Offensive Engineering?

[FISHY CRACKERS]

My main class is Pyro, we all know that, and if you don't well too bad because now you do. But every so often i see that the fire-spitting monster isn't enough (no i'm not joking) and in difficult Capture The Flag games i go with the Engineer to make a good defence. But that's it, i've always been and will entirely always will be a defensive Engineer, but i want to know about you, have you ever done any offensive Engineering, how good you are/were at it, etc.

I think i've only tried it once maybe, and that was engineering a lvl 3 turret in front of the enemy spawn because my team had cornered them there and no one wanted to give up on the chance to totally humiliate them outside of, well, obviously humiliation. I've seen that in some cases it can be great, mostly seeing EvilDaedles's How To Play The Engineer which i doubt i'll ever bother to actually use.

 

[Sheepo]

Please edit your grammar. And yes.

 

[Lobster]

There is a great video explaining the idea here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYsZ3tLpVMs

I have tried it many times, its surprising how powerful a level 1 sentry can be when you make yourself the primary target.

If they ever do an unlockable sentry gun, I think a slightly tweaked offensive variant would be great.

 

[Laivasse]

I rarely toy with offensive engineering, simply because on public servers my role as an engy is almost always better served on defense. Particularly in games where you don't know other people that well and you can't gauge their competence level, I find it doesn't pay to just assume they'll pick up the slack if I go offensive as engy.

A big hole in your defense will almost always mean a loss or a cap against you, but a slightly strengthened offense quite frequently doesn't translate into any real result. That knowledge makes me a very cautious player.

So yeah, it's a handy thing once it comes off but I don't really dabble in it.

 

[delusional]

I'm pretty much solely play engineer offensively. I just can't stand sitting behind a level 3 sentry the whole round.

The video Lobster posted is fairly close to how I play engineer on offense. The only difference really is that I'm more protective of my sentry. And I'll happily sacrifice my life to save a level 2 or 3 sentry. Sentries placed in an unconventional spot can be deadly by taking people by surprise. For example, An offensive sentry placed under the ledge on the way to cap B on gravelpit pretty much gives the cap to your team, especially if you manage to upgrade it. Since it'll either kill the defenders coming from the spawn point or distract them long enough so the point can be captured. This is very difficult to pull off though and requires your not seen.

A different strategy for playing engineer offensively, but requires a lot of teamwork is where multiple engineers build level 3 sentries and slowly move them up creating a line of defense. Recently on ctf_well, the opposing team managed to slowly move up the sentries in to our base and right on our spawn. They could only do this though because demomen and Heavies gave the engineers support.

Even when I play engineer when I'm on defense I usually try to put my sentries in obscure spots, that take people by surprise. For example, on the second point in the first part of Dustbowl, I put my sentry in the corner on the point so when the offense comes up the point they can't see it nor expect it since it's not an ordinary sg spot. So when the offensive team manages to kill all the other sentries and push forward, they are taken by surprise by another a sentry that hasn't been killing them before. Sort of an unexpected last defense for the offense. During this time I usually help keep up the other sentries and actually use my shotgun to defend instead of sitting there trying to keep my sentry up.

If they ever do an unlockable sentry gun, I think a slightly tweaked offensive variant would be great.

I would love it if you could either build one level 3 sentry, one level 2 sentry and a level 1, or three level 1 sentries.

 

[Crispy]

I used to play Engy a lot (31.3 hours total playtime, not including a lot of playtime during the beta which was lost through crashes) because it was what I played as in TFC and I was always very offensive in my play style. I still return to Engy every now and then but the Engy in TF2 just really can't hold his own as well as the TFC Engy, who was very powerful if you knew how to prime nades to finish off your shotgun victims.

I don't agree with everything in that vid, but it makes the right points in general. Specifically, Teleporters are ALWAYS useful, regardless of the map. The spawntimes in TF2 are so goddamn long that if you're on the backfoot, having a teleporter at all times can allow a Heavy to be seemingly ever-present on the battlefield, or the recently-downed Medic to get back just in the nick of time to rescue a flailing Soldier, Demo or Pyro. I would say a well-placed tele is almost always more vital to your team provided whoever is using the tele can disrupt the enemy better than a level 1 sentry (which isn't always the case, but in general it is).

Teleporter placement is exactly as he said in the vid. Always build it at a safe distance and only move it up once the next point is capped. Frontline teleporters are useless on all maps. On CTF maps, where the flow of enemy troops is in multiple directions and infiltration is more achievable, teleporters can be placed behind enemy lines, but that's the furthest you'll ever want to place a Tele (and this only works on smaller servers).

I think what the video was really weak on was how to use your weapons. He rightly talked about using your sentry as a weapon, but he didn't explain when to switch between shotgun and pistol. A lot of the time in that vid he was using Shotgun at distance when pistol would have been much more effective.

Use the Shotgun for anything within Pyro range and a bit beyond that. Watch some Soldier frag vids to see just how devastating the shottie is if you learn to be accurate with it.

Anything further than that, the Pistol is the better bet. It fires very fast if you get the finger-tapping right and it reloads very quickly. It does a surprising amount of damage and is very accurate. If you're being really offensive, it kicks the crap out of the other team's sentries and is less obvious than incoming rocket fire or long-range stickies.

If you want to learn more about when to use the shotty and when to use the pistol, while you're dead watch any good Scout and see how they switch up between the Scattergun and the Shotgun. The Shotgun has a slightly further effective range than the Scattergun, but the principle is much the same.

Also don't forget to use the Engy's speed. He's a pretty sprightly fella and can close the gap to boomstick range very quickly to deal with enemies harassing your sentry from distance (all this while he can fire with his pistol as he approaches if surprise isn't your goal).

 

[Warbie]

Against a half decent side you'll get a few surprise kills at most. Engies are pretty useless at anything other than defending.

 

[Iron_cube]

I setup my shit somewhere in a important place, and then I go on and follow the rest of the team.

A second engie to take care of your toys is always a plus.

 

[lefty]

You won't get a lot of points, but it is fun.

 

[Planetary]

Put a level 1 in a really unexpected place and you can get like 5 kills. I did it on gravelpit while my team was capping A, in the little house on RED's right as they comes out of the C to A tunnel, they all charged the point, but didn't notice my little friend.

 

[kineaesth]

I think the point is not to get lots of kills with one sentry, but to get many kills and assists with numerous sentries.

 

[Omnomnick]

This thread is a serious tl;dr, but all in all, I think Offensive engineering is awesome, helpful and alot more fun than defencive.

 

[L3N!N]

As engie, I mostly get people stuck in my teleports, so they suicide. Is that offensive? Or am I just being offensive to the server

 

[Stigmata]

As engie, I mostly get people stuck in my teleports, so they suicide. Is that offensive? Or am I just being offensive to the server