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Team Fortress 2 – Engineer Guide.

By Xander77 ([email protected])

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Xander77/stats/TF2

Version 0.5 (01.04.08. Beta. Testing, testing…)

Table of contents (ctrl+f to skip to a certain section):

Section 1 – The introduction. Self explanatory.
Section 2 – Weapons breakdown. Includes mechanics, uses, and all sorts of info
about the buildings, including both technical stuff and useful advice.
Section 3 – General Overview. How to play engie.
Section 4 – Engie matchups. The engie vs. another class - analysis and advice.
Section 5 – Map specific strategies 
Section 6 – FAQ
Section 7 – Thanks for all the fish.
 
Section 1
The engie is an interesting class. Well, that much is obvious, otherwise I 
wouldn’t be writing this guide, right? 
All classes are in TF2 are interesting in one way or another, none being a 
straight up generic fps class…

Ok, let’s try this one again. Except for the spy, the engie is the class 
that requires the most thought to play properly. 
For the most part, engie play is not less about reflexes than it is about 
strategic planning, adjusting to the situation and utilizing all your 
resources.You are your teams main support character (literally, you support 
the team. Sorry if someone has a different definition of what the term means).
Your buildings stop enemy advances, heal and replenish ammo, and bring 
reinforcements to the battlefield. If the medic has the frequently thankless 
but vital job of keeping the team alive,you have the safer, more comfortable,
and often more rewarding job of taking care of all the teams needs – and if 
you do it right, you can get quite a few points in the process as well - 
after the medic, the engie is the easiest class to tally up points with. 

This is not an “elite” strategy guide. I’m certain there are engies out 
therewho are perfectly capable of destroying medic/heavy combos with 
the pistol and get 30 kills per sentry placement. If you are one of 
these engies, and feel the need to ridicule my conservative strategies… 
well, don’t.If you have genuinely decent tips and tricks however, feel 
free to email me,and I’ll update this guide. 
However, if you follow the guide you can be an engineer that is far better
than most wannabees out there, as well as a valuable asset to your team. 

I’ll assume you have some basic knowledge of the game, and I don’t need to 
explain what “metal” “damage” or "weapon slot" is. 


Section 2
The engie has 5 weapon slots. Let’s see what you can do with each.

1. The shotgun. Damage output:
•	Point Blank: 80-90 
o	Critical Hit: 180 
•	Medium Range: 10-30 
•	Long Range: 3-10 
Holds 6 shells, has a 32 shell reserve.
Quite frankly, the shotgun is arguably the worst primary weapon in the game. 
It fires slowly, reloads slowly, the damage drops off dramatically over 
range and it’s not very accurate.
ANYONE that isn’t already weakened and/or ambushed by you 
can and will outgun you. 
A spy's revolver is slightly weaker at point blank range 
(though still a lot faster,so it evens out) but outclasses the shotgun by far
atmedium range and farther. Revolvers also crit regularly, while the shotguns 
critratio is just depressing, and since the slugs scatter at range, is unlikely
to pack the same punch. In short, Valve has given you a sentry for a reason. 
Using the shotgun as your main way to kill people is not the smart thing to do.

2. The pistol. Damage:
•	Point Blank: 20-22 
o	Critical Hit: 45 
•	Medium Range: 10-15 
•	Long Range: 8-9 
12 shots in a clip 200 (!) in reserve. 
As you can see, it will take some luck and patience to kill anyone
with the pistol. However, due to the fact that you have so many shots,
it’s a prime spamming weapon, particularly over long distances.
If no snipers are around to spoil your fun, you can chip away at any enemy's 
health – it will distract them from your other teammates, it will make them 
easier to kill, and you may get some sweet assist points. If no enemies are 
around, spam your teammates. 
The shotgun is just too slow to spycheck EVERYONE, so you should wait until
someone approaches your gear/acts suspiciously before unloading with that.
A few pistol rounds can make a spy easier to kill, kill him 
(if you’re very lucky) or cause him to panic. 
You can even uncover the occasional cloaked spy with a pistol shot.

3. The wrench. Primarily used to whack your buildings so that they construct 
faster,repair damage to buildings and knock off sappers, it also doubles as
a melee weapon. 
Damage:
•	Point Blank: 45-85 
o	Critical Hit: 195 
It’s decent at killing spies who are sapping your stuff when you’re out of 
ammo. Note that the game gives a priority to fixing your buildings over 
hitting people, so if the spy is reasonably close to a buildings/crouching on 
one,your swings may not go where you want them to. Also, there's the ever 
present danger of running into a face stab.

4. The construction pad. As I’ve pointed out above, your “main” weapons 
aren’t all that good. 
You don’t have a lot of outright damage potential, and with your 125 health,
you’re very squishy. 
So why is a good engie more of a threat to the enemy /help to the team
than a single heavy,demo or soldier? 
Because of his buildings. 
The sentry is your sword, the dispenser is your armor, and the teleport is 
your horn, which (if you're not stupid enough to ignore your teammates 
"build a tp plz, engies" request three times) will bring a pissed-off pyro 
into your enemies midst. 
Each building is vital, and you would do well to neglect none of them. 

Dispensers take 20 seconds to build. Sentries and teleports take 10. 
All construction time is cut in half if you hit the building with a wrench 
asit is being built. If more than one engie is working on the same building,
the effects on building speed stack. A dispenser takes 100 metal to place,
a teleport 125 metal, and a sentry takes 130. A destroyed building leaves 
behind 60 metal, except for the dispenser, which leaves 50. 
Every building can be rotated while in the “planning” stage by right
clicking. Useful forwedging buildings into corners and making sure people 
don’tface walls when they step out of teleporters. As buildings are initially
placed, they have very little health, and they get sturdier as they near 
completion. Teammates can pass through buildings, but you and enemies can't. 
Useful for building stuff to stand on, or to block certain places. 
Remember that dispensers can and will block a sentries view of an enemy.
Under certain circumstances you can stand on a dispenser and jump with the 
teleporter exit blueprints ready to place a teleporter in a normally 
inaccaessable location. This is useful to get to the top of B in gravelpit
and the back of C in the same. I'm aware of no other useful places 
at the moment

