“	Reminder: Element-710 is safe and environmentally friendly. Any rumors of E-710 spills are the work of dissidents seeking to undermine our way of life.	„
	~ Super Destroyer Announcement

Element-710, often shortened to E-710 (and more colloquially known as OIL), is an energy-dense black liquid that, after refinement, creates an extremely potent material capable of fueling Super Earth's Alcubierre Drives to achieve FTL travel.

A rare substance in the galaxy, Element-710 can notably be found produced by Terminids when their bodies decompose.

History

Discovery

“	Element-710 is what allowed Super Earth to spread beyond our Solar System.	„
	~ Ship Master

The unique oil known as Element-710 was discovered around the time of the invention of the Alcubierre FTL Drive in the early 2030s.^[1] Though it is not made clear how E-710 was first discovered by Super Earth, it is stated that this precious fuel is what enabled the Alcubierre Drive to function and achieve faster-than-light travel, allowing Super Earth ships to travel beyond humanity's home system and for the Federation to establish colonies in other star systems.

E-710 Harvesting

“	Bugs, as essential as they are vile. Never forget, Element-710 extraction is just as important as eradication.	„
	~ Super Destroyer Announcement

“	If Terminids didn't decompose into Element-710, we'd have eradicated them completely a long time ago. They should count themselves lucky.	„
	~ Service Technician

“	I was just thinking: warping across the Federation like this would be impossible without Element-710. Which... comes from the bugs themselves. Their own corpses are fueling the creation of more corpses. Something satisfying about that.	„
	~ Ship Master

Prior to the start of the First Galactic War in the 2040s, Super Earth discovered that planets inhabited by the sentient, crustacean-like species known as the Bugs, officially designated Terminids, all possessed "vast quantities of fossil fuel", including Element-710.^[2]

Following attempts to establish oil pumps on Terminid planets, it was discovered that the corpses of the Bugs themselves generated E-710 upon decomposition; citing the apparent threat of the Bug infestation as the primary casus belli, Super Earth declared war on the aliens and dispatched the Helldivers to reactivate "lost oil pumps" on Terminid-infested worlds.^[3]

When the Bugs were finally defeated and contained on their homeworld Kepler Prime in 2084, the government of Super Earth suddenly changed its strategy; instead of eradicating the Terminids, the creatures were to be herded and bred in special Element-710 farms located throughout the Federation.^[4]

Thus, for the next 100 years, the Terminids were kept in farms guarded by the Super Earth Armed Forces and artificially farmed for their E-710. During this time, the creatures underwent rapid evolution and some specimens were genetically modified by the Federation to increase production of E-710, with the Stalker being the prime example. Others, however, were mutated by "unavoidable spills" of toxic chemicals on E-710 farms, creating the vile Bile Spewers.

This mass harvesting of E-710 fueled the Federation's FTL drives for a century, allowing for the period of galactic colonization known as "The Great Democratization". In 2184, however, the Terminids managed to break free of their farms and invaded nearby human colonies, starting the Second Galactic War. Though the Helldivers were once again deployed to combat the Bugs, it is made very clear that Super Earth does not intend to exterminate the species for good but rather contain them again for more E-710 harvesting.

It should be noted that in depth research into E-710 and its properties is still very much ongoing, with new discoveries being made every day. For example, it was discovered that Terminids produce higher-quality E-710 when harvested under extreme duress, whil experimentation on Terminids using collected Gloom spores indicates that Gloom-induced mutations dramatically increase E-710 yield up to ten times the normal amount.

However, a groundbreaking discovery came on January 18th, 2185, as the Centre of Science on Fenrir III - after an attack by the Predator Strain - discovered that the energy produced by E-710 matches the properties of Dark Energy. This encouraged Super Earth High Command to conduct an expedition into the Gloom-covered planet of Fori Prime in order to find a solution to the ongoing Meridian Singularity crisis caused by the Illuminate. Although the liberation of Fori Prime would prove unfortunately temporary, the expedition's survey results would prove pleasantly fruitful, as they confirmed Gloom-mutated Terminid populations were saturated with high-yield specimens.

