Players You DO Want on Your Team: The Offensive Engineer
It’s so easy to be negative. But not every Team Fortress 2 player is totally incompetent (no really, stop laughing). The thing is, while it’s very noticeable when someone is doing poorly, no one ever takes note of people who are doing well. This is a shame, because you could learn a lot about being a better player and a better teammate from these people. The Engineer almost consistently falls into this category of unnoticed players. Under appreciated, yelled at when he tries to help, and even when he’s out-of-game, people don’t seem to understand him. So I’m here to tell you this:
Engineers Win Games
It’s true. A good Engineer can mean the difference between crushing defeat, and victory. Sure, they build Sentries and what-not while on defense, but they truly act as tide-turners on offense. Let me tell you about the rarest sight in Team Fortress 2. Is it a defensive Scout? A Not-So-Endangered Crab Spy? Sean Connery? No. It’s the Offensive Engineer. I’m going to tell you a story about him. I was playing cp_warpath one night, which as everyone should know, is the mother-of-all stalemate maps. A crafty Engineer on my team snuck around the assaulting Red Team and built a Teleporter on their completely deserted last point, a Sentry and Dispenser on their fourth. Soon after, a few other people went Engie and began building, and a Scout or two started capping points. Within two minutes, we were back on the fourth point, and the Red Team was spawning right into a Sentry Farm. And it was glorious.
And yet, after that, no one gave a single thank-you to the original Engie. What is this, XBox Live? Come on, we’re better then that. To this day, I use that Engie’s strategy on Warpath, though the same concept works anywhere. Throw down a Dispenser, wait for it to fill up, throw down a Sentry and quickly upgrade it to Level II. The last thing you want is a Teleporter. It seems like that would be first thing you’d build, but that isn’t so. If you build the Tele first, your team will blindly charge into the fight with their Teleporter trail lighting them up like Christmas trees, and leading the enemy team directly to you.
But the Offensive Engie has a Thankless Job
Poor things live in the shadows. The only time you ever notice the Engie is when you die because his base is under attack by a Pyro and you Teleported in at the wrong moment. And of course, there will always be one Scout that thinks the full ammo box would be better suited giving him three more pistol shots than giving the Engie two-hundred metal. Then there are the poser Offensive Engies, who see how successful the original Offensive Engie is, and decide to ‘help’. ‘Helping’ generally consists of the Poser stealing near all of the Original’s metal (be it from ammo packs or the Dispenser), building a Sentry, and promptly getting Stabbed ‘n Sapped. After that, they may try again a few times, or just switch back to another class.
What not to do, presented by NerfNOW. I know it might be tempting, but just barking “I need a Dispenser!” or “Get your Teleporter back up!” at the Engineer amounts to nil. The only time you’ll ever get results is when you say something along the lines of “I think you’d be better off building here” or possibly “I’ve got twenty bucks that say there will be a Dispenser here”. Whenever I’m playing Engineer and I find my team barking at me to hurry up, I switch to Spy and watch them suffer from the shadows. Sure it’s spiteful, but anyone who has the “Need a Dispenser Here” voice command bound to a key deserves it.
So, next time you meet an Offensive Engineer, watch him and learn. You might even want to try being an Offensive Engie yourself. Go ahead, I won’t stop you.. Personally I find it more gratifiying to play Engie on attack, knowing I directly contributed to my team’s success. Plus it’s a lot more intense then Defensive Engie, in that you are almost constantly under assualt, and always trying to keep your machines up and running. But if you take away one thing from this article, let it be this: rebind your “Need a Teleporter” key to “Thanks!”.
Stumble it!
Devenger responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:24 am #
Good post. Engineer is indeed a largely thankless task, unlike the often far less useful or skilled Medic (*stare*). Surprise sentry positioning is a fine art; putting up a level 1 sentry somewhere intelligent between the front line and the enemy’s spawn can cause all sorts of damage to their next wave, as well as being hilarious.
Tanki54 responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:25 am #
First! I wholy agree with you it is glorious!
Matt responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:28 am #
Better yet is when an offensive engie manages to build a sentry/dispenser/tele nest in the enemy intel room on 2fort!
Jakka responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:28 am #
Well, there’s ‘offensive’ engineering and offensive engineering.
What you’ve described is basically applying normal defensive tactics behind enemy lines which while, much appreciated, comes nowhere near the art of placing a level 1 Sentry in an obscure unexpected spot, pulling out your shotty and nailing killing sprees before your enemies even know what hit them.True offensive engineering assumes that the most ‘obvious spot’(ie: Corners of the ouside of the 2Fort Bases) are also the most overlooked and abuses it with deadly efficiency.Real offensive engineers are really mobile and can move and rebuild their sentries within seconds in order to surprise more enemies.With a bit of luck, an offensive engineer can wipe a Heavy,Medic and a Demoman trio all by himself.