The first thing you should note about placing a sentry is that there’s an 
overlay of sorts over the world around when you bring up the sentry set up 
schematic. The sentry will not be able to see beyond the point where the 
overlay ends. You should try to place a sentry in such a position that there
are no spots from which an enemy can shoot your sentry, without the sentry 
shooting back at him. 
The next thing you should note when you place a sentry, is that it’s freaking
weak. 
A level 1 sentry has 150 health, and the damage it does is essentially 
like concentrated pistol fire – not quite enough to kill combat oriented
class before the class kills it. 
The level 1 turning speed is atrocious – a scout can easily circle-strafe it. 
It takes 200 metal and 10 seconds to update the sentry to level 2.  
A level 2 sentry has 180 health and is fairly capable of defending itself and
the engie.The turning speed still isn’t very good – a pyro can circle-strafe
the sentry if he surprises it and a spy can backstab the engie and sap the 
sentry long before it turns. Another 10 seconds and 200 metal, and you get the
level 3 sentry – which should be able to deal with pretty much anything other
than an uber / spy. It also turns fast enough to kill a spy that backstabbed
you, unless that spy is particularly skilled. When fixing your sentry gun, or
having to passin front of it for ANY reason, remember that your sentry's
shots harm you (and a level 3 sentry's rockets harm your teammates, but 
there’s little you can do about that). 

The things to remember about sentries are: placement. Ok, placementS. 
For the sentry, and for you. Ideally, your sentry should be placed 
in such a locationthat anyone who is able to damage it will be damaged 
in return, there are no blind spots or easy corners to strafe in and our of,
and even spies will have 
trouble getting to the sentry without being detected. Oh – and the location 
the sentry overlooks needs to be of importance to your team, and subject to
 attacks by the enemy. I shudder at the mere thought of how many useless 
engies decide to defend the first cap point in a defense map or their 
own spawn. 
Also, the sentry's location should allow you to place a dispenser nearby, 
out of the line of direct fire, and let you get ammo from the dispenser and 
whack at  the sentry to repair it while being protected from harm by the 
sentry absorbing all the nasty damage the enemies throw your way. The ideal 
sentry location is a long narrow tunnel, the end of which the sentry can JUST
see, with not alternate entrances. The sentry should be placed against a wall
if the enemy will come from the left, the sentry should be place against the 
left ditto for the right. 
Makes it less easy to duck in and out while shooting at it. I will discuss 
sentry placement on certain popular maps latter, and hopefully, you’ll be 
able toextrapolate the principles involved to custom maps.
Unless you have a supply of metal nearby and setting up a sentry is a prime 
priority, a dispenser should be the first thing you build. It will provide you
with metal and health. This is important and stuff. Allows you to build and 
upgrade buildings. The full dispenser holds 400 metal, and regenerates 40 
metalper 10 seconds. This means that you can build and upgrade all the 
buildingsyou as fast as you could possibly build and upgrade with a full 
dispenser’sreserves. A dispenser has only 100 health, which means that a fully
charged sniper shot, a couple of rockets, or a funny look by the enemy will 
destroy it. Keep your dispenser out of harms way. Note that enemy dispensers
replenish yourmetal – take advantage of this, and don’t blow up the enemy's 
dispenser right away (though some eager teammate will surely do it for you).
Dispensers can be used to block low/narrow spaces (like doors) to stop 
spies/enemies from getting through unless they destroy the dispenser. 
Also, you can stand on them to build/maintain stuff at different heights / 
be certain of blockingspies from entering certain locations. 

Teleports. A lot of bad, bad, horrible engies don’t bother to build teleports.
They have the sentry for killing people, and the dispenser for health and
 metal, and can conceive of no use for things that are more complicated in 
their usefulness than "hurt bad guy, heal me". Those engies are selfishly
 stupid,and are actively making their team perform worse than it should.
Teleports bring in reinforcements. Reinforcements that allow the team to
press on the attack, not lose any ground, and may very well save your ass 
from a determined coordinated assault. In certain cases, the engies MAIN 
contribution to the team is a teleporter, followed by a dispenser, 
followed by the sentry. 

A functioning teleporter entrance (one that has a matching exit) points
towards the exit. The exit points in the direction a player exiting the 
teleporterwill face. A teleporter takes 10 seconds to recharge between 
teleports.

The generally established teleporter protocol (i.e., who has first right to
the teleporter if the team has not communicated other arrangements) is: 
Engie (with the understanding that the engie will only use the teleporter 
if it is crucial he gets to his nest as fast as possible) 
Medic (as players will die if the medic is not on the front lines to heal them)
Heavy, Soldier, Demo, Sniper, Pyro. Spies and scouts should generally NOT use
the teleporter. A pyro should occasionally take the long way to the battle, 
to spycheck along the route.  

Uses for teleporters when the front lines are really too close to the spawn 
for the teleporter to do any good? For one thing, you could try to sneak
a teleporter behind the enemy lines (if on a map like 2fort or ctf well). 
Or you could just place a teleporter in a hidden spot while defending the first
point on a defense map. Both cases provide ample opportunity for sudden strikes
 from behind against unsuspecting enemies. However, you'll need a 
coordinated team if you don't want your teleporter found after the very first
 use, as a person using the teleporter has a sparkly trail indicating this
fact behind him for 13 seconds. Ironically, though spies generally shouldn't 
use teleporters for this reason, hidden teleports make getting behind the 
enemy lines easy, and a spy behind the enemy lines does not indicate a 
teleporter, provoking no search for one – making spies the perfect class 
to use such teleporters.
The teleporter can be placed in certain isolated places to be sapped by 
impatient spies, thus revealing the spies exact location to the team. 
Lastly, it can function as speed bump – making enemies (and friends) 
jump over it or destroy it before they can advance.    

