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“

— The Engineer I built that. ”

Buildings are machines that can be constructed by the Engineer using his Build Tool. These buildings include the Sentry Gun, Dispenser, and Teleporter.

Overview

In order to construct a building, an Engineer must first have enough metal. He can then use his Build Tool to choose a placement for the building; buildings can only be placed on reasonably flat surfaces and must have enough horizontal and vertical space to operate. The Engineer can rotate buildings before deploying them (default key: MOUSE2). Each time the rotate key is pressed, the building is turned 90° counterclockwise. Once placed, buildings are erected automatically. The construction rate can be almost doubled by continuously hitting the building with any Wrench (with the exception of the Eureka Effect). Multiple Engineers doing this simultaneously stacks the effect, and hitting the building with the Jag increases its construction rate by a further 30%. Dispensers and Teleporters take twice as long to deploy as Sentry Guns. Once the building is fully deployed, it will immediately begin operation.

Like players, buildings have health and are destroyed when it is reduced to zero. The health of a building increases from zero to its maximum while under construction, so it is easier to destroy a building that is incomplete. Players can focus their crosshair on a building to determine its current health just like other players, though weak buildings also display visible signs of damage such as smoke, sparks, and flames. Buildings are immune to critical hits and mini-crits as well as damage drop-off and ramp-up, so excluding splash damage, any attack on a building will deal a constant amount of damage from any distance. Buildings will not activate the on-hit or on-kill effects of any weapon when damaged or destroyed (with the exception of the Widowmaker's).

Buildings can be repaired, upgraded, and (in the case of Sentry Guns) reloaded by hitting them with a Wrench, if the user has sufficient metal. 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. Upgrading a building takes a total of 200 metal and increases its health by 20% in addition to improving its abilities; buildings can be upgraded twice to reach level 3. Sentry Guns gain armor protection against the primary weapons of the Heavy as they're upgraded, reducing the damage inflicted on them from these weapons by 15% at level 2 and 20% at level 3.

Buildings can be disabled by the Spy's Sapper. If a Sapper is applied to a building, it will immediately cease functioning and alert the owner, in addition to being drained of health. Sappers can be removed by any Engineer's melee weapon or the Pyro's Homewrecker/Maul/Neon Annihilator, which will restore the building's operations in 0.5 seconds. Buildings cannot be repaired, reloaded, upgraded, or demolished while being sapped.

Buildings can be downgraded by the Spy's Red-Tape Recorder. Buildings with a Recorder attached will begin deconstructing themselves by going through any applicable upgrade animations in reverse before going through the building process in reverse, resulting in the building being reduced to a toolbox pickup. The process moves at half the speed of construction. If the Recorder is destroyed, then the building will resume proper construction, though any levels lost will not be regained unless an upgrade animation is in progress.

If the Engineer wishes, he can destroy any of his buildings with the Demolish Tool. This instantly causes the building to explode as if it were destroyed by an enemy. The building's gibs can be picked up as ammo and/or reused as metal. Buildings being sapped cannot be demolished. The Engineer's buildings are not vulnerable to his other weapons or to his Sentry Gun (unlike the Engineer himself).

Buildings function normally underwater, though Teleporter Entrances cannot detect when a submerged player is standing on them, and Sentry Guns cannot see through the water's surface in either direction.

During setup time in Mann vs. Machine mode, buildings cost no metal to place and finish construction immediately as level 3, with Dispensers being fully stocked. Using a Buildings Upgrade Canteen will also instantly send all existing buildings to level 3, even if they are still constructing. Engineers can also upgrade the health and abilities of their buildings at an Upgrade Station.

