LEGO Moc: The Engineer

This is a crosspost from my other blog, SCREWDLE. The Engineer's Hideout is an idea I had way back in 2011 when I started this blog. I've tried to build it in several different pieces of design games, from the very complicated Source Development Kit, which is free level design software from Valve, to the lacking-in-relevant detail Minecraft. The LDD is the first piece of software that has combined the ease of development that allows me to just express my ideas with the design complexity I was looking for to express my designs. I incorporated some LEGO design considerations, with plans to incorporate more on any subsequent redesigns. With 540 bricks it's perfect for the $29-40 price range. Plans for future updates include a hinge that will allow for accessibility to the upstairs work area, and a level 3 sentry with firing rockets.

The entire playset consists of the 2-story hideout, 2 sentry guns, a truck (loaded with stolen intel) and one Engineer minifigure. I tried to stay true to TF2's visual aesthetic while also creating a LEGO set that would be fun to build and play with. The exterior has a vaguely industrial-punk chimney with gears and transformers to give it that special "Engineer" flair. 

Detail of gas tank/dispenser

The first level is a 2-car garage containing a Dispenser, a gas can, an extension cord and a key. Redesigns will include a narrower separator between the two levels in order to allow the intel truck to fit more comfortably into the garage.

		The second level contains a workshop for the engineer, with a worktable with a lathe, toolchest, and a tank of gas underneath. There are tools on the wall and a shelf with some more oil cans, spare parts, and (of course) a Saxxy trophy.

I included an intel truck (like the one seen in Meet the Engineer) that contains 6 blue intel briefcases. There are 2 level 1 sentries, each capable of rotating 180 degress. Currently the roof contains a hook to allow a sentry to be placed there. A redesign may be used to reduce the piececount (the roof uses a LOT of of it) and to allow for more viable sentry locations on the roof.

The Drone

I have to admit, I haven't been playing a lot of TF2 lately. Between my computer's basic unreliability in the arena of "not catching on fire" and a million new games to distract me, I just haven't been thinking about it as much as I did when I started this blog in 2011. I picked up a new shooter, Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare, which scratches that "colorful shooter" itch pretty nicely. However, that doesn't mean I've totally forgotten about my favorite, and PVZ has something I thought might be fun to try and adapt to TF2: the Drone. Used by the Cactus and the Engineer Zombie, the drone weapons are the most interesting gadget designs in that game.

Melee Weapon: The Light Touch
Replaces the Sentry Gun with the Hornet Dock.
Alt Fire while near Hornet Dock: Manually pilot The Hornet
Cannot Haul Buildings

Building: Hornet Dock
HP: 150 / 180 / 215
Battery: 30/60/90

The Hornet Dock is a stationary building from which Hornets are deployed. As soon as it builds, it will deploy its first Hornet, and subsequent Hornets will be deployed within ten seconds of the previous one exploding. The Engineer must use alt-fire on this to pilot the Hornet. While the piloting functions are being used, the Dock will drain battery: one second per unit of battery, plus an additional third of a unit of battery while ascending/descending. When the batteries are spent, the remote uplink will shut down and the Hornet will freeze in place wherever it is.


Sapping this building disables both the unit itself and the Hornet.

Building 2: Hornet
HP: 10
Primary Weapon: Nailgun (fires gently arced rapidfire projectiles)
Maximum DPS: 50 / 75 / 100
WASD controls. Crouch to descend, jump to ascend.
M1: Fire Primary Weapon
Taunt: Laser Light Show Aerial Taunt
M2 / Primary Slot Button / Secondary Slot Button / Melee Slot Button: Exit Pilot Mode

The Hornet is the actual drone sentry controlled by remote uplink. It will hover indefinitely in its current location whenever not being actively piloted. Park these in surprising locations to surprise enemies, or to distract them from fights on the ground.

The Skidloader

 The Skidloader

Engineer Secondary Unlock

Fires a harmless explosive that restocks allies in its AOE, restocking their current clip.

Alt Fire: Spend Scrap Meter Allies within range have buffed reload speeds and larger clips.

Over on the Engineer subforum someone had an idea for a passive unlock that shut down your sentry and dispenser, slowed you down by 15% and gave you the ability to fill allies' ammo up and give them an extra large clip. Obviously I thought that was a bad unlock. The extra ammo doesn't confer much of a DPS boost, and just reloading an ally's ammo stores isn't something that's really necessary, because there's so much ammo everywhere in TF2.