Section 3: How to play the engie.
Know the level you're playing. Pay attention to your team and the enemy 
team disposition and methods of attack. This is nearly as important for a good
engie as it is for a good spy. Knowing the good sentry placements, the hidden
 places the put teleporters, the metal stashes and the routes to every point 
will seriously help improve your game. If your team's attacks are scattered,
 every guy going by a different route and not caring about the others, the safe
 place to build your nest is a bit farther behind the action than if your team
 was highly coordinated and the chances of massive enemy presence behind the
 main line were slim. If the enemy has a lot of demos, sentry gun placements
 should be scattered. If the enemy prefers to use ubers to deal with sentries, 
sentry farms are the way to go. If the "ideal" sentry spot is in fact ideal,
 guard it at all costs. If the enemy coordinates, improvises and pushes, moving
 the sentry around to confuse them may be a good idea. Overall, I'd advice 
"stick to a well built nest" on defense and ctf maps and be read to run back 
andforth, building and rebuilding on point contest maps. CP maps force you to 
improvise on the fly, but defense maps give you time to think. 
Generally speaking, when under heavy/constant attack (say, guarding a key
defensive position on dustbowl) you should be behind your sentry, watching for 
spies, ready to wrench it at a moments notice (however, do pay attention. 
Spies LOVE it when you're constantly crouched behind the sentry, wrenching it 
without bothering to look around. Gives them a chance to jump on your head, 
sap and backstab). If the attacks on your location are more sporadic, you
shouldbe patrolling the general area around your sentry, ready to fend off 
trouble, or fall back.
Cooperate with your fellow engies. Fix stuff for the other engie when he's dead
un-sap affected buildings, have one guy hunt a sap-spamming spy while the other 
un-saps the buildings… and most importantly, work together to erect vital 
buildings quicker. Two engies cooperating on a single sentry can erect a
level 3 in the time each one would only manage to halfway upgrade his level 1.
Vital when a defense level starts. Also, swap nests. Have each engie tend 
the others nest, as the buildings are no longer an obstacle. Nothing miffs a 
spy more than to see an engie barricaded behind his sentry pass THROUGH that 
sentry to wrench him in the face. Oh and NEVER, EVER, EVER be the dick that 
uses another engies dispenser to build his stuff, without ever bothering to 
erect a dispenser on his own. That's just stupid. Also, don't be the dick that
runs and grabs desperately needed metal from under another engies nose while 
ignoring metal you have right near you.
In general, mind the metal/resource management. For example, let's say you 
have 200 metal on you, a 200 metal ammo spawn and a 40 metal ammo spawn. 
To start a nest, you should build a dispenser, take the 40 ammo, build a sentry
take the 200 ammo, build a teleporter exit (or upgrade the sentry, if you're 
anticipating an attack). Most economic and fast way of doing things. Learn to 
make these sorts of calculations rapidly, and learn the locations 
of ammo spawns/etc. Getting your sentry to level 2 10 seconds earlier can 
sometimes prevent you from losing a match.One thing to remember about engie 
cooperation – you don't need a twin. Two soldiers standing at the same place, 
spamming rockets, are twice as effective. 
Ditto heavies, ditto demos, ditto whatnot (except for spies, who need a lot of
 practice to work in tandem). But having building all your shit in the same 
place as your fellow engies is bloody stupid. The only possible benefit you 
get from it is ruining certain ubers days with the combined knockback effect. 
On the other hand, you'll make some demomen VERY happy. So, simple rule of 
thumb, all sentries must be at least 3 meters apart.
Generally speaking, you shouldn't be running around with your shotgun, trying
to take down combat classes. Combat engies are even stupider than combat
medics, particularly combat engies that don't build/rebuild nests, running out
and trying to kill people with pistol shots instead. Still, if your nest 
is as close to the front lines as it can be and you have another engie tending
it / no one has bothered it for a while, you may go out looking for trouble.
Just, don't be too enthusiastic about it – nothing is more annoying than 
seeing a single spy demolish all you've created as you wait for a respawn after
a single crit grenade. BTW, if you don't have an established nest yet you can 
drop the sentry behind the corner in the middle of a fight, and either lure 
the enemy into an ambush, or force them to choose between shooting you and 
shooting the sentry.
Overall, due to your squishiness and crappy weaponry, you should use scout 
tactics – distract people from more threatening classes, harass them, flank 
(even you can be deadly when attacking from behind while a combat class 
occupies their attention) deal some damage and run away when they turn to 
you. Remember – you're SQUISHY. When needed, flank with your sentry – lure 
enemies into it, and make them choose between dealing with the sentry and 
killing you. Learn to identify those situations where flanking is the wrong 
strategy, and the best thing to do is alert people to the threat incoming, 
then dodge behind your sentry and wrench away at it.
Oh, yeah – major point I forgot to mention – you REALLY need a microphone. 
Telling your team what enemies are coming in from where is a lifesaver for
you and for the team. You get a +20 k/d % just by buying a mic (totally made
up stat, natch, but the point is true)

Section 4 – Engie matchups. 
I don't really like the various "how to deal with class x when playing class y"
guides – too many variables for dogmatic approaches to work, and you rarely
fight a 1-1 duel anyway. Nevertheless, such class breakdowns emphasize certain 
strengths, weaknesses' and general strategies. 
Here are some suggestions on how to deal with each class. A is if you encounter 
the class in the middle of nowhere. B is if class is trying to assault your
sentry. 

Scout:
A. You have a major problem. The scout has the same weapons as you (well, 
the scattergun is probably more decent), the same health, and a LOT more speed.
Running away will NEVER work, as the kill hungry bastard is sure to follow 
(and luring them into sentries is fun as well as useful). Panic is your worst
enemy – there's nothing a scout loves more than a panicking engie unloading 6 
shotgun shells into the thin air as the scout dodges frantically, then closes
in to boink the engie to death and taunt his corpse. Try to choose your 
battlefield – narrow tunnels will even the odds, as the scouts dodging will 
do himlittle good. Then, it's a matter of a sure and steady finger on the 
trigger.
B. No problem whatsoever. The sentry is nature's way of telling a scout to 
go back to spawn and choose a better class.