Element-711

“	The E-710-like substance we are recovering from the Gloom may prove to be of great value. Of course, the security of our citizens comes first. But as the Founders asked, what is security without prosperity?	„
	~ Democracy Officer

“	If this new variant of E-710 proves useful, we may be perched on the precipice of a new Golden Age of interstellar travel. And from that precipice, the future looks bright; we need only spread our wings, and dive.	„
	~ Ship Master

“	Great tidings, Helldiver. The substance found in the Gloom may be the greatest gift to Freedom since the discovery of Element-710. They are calling it: Element-711.	„
	~ Democracy Officer

“	The promise of E-711 means that our goals are now far grander than the mere extermination of the Gloom. Instead of destroying it, we will use it - to liberate the galaxy, and acquire the space our citizens need to live free. Operation Free Space.	„
	~ Democracy Officer

“	One small step for you, one giant leap for the FTL industry.	„
	~ Democracy Officer

On the 4th of September, 2185, while the Helldivers were conducting initial reconnaissance of the Hive World of Oshaune within the Terminid Gloom and securing research samples from it, a new form of mysterious E-710-like substance would be discovered. Initial testing would yield promising results, with High Command ordering the installation of extraction pipelines for maximum research efficiency. It wouldn't take long for the Ministry of Science to make a monumental discovery: Element-711.

“	Element-711 appears to be a highly condensed form of Element-710, created by some Terminid biological process. Similar, perhaps, to the conversion of nectar into honey by the extinct honeybee.	„
	~ Democracy Officer

“	Using E-711, our scientists have successfully synthesised Dark Fluid, for the first time in human history. This is a magnificent breakthrough. No longer will the power of Dark Fluid be withheld from us by the miserly Illuminate.	„
	~ Democracy Officer

“	We've never been able to make Dark Fluid before; all we ever had was liberated from the Illuminate. That's what makes E-711 so exciting.	„
	~ Ship Master

Element-711 itself appears to be a highly condensed form of Element-710, created by some as of yet unknown Terminid biological process that has been likened to the conversion of nectar into honey by the now-extinct honeybees of Super Earth. Not long after this new substance's discovery, scientists would successfully convert Element-711 into Dark Fluid - the first ever synthetic production of the exotic matter in human history.^[5]

This makes Element-711 an even more valuable resource, as Dark Fluid is the basis for many of the advanced technologies utilized by the Illuminate. Its mass synthesization therefore would allow humanity to not only develop the same technology as the Squ'ith, without having to rely on their liberated stockpiles of exotic matter, but perhaps one day surpass them.

Trivia

• 710, when turned upside down, resembles the word "OIL"; previously, in Helldivers 1, E-710 was simply referred to in the game as "oil". Like many elements of Helldivers, this is likely a nod to the many American incursions into the Middle East and Africa, most prominently Iraq, where one of the biggest suspected motivators for them was control over a region's crude oil supply.
• There are 118 officially identified chemical elements on the periodic table as of 2025. These elements are arranged by their atomic number, which is the number of protons in an atom's nucleus, and also determining the element's density. The first 94 occur naturally on Earth, while the remaining 24 have been synthesized in laboratories. This would imply that, in Helldivers, 592 new elements would have to have been discovered or synthesized prior to E-710, making it more likely that its name is simply a reference to oil. If E-710 were a chemical element, it would be notoriously heavy and unstable. Its natural occurence is most unlikely, and, due to its weight, borderline to impossible in any biological organism.
  • A new form of E-710-like substance on Oshaune would be dubbed E-711 - which is considered an entirely new element. It would also result in a lot of convenience store jokes amongst the Helldivers community.
• The discovery of E-711 serves to retroactively explain why certain variants of the Illuminate Encampments are often built on E-710 storage facilities. It is possible that the Illuminate once discovered E-710 through their own means and eventually discovered how to synthesize it into Dark Fluid that, following the end of the First Galactic War, would be captured by Super Earth.
  • Tests performed on E-711 reveal a host of unusual effects, ranging from enhanced lubricity, repression, a vaguely cinnamon flavor, to sub-zero absorbency. Work eagerly continues on perfecting E-711 as a more efficient FTL fuel.

References