Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:03 pm
Why Engineer Sucks.
Engineer is something featured in a ton of games, from TF2 to... TF2... To.... Well I can't think of any others. I'm sure there are plenty though. That's not the point.
The theory behind engineer is that you can use it for point defense, using forcefields and turrets to make someplace easier to defend. This slows down or stops the enemy, and makes capturing any objectives easier. With the addition of engineered teleports, engineer has taken on a slightly more offensive tone. A teleporter linking directly to the enemy base allows a team to take the enemy flag with extreme ease. The levelmaker must use discretion to limit the amount of resourceitems the engineer can build with, forcing the engineer to make tough choices on what and where to build.
In practice, the theory doesn't work. This is often the fault of the level designer, but it really isn't their fault because its impossible to make a good level with engineer.
If the level has too many resource items: The game becomes a fortress building competition. Unlimited access means that the engineers can completely wall off their base with so many forcefields that if every dead ship reanimated as a zombie they would still not be able to get in. Aside from that, if one team successfully breaks through one fortress, the team is guaranteed to win because the other team will not be able to penetrate the enemy fortress fast enough to catch up, nor will they be able to rebuild from the constant waves of enemies. At this point, the enemy engineers a teleporter behind eighteen forcefields directly to your flag, and the game is over.
If the level has too few resource items: Engineer becomes strikingly weak. The massive energy cost of engineer means that only the most strategic engineers are worth it, meaning that forcefields and turrets are both out. Turrets are remarkably easy to kill, and a single forcefield or even two isn't going to be slowing anybody down. Because there are so few resource items in the level, most people forget engineer is even enabled, but those that do try to engineer are sacrificing a module for the ability to create a teleport that at best will last for two respawns. It puts the person's entire team at a disadvantage.
If the level has the right amount of resources: I'm speaking hypothetically here, because to my knowledge this has never been pulled off. We're also going to assume the levelmaker places the resources well and the bases are designed well and all that. The engineer can use the resource items to fortify the base well enough to slow down attackers, while the other team members go on offense. Even then, this isn't usually how it plays out. Often the strongest player on either team will invade the enemy base, then sit in his base with the flag engineering things while his teamates fight to return his flag. Since this is the team's strongest player, engineer is pretty much unecessary, and he'll likely just be making forcefields so that if any enemies show up he can just walk(fly) to the other side of the projectors and all danger is completely nullified. Engineer in this scenario is pretty much just something to do while you're bored, and if engineer is disabled on the map the player would just repair the bases natural defenses anyway, which leads to the same result with no potential for abuse (we're assuming the map is well made) so engineer ends up adding absolutely nothing.
But wait! I'm mostly just thinking about capture the flag, since its the most popular gametype. Lets look at some of the others:
Retrieve: This plays out the same as ctf, with the added complexity of you having to defend multiple spots on certain levels. It just makes it harder on the level designer to use engineer well.
Hold the Flag: Since everyone on every team is trying to invade your base specifically, anything you build ever is useless.
Rabbit: Turrets are so useful.
Hunters: A teleporter directly onto the nexus means that its even more a game of hiding with lots of flags.
Core: This one is interesting and complicated. I think since the core is so big blocking it off with engineer is hard, so you would have to use it REALLY well to get a couple seconds worth of defense out of it. Either that or you use two resourceitems to build a turret and shoot at the core for you, which really shouldn't be a thing.
Soccer: A forcefield over the goal will block a shot, but its also easily disabled. Two forcefields means the game is now a fortress building competition.
Bitmatch: No.
Zone Control: You'd have to concentrate all the resources on a specific zone, which depending on the level is either still useless, or completely game changing because it allows your team to get the flag.
Dungeons: Engineer is EXCELLENT for dungeons. See: http://www.bitfighter.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1758&p=18032#p18032.
The theory behind engineer is that you can use it for point defense, using forcefields and turrets to make someplace easier to defend. This slows down or stops the enemy, and makes capturing any objectives easier. With the addition of engineered teleports, engineer has taken on a slightly more offensive tone. A teleporter linking directly to the enemy base allows a team to take the enemy flag with extreme ease. The levelmaker must use discretion to limit the amount of resourceitems the engineer can build with, forcing the engineer to make tough choices on what and where to build.
In practice, the theory doesn't work. This is often the fault of the level designer, but it really isn't their fault because its impossible to make a good level with engineer.
If the level has too many resource items: The game becomes a fortress building competition. Unlimited access means that the engineers can completely wall off their base with so many forcefields that if every dead ship reanimated as a zombie they would still not be able to get in. Aside from that, if one team successfully breaks through one fortress, the team is guaranteed to win because the other team will not be able to penetrate the enemy fortress fast enough to catch up, nor will they be able to rebuild from the constant waves of enemies. At this point, the enemy engineers a teleporter behind eighteen forcefields directly to your flag, and the game is over.
If the level has too few resource items: Engineer becomes strikingly weak. The massive energy cost of engineer means that only the most strategic engineers are worth it, meaning that forcefields and turrets are both out. Turrets are remarkably easy to kill, and a single forcefield or even two isn't going to be slowing anybody down. Because there are so few resource items in the level, most people forget engineer is even enabled, but those that do try to engineer are sacrificing a module for the ability to create a teleport that at best will last for two respawns. It puts the person's entire team at a disadvantage.
If the level has the right amount of resources: I'm speaking hypothetically here, because to my knowledge this has never been pulled off. We're also going to assume the levelmaker places the resources well and the bases are designed well and all that. The engineer can use the resource items to fortify the base well enough to slow down attackers, while the other team members go on offense. Even then, this isn't usually how it plays out. Often the strongest player on either team will invade the enemy base, then sit in his base with the flag engineering things while his teamates fight to return his flag. Since this is the team's strongest player, engineer is pretty much unecessary, and he'll likely just be making forcefields so that if any enemies show up he can just walk(fly) to the other side of the projectors and all danger is completely nullified. Engineer in this scenario is pretty much just something to do while you're bored, and if engineer is disabled on the map the player would just repair the bases natural defenses anyway, which leads to the same result with no potential for abuse (we're assuming the map is well made) so engineer ends up adding absolutely nothing.
But wait! I'm mostly just thinking about capture the flag, since its the most popular gametype. Lets look at some of the others:
Retrieve: This plays out the same as ctf, with the added complexity of you having to defend multiple spots on certain levels. It just makes it harder on the level designer to use engineer well.
Hold the Flag: Since everyone on every team is trying to invade your base specifically, anything you build ever is useless.
Rabbit: Turrets are so useful.
Hunters: A teleporter directly onto the nexus means that its even more a game of hiding with lots of flags.
Core: This one is interesting and complicated. I think since the core is so big blocking it off with engineer is hard, so you would have to use it REALLY well to get a couple seconds worth of defense out of it. Either that or you use two resourceitems to build a turret and shoot at the core for you, which really shouldn't be a thing.
Soccer: A forcefield over the goal will block a shot, but its also easily disabled. Two forcefields means the game is now a fortress building competition.
Bitmatch: No.
Zone Control: You'd have to concentrate all the resources on a specific zone, which depending on the level is either still useless, or completely game changing because it allows your team to get the flag.
Dungeons: Engineer is EXCELLENT for dungeons. See: http://www.bitfighter.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1758&p=18032#p18032.
Little_Apple wrote:DnD: the REAL bitfighter levelgen documentation
Santiago ZAP wrote:bob doesn't make new maps, he makes new gamemodes