Soldier:
A. Stay AWAY. Use cover and harass him with the pistol. Over long distances,
you have the advantage, as the rockets are relatively easy to avoid. 
He should either retreat, or try to close in. Give him a few pistol clips 
while retreating, and ambush him by the nearest health drop with the shotgun. 
Never get too close, and jump around to make rocket aiming harder.
B. Good soldiers will try to use the rocket's area damage to kill you, 
or the sentry without exposing themselves. Try to avoid placing a sentry in a 
position that will allow them to do so. An uber is really wasted on a soldier 
he' still got those 4 missiles, after which he's essentially useless.

Pyro:
A. Ack. Solitary engies are a pyro's favorite prey, right after spies and 
snipers. If caught unawares at close quarters… take out your wrench, sidestep 
theflame and hope for a crit. You're unlikely to survive either way. If you see
him coming, you might use the pistol – the pyro doesn't have any decent long 
range weapons. Once he's in range, switch to the shotgun. He'll either try to
flame, which will allow you to take him apart as he closes 
(as long as you don't panic) or switch to shotgun, which will put you on equal
terms.
B. Unlike other weapons, the flame goes beyond the sentry to hit you, so if a 
pyro actually gets close enough to flame the sentry, you'll die in a hurry. 
Therefore, moving the hell out of the way when an ubered pyro is coming at 
you is a good idea. Unubered, a pyro may still successfully circle-strafe a 
level1-2 sentry if it doesn't see him coming, and his flames can deal damage 
around corners/through gates, so pay attention to that when placing a sentry.

Demo:
A. Ack. Just run away. Those bastards can fling grenades to places where you 
imagine yourself safe and set up traps behind themselves with stickies. 
Unless flanking, you really can't deal with a competent demo.
B. Double ack. Competent demomen can take out most sentry placements unless 
interrupted. General grenade spam will often wreak havoc with attempts to build
stuff near the front lines, crit grenades not even aimed at you will kill you 
outright, and 4 stickies will take out a sentry nest without ever exposing 
the demo to harm. Despite what you may have heard, trying to shotgun/pistol the
stickies away is a waste of time. Call for help and either engage the demo 
to distract him, or fall back and rebuild latter, depending on the 
circumstances.

Heavy:
A. Actually easier than they seem. A moment's burst from Sasha at close range 
will tear you apart, but you can use scout tactics to harass one or kill when 
flanking quite easily. If a heavy knows you're there, and focuses on you, thing
get more difficult, but no hopeless. Use your mobility to pop in and out of
 cover, alternating the places you come from, chipping away at his health, 
Circle behind him whenever possible. If he switches to the shotgun, he's able 
to give chase, but you get a chance to make mistakes without getting torn apart
B. Even though an unbuffed heavy can duel a level 2 sentry and win, they're 
not actually very good when dealing with fully upgraded sentries protected by
you. Heavies have no options besides a slugging contest, which the sentry is 
likely to win. Even when ubered, a heavy needs to close his distance to the 
sentry in order to damage it faster than you can heal it, which few actually 
manage for whatever reason. Overall, it takes a very smart heavy to 
successfully deal with a sentry, much less a nest.

Medic:
A. Are faster than you, have a weapon that's great for spamming, regenerate 
slowly, and are usually accompanied by a guardian. However, when caught all 
alone, a medic can (and should – taking the trouble to kill medics is a 
greatercontribution to the team than killing anyone else) be killed relatively
easily. A single syringe doesn't do much damage, so if you both strafe like 
crazy and you're careful about your shots landing, you'll outgun him. Be ready
with the pistol for the moment when he tries to run.
B. While theoretically syringes can be used like demo grenades, arching over
obstacles to hit sentries with impunity, I rarely see this done. The main 
danger medics pose to sentries is the uber, and we've discussed this in the
class entries for the most likely uber targets.

Sniper:
A. DON'T count on a sniper being utter crap and allowing you to pistol him from
the distance / strafe to close in over open space while he's scoped. 
Alert your teammates to his location, and let someone else deal with him. 
However, when caught at short range/flanked, the non-elite sniper 
(elite's can just scope and headshot your at point blank) will lose, badly -
the smg is utter crap compared even to most secondaries, much less the shotgun.
Just don't give him a chance to retreat and scope.
B. You shouldn't place your sentries in a position where a sniper can take 
potshots at them, but if you must, at least make sure the sentry faces the 
likelyline of fire and covers your entire body from the direction the sniper 
will be shooting. Even the "holes" in the sentry will count for stopping 
bullets, but as it turns, it may leave you exposed for a second – 
BOOM, headshot. Then the sniper can simply snipe the sentry apart. 

Spy:
Ah, the spy. Every engies traditional nemesis. Sneaky bastards will sap all 
that you create if you look away for a moment, backstab you if you ever stop in
the middle of nowhere and ever so rarely coordinate attacks so that a single 
attack class can march right in and demolish your stuff as a spy saps it over 
and over. How do we deal with them?
:Soldier voice: In order to fight the spy, we must UNDERSTAND the spy! Watch 
the "how to play the spy" video on youtube. Spend some time as a spy. 
Learn how they act and think. Also, learn the basics – teammates you can't go 
through, teammates that can't go through your building, 
people with exactly 50% health, people running into your base backwards 
(advicethat people give noob spies specifically to make them easier to spot),
 people (or empty spaces) with smoke hanging around them, people of your color
running with the enemy, spies on "your side" who don't have a mask 
and flash the wrong color when they uncloak… spies, all of them. 
Shoot to kill.
Your best bet for dealing with a spy, is finding him as he goes in or out of 
cloak state. He can't attack for two seconds, leaving you free to unload. 
Get in close, unload your shotgun, and don't miss. If you give him a chance, 
the revolver will tear your apart. So… identify spy, unload at close range, 
make sure all your shots land, try not to get ambushed. Simple.
Of course, a spy is more likely to trouble you when he's trying to break 
your toys. There are basically three ways spies have of dealing with your 
stuff: sap while you're gone, backstab and sap, spam-sap. Not much you can do 
about sapping while you're away, except to have allies that are good about 
spy checking, and never running too far from the nest for no reason. No real 
ways to prevent backstab + sap while you're upgrading equipment, except to 
circle around it instead of crouching in one spot, but once all your things 
are upgraded, you should stay some distance away from your nest, checking up on
things. This way, any attack against you will be purely suicidal. If a spy 
sap-spams, you should unload into him, only saving your stuff once he's dead,
because he can sap away your buildings faster than your can wrench the sappers 
off. This is why barricading yourself behind your buildings is a bad idea.
If he undisguises to attack you, you should un-sap the sentry and let him eat 
rocket. If a spy manages to sap-spam as a friend of his is coming around the 
corner and you don't have any friends nearby… you're screwed. That simple, 
really.