Plus, it was a passive unlock, which is aggressively boring, especially when this locks you out of the primary engineer weapons to administer such lame buff. So I wanted to create something a little more involved. I don't know how much I like these stats but I like the model of transaction.

Hit allies to give them more ammo.

Attachable to Buildings

The Carrying Crate
Secondary: Building Attachment
Attach this to a building with M1. Press and hold M2: building becomes magnetic, attaching to friendly ally. M2 again to deploy item where the friendly unit is standing.

Meant to promote base mobility and lateral movement. The focus was meant to allow defenders to move teleporters between multiple defensible locations, especially on maps like Gravelpit. I'm still looking to balance this unlock better, as I think it promotes more sneak teleporting than lateral movement.

The Stinger

Secondary: Building Attachable

Attach to a building with M1. That building's usage charges a defending gun. When the building is not in use (not healing / teleporting / recharging) the gun will attack encroaching enemies.

Meant to provide wider base defense AND subtly encourage engineers and allies to move away from dispensers periodically.

The idea here are sapper-style items that replace the Engineer's pistol. He can then attach them to buildings to grant them unique abilities, to change his strategy, or offer bonuses. It's an unlock type that I would like to see explored because it's something I think hasn't been proposed very much in the past, and because I like the idea of extra buildings.

Some balancing thoughts: "friendly sappers" should not cause buildings to run counter to their primary mission: while the Stinger can open up new locations for a building, it shouldn't encourage Engineers to stop using their dispensers or teleporters as dispensers or teleporters. So I think the "friendly sapper" drawing charge from buildings functioning, not interrupting the primary building's function, and working best when the building is not in use are good strategies.

Post your own ideas for balance or attachables in the comments!

XCOM Engineer

In this segment, I aim to introduce each TF2 class as an XCOM soldier, complete with ranked abilities. Today, we're looking at the Engineer. Hey, XCOM players! If you have any opinions about the balance on these abilities, let me know in the comments section.

The Engineer is an area denial class, focused on manipulating the environment

Squaddie Rank Ability: Sentry
Allows the Engineer to deploy a sentry once per mission. 
[Sentries share a weapon type with their engineer (conventional, laser or plasma) and deal equivalent damage minus one. They have 3 base HP and have 50% of their engineer's armor bonus.]

Corporal Rank Ability 1: Bulwark
Allows the Engineer to construct Walls that confer 50% cover.

Corporal Rank Ability 2: Observant
The Engineer takes Overwatch after other units.
[Won't waste overwatch if another unit kills the target]

Sergeant Rank Ability 1: Hauling
Packs up a sentry and allows it to be redeployed with its current health.

Sergeant Rank Ability 2: Wrangle
 
Lieutenant Sergeant Rank Ability 1:  Sentry Suppression
The Sentry will begin suppressing an enemy after attacking it.

Lieutenant  Rank Ability 2: Reactive Elements
Allows both the Engineer and the Sentry to take a reaction shot on an enemy attack.

Captain Rank Ability 1: Short Circuit
Reduces enemy grenade and explosive damage by 50%.

Captain Rank Ability 2:  Autoloader
 Switching to and using pistols will automatically reload primary weapons.
 
Major Rank Ability: Robot Hand
The Engineer gains +1 HP and will not suffer from Battle Wound penalties

Colonel Rank Ability 1:   CAVORITE Sentry
Sentry gains Flight and Evasion.
Can now travel between tile heights

Colonel Rank Ability 2: Minisentry
Confers a Minisentry
[Sentries share a weapon type with their engineer's pistol (conventional, laser or plasma) and deal equivalent damage minus one. They have 3HP]

Prairie Fort Companion

The Prairie Fort Companion
Split Level Sentry Pod

The first pod costs 125 metal, with subsequent pods costing a mere 75. You can build up to 3. Once at least one pod has been laid, it will activate a Gun. Once the gun is active, it will travel to whichever pod has enemies the nearest, and attack them. When a pod reaches 25% health, the gun will retreat to a different pod and attack from there.

This allows an engineer to patrol multiple areas at once, although he won't be able to secure any area as strongly. It's like a sentry gun crossed with an ender man. A minisentry gun that takes a little bit more time to set up.

This is based on an old, old idea I had that has long since been deleted from the SPUF.