This is an example of offensive engineering http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NYsZ3tLpVMs
Either way, what you described I still what I’d love to see the remaining 95% of engineers doing rather than hump their sentries all day.
Josh responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:53 am #
“Sure it’s spiteful, but anyone who has the “Need a Dispenser Here” voice command bound to a key deserves it.”
*Nervous glance, innocent smile*
Chronomeister responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 10:28 am #
I managed to do this yesterday on 2fort. Got a whole base in the enemy intel room and actually managed to prevent them from capping our intel. Lost it though cause the entrance got pyro’d and everything got sapped as my entrance was rebuilding.
sQUEAKYfOAMpEANUT responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 10:33 am #
Why does everyone like Nerf Now? I just don’t get it. :/
Galenor responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 10:38 am #
Oh man. Don’t make me go on about Engineering again.
You can even see it on the ‘I Dont Get The Mindset of Engineers’ page linked in this post. I just go on and on about my love for the less understood class.
But yes, Offensive Engineering is great. Purely by making a little base where people can teleport in, heal up, and feel safe from marauding Pyros means the team can gather there for building ubers or planning their next attack. It’s like a dinnerparty, except the hose is you, the invited friends are the teammates, and the food table is a Tier 3 Rocket-Enabled Automated Sentry Gun.
Sorta.
Galenor responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 10:39 am #
Sorry, host*. See? Engineers are so great, I get all excited when i post and neglect the spellchecker.
Sum1 responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 3:04 pm #
Good post. This is what I usually try to do as Engie. On a minor note though; I dont entirely believe that Xbox Live is (completely) like that.
Sypheros responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 4:03 pm #
Nothing more important than the Sentry up the enemy teams ass. Seriously.
Nosedigger responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 5:36 pm #
This would be cool, except that I spend my days on offense facepalming at Offensive Engies who never seem to build anything (no, not even teleport entrances), and they NEVER change class, despite we have… what? Two Engies on Offense? Three if I’m unlucky?
Richard responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 6:40 pm #
oh yeah offence engees…
though, i usally build the tele exit first in a hidden place bihind theyre lines, but i don’t build the entrence so my team won’t use it untill im ready
Slipstream responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 6:50 pm #
Offensive Engineers may still remain a valuable asset to a team, but “the difference between crushing defeat, and victory”?
No. I fail to accept that.
Medics, maybe. If they have Ubercharges, probably. A very, very good Spy, occasionally.
But otherwise, one person changing class rarely shifts the balance to their favor and if it did, Engineer would not be my first choice.
Nonetheless, he’s still pretty helpful. As long as he’s helping his team and not babysitting his sentry all day long (me make little nod to supremesonic in agreement), then he can pass.
I still hate them. Slow the game down so much with their bloody sentries, always hiding behind their dispensers, not charging when the point is clear…
*continues to rant to ones-self*
Kollega responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:07 pm #
Well,what you described here,is Offensive Engineering on symetrical maps.Engie on offense surely contributes to team’s sucsess,but true locomotive of victory is Offensive Engineer on Attack/Defend or Payload maps.Constantly,i find myself as an Offensive Engie in Dustbowl or Goldrush.And it’s awesome.One note though,on Attack/Defense maps Teleporter goes first.Please write next one about Altruist Medics (yes,i’m a medic too). P.S. Palin joke is awesome
supremesonic responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:25 pm #
Can I just say in my defence I DID get the mindset of Engineers in the end… And it was this exact type of offensive engineering I grew to love.
Please don’t hate me, Engineers. =x
John responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 9:29 pm #
Remember, don’t forget there’s a difference between offensive engineering, as shown in Jakka’s video (I’ll repost the link cause it’s so good: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NYsZ3tLpVMs ) and offensive engineering as in building forward bases.
Both can be (are) very useful, but let’s not get the terms mixed up here. They are quite different things.
SirMax responded on 09 Dec 2008 at 10:34 pm #
@sQUEAKYfOAMpEANUT: It has an endearing style.
@the article: generally rebinding need a dispenser here to thanks is a good idea regardless of whether there are engies or if they’re any good because no one listens to need a dispenser here ever, even if it really is an idea for a position.
Phoenix responded on 10 Dec 2008 at 6:59 am #
Yeah… I went through a phase of having “need a dispenser here” bound to both mouse buttons (in addition to fire and alt fire, I hasten to add) but swiftly realised that people got pissed off, and that it was detracting from my ability to sneak around (particularly as spy, I wonder why…).
Since then I have “thanks” on shift and “incoming” on caps lock: Right under my pinky, and the only issues are accidentally leaving caps on (I tend to double tap as it only says the line once anyway) and saying “thanks” when I use a capital in chat or when I open the overlay.
And saying “thanks” too much isn’t exactly a bad thing, now is it?
VAKinc responded on 10 Dec 2008 at 7:33 am #
@supremesonic: Shh, they aren’t supposed to know that.