Section 5 – Map specific strategies. 

2fort: 
one of the best/worst camping/turtling maps. Yes, you'll sometimes build a 
forward base in the enemy sewers, and theoretically you could build a base 
within the enemies intel room, but you're going to spend most your time 
defending your own base. Or even, worse, your Intel room
 I understand the need to guard the Intel, but I NEVER build there. You 
either stay near the Intel room and die from boredom or your run around only to
have a spy sap your stuff and run off with the Intel). This can be fun if the 
enemy is aggressive in a scattered way and keeps running into your 
shotgun/sentry, but it gets really old when both teams go on full defense and 
you don't see anyone except the occasional spy try and get into your base.
 Nevertheless, 2fort is a good place to practice defending under controlled 
conditions, and a team with no defense will lose outright. So let's talk about 
proper defense.
We start with the Intel room. Yeah, if you DO want to be bored to death, at 
least bring a buddy along and set up a pair of sentries that can only be taken 
down by an uber. You know the little corridors that lead from the Intel room 
into the big room where the staircases meet? Set up one sentry at the end of a 
corridor so that it can kill anyone going down the spiral stairs, and set up 
another sentry at the end of the longer corridor. Now swap sentries with your 
engie buddy. Viola – with the two of you popping in and out to harass 
intruders, nearly nothing can actually get to the Intel. If you only have 
one sentry, 
I'd have to go with the one position inside the Intel room that can shoot 
at people in both exit tunnels. People trying to dodge in and out to damage it
can easily be flanked.
If you want a bit more excitement, I'd suggest guarding the courtyard. 
Anything other than a scout/rocket jumping soldier must pass through the yard 
to get to your sweet intel, and this setup is mainly suited to deal with 
"run and grab" attempts and pesky spies, as determined attacks by a multitude 
of enemies will take the sentries down (but you'll have time to let 
reinforcements save the day, as the spawn is right next door). One sentry 
blocks the door to the straight staircase, with the dispenser behind the wall. 
It can be targeted from the main entrance to the yard, but you have the metal 
to keep it alive for a while. It's there to cover the other sentry, and prevent
spies from sneaking into the Intel room. The other sentry blocks the entrance 
into your spawn 
"hay room". Turn it towards the yard, and the fact that it only has to do a 45 
degree turn to target the battlements will make sure the scouts don't have 
much of a chance to run past. If necessary, put a dispenser in the middle of 
the path to the battlements, so that scouts are delayed in their way. 
Soldiers that jump onto the grating are still a problem. There's another setup 
with the same goal, with both sentries simply blocking the stairs themselves,
 but some spies can still jump around them unseen, and scouts can just rush 
through. 
A sentry in the corner of the hay room deals with scouts and soldiers, but is 
useless for anything else… only put one there in case of emergencies. 
A sentry shooting down into the base entrance from the grate can get a few 
kills by sheer surprise value, but doesn't even guard all the ground ways into 
the base. Neither is recommended under most circumstances. 
If the enemy constantly sallies forth into your base in large numbers, there's 
a neat sentry placement that can hold them off with only the tiniest bit of 
help from your friends. The L shaped tunnel that people from the right spawn 
can drop into, leading from the base entrance into the yard? 
Put a sentry right at the end of it. It's highly inconvenient for people from 
the sewers to duck in – shoot – duck out, the only way to shoot it from 
outside it's field of vision is to be exposed to your allies on the 
battlements, and for some reason no one expects a sentry in that particular 
location (though all the other locations on the bottom floor are far inferior). 
Do this on a fast respawn 24/32 server, and you're guaranteed 10+ kills with 
one sentry. 
A sentry in the water is occasionally fun, but no longer the surprise it once
was, and is fairly quickly destroyed. A nest on the bridge is occasionally
a decent idea – most of the fighting is being done across the bridge, and 
yourteam momentarily pushes the enemy back, this placement can really rack up
kills. Generally though, the pushes are evenly divided between the bridge and
the sewers, and your nest is quickly destroyed when the enemy 
counterpushes / demo spams.  
I would only recommend building a forward nest in two places – the enemy's
sewers, and the enemy's Intel room. The sewers are simple – put up a sentry
inthe intersection of the two sewer tunnels, against the wall of the long one,
facing the entrance into the short one. This is one case where sitting on a 
dispenser wedged against the sentry is actually useful – less death due to 
grenade spam. When building inside the Intel room… well, just remember to 
buildteleporters. The previous Intel room setup is less effective inside 
the enemy base - you need at least two sentries inside the room itself.


Teleporters:
I would recommend 1 clearly marked teleporter in the hay room with the exit 
leading to the Intel room. It allows you to fall back and protect the Intel
 room if an enemy rush overwhelms the yard. A teleporter into the water under 
the bridge is quickly discovered these days, but a teleporter at the end of 
the long tunnel in the enemy sewers, behind the corner can be left unspotted 
for a surprisingly long amount of time. Forward nests in the enemy sewers 
should have teleporters, naturally. Last but not least, you could build a 
teleporter entrance at the bottom of the stairs in the yard, with a matching 
exitat the top. Ruins the day for a spy and a few ubers.  
Badlands: To be reviewed during a latter update.