The Medieval Wrench

The Olde Fashioned
Level XVIII Wrench

+25 HP
On kill: +25% to Ingredient Bar
Alt fire: Expends 25% ingredient to deploy Rake
Cannot Haul Buildings

The Rake
Deals damage to the person that steps on it, then breaks
Deals less damage if it hits enemies in the back   

So, Buildings in Medieval Mode is my most viewed blog post, probably because I link to it basically every time someone even thinks the words "clockwork" or "ballista". This is my idea of an alternative that feels Engineer-y without completely shattering the balance in Degroot Keep and making it a painful, boring slog. I mean, at least I think it does.

Anyway, the nufs and bolfs: this thing allows you to do something pretty basic. Create a little proximity trap that hurts anybody who walks over it. However, because the M2 button is now bound to dropping the rake trap, it cannot be used to haul buildings. Since you cannot haul buildings in Medieval Mode, that translates to pure benefits there, but a fair downside elsewhere. Originally the rake was going to be a bear trap made from a ribcage, but I recently posted a bear-trap looking weapon on this blog and anyway the Rake was funnier. Plus, a "rake" is old-timey talk for an unscrupulous person and we'll pretend that's entirely deliberate.

Why does it do less damage if the enemy backs over it? Because getting a rake to the nose hurts more than a rake to the shank, that's why, and also because it gives enemies a way of dealing with rakes that doesn't compromise their usefulness in regular gameplay (i.e. they cannot be shot to destroy them) and also makes your enemies behave in a silly way.

The Man in Tin

Everybody seems to think that the Engineer should get an Iron Man style suit. I disagree, but I have a lot of ideas on the matter that I think could fit into TF2's overall design style, without an unnecessarily elaborate changeover in mechanics, new keybinds, or inexplicable abilities.

When I was writing this idea out, I didn't bother with balancing it because I don't think it's a good idea. The engineer is a bit of a middle child in TF2, he fulfills both a defense and support role. He's not the best defender, or the best support, but he has more support capability than better defenders and more defense capabilities than better support.

So no, I wasn't balancing it, I'm simply experimenting with the form, looking for keybinds and controls that fit into TF2, that allow the player to make fun decisions with his loadout underneath the armor, and this is the result of that experimentation.

The Hand of Tin
Melee Weapon
Replaces the sentry with the Tinman Suit Generator
Alt-fire removes Tin Man Suit

The Tinman Suit Generator 
150/180/216 HP
30/20/10 seconds on suit generation
20/25/30 DPS
150 metal (+200 per upgrade)
Standing on this will activate the Tinman Suit. Upgrading the Tinman suit confers extra benefits to the suit, reduces the downtime between suit productions. It also repairs suits of any Tinman engies standing nearby. Building suits costs 100 ammo, repairing suits costs 1 ammo per damage tick.

Tin Man Suit

100/125/150 Armor HP
+10/15/20 percent damage to primary and secondary weapons
+25 jump height
At level 3, gains a bonus ability*
The generator grants additional benefits (?) while suit wearers are near it, and will warn you when you leave its proximity. The Suit will be destroyed when its armor HP runs out, when the Generator is destroyed, or when you use alt-fire on the Hand of Tin to manually destroy the armor.

You will be dual wielding a second weapon when your primary or secondary is out (regardless of what t is)

*Bonus Abilities List:
Exploding debris (the suit's chunks will explode when shot at, like pumpkin bombs)
Hover jump (hold jump to slow a fall)
Goom stomp (deals damage by falling on enemy heads)
Fortify (crouch to repair HP)

Morgan

Morgan is the oldest TF2 unlock that I actually remember, and one of my proudest moments on the Internet. Here it is, the thing that made me feel as though I could actually write about this stuff for my own amusement. Definitely not for a living, but for my own amusement.

Morgan
While held:
66% clip size (4 rounds)
120% reload time (1.2s + .6, 3 seconds for full reload)
125% firing interval (~.75s)

While Deployed:
100 HP
35-50 damage
Cost: 25 metal
.5 attack interval
1 second deploy time
26 ammo
Can't be upgraded or repaired
Sappers destroy Morgan in one second and cannot be removed
Automatically self-destructs upon Engineer death
Automatically reequips upon wrench-hit, saving remaining ammo

The Morgan is a technological marvel. Originally developed to discourage eagle attacks in the Badlands, Dell adapted it for its modern use in worksite security. Engineers who have their hands full constructing the team coffee machine or puma attracting engine can rest easy knowing their backs are safe and sound so long as their trusty Morgan automated defense turret is around.