Specifications

Building type Cost in metal Health points Scrap Metal

when destroyed Build Upgrade Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Sentry Gun Stock 130 200 150 ( 441 ) 180 ( 212 ) ( 529 ) 216 ( 270 ) ( 635 ) 15 x 4 (60) Combat Mini-Sentry Gun 100 N/A 100 ( 294 ) N/A 0 x 4 (0) Dispenser 100 200 150 180 216 10 x 5 (50) Teleporters 50 200 150 180 216 6.25 x 4 (25) Entry

6.25 x 4 (25) Exit





Building type Build time (seconds) Initial construction Initial construction + boosted by

Initial construction + boosted by

Initial construction + boosted by

Redeployed Redeployed + boosted by

Redeployed + boosted by

Redeployed + boosted by

Upgrade Sentry Gun Stock 10.5 4.2 3.75 6.0 3.5 2.333 2.1875 2.8 1.6 Combat Mini-Sentry Gun 4.2 2.625 2.442 3.231 2.333 1.75 1.667 2.0 N/A Dispenser 21.0 8.4 7.5 12.0 5.25 3.818 3.621 4.421 1.6 Teleporters 21.0 8.4 7.5 12.0 5.25 3.818 3.621 4.421 1.6

Building construction speed = Default construction speed / (1 + sum of all boosts)

Default construction speed (Sentry Guns): 10.5

Default construction speed (Dispensers and Teleporters): Sentry Gun speed x 2 = 21.0

Redeployment boost (Sentry Guns): 2.0

Redeployment boost (Dispensers and Teleporters): 3.0

Mini-Sentry boost: 1.5

Stock wrench boost: 1.5

Jag boost: 1.5 + 0.3 = 1.8

Eureka Effect boost: 1.5 / 2 = 0.75

The first and second hits on a stock sentry gun will save 1.5 seconds, while all others will save 1 second. On dispensers, the first hit will save 2 seconds and all others will save 1 second.

Times assume wrench boosting is in constant effect. As the builder cannot swing their wrench until their weapon switch delay wears off, these values will be slightly slower in practice. Each additional Engineer adds their own personal wrench boost to the formula.





HUD

The building HUD is located in the top-left corner of the screen.

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 Sentry Gun: Number of kills, followed by number of assists in parentheses. Sentry Gun: Percentage bar of bullets remaining.

Dispenser: Percentage bar of current metal reserves. All buildings: Percentage bar of upgrade progress. (levels 1 and 2 only) Sentry Gun: Percentage bar of rockets remaining. (level 3 only) Teleporter Entrance: Percentage bar of recharge progress. If fully recharged, instead displays number of successful teleports.

Hauling

Prompt to haul a building.

An Engineer carrying a building.

Buildings can be packed up and moved by their owners by pressing the alternate fire button while looking at and standing next to them. 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. Packing up a building 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 buildings being sapped cannot. 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 key or mouse button alternate fire is currently bound to.

One building can be hauled at a time, and doing so will sensibly reduce the Engineer's speed to 90% (270v), regardless of type and/or level of the building. Additionally, the Engineer cannot switch to any weapon or item until the building is redeployed. It is still possible to use Teleporters (either his own or a friendly Engineer's) — unless, of course, the Engineer is attempting to use a Teleporter whilst the other end is being hauled.

If the Engineer is killed while he is hauling a building, the building is also destroyed, and the Engineer will drop a toolbox which will act like a large ammo crate if picked up. A special kill icon representing a toolbox will be shown alongside the Engineer's death.

Redeploying a building is similar to a normal construction, except that the building will construct itself at twice the normal rate (plus an additional 50% speed for Dispensers and Teleporters), and the Engineer can 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; they cannot be repaired during redeployment unless they take damage during it, and even then they can only be repaired up to what health they had before being packed (until they are fully redeployed). Attempting to repair a building before it's fully redeployed will result in the metal supply being drained at the same rate it would if it was healing the building. On the other hand, when a redeploying building takes damage during the constructing stage, the building will automatically heal itself at a fixed rate that stops after the construction stage ends. In Mann vs. Machine, hauling does not slow the Engineer down and buildings redeploy themselves instantly.

The three phases of building redeployment (packing, hauling, and redeploying) are accompanied by specific responses.

The Rescue Ranger has the ability to haul buildings from any distance (provided a direct line of sight) at the cost of 100 metal; it also forces the Engineer to take mini-crits while hauling buildings, whether via the long-range pickup or not.

Destruction

A building can be destroyed by its owner using the Demolish Tool or by an enemy attacking it with any weapon, or using the 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 (in which case the Spy who sapped it will get the assist) or the building has been destroyed while hauling (in which case the assister will be the same as the one of the Engineer's death).