Dustbowl:
3 stages, none of them symmetrical, so we get separate guides for RED and BLU. 
Cap 1. 
Red:
The best place to setup in the first cap building is in the corner by the 
stairs. Drop a teleporter entrance outside the spawn, refill your metal in the 
spawn, run to the cap point, drop a dispenser NOT in the corner, but on the 
beginning of the stairs left twist, run outside to grab that little metal
package, shove a teleporter exit into the upper left corner (from your 
perspective. Remember to right click twice so that people come out the right 
way) and grab the 200 metal package, while praying that some asshole amongst 
your teammates didn't grab it before you. Sit on the teleporter, drop a sentry 
on the stairs, wrench the dispenser to finish it, wrench the sentry, and grab 
the 200 metal again. You're set. A long as the enemy doesn't get into the cap
point with an uber (which does presume a certain amount of competence on the 
part of your fellow defenders) or a spy + attack class (easily foiled by a 
single fellow defender inside the point) we make sure that not sneaky 
spies/scouts can grab the point while everyone are distracted, provide 
transportation directly to the front lines, and healing/ammo for all who 
require it. The other option here is to wedge the dispenser again the corner 
and sit on it, whichprotects that dispenser from demo spam, but renders you 
far too vulnerable to a single crit anything. There are two other, less ideal 
sentry locations inthe cap room, which you might use – a sentry wedge inside 
door on the RED side of the cap building, looking outside, which is vulnerable 
to mass spam from the BLU side, but helps prevent flanking and a sentry on the 
top level, along the rails that lead into the tunnel. The middle of the rails 
is far too vulnerable to snipers and demomen.
Another interesting place to put a sentry is near the left BLU exit. Putting a 
sentry inside/behind the shack is a bad idea, as it's totally open to attack 
from the right exit, but wedging a dispenser + sentry on the brink of the 
canyon (so that you can take out guys on the right/people in the canyon) can 
actually be fairly effective, if you have a decent pyro spy checker, no uber 
comes out from the left/said uber flies away with the help of a friendly 
demoman. One of the more dangerous, but effective sentry positions on dustbowl.
However, there's a reason why being able to keep DB 1 1 in RED hands is 
considered an impossible achievement. Unless your team is obviously superior, 
you might consider getting some fallback positions. No, don't start defending 
the second point right away, that's stupid. Defend the tunnel that leads from 
above cap point 1, to cap point 2. The little alcove with the one way door at 
the end? Slam a dispenser and a teleporter there, and a sentry point into the 
tunnel. Make sure you place it so that you are out of harms way, but the sentry
has a clear shot into the tunnel while you can repair it. You rely on 
demomen and pyro's to help you keep that position, but cutting off most of the 
enemy's access routes to cap point 2 is worth it. You could use another 
sentry here (remember the 3 meter rule though) but a more interesting place is 
the second ledge out of the tunnel. Yup, build a sentry on the edge here, 
and a dispenser in the corner, and you'll control all the access routes to cap 
point 2. You're also likely to get a lot of kills. If your team is 
reasonably aggressive and cooperative, the match is now won. 
Once the tunnel and the first cap point are lost, your choices are between the 
lower right corner of the cap building, or behind the water tower, 
overlooking those approaches to the cap building that don't involve going 
through the tunnel. Neither option is perfect, both are vulnerable to spam 
and ubers, but both are necessary.
BLU:
Personally, I use a class other than engie at the start, but a dispenser in the
right exit (the little alcove near the door) can help your teammates over
there get some health without retreating all the way to the spawn and a sentry
against the gate sometimes works wonders if no demomen are present – forcing 
the other team to start the uber early just to demolish the sentry (if the 
other team doesn't have an uber, you probably won't need an engie for this 
dustbowl stage). Once the initial path to the point is clear, a sentry up 
against the cap building wall can help prevent counter-pushes. You have the 
metal in the shack next to the spawn exit. Once we've passed the fist cap 
point, the really decent nests start cropping up. The rail tracks out of the 
first point lead you into a tunnel above the second. The standard nest 
placement sticks the entire nest at the end of the tunnel. Granted, this 
position has certain advantages – it protects the nest against jump happy 
scouts, soldiers, demomen, and pyros that your stupid, stupid teammates 
let in through the oneway gate. However, it allows the other team to run 
unopposed on the lower level. If the other team lacks the initiative to do 
some jumping attacks, or if you already have one sentry guarding the tunnel, 
a good place for another sentry on the rail that leads to the first cap point 
building. This deals with anyone trying to invade BLU team's personal space, 
and unveils any spies trying to get into the tunnel. You could also wedge 
yourself in the doorway on thered side, to make sure no spies get through. 
Why not place a sentry there? Too likely to be taken out by ubers. They have 
trouble with the rail sentry, for some reason. 

