The Engineer Update

[azath]

I guess that all sounds balanced. Spies are still going to be the biggest vulnerability.... you can quickly take down bad spies now, but a good spy would be invisible until right on top of the defenseless engineer/gun. I wonder how easy it will be to aim the gun straight up.

I don't think I've seen many guns run out of ammo, maybe you've got enough to pull some crazy random checking.

The roaming aspect is intriguing, given that now you can leave your gun behind, but take control if there is trouble, though leaving yourself vulnerable.

[Edison W.]

www.teamfortress.com/engineerupdate/engineer_photos/

It's like a Toolbox of Holding!

[FadedOasis]

Remember how I said Drunken F00l got a wrench?

He was just VAC banned.

His profile: steamcommunity.com/id/df
His backpack. Notice the lack of Golden Wrench: www.tf2items.com/id/df

Basically, he figured out when the next wrench would drop (thanks to a leak of information) and set up a script to automatically craft at that time.

[FadedOasis]

I'm breaking my "No speculation" rule, but only because this is the best speculation I have ever seen.

Gentlemen, I believe I have figured out what the Engineer's final unlockable is going to be. We've already seen the portable sentries, but such a thing alone isn't worthy of a grand finale. I believe we're going to get something much more significant.

To solve this riddle, the first thing we must realize is that we are being misled by Radigan's designs. Most of us are expecting the finale to be Radigan's masterpiece - his absolute greatest creation. But look at the most recent reveal: Dell has cleared off his drawing board, and gotten his pencils ready. Clearly, he's found some inspiration, and is preparing to invent something himself. The final unlock will be Dell's own invention.

The next step is to figure out where Dell is getting his inspiration from. Perhaps it's the old drawing of the Gatling gun? Or maybe the sketch of what looks like a sentry hat? No, only an amateur would think any of those to be possible sources of inspiration. The reason we can so easily rule them out is obvious: he's covered them up with other papers! Clearly, he would want his inspiration to be easy to look at for reference while he works. And that's the trick to this riddle: his inspiration is right there, in plain sight, and yet it's been something we've overlooked the entire time.

Dell, along with the rest of BLU, has received two new missions. I am referring, of course, to Upward and Hightower. Dell's posted the photos of these maps over the other things on his wall for a very obvious reason: he's designing a machine specifically tailored for these two missions.

Now, let's look at the two maps and see what they have in common. They're both payload maps, and as usual, BLU is on offense, attempting to destroy one of RED's bases. However, something makes these maps unique: in both cases, BLU is fighting what is quite literally an uphill battle. For Upward and Hightower, the mission is to descend from the spawn near the base of the map, and nuke the objective at the summit. Indeed, height and ascension are such key aspects of these maps that they've even been given names that refer to them.

For the final piece of the puzzle, we mustn't forget that many previous unlocks have been shown to the community as part of videos or hidden pages. It's quite likely that the final Engineer unlock has already been shown to us, and we just don't realize it yet.

So, let's recap. If my theory is correct, Dell is specifically creating a machine for use in two missions, both of which involve starting at the bottom of a map, and ascending to the top, and said machine has likely already been shown to us in a previous update.

What sort of machine have we already seen, that is specifically designed for ascension?

See figure 1.

(From Pufflekun on reddit)

[phevnil]

Hey, I just saw this. I guess I was right when I guessed he would get a shoulder-carried tool box for moving buildings.

[brianblack]

They better not do that.

[scrambles]

I'll just leave this here.

Also mini speculation: I think that Dell will get the ability to move sentries, but ALSO a 3'rd perhaps (crosses fingers) 4'th unlock. I'm guessing the PDQ + a new mystery building, some kind of building that makes the Engineer more mobile -- hopefully the wisdom of Reddit will come through and prove to be correct.

[brianblack]

3 more to go. Will the update come out with the last reveal, or will it be another late night affair? We will soon know.

[scrambles]

UGH 98, soo close! I'll prob be in class when the update finally hits the fan tonight. Damn my overachieving...

also, this:
www.teamfortress.com/engineerupdate/handyman/

edit: 99!!!!!

[brianblack]

Faded, after playing last night, I concede that they did the mobile sentry business proper. It really does allow the engy more versatility without just turning into a glorified heavy. The risk involved makes it interesting.

[brianblack]

Also, mini-sentries- hilarious griefing machine. Getting chased? Run away, turn a corner, throw one down. Turn another corner, throw another down and flank! Enemy faces SO MANY SENTRIES and dies shamed. Ask Jamez, it works frustratingly well.

[FadedOasis]

Quick reminder: Many golden wrenches will be deleted TONIGHT, shortly after 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific.

www.toptiertactics.com/2010/08/final-reminder-golden-charity-finale-stream/

I really don't plan on watching the stream, I plan on playing TF2.