Destruction points are not awarded to Engineers who destroy their own buildings. Furthermore, destructions do not count during the Setup Phase in terms of the scoreboard, though any other events (such as revenge crits) will trigger as usual. Should an Engineer decide to use the loadout screen to change his melee weapon to or from the Gunslinger, his Sentry Gun will be demolished the moment the new melee weapon becomes available (either by the Engineer respawning or touching a Resupply locker). All of an Engineer's buildings are demolished when a player switches from an Engineer to another class, from one team to another, or leaves the server.

When a building is destroyed by an enemy, the Engineer responds with one of three responses, alerting his nearby teammates.

Related achievements

Sentry Gunner

Accumulate 10 Sentry Gun kills with a single Sentry Gun. Riftwalker

Kill an enemy within 5 seconds of you traveling through an Engineer's teleporter.





Closer

Destroy 3 teleporter entrances.

If You Build It

Destroy 3 enemy buildings while they are still under construction. Gun Down

Destroy an active sentry gun using your pistol.





Engineer to Eternity

Kill an Engineer as he repairs his sentry gun while it's under enemy fire. Guns of the Navar0wned

Kill 5 Engineer Sentry Guns while you are standing outside of their range.





Arsonist

Destroy 50 Engineer buildings. Firewall

Ignite 5 Spies who have a sapper on a friendly building.









Factory Worker

Kill 20 enemies while being recharged by a dispenser. Five Second Plan

Kill an enemy in the first 5 seconds after you exit a teleporter.









Medical Breakthrough

Assist in destroying 5 enemy Engineer buildings with a single ÜberCharge on a Demoman. Midwife Crisis

Heal an Engineer as he repairs his sentry gun while it's under enemy fire.









Constructus Interruptus

Kill an Engineer who is working on a sentry gun.

Joint Operation

Sap an enemy Sentry Gun within 3 seconds of a teammate sapping another.

Sap Auteur

Destroy 1000 Engineer buildings with sappers. Sapsucker

Sap an enemy building, then backstab the Engineer who built it within 5 seconds.

The Man with the Broken Guns

Backstab an Engineer, then sap 3 of his buildings within 10 seconds.





Claim Jumper

Capture a control point within 12 seconds after exiting a teleporter.





Undelete

During a wave, use a canteen charged with 'Instant Building Upgrade' to build a new sentry gun within 3 seconds of your previous sentry gun's destruction. Real Steal

As an Engineer, escape with your sentry as a sentry buster is about to detonate.

Trivia

The Repair Node was a building that was considered as an addition to the Engineer Update, but was scrapped during development.

Originally, the Engineer was not able to pick up his buildings, or upgrade his Dispensers and Teleporters to level 3. These iconic game mechanics were added in the Engineer Update.

Bugs

A redeployed level 2 or level 3 Sentry Gun will attempt to target enemy players during the brief instant between reaching a level and starting the animation to upgrade to the next level. If the Sentry is directly facing an enemy, it may even be able to fire before the upgrade animation.

If an Engineer changes classes, his buildings simply vanish; this is inconsistent with the behavior of the Engineer changing his melee loadout, changing teams, or leaving the game, where his buildings are destroyed.

If a building is packed up while it takes damage, then redeployed, the building HUD may report it as damaged even after it is fully repaired.

When redeploying a level 2 or level 3 building that is damaged, hitting the building with the Wrench while it is in the upgrading animation stages of redeployment will use the metal supply but does not repair the building.

Buildings are not affected by gravity or physics; if the floor underneath a building is removed, the building will remain floating in the air, and moving platforms will pass through them.

Heavily damaged buildings may still show signs of being damaged (such as sparks and flames) that remain present even when the building is fully repaired. Hauling the building may remove them.

When a building is first upgraded to level 3, it spawns with 1 extra point of health, for a total of 217. When it is picked up and replaced, or rebuilt, it keeps this extra point of health. However, if it takes damage and is then repaired, it repairs to its base health, 216.

When connecting to a server, it may for a brief amount of time show the disposable sentry in the Build HUD from Mann Vs Machine.

If a Spy saps a building while it is upgrading to the next level, it will not actually disable the building. However, the Sapper will still damage the building and it can't be destroyed - the only way to remove the Sapper is to haul the building.

Losing connection while hauling a building may cause the building being unable to deploy.

Gallery