Stage 2

Red:
Most dangerous and effective location for a sentry is on the roof of the shack 
near the BLU spawn. You have some metal inside the shack so you can build 
quickly, and no one but spies can actually get to the point without dealing 
with the sentry first. If the sentry survives the initial uber onslaught, it 
canmake the rest of the game really easy for RED. Just make sure you have a 
good pyro spy checker. If the shack sentry and demo spam have pushed BLU back, 
you can put up another sentry to guard the right exit. 
Another option is putting a sentry in the door on the upper level of the cap 
building, overlooking the cap point. Make sure that the sentry is actually 
sticking outside a bit, so that it can shoot at stuff outside the building. 
Yes, that exposes it to damage it can't react to, and a sentry INSIDE the room 
is a lot safer, but it's also a lot more useless. Just put a dispenser against 
the wall, and go to work. I've occasionally got 20+ kills with that sentry 
placement (though it did get blown up several times). The worst danger to this 
sentry comes from people coming in from the bottom floor. That's why it's a 
pretty good idea to have a sentry there. Again, dispenser against the wall, 
sentry close to the left wall. The other options include a sentry behind the 
water tower… but that's only good for covering the point itself, allowing BLU 
to grab the rest of the area. You could build a dispenser behind the point 
(to the right, near the tires) stand on it, and build a sentry on the point 
itself… which would guard the point, the right access route, and your snipers 
from being backstabbed by spies, but you'd be open to attacks from afar. 
A teleporter exit behind the bend to the right on the upper floor of the cap 
building can sometimes remain undiscovered. Urge your spies to use it.
Once the first point is lost, you could try to hold the tunnel on the left 
(from RED's point of view). Not quite as useful as holding the tunnels at the 
first stage, but it usefully prevents attacks on the next two sentry placements 
and gives your team a good place to push back from. The other sentry positions 
to control the space between the tunnels and the building are - that ledge 
above the tunnel exits, looking into the right tunnel and one essentially 
anywhere on the building, the main problem being guys coming out of the tunnel,
but if you build a dispenser in the little corner (just drop off the stairs 
that lead on to the building), stand on it and build a sentry there, you 
don't have to rely on people holding the left tunnel for protection. Remember 
that there's metal inside the building. Holding this area leaves the point 
itself safe from anything other than spies, and makes counterpushes easy.
The other options include doing the same "stand on dispenser, build on 
building" bit near the tires facing opposite of the point (which incidentally 
covers the point itself). Make sure you turn the sentry to face the exit from
the building if no one is holding the tunnels, as the most annoying bastards 
will be popping out of there. Also, you can build in that left stretch where
EVERYONE builds them. On top of the metal. Not the best position, but you
coverthe point, and can build quickly – which is good if the enemy just 
stormedthefirst point, killed everyone, and is now rushing for the second.
BLU
Again, I usually go medic for the start… but a dispenser to the left of the 
left exit from the tunnels, and a sentry above it (yes, above. That point at
which you drop into the tunnel), can help your teammates and screw up anyone 
trying to backstab/flame them. People don't expect a sentry there, and many 
an ubered duo was killed by one when the uber ran out. If your team clears the
space around the point, but not the point itself, you could build a sentry
in the shack entrance. Once the point is captured, you could either place 
separate nest inside the left and right tunnel, or just put all your stuff in 
the right tunnel (your perspective this time). However, this is mildly 
counterproductive – instead of being teleported to the tunnel entrances, 
waiting to get an uber, and then venturing forth, your team should be working 
to clear the space in front of the building. If/once it does, you should exit 
the one way gate from the right tunnel, drop down and build a nest there. Once
that nest is fully upgraded, another one to the left would be great. Now you 
should take the point in a minute or so.

Stage 3
RED:
Basically, everyone always goes for the stairs and the window ledge. Those are 
safe, but you NEED to keep at least one nest on the right side. Otherwise, 
anyone getting past the sentries (like, say, a spy) can easily cap the point. 
However, maintaining a nest to the right of the point is hard, 
thanks to the never-ending demo spam. You can build on the stairs, or directly
below the stairs, as those are the "safest positions". One the plus side, 
the enemy can't advance before dealing with you. On the minus side, every 
single spy and uber at their disposal will be going for your throat. If you 
believe your team has got the skills to sow confusion at the beginning of the 
battle, you could place a sentry up against the building windows. This is a
 great spot to get a lot of kills, and allows your team to OWN this match… if 
the sentry isn't destroyed the moment the match starts, with the ubers. 
Since your team has already lost two stages to get to this one, building a 
sentry near the window is a high odds gamble, but ever so satisfactory when it
pays off.
Once the first cap point is taken, there's a nearly ideal sentry location to 
protect the second – directly on the bridge, overlooking the cap point, the 
canyon, and the main exit for BLU. Helps your team keep up the spam, and 
minimizes spam by the enemy, get a lot of kills (in between being destroyed by
ubers). Just make sure your teammates actually pay attention to 
soldiers/snipers targeting your sentry from the canyon. Place a pair of 
teleporters at the 
top and bottom of the canyon stairs to make life harder for ubers and spies. 
The other popular sentry spots include the tunnel (good for denying enemies 
use of it) the stairs on the right house (limited use, but relatively safe, 
and the dispenser gives your teammates a chance to get back to spamming in a 
hurry) and the left house (which doesn't get a lot of kills, but stops the 
enemy from using the house).

BLU.
The standard nest location is against the side of the building, and it's a 
decent location as far as those go. However, if you place a dispenser near the 
rightmost gate (behind the wall, not visible from the outside) and it doesn't 
get destroyed, you can use the first break in enemy spam to construct a sentry
next to that gate. This totally stops all enemy pushes, forcing the RED's to 
sit on the right, next to their sentries. Very useful, is somewhat frustrating
topull off as your sentry keeps getting blown up by spam when your first set 
it down. You could hop on a dispeser pushed up against the building and build 
a sentry inside the building itself (through the window) but it very rarely 
does anything effective.
If you team is delayed by spam in the next stretch, you should build a sentry 
on the little bridge, aiming into the tunnel. In fact, if you have more than 
one engie, keeping a sentry there for the entire match is not a bad idea, as 
it prevents flanking pyro's and other attacks. Once your team pushes through 
into the street before the point, run up the stairs; put a dispenser near the 
doorway (blocks spies, helps spamming teammates) and a sentry on the ledge at 
the end of the little walkway. When a pause in the spam makes it plausible, 
rush over into the house on the right, and build a nest there (bottom right 
corner of the top floor). If you get a further break in the spam, do the 
same with the house on the left (stairs, same as the RED defense). Remember to
leap-frog bases with your engie buddies. 

Hydro – To be updated latter. 

Granary:
Symmetrical CP maps usually have a middle point that doesn't have decent 
sentry spots. I tend to drop the tp exit over by the second point, grab 
the metal 
there and try to gain the higher ground – the stairway above the point. 
If the fighting is chaotic enough, it takes a few moments for anyone to spot 
thesentry – during which time we slip downstairs, flank, and grab some more 
metal to replace the sentry in a different spot. If the enemy wins the point 
andwe're forced back, at least there's a teleporter leading directly to the 
second point.The far right corner of the second point is decent and direct – 
it's hard to take out a sentry there without an uber/spy. There's a nice long 
tunnel (up the stairs, leading to a drop down) where a sentry is very hard to 
take out, but it doesn't protect much. However, a sentry on the floor with the 
dispenser behind the wall would be covered by the tunnel sentry. Actually, at 
this point, all the sentry locations are fairly similar, and are taken out 
the same way.
t the last point, I would suggest building on top of the big pipe above the 
point, covering the point, the middle exit and quite a bit of the battle area.
You could build on top of the little cement things between the building
as you can repair them without exposing yourself to harm. Also, the default 
sentry position – covering the point, and only the point, behind the little 
shield to the right? It's crap. Don't use it. 
When on advance, I like to place a sentry on the ENEMY side of the stairs to 
guard the middle point. A sentry opposite the right door of the second point 
is useful for clearing opposition on the point itself, but difficult to build 
and maintain. A sentry lined up along the wall beyond the door helps take out 
any attempts to push back, and is very hard to destroy. 
Once you get the second point, you can set up sentries guarding each door, and
 you could setup a sentry on the ledge above the point, guarding both the 
point and the exit from the pipe. All are fairly viable, but not perfect. 

