FTL Lines, or Supply Lines, are a galactic network or interstellar pathways that Super Earth and their enemies use to travel across the galaxy. Additionally, FTL is the abbreviation for Faster Than Light.
Prior to patch 01.000.400, FTL Supply Lines weren't visible on the in-game Galactic War Map, with the only ways of knowing them being community-made apps like helldivers.io or helldiverscompanion.com, which showed datamined supply line data.
After patch 1.000.400, FTL Supply Line dynamics were implemented into the game, alongside with a whole new FTL Network while also making them visible on the in-game map.
Basic Mechanics[ | ]
FTL Supply Lines are the only ways in which players and playable enemy factions alike can travel from planet to planet. As such, it is crucial to understand their functioning.
Planets can dynamically change the number of FTL supply lines they have, as both enemy factions can open new FTL lines into planets that Helldivers may have locked down, as displayed during Operation Xzar Lockdown, in which the 
Automatons created a new FTL Supply line from Vandalon IV to Mantes to send an assault onto the planet, and Operation Benevolent Sanitation, during which the 
Terminids created an FTL Supply line from Nivel 43 to Erson Sands to send an assault onto the planet.
On average, planets intended to be accessible to players have anywhere from 2 to 4 FTL Lines with other planets, with the only exceptions to this rule being the planets Zosma, Demiurg, Barabos and Slif, the first two getting their FTL Lines on October and November while the latter two got an FTL Supply Line on February 8th. Other planets with less than 2 FTL Lines are Tibit, Merak, Aurora Bay, Azur Secundus and Navi VII, the first one having gotten its FTL Supply Line during the Automaton Expedition, the second and third being part of the Valdis Sector and falling under Automaton control during The Reclamation, and the last two falling to Terminid control during the initial Terminid Outbreak in February 2024.
Enemies can only create supply lines that connect adjacent sectors and can only cross through 1 point of a border between sectors. This is best displayed in the triple border between the Ymir, Trigon and Andromeda Sectors, as even though there is a lot of empty space between the planets of Varylia 5, Martale and Wasat, the Automatons never attempted to push towards Wasat from either Martale or Varylia 5 during Operation Starslayer, even though they had control over both planets even after Meissa had been liberated shortly before Vega Bay was captured by the Automatons. The only known exception to this rule is the FTL Supply Line connecting Mastia and Fenmire, which are both part of the same Sector. The FTL Supply Line connecting Mastia and Fenmire goes through a very small corner gap in the south portion of the Talus Sector, making it the only known FTL Supply Line to break the previously mentioned rule of supply lines only being able to cross one border once.
It is also worth pointing out that FTL lines can never intersect with one another.
Enemy factions will only attempt to create FTL supply lines if they don't have control over any existing FTL lines but have a planet within the general vicinity of a planet controlled by Super Earth. This was recently displayed during Operation Overrun, in which the Terminids would launch an assault from Trandor to Gatria, as Gatria was only connected to Phact Bay, which was under Super Earth control prior to the operation, during which it got attacked and put into a defense.
Enemies can create more than one supply line, but will only be able to use 1 when sending an assault, with the preferrence appearing to be using FTL lines that were already existent. This was also displayed during Operation Overrun, during which the Terminids also launched an assault from Pandion XXIV to Phact Bay but still created an FTL Line from Partion to Phact Bay, in order to send a second assault once the assault from Pandion XXIV was repelled.
Once FTL Supply Lines have been created, they can not be cut during regular gameplay, with their removal seemingly requiring developer input. This could be noticed during certain operations in the Terminid front, in which planets like Gatria and Gar Haren would gain and lose their FTL supply lines but never became accessible before Operation Jin Xi-Falstaff Lockdown.
Enemy factions can only create FTL lines and launch assaults from planets under their control that are below a still unknown threshold of liberation. This was showcased during Operation Brute Force, in which the Terminids in Crimsica never attempted an attack onto neighboring Estanu, despite Fori Prime and Acamar IV being under Terminid control. This was also showcased during Operation Ecologic Immolation, during which the Automatons only attempted their invasions of Mastia once the liberation progress on recently liberated Tarsh had gone below 1%. The highest amount of liberation at which enemies can launch attacks is at 50%, the starting amount of liberation of any planet in which their respective defense has been failed, however, enemies will often wait some hours after capturing a planet before sending out attacks from said planet.
