Buildings
| “ | Heavy load comin' through!
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— The Engineer
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Buildings are machines that can be constructed by the Engineer using his Build Tool. The five available buildings are:
Contents
Buildings
Engineers require Metal to create, upgrade and repair buildings.
Like players, buildings have health, and are destroyed when their health is reduced to zero (see Destruction below). A building can be deliberately destroyed by using the Destroy Menu. Buildings capable of being upgraded receive an additional 20% to their health each time they are upgraded. Critical hits do not cause extra damage to buildings. Weapons also do not suffer from damage drop off on buildings; regardless of distance, every hit does the same amount of damage (excluding splash damage). Buildings have visual effects to indicate their damage; slightly damaged buildings will emit smoke and sparks, and severely damaged buildings will appear to be on fire. The Spy can disable and slowly damage buildings over time using his Electro Sapper. The Demolish Tool cannot be used to destroy buildings that are in the process of being sapped.
Buildings are erected automatically after being deployed, but can be built twice as fast by hitting them repeatedly with the Engineer's Wrench during construction and a further 30% faster by having the Jag as your Wrench. Having more than one Engineer hitting a building under construction stacks the effect. Demolishing unused buildings is useful for recollecting metal, as they will explode into broken metal pieces upon destruction.
Once a standard Sentry Gun, Dispenser, or Teleporter has been completely built, the Engineer can spend metal to repair, resupply, and upgrade them by hitting them again with his Wrench. Metal priority goes to repair first, then to resupply, and finally to upgrades, with limits to how much metal can go into each task with each strike of the Wrench. You also use the Wrench to clear your buildings of Electro Sappers; they take two hits to remove. Friendly Pyros wielding Homewreckers can remove Sappers with a single hit.
All buildings are able to be walked through by an Engineer's teammates, however, they will act solid towards the Engineer himself, allowing him to stand on top of his own buildings. Buildings also act solid for enemies, including enemy Spies. In water, buildings function normally; however, a Sentry Gun that is fully immersed in water will not target enemies that are on dry land, and vice versa.
Specifications
| Building Type | Build Time (First spawn) |
Build Time (First spawn + Melee attack) |
Build Time (First spawn + Jag attack) |
Build Time (Redeployed) |
Build Time (Redeployed + Melee attack) |
Cost in Metal | Health Points | Scrap Metal when destroyed | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentry Gun | Regular | 10.5 | 5.5 | 4.75 | 5.3 | 3 | 130 | 200 to upgrade | 150
(*450) |
180
(*540) |
216
(*648) |
60 |
| Combat Mini | 2.9 | 2.9 | N/A | 1.5 | 1.5 | 100 | 100 (*300) | 28 | ||||
| Dispenser | 21 | 11 | 9.5 | 10.6 | 6 | 100 | 200 to upgrade | 150 | 180 | 216 | 50 | |
| Teleporter | 21 | 11 | 9.5 | 10.6 | 6 | 125 | 200 to upgrade | 150 | 180 | 216 | 60 | |
Note: All build time is in seconds. Levels 2 and 3 Sentry Gun build times are longer because upgrade animations cannot be skipped or hastened.
(*) Health of the Sentry Gun when in use with the Wrangler.
HUD
The Building HUD provides at-a-glance information on the Engineer's buildings and any enemy Spy's Electro Sappers. The status of different aspects of the building is indicated by an icon.
| Icon | Description |
|---|---|
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A number indicating the number of kills a sentry has followed by the number of assists in brackets (Sentry Guns only). |
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An indicator bar representing the percentage left of ammunition (Sentry Gun) or metal reserves (Dispenser). |
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An indicator bar representing the percentage of the building upgrade progress (Levels 1 and 2 only). |
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An indicator bar representing the percentage left of rocket reserves (Level 3 Sentry only). |
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A number indicating the number of teleports a Teleporter entrance has provided. Transforms to a recharge progress bar after a teleport. |
Hauling
Buildings can be packed up and moved by their owners by pressing the alternate fire button while looking at and standing next to them. The operation is instantaneous, and the Engineer will appear carrying the building's toolbox on his shoulder to all players, while from his first-person perspective he will still carry the toolbox as a normal building construction. Damaged buildings can be packed up, but not those currently under the Electro Sapper's effect. A building is capable of being hauled when a gray tab is displayed alongside the building's name on the interface (see right). In addition to an icon for the building and a hand, the tab also displays which which key or mouse button alternate fire is currently bound to.
