth on all devices, and let you see where clans are moving their fleets. It's got at-a-glance campaign info and the DSS's location, too. But if you need super detailed planet-by-planet war info, go visit the Helldivers Companion site, they have that covered!

What Comes Next

Well then! This series is getting pretty long, isn't it? We've already talked about the complete site rewrite, the Paint Shop, and Deployments. There's probably not much else to cover, is there? Well... hmm... we told you about customizing your ships. And deploying them too. But... how can you earn them? Ah, that's right:

We've got another teaser article coming soon. Stay tuned...

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