Practical Problems

I didn't make this movie. I just found it on Youtube, but I have to say all the best TF2 films seem to involve the Engineer. He's the Wiley Coyote of TF2.

The best SFM films have a few qualities that makes them special. Common SFM films generally use bug-eyes, screaming, and nonsensical spontaneity to buy a laugh. I don't want to say that this is the result of laziness (all the SFM films I've created are the result of laziness, to wit, I have not written any) but it's the product of people who are trying to hard to write a joke. I do it all the time when I can't think of anything funny to say--say something crazy enough and people will laugh just because they're relieved you're not eating their kidneys.

See what I mean?

Engineer MVM Buildings

Part of my MvM building project, this is the logical conclusion for building weapons for every class. I tried to give the Engineer practical problems to solve with his buildings. Unfortunately, these ideas also lend themselves to some of the cartooniest, corniest designs. Stunlocking and slowing enemies over a large AoE fits a magnet weapon, and honestly I wanted to give the Engineer a big horseshoe-magnet weapon. I had to take control of those influences when designing the Magnetron, but I still think I'm gonna stick a magnet on there. We'll see where the drawings take me when I start working on 'em. I think these have the most visible influence from Iron Brigade.

Offense:
The Magnetron
Stunlocks enemies in close range, slows down enemies at midrange

The Magnetron is meant to keep enemies in places where they're vulnerable to your big bad sentries. Useful for setting up kill boxes and slowing enemies down in places in places where it's better that they go slow.

Support:
The Bill Collector
A vacuuming building that absorbs nearby piles of money.

Transport:
The Generator
Looks like a small, gas-powered generator.Buffs friendly buildings, effectively making them "level 2"

The Combat Mini-Sentry Robot

So, after posting that last one I realized I never actually posted my dear friend the Combat Mini-Sentry Co-Op Robot to this blog! I love doing portmanteau art, combining similar or separate concepts into one design. I do it a lot with TF2, having done combos of Team Fortress and Portal several times, as well as Bioshock, Minecraft, Left 4 Dead, Orcs Must Die, and on one weird occasion, Shadow of the Colossus.

This guy here is a Portal co-op android, but also a combat mini-sentry. He was designed to solve complicated riddles, such as "What are the effects of bullets on human flesh" and "At what frequency do bullet-riddled humans beg for their lives." He is, and I quote, a "cute little gun".

Ugh, a New Robot

So I was thumbing through backlogged ideas of cool stuff that I could do, when I saw on my DeviantArt that The Combat Mini-Sentry Robot got a ping, and I decided to design another one, this time based on the dispenser. That may have been a mistake.

Well, you can see him there on the side, and of course all the problems that come with trying to find an iconic Engineer item that you can wrap robot limbs around and turn into a Portal robot become immediately apparent. Once the Sentry was gone, there isn't a single shape that fits the bill the same way. Maybe I'm too structured in my thinking, but the dispenser's boxy shape just doesn't work.

 Use the comments to tell me what you think. Make suggestions! This guy's design is bugging me, and not just because I was really lazy while throwing together his limbs. Is there a more iconic engineer shape you would recommend, or some other thing I should use?

Turtle Bay

Turtle Bay is variation on a TF2 map I've wanted to develop for quite some time. Basically, it's a map that's a little more dynamic and exciting in the way new paths open up and such. For now, I think Special Delivery or CTF would be the best game modes to express it.

Thematically, it's meant to be the factory where the Engineer manufactures his weapons. Now obviously, he designs all the buildings, and he builds them in the field. Video games tend to use visual shorthand to convey actions: the engineer hitting his sentry with a wrench isn't really him fixing it by dumbly bludgeoning it, it's meant to subtly convey the act of repairing a building. In the same vein, you might expect that the automated build process stands in for a complicated deployment stage where a team of engineers painstakingly assemble a sentry like an IKEA bookshelf, but I prefer to interpret the automated deployment literally.

If that's the case, then the Engineer must have a facility that exists to supply him with those toolboxes, where he keeps the workshop seen in The Engineer Teaser and tests out elaborate weapons. I also thought it could double as an experimental weapons laboratory for a Mann Co competitor.

The Map's Gameplay Aesthetic

First of all, the Intel points in Turtle Bay are different than other maps (where they are the same). The intel is located near a pick-up truck with its bed full of suitcases. The potential problem, obviously, is that a bed full of intel briefcases might confuse players entering the intel room, so a spotlight would shine on the truck while the intel is there, and go off while the "active" intel is gone. If this proves to be too confusing the intel pickup could be altered to a single briefcase, with the truck moved out-of-bounds.