Gravel Pit:
Now, this is one map that has no ideal nest placements, so you'll have to 
rebuild continually, and not worry too much about camping your sentry (beyond
flanking/unsapping). For A, I'd definitely have to go with the shacks that 
face the BLU exits. Only build near the point itself if you have little support
 from your allies/when retreating from an enemy charge. 
On B, people tend to put stuff in the corners of the building. Which… is not 
that bad, but at least make sure you're building at the corner FAR from the BLU
 exits to make a spamming demoman's job harder, and that your sentry actually 
pokes out of the corner, so that it can cover most the point, rather than 
just a straight line in front of it?  Better yet, stick a sentry in the front 
door with the dispenser behind the wall. You're covering the left BLU exit,
 the entire point, and aren't too exposed (watch out for snipers from the 
right point, though). You could also build slightly to the side of the BLU 
exits,against the wall. The dispenser is very valuable to spamming allies here.
The left exit is safer, as people coming in from A through the tunnel can 
reallymess you up regardless of where you place a sentry covering the right 
exit, except the position behind the shack opposite the right exit, possibly. 
That one is pretty good for surprising rocket jumping soldiers. Building on 
the roof isn't really that recommended. Too much time invested for too little 
payback.However, I WOULD recommend placing one dispenser and several 
teleporters there if you do have the time. Having a demo and a sniper up there 
with a dispenser to share is far more useful than a sentry.
At C, the basic (and effective) sentry positions are on the little slopes 
leading to the exits to A and B. Make sure you build them at the correct height
so that the enemy can only see the gun and rocket barrels (but make sure those
ARE exposed). The sentry covering the right exit should actually be up against
the LEFT side of the slope to control the bottom entrance.
Building on the little protrusion behind the point does essentially the same 
thing, and those sentries are less vulnerable, but they cover slightly less 
ground and you have to start building them before the enemy starts attacking C
– and I'm not a fan of the pessimistic approach - abandoning a point to the 
enemy to start building in the one the enemy will attack next.

Well (cp):
Drop a teleporter entrance, resupply in the spawn, run to the top floor above 
the second point and shove a dispenser in the doorway. Grab the metal, run 
outside, drop into the water and drop a teleporter exit. Use the water entrance
into the point once the match starts, take the metal and drop a sentry. 
If the battle is chaotic enough, you could drop a sentry somewhere in the 
middle of the place (beware the trains). If the battle goes poorly, drop the
sentry behind the door, so that it covers your retreat, retreat to the 
dispenserand build a sentry on the top floor ledge above the second point. 
This position isn't HIGHLY effective for protecting the point, as people can
still sneak into it, but it makes attacking the space around the point very 
difficult, and taking out the sentry itself is nearly impossible to anyone but 
spies and demomen (who need a lot of uninterrupted time to do it).
When not under attack, watch the stairs for spies coming up. I've managed to 
get 22 kills here at one point… 8 very stupid spies. The seconds floor ledges 
are also decent – one sentry per door protects the point better than a single 
sentry on the top floor, but you do need TWO sentries, and both can be taken 
out by a variety of means.
Once you're down to the last point, you're essentially doomed anyway. 
A sentry on the point itself at least ensures that a single scout/spy 
won't manage tocap. 

If your team advances:
As I've pointed out before, CP control maps generally don't have good places 
for sentries in the central point. Twin sentries near the point on the enemy 
side is a standard solution, as it a sentry in the doorway to the little side 
rooms on your side of the CP. I like building a nest in the little side rooms
 on the enemy side of the CP with the sentry observing the cp without sticking 
outside the door. Sure, an enemy who has the time can take your apart, but 
it really messes up rushing scouts and rocket jumping soldiers who assume the 
point is undefended. 
On the next point, I would place the sentry either within the point itself, or 
on the ledges. Build the nest in the side rooms next to the ledges. 
Oh, always remember to replace the teleporter entrances when you have the time.

Well (ctf):
There's no point in trying to establish presence in the central point and 
beyond (though the occasional spawn camping trip can be fairly fun, if your 
team is capable of it). I've found that a sentry on the top level above point 2
still works wonders (and stops the MANY spies that try to sneak into the intel 
room through the top levels). The safest (and most boring) sentry is placement 
is twin sentries on both stairways leading to the Intel. Putting a teleporter
on the top floor above the enemy's second point is actually fairly easy, and 
useful.

Custom Map section – to be done during a latter update.


Section 6 – The FAQ

Q. Why do you keep spelling engy as "engie"?
A. Actually, neither is a proper way to shorten "engineer", but I like 
engie better.
Q. How do I get the sentry gunner achievement?
A. Just use one of the sentry positions I've outlined in the map specific 
strategies. The 2fort 32 person fast respawn position ALWAYS manages to get 
10+ kills.
Q. How do I skywalk/ build below the ground / grief people?
A. F10. 
Q. I have suggestions/corrections/whatnot.
A. Email me. This faq will probably not be abandoned for a while.
Q. Your strategies are for pubbers! My clan would blah blah blah.
A. Yeah, yeah. No crits, soldier only, final destination. Not a big fan of 
competitive play. And since most people play on public servers, and aren't 
"pros", this FAQ is directed at them.

Section 7 – Thanks to:

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=437678 – The guys at the 
TF2 gamefaqs board can be assholes, or meme spamming dipshits, but they're 
occasionally very helpful. 

http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Main_Page - The source of every technical 
detail you'll find in this FAQ.