It's possible to haul a maximum of one building at a time, and doing so will sensibly reduce the Engineer speed to 75% (225v), slightly slower than a Heavy, regardless of type and/or level of the building. Additionally, the Engineer won't be able to switch to any weapon or item until the building is redeployed. It's still possible to use his own Teleporters (unless he is hauling the entrance or exit to his own Teleporters) and those of friendly Engineers.
While hauling a building if the Engineer is killed the building is destroyed along with him. A special kill icon representing a toolbox will be shown alongside the Engineer's.
Redeploying a building is similar to a normal construction, except that the building will construct itself at twice the normal rate, and the Engineer can still speed up the process even further. Higher level buildings will have to cycle through all their upgrade animations before becoming operative, and cannot be packed up again until ready. Damaged buildings retain their health at the moment they were packed, and also cannot be repaired until operative again.
The three phases of building redeployment (packing, hauling and redeploying), are accompanied by specific responses.
This mechanic allows for redeployment without having to completely reconstruct the building, thus saving metal and time, and also preserving any score tallies a building may have.
Destruction
A building can be by destroyed by his owner using the Demolish Tool or by an enemy using any weapon, including the Electro Sapper. A building can also be destroyed if an Engineer is carrying a building and a player kills the Engineer. A destruction is worth one point to the destroyer and is recorded on the player's scoreboard. A destruction cannot be assisted, unless the building has been sapped previously by a Spy; the Spy will then be awarded the assist point.
Destruction points cannot be awarded to Engineers who destroy their own buildings. Furthermore, destructions will not count during the Setup Phase. However the destruction still occurs in game, and any associated effects, such as Frontier Justice's Revenge Crits, are triggered.
When a building is destroyed, the Engineer responds with one of three responses, alerting his nearby teammates.
Demonstration
Related Achievements
General
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Scout
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Soldier
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Pyro
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Demoman
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Heavy
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Engineer
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Medic
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Sniper
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Spy
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Update history
- Fixed Sentry muzzleflashes not drawing unless sentry was near the map origin.
- Fixed bug with placement of Teleporters that could result in players being unable to move.
- Demomen grenades now collide with players and Engineer buildings after the first bounce, but still won't explode on contact
- Engineer buildings now explode when the Engineer dies during sudden death.
- Fixed scoring problem where destroying a buildable added a phantom point, not attributed to any scoring bucket but still included in total score
- Fixed some edge cases where grenades could go through player or buildings
- The Engineer's "build X" commands will now behave properly when bound directly to keys
- Fixed a bug in scoring Engineer building destruction.
- Engineers no longer earn points for using their own Teleporters
- Fixed exploit that allowed players to teleport with the intelligence
- Fixed building bone merge cache from dormant entities. Fixes weapons in SourceTV attached to wrong bones
- Sapped buildings now take slightly less damage from the Spy who sapped them.
- Fixed the teleporter's player shaped particles not drawing.
- Added server log entry for buildings destroyed by their owner
- Fixed Sentry Gun shadows being clipped
- Changed Engineer buildings to detonate when a player disconnects instead of blinking out.
- Fixed Engineer being able to detonate buildings that are being sapped.
- Fixed potential client crash for players being healed by a Medic or Dispenser
April 29, 2008 Patch (Gold Rush Update)
- Teleporter effect no longer shows up on invisible or disguised Spies.
- Fixed "times used" entry in Teleporters maxing out at 32.
- Mapmakers can now place Engineer buildings directly into a map, with an option for them to be invulnerable
- Teleporters can now be upgraded to level three. It will recharge faster the higher level it is.
- The Engineer's Dispensers can now be upgraded to level three. It will give out metal and heal faster as it is upgraded
- Added teleporter sounds for level 2 and 3 Teleporters.