There are then three drop-off zones, themed around different rewards for intel and showcasing a large engineer weapon that supplies the reward. Get three caps in any zone to win--or mix and match! The first Zone might be the Critical Hits zone, where a generator-sized object that looks like an engineer building crossed with the kritzkrieg and a fire hydrant lives. Supply it with Australium to get crits for ten seconds. Although each dropoff zone is different, ideally one would be my long-lost Intel Repository, with its huge stack of briefcases. Awesome, right?

Other zone ideas:
New spawn areas

New Paths
-- moving a train to complete a hallway
--blowing up a wall
--rising elevator platform
--drain/flood section of map

Map-hazard special sentry guns
--fire
--ceiling mounted
--aerial bombardment
--electricity pylons

Grants access to "bonus zones"
--vending machine with candy bar healthkit
--access to additional ammo or health

Deactivates enemy map bonuses?

Engineer Buildings Contest

So I think the Engineer could build stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. So over at SPUF, I threw together a sort of contest for people to describe and design buildings for the Engineer to design. See, the thing is that a lot of people have ideas about what the engineer would design but no idea what it would really look like. One of the most prolific designers of Engineer weapons, Pyanodon, is a fantastic and creative modeler but I thin that everything he designs is more suited to Doctor Robotnik than the Engineer.

So I want people to design things that the engineer would build. Even if they're ultimately unusable for the game, it'd be fun to see what people come up with.

So to start it off, I created the Uber Generator, a machine that builds uber. This isn't the finalized design, as it's too boring and the silhouette looks too much like the Dispenser (which is intentional, since it was meant to be a retrofitted dispenser originally).

The Injury Update!

Now for a fake update about being wounded!

The Scout

The Big Hurt

Level ouch scattergun

Painslayers

Level 1 Painkillers (secondary)

While in use, heals the scout for 30HP and kills ramp-up on incoming damage for ten seconds.

While worn, the scout cannot be overhealed.

Tiny Tim

Level 1 Crutch (melee)

Improves returns from health kits by 15%.

-50% Damage

Hat: The Baseball Bill's Sports Shiner (a black eye)

The Soldier

The Tenderfoot

Level 5 Leg Casts

Deals damage to anyone within ~40HVU upon landing a rocket jump (groundpound)

+10% self-damage

Hat: The Spirit of 76 /The Hedwound

A stylish head-bandage recalling a famous painting by the same name

The Pyro

Another Burn Ward

Level 10 Flamethrower

Wearer shares any healing his victim gets until the fire is extinguished.

The Mental Exercise

Level 10 Imaginary Axe

party blowers and confetti on kill

Hat: The Invisible Person

A well-bandaged head in two styles!

The Demoman

The Hurt Launcher

Level 2 Grenade Launcher

The Company Health Plan

Tier 3 Scotch

Self-damage heals over time

+10% bullet vulnerability

Hat: The Double Eyepatch

Vision is for menn who don't rely on skill

The Heavy

The Medkit

Sandvich reskin

The Reverse Heimlich Maneuver

On kill: allows you to throw enemy ragdoll at opponents

-25% attack speed

Hat: The Sour Tooth

A toothache wrap

The Engineer

Sorry, Engineer fans!

The Medic

The Blood Drive

Level 10 Syringe Gun

Allows the medic to earn ubercharge for nearby non-medigun healing

-25% damage

The Suppository

Level Cough Bonesaw

Crits from behind

-50% base damage

this is a joke

Hat: Surgeon's cap

The Sniper

The Lobotomy

Level 5 Sniper Rifle

Pierces targets

+.5s charge time

Sample Seven

Level 2 Urine Joke

Splashed allies earn temporary health regen

Hat: The Reminder

Bandage over cheek-scar, numerous additional bandages on face

The Spy

Insurance Fraud

Level 5 Sapper Replacement

"Sapped" enemies share 10% of their healing with you

Surgical-Grade

Level 2 Scalpel

Hat: The Sympathy Solicitor

A neck brace

The Engineer:

Unlike Valve, I was kidding before.

The Workplace Accident

Level 3 Nailgun

Minicrits on headshots

-25% Damage

-50% Clip

The Quarpal Tunneler

Level 2 Right-hand cast

Allows engineers to walk through their buildings

-25% swing speed

Hat: The Clumsy Carpenter

A cracked version of the standard hardhat with nails in it