Engineer Strategy Dicussion

[Kadreal]

I especially love landing a hit, waiting for them to have either extinguished it or half-extinguished it (chem spray) and then land the second hit.

Cept if he is using chem spray to put it out, you can't relight it.

I prefer Chem myself, since it is pretty easy to give a quick puff of chem when running a repair round. Also when the gunners see that fire boat coming, quick puff on the hull and balloon and we're basically set. The other components don't get set on fire too often. We played a game against a dual flamer Pyramid and he basically couldn't hurt us. Engineer ran repairs rounds following the mallet up with a quick chem puff and gungineer could puff the balloon between reloads. I felt bad for them.

[Sammy B. T.]

On my Junker I have my primary engineer bring the chem spray as he is more likely to be sitting on it as he has only two components to worry about (front gun and armor). However, my back engineer carries fire extinguisher because he is in charge of five components (2 turn engines, 1 balloon, 2 guns). It is unlikely he would be able to make sure everything is chemed.

Basically
If you will be able to work ahead, bring chem.
If you will have to catch up, bring fire ext.

[N-Sunderland]

I especially love landing a hit, waiting for them to have either extinguished it or half-extinguished it (chem spray) and then land the second hit.

Cept if he is using chem spray to put it out, you can't relight it.

Hence the use of the term "half-extinguished".

[N-Sunderland]

Next topic of discussion!

In what cases is a buff engineer viable (there are some obvious ones, and some debatable ones). Of those, when should you go wrench/buff/extinguisher, and when should you go mallet/spanner/buff?

I'll let others start discussing before I post my opinion.

[Machiavelliest]

I always bring an extinguisher because I expect the gunner to rebuild his own gun.  The reduced performance of components makes letting them die not an option, to me.

[Mill Wilkinson]

As a gunner I brought a mallet with me, which is retarded if you want to actually shoot the gun relatively quickly after it being shot apart, before switching to using a wrench for aforementioned reason. I have to trust myself being capable to repair the guns myself, as the engies are usually neck-deep in other stuff after a barrage.
As an engineer I go for Mallet/spanner/extinguisher (since I've played so little) because I usually do not know if the other engineer has the capability to put out fires. If the other one has the same loadout, no problem because that combo works for two engineers. If the other engineer has something akin to a spanner/buff/mallet or freakish buff/mallet/extinguisher I can still keep most of the ship running.

The question what loadout to take is only for the situation when you know the other engineer and can discuss which one specs for buffing and who carries the extinguisher. Usually you have to carry stuff that makes you self-sufficient.

[natethemagician]

As an engineer I go for Mallet/spanner/extinguisher (since I've played so little) because I usually do not know if the other engineer has the capability to put out fires. If the other one has the same loadout, no problem because that combo works for two engineers. If the other engineer has something akin to a spanner/buff/mallet or freakish buff/mallet/extinguisher I can still keep most of the ship running.

What I do is ask the other engi, or engis what there load out is before hand. This way I can set my load out to balance or compensate for what the other lacks. Though as a good rule of thumb a basic and idea load out for a new, or even experienced player is mallet/spanner/chem spray OR extinguisher. However, a decent load out with a little practice that I would recommend for gungineers particularly is wrench/buff hammer/chem spray. This combination works well as general use, have managed it and even preferred it on certain ships like the squid. Mostly though it is important to communicate with your teammates and captain as to what is necessary to bring and do. Just my two-cents.

[lukethepug]

A little thing that i've been practicing, is hitting the hull, starting the repair CD then chem spraying the shit out of it, it puts the fire out without starting a cooldown

[natethemagician]

A little thing that i've been practicing, is hitting the hull, starting the repair CD then chem spraying the shit out of it, it puts the fire out without starting a cooldown

That's a neat little trick, I do that too. Didn't even think to mention it but that's good advice to anybody who didn't know it.

[N-Sunderland]

A little thing that i've been practicing, is hitting the hull, starting the repair CD then chem spraying the shit out of it, it puts the fire out without starting a cooldown

This often makes the difference between death and survival. When I see somebody extinguishing without fixing, all I can do is stare in horror.

[Mill Wilkinson]

A little thing that i've been practicing, is hitting the hull, starting the repair CD then chem spraying the shit out of it, it puts the fire out without starting a cooldown

This often makes the difference between death and survival. When I see somebody extinguishing without fixing, all I can do is stare in horror.

Thank you for the tip and shame of not noticing it already. xD

[naufrago]

That's always confused me- why does extinguishing start a cooldown where you can't repair? I can understand a cooldown where you can't extinguish again, but extinguishers initiating a repair cooldown is unduly frustrating in cases of new/bad engineers, AI engis DOOMING US ALL, and lag (occasionally I'll hit a part to repair it, then immediately after spray it with an extinguisher. For whatever reason, the repair may not register, but the extinguisher does, meaning I'm probably dead).

It just doesn't make sense that I can repair then extinguish, but not extinguish then repair. It actually seems more intuitive to extinguish then repair since the part will be at full health afterwards (doing it the other way around means the fire will probably damage it a little, so it'll be less than full health afterwards). You could argue that it's something you should know if you're any good, but nowhere does it tell you that or explain why it's even a thing. You have to discover it for yourself or wait for someone to eventually tell you why you're terribad.