4.0 | Working with other Engineers

The engineer is partly a defense class, and partly a support class. Knowing how to work as a team with other engineers is very important.Multiple dispensers can be a great support to your team, but only if they are positioned correctly. The general rule is, don't cramp up the buildings together. If you see an Engineer building in another spot, take a look at his base. Is it still weak and limited? Is it fully upgraded? Does he have a dispenser in there? Take these into account when placing your dispenser.Since there are (usually) many routes you can take to the battle, having dispensers in two or more of these passages will benefit the team greatly. If a teammate is forced into a specific route, such as he is being chased by a Pyro, having a dispenser, or even a full nest there can mean the difference between life and death.If you have all the dispensers in one nest, they become much more inefficient, depending on the situation. Generally, if a teammate gets to a dispenser, they are safe. They do not need multiple dispensers to save them. If they're all in one place, the teammates (and the dispensers) bunch up together, which iswhat you want when facing a push. A single critical rocket could kill all of them.This, of course depends on the map. If there are very little flank routes, bunching up the dispensers can actually help. Since a teammate can be supplied by infinite dispensers at the same time (see 6.1), having more dispensers in one spot can double, or even triple the amount of healing and supplying done.If the dispensers are scattered around, however, the bunching up reduces, and if a push comes up, the team has two or more flanks from which to attack from. This can greatly enhance the power of your defense."Dispenser hogging" is when an Engineer builds a dispenser, another Engineer comes to it, takes all the metal from it, and uses it to build his base, never building a dispenser themselves, and leaving the other Engineer without any metal.Remember that taking metal from another Engineers dispenser is completely fine, as long as you don't hog it. Try to leave some metal left there. You don't want the other Engineers nest destroyed just because you took all the metal, and he didn't have any for repairing.If another Engineer hogs your dispenser, you could try informing them politely (see below). If they don't listen, try to take ammo packs or dropped weapons for metal. If you see that he's clearly doing it intentionally, ask him to stop. If that still doesn't work, prevent them from taking the metal from your dispenser. In my opinion it's not worth vote-kicking someone for just that, unless they are insulting or otherwise annoying everyone.Communication is important as well. If a player who is new to the Engineer builds a dispenser with the bad traits (see 1.0), inform them politely. Use words like "please", and remember to thank them if they follow your advice.Try not to get angry, everyone was a noob at some point. Remember that the entire point of the game is to have fun. Guide them on where to place their dispenser / how to use it correctly, etc. You'd be surprised how many people are very grateful for advice like this, you might even get a few new friends. Getting a mic can also be beneficial, since people pay more attention to voice rather than chat.