Furious Badger responded on 10 Dec 2008 at 9:08 am #
I have a dream, on an Intel map, of getting my offensive engie hide into their intel room, getting my camp set up, and then having another engie come in, dropping his teleporter ENTRANCE in their intel. Right next to my exit. With his exit back in our intel room, where my entrance is.
So that there’s about a 15 second gap between intel caps as the teleporters recharge, with sentries defending our shenanigans.
sQUEAKYfOAMpEANUT responded on 10 Dec 2008 at 1:12 pm #
@SirMax: More like en-QUEERING, amirite?
Food Fight! responded on 10 Dec 2008 at 2:41 pm #
Very good read. I may cry for the dispenser, but I’ll always say Thanks. Plus, there’s nothing like building and building and building.
Kollega responded on 10 Dec 2008 at 4:42 pm #
@Furious Badger: Unfortunately,you can’t teleport while carrying the intelligence briefcase
Wyatt responded on 11 Dec 2008 at 3:39 am #
There’s nothing worse than respawning with the intent of going right back to where the battle was only to run face first into a newly built sentry nest. Engineer’s that are on their game and keep pushing the line are deadly deadly assets.
Pyrit responded on 11 Dec 2008 at 6:01 am #
I have to agree in that even though offensive engies are good, they can never change the tide of a battle moreso than Medics or if the other team has defensive engies. While Medics can change everything with a carefully placed Uber, destroying any sort opposition, an Engineer is good at stalling or just generally haggling the enemy team (especially with offensive engies). They can prevent a Scout rush from winning a game of Granary in a few seconds, but they can’t singlehandedly win the game for their team. That’s what makes them a primarily defensive class.
I’d say 1-2 offensive engies is enough for any game of Dustbowl or Payload. More than that and your team isn’t attacking enough and is just turtling.
taipoh responded on 11 Dec 2008 at 7:14 am #
reminds me of the time when I built sentries in the enemy’s intel room at Turbine. Good times!
Booster37 responded on 11 Dec 2008 at 3:16 pm #
I agree with you on this. I myself am an offensive engineer, only because I hate standing behind a sentry all the time. I only spend about 5-10% of my time there.
Going back to the Warpath trick, I’ve done that numerous times, and with great success. Loved doing it, although I did it differently, where I’d just build everything at the final point in corners.
michaelfeb16 responded on 12 Dec 2008 at 9:16 am #
I played offensive engi before it was cool!!
Seriously, even if it is thankless, I enjoy nothing more than knowing my forward base pushed the enemy and won the round. (Well, the fact that I can kill any of the beefier classes with an above 50% success rate feels good too.)
The biggest downside to playing offensive engi, IMHO, is that at least a third of the time, your team will turtle at your base and not push the attack. There is little more painful than to watch a successful push be ended when your team mates see your shiny new base and decide to spam rockets from your dispenser…
General Goose responded on 24 Dec 2008 at 11:44 am #
Being an Engineer on offence is a lot harder, but in the end, more fun and rewarding.
Sam responded on 04 Jan 2009 at 12:46 am #
I think the official term is, “Ninjaneer”
JOP responded on 16 Jan 2009 at 1:43 am #
“Ninjaneer”… I like that.
I know some Engies, are they are the turtle variety. I saw so many opportunities for them to move up and basically massacre the other team, but they were so cautious (and deathly afraid of their sentry guns getting destroyed) that they wouldn’t so much go near the main line of battle, let alone ahead of it.
So I decided to try out offensive engineering myself, only the second time I had ever played the class… and I had a blast! In just one round on ctf_well:
* Took top position on the scoreboard
* Set up multiple SGs around their base
* Set up on SG in their waterway
* Set up an SG in their Intel room!
* Beat a Soldier to death with a pipe-wrench
* Stole their Intel and won the round!
It was incredibly fun. The only regret I have is that I didn’t lay down teleporters for our team, as I was so new to things that I kept forgetting to put down an entrance in our base.
The Thankless Jobs | ubercharged.net responded on 16 Jan 2009 at 11:09 am #
[...] what if you are on BLU on Dustbowl, and the Engie is offensive? Well, he built a tele for a reason, didn’t he? It wasn’t to give Spies a free point if [...]
Anonymous responded on 13 Feb 2009 at 6:21 pm #
I never turtle as engineer because the best defense is a good offense. Usually, as long as a I can get a teleporter and dispenser to the front in a hidden place and then build a sentry (usually level 1) and move it around a lot, enemies will be so distracted by my level 1 sentry that they won’t find the dispenser and teleporter, and by the time they do, we’ll have already capped like 2 points or stole the intel twice.
Chobs responded on 22 Mar 2009 at 7:14 pm #
How do you actually get into that little list of things to say? I can’t find it and being without a mic as well, feel kinda bad when someone bothers to help.