- Fixed teleporter entrance/exit effects being drawn when they don't have a matching teleporter entrance/exit.
February 24, 2009 Patch (The Scout Update)
- Added new sounds for upgraded Teleporters.
May 21, 2009 Patch (Sniper vs. Spy Update)
- Spies can now use enemy Teleporters
- Fixed Spies not being telefragged when standing on an enemy teleporter exit with the Dead Ringer enabled.
- Fixed Teleporters not being buildable in some places where they should be (such as within the pit at the end of Badwater Basin).
August 13, 2009 Patch (Classless Update)
- Fixed Sentry Guns firing at a fully cloaked Spy if they're still the closest target.
- Engineers wrenching a teleporter will repair the other pdend as well, and remove Sappers from both if they exist.
- Fixed being able to burn buildings that are in the water while standing outside the water.
- Fixed teleporting Spies getting stuck in enemy players standing on the exit.
- Fixed server log not listing telefrag kills as weapon "telefrag".
- Killing yourself with your own Sentry Gun no longer increments the Sentry Gun's kill counter.
April 29, 2010 Patch (119th Update)
- Fixed Teleporters not reverting to level 1 when their other side is destroyed.
- Fixed Teleporter exit using the wrong particle effect.
- Fixed the Engineer being able to build more than 1 of each type of building.
July 8, 2010 Patch (Engineer Update)
- Engineers can now pickup & move their buildings.
- Fixed a server crash related to carrying buildings.
- 'Wrenching' a Sentry Gun now upgrades, repairs and restores ammunition all at once per Wrench hit, prioritizing repairs and upgrading if not in possession of enough metal.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed Engineers to build level 2/3 mini Sentry Guns.
- Fixed a bug that allowed sapped buildings to be picked up by the Engineer
- Fixed a bug where Wrangled level 3 Sentry Guns would still fire rockets when they were out of ammo.
- Fixed a bug where players would go into reference poses when switching classes while carrying a building.
- Engineers can no longer pick up buildings while stunned or in loser state.
- Fixed an issue where Wrangled sentrygun effects wouldn't be attached to the sentrygun.
- Fixed a server crash in the player death code, related to building carrying.
- Fixed a server crash related to carrying buildings at round start.
- Fixed players picking up buildings before a round has started.
- Fixed an exploit where Engineers could create level 3 Mini-Sentry Guns.
- Fixed a problem with not being able to pick-up buildings in Arena mode.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed team kills with Wrangled Sentry Guns.
- Fixed a bug where Teleporters could be given more than their normal amount of health.
- Fixed a Sentry Gun exploit that let Engineers build multiple Sentry Guns.
- Fixed Engineers being able to build level 3 mini-Sentry Guns using the Wrangler.
- Fixed another Sentry Gun exploit that let Engineers build multiple Sentry Guns.
- Fixed Engineers being able to build level 3 Mini-Sentry Guns using the Wrangler for real this time.
- Fixed Engineers being able to destroy sapped buildings by issuing the command directly in the console.
- Added the mini-sentry kill icon.
- [Undocumented] Several particle effects, including critical rockets, pipes, and stickies, were altered to appear brighter. These changes do not apply to ATi graphics card users and some others.
- Fixed the Best Little Slaughterhouse in Texas achievement not counting Wrangler and Mini-Sentry kills.
Bugs
- A redeployed level 2 or level 3 Sentry Gun will attempt to target enemy players at the brief instant between reaching a level and starting the animation to upgrade to the next.
- Engineers who taunt in front of a building and immediately pick it up will be able to walk around with an invisible toolbox. While doing so, they are able to attack with the current melee weapon equipped.
Trivia
- The Repair Node was a building that was considered as an addition for the Engineer Update but was scrapped during development.
Gallery
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Related images: |
Sentry Gun (Level 1)
Sentry Gun (Level 2)
Sentry Gun (Level 3)
Dispenser (Level 1)
Dispenser (Level 2)
Dispenser (Level 3)
Teleporter: Side view
Hauling a building
