The Engineer Class: Engineers in my
opinion are the most
effective defensive class in
Team Fortress. They can
build dispensers and sentry guns, which can both be used to give them a great
advantage. The engineer's personal
armament consists of the spanner, the railgun, the super-shotgun, the hand grenade, and the EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) grenade. They have a
maximum health of 80% and 50 armor. Their main
function on the team is to defend against the
enemy.
The Build Command: The build command is the engineer's special ability which makes him such an effective class. Engineers can build dispensers and sentry guns. To build, you need to bind it to a key on your keyboard. To bind it to a key, pull down the console and type "bind build". Use any key you want in place of "". When you use the build command, you have 3 choices: 1, build a dispenser; 2, build a sentry gun; 3, build nothing. In order to build either the dispenser or the sentry gun, you need cells for you spanner. 200 is the maximum amount of cells you can carry, and they allow you to build and repair your equipment with your spanner.
The Dispenser: The engineer's dispenser has a multi-purpose use; supplying your team, obstructing doorways, and as a weapon. You can build a dispenser anywhere you want for any of its uses. Its primary use is to supply your team with ammo and armor when they use it. If you want to use it for this, put it somewhere near your respawn, or a common place where your teamates pass by and can have easy access to its contents. You may also want to put it somewhere near your sentry gun so you have easy access to supply your sentry with ammo when it needs it. For obstructing doorways and small passages, the dispenser works great, but only in small or narrow passages. If you put it in just the right place, the enemy won't be able to get around it, they will need to destroy it first. That means they need to use their ammo to do it, draining some of their supply. Now, the dispenser as a weapon is very effective. It has a bigger blast radius than a grenade when it explodes. For a fast and effective way to detonate your dispenser, you need another bind. In the console type "bind detdispenser", use any key you want in place of "". Now when you hit that key, your dispenser will explode like a grenade, but with a bigger radius. For the dispenser to be a reliable bomb, you need to be able to see it and any enemy that is close to it so you know when to detonate it. Another way to know when an enemy is close to it is when you see text pop up on your screen which reads "Enemies Are Using Your Dispenser!". When you see this, the opponent is taking ammo from it which means he is right next to it, this is the perfect time to detonate it, inflicting the most damage possible.
The Sentry Gun: The sentry gun is the engineers most valuble weapon. It uses shells and rockets for ammo and can be upgraded two times to hold more ammo and recieve more health. Sentries have 3 levels; level one is one that was just built, level two has been upgraded once and holds more ammo and has more health than level one, level three has been upgraded twice and holds more ammo and has more health than level two. In order to upgrade a sentry, you need to hit it with your spanner (the axe). A menu with six options will pop up on the screen: 1, Put Ammo In Sentry; 2, Upgrade Sentry; 3, Repair Sentry; 4, Dismantle Sentry; 5, Nothing; 6, Rotate Sentry. Then choose number two, your sentry will be upgraded if you have enough cells and it isn't already level three. After you have upgraded you need to put more ammo into it, as much as it can hold. When your sentry is damaged, it is top priority that you repair it immediatly. It doesn't matter if you get killed when you repair your sentry, because you can respawn immediatly and get back into the action. However, if your sentry is destroyed, it needs to be rebuilt and upgraded, which takes a considerable amount of time. To repair your gun, just hit it with your spanner and choose 3 from the menu, make sure you have cells to repair it with though. If you want to move your sentry to a different place, you can dismantle it with option 4, then rebuild where you like. Since the sentry gun only sweeps 45 degrees at a time, it can't always cover a full 360 degree range, this is where rotating your sentry comes into play. After you build your sentry, you want to rotate it so it is pointing and sweeping in the right direction, otherwise it might not see and shoot the enemy. Where you place your gun will have an effect on its usefullness. Try to find dark spots to build it, so it won't be spotted as easily if it were in the light. Try and always put it on an elevated platform above where the opponent comes into contact with it, this will raise its chances of killing the enemy before he kills the sentry. Also build it close to walls or in corners so its maximum effectiveness is reached in a single room. If you place it in the middle of the room, it will only hit what it sees in front of it, and players behind it can attack it or get by unharmed. When it is placed in a corner or against a wall, it can sweep the whole room, not just a small section of it.