Whenever a Major Order explicitly defines its objective to be the defense of a specific planet or planets, enemy factions will attack said target planets as frequently as possible, regardless of the amount of liberation in the planet they launch an attack from. This can happen even if the Major Order is focused on only one faction, as demonstrated by how the Automatons sent an attack from Shelt to Shallus during Operation Alcubierre-II despite Shelt being at 70%
This was best displayed during Operation Titanium Belt, during which the Automatons attacked Imber 2 times in a row once shortly after had captured Gaellivare, while it still had around 35% liberation. First attack happened once they captured Gaellivare and was done in conjunction with an attack at Vog-Sojoth. After this first attack at Imber was repelled, the Automatons then attacked Shelt and Shallus simultaneously, with both attacks being repelled. After this dual attack, Imber was attacked again alongside Claorell. It is worth noting that Operation Titanium Belt only lasted 3 days, meaning that the rate of enemy attacks could also be influenced by operation duration.
Another display of this exception happened during Operation Alcubierre-II, during which the Terminids at Acamar IV launched an assault onto Turing despite Acamar being at 70% liberation.
Additionally, extra supply lines can be created by Super Earth during Major Orders. This can be noticed best in Moradesh, which has 4 FTL Supply Lines connected to it despite never being attacked. This is because, during Operation Enduring Peace, the Helldivers were tasked with protecting Heeth and Angel's Venture, which were stated to serve as paths towards Meridia in order to deploy the Dark Fluid.
However, despite being capable to creating FTL Lines, Super Earth will not create new FTL Lines during regular Galactic Map gameplay, most likely to prevent the players from pushing enemy factions back too quickly. This was best demonstrated during Operation Jin Xi-Falstaff Lockdown, during which an FTL line from Erata Prime to Bore Rock was not created despite both planets being close to one another and being in adjacent sectors.
It is also worth noting that changes in planet control won't always immediately transfer through FTL Lines. This was recently displayed during Operation Overrun, in which Trandor didn't immediately open for liberation despite Gatria's defense being successful, with Trandor only opening once it sent in a second attack onto Gatria hours after the first defense.
Gambits[ | ]
A "Gambit" is a term used to describe the ocurrence of Helldivers successfully liberating a planet from which an attack going onto another planet is originating from. This was best displayed during Operation Enduring Bulwark, during which the Helldivers liberated Oshaune while the Terminids there attempted to invade Fori Prime, which resulted in the liberation of Oshaune and the immediate victory of the Fori Prime defense.
Another example of a successful Helldiver Gambit was shown during Operation Xzar Lockdown, during which the Helldivers liberated Mort while the Automatons garrisoned there attacked Pöpli IX, which caused the defense in Pöpli to be won as a result. As well, during Operation People's Shield, the Helldivers managed to liberate Curia while the Automatons there were attempting to attack Tarsh, which resulted in Tarsh's defense succeeding.
However, this can also happen in reverse, as shown during the Third Battle of Ubanea on March 30th, 2184, in which the Automatons managed to capture Draupnir before Ubanea could be fully liberated, which prevented the completion of its liberation campaign, as its only other supply lines led to Durgen and Tibit, both of which were under Automaton control at the time.
Another example of Gambits being inflicted upon the Helldivers happened during the First Battle of Martale on April 20th, 2184, in which the Automatons managed to capture Marfark before the Helldivers could finish liberating Martale, which prevented its liberation from succeeding, as both Charon Prime and Matar Bay were under Automaton control at the time.
Trivia[ | ]
- The planet with the most FTL Supply lines is Lesath with 6 FTL Lines.
- The planets with the least FTL Supply lines that were intended to be player accessible at some point are Slif, Barabos, Demiurg, Zosma, Tibit, Merak, Aurora Bay, Navi VII and Azur Secundus, the first 4 of which are under Super Earth Control as of the time of writing.