Engineer Robot

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Engineer Robot
Engineer Robot
Basic Information
Health: 275 (Type 2, Type 3, Type 4)
500 (Type 1)
600 (Type 1 on Rottenburg)
Speed: 100%
These Grinch-like Smissmas cakewalk destroyers can skip huge areas of the path with their teleporting ability, and also teleport other robots forward instantly with their "telling other robots about the teleporter" ability.
Mecha-Engineer publicity blurb
Take it like a man shorty!
The Engineer-bot

Engineer Robots, also referred to as Mecha Engineers, appear in Mann vs. Machine as enemies, being the only robot class to be added separately from the original Mann vs. Machine Update. They were originally announced on December 19th, 2012 as part of the Mecha Update.

Normal variants

Engineer (Type 1-4)

Icon Name Primary Melee Attributes
Engineer
Engineer Shotgun
Shotgun
Wrench
Wrench
Pictogram plus.png 500 HP
Pictogram plus.png Spawns by teleporting onto a sentry nest location
Pictogram plus.png Builds a teleporter exit that acts as a forward spawn point


Icon Name Primary Melee Attributes
Engineer
Engineer Shotgun
Shotgun
Wrench
Wrench
Pictogram plus.png 275 HP
Pictogram plus.png Spawns by teleporting onto a sentry nest location
Pictogram info.png Cannot build teleporters


Icon Name Primary Melee Attributes
Engineer
Engineer Shotgun
Shotgun
Wrench
Wrench
Pictogram plus.png 275 HP
Pictogram info.png Spawns normally
Pictogram plus.png Builds a teleporter exit that acts as a forward spawn point


Icon Name Primary Melee Attributes
Engineer
Engineer Shotgun
Shotgun
Wrench
Wrench
Pictogram plus.png 275 HP
Pictogram info.png Spawns normally
Pictogram info.png Cannot build teleporters


The Engineer robot is a support unit; its arrival and destruction are announced by the Administrator, as well as by a large beam of light that appears where it spawns. It has 500 health (600 on Rottenburg missions), four times that of the standard human Engineer. Its main role is to build Teleporter exits so the robots can spawn closer to the bomb. The Engineer spawns by teleporting onto a suitable sentry nest location near the bomb (if the bomb has not moved up far enough, the Engineer waits in spawn), and immediately builds a Sentry Gun and a Teleporter; players too close to the Engineer's appearance are knocked away instead of being telefragged. The Sentry Gun instantly upgrades itself to Level 3 upon completion, while the Teleporter, a Level 1 with doubled health, acts as a forward spawn point for entire groups of robots, giving them 5 seconds of invulnerability once they appear. Notably, Engineer robots always spawn hauling a building, never preferring to reach their nest spot with their Shotgun out for self-defense.

In some missions, the Engineer spawns normally, instead of instantly appearing at a build spot. These Engineers have less health, and are not announced by the Administrator. Unlike standard Engineers, they can spawn regardless of how far up the bomb has moved. These Engineers can also drop money when destroyed. Two different subtypes of these Engineers exist - one constructs both a Sentry Gun and a Teleporter, the same as a standard Engineer, while the second only constructs a Sentry Gun. The two subtypes are otherwise identical.

As the bomb moves forward, the Engineer attempts to move up with it, setting up new bases closer to the objective. Just as other robots have infinite ammo, Engineer robots never run out of metal – as soon as its building is destroyed, it constructs another. As neither it nor its allies require ammo, it never attempts to build Dispensers. Upon destruction, including the end of a wave, the building fragments provide ammo for the players as a human Engineer's buildings would. If the Engineer is separated from its buildings, or is simply moving to a new build spot, it completely disregards enemy players instead of trying to defend itself with its Shotgun or Wrench.

As a support robot, Engineers are not programmed to move towards the bomb by default, only becoming the carrier in rare, mainly accidental circumstances; if it does become the carrier, the Engineer only attempts attacking with the Wrench if players are within range – and even then, it does not actually move to the bomb hatch, instead going back to maintaining its buildings. However, if the Engineer carrying the bomb makes it to the hatch via being airblasted into it, the Engineer still deploys the bomb.

When an Engineer's Teleporter is active, an icon appears on the HUD, and it can easily be found with the blue pillar of light that appears above the Engineer's sentry nest. The Administrator announces if an Engineer is destroyed but still has an active teleporter on the field.

Update history

December 20, 2012 Patch (Mecha Update)

January 16, 2013 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Updated materials and model for the Engineer Robot.

March 27, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed Engineer bots in Mann Vs. Machine building disposable Sentry Guns that upgrade into tiny, red, level 3 Sentry Guns.

Bugs

  • If an Engineer robot's teleporter is destroyed by a Red-Tape Recorder, the teleporter icon remains on the HUD.
  • Engineers do not try to remove Sappers from their Teleporters if it is still doing its construction animation. This also means that they never try to save their Teleporter from Red-Tape Recorders.
  • If a stock Sapper is placed on a robot Teleporter, it still has the animation, particle effects, pillar of light and sound as if it was still active, even though it is actually disabled (if a Red-Tape Recorder is used instead, only the particle effect still appears).
  • The Engineer's entire head is self-illuminated, as opposed to just the eyes as seen on other robots.
  • If an Engineer teleports into the map while a robot teleporter is active, it briefly spawns on the Teleporter first before appearing at its desired build location. This plays the Teleporter sound and gives the Engineer 5 seconds of invulnerability.
  • Excruciatingly rarely, an Engineer bot may build a small, level 3 RED Sentry Gun instead of a normal sized, level 3 BLU one. It still attacks RED players and otherwise functions normally despite the deceiving appearance.

Trivia

  • The Engineer Robot has a metal plate on its back that reads "Engineer" (エンジニア, Enjinia) in Japanese.
  • The Engineer Robot carries a device similar to the Engineer's Build Tool in its front pocket, but with the "2" key missing, because for robots "There's no such thing as two".
  • All of the Engineer robot's taunts use the exact same animation as the human taunts, despite the other robot classes having special animations.
    • Additionally, the Engineer robot uses human animations for special taunts too, such as the High Five! and the Conga.
  • Teleporters made by Engineer robots originally made a sound to tell players when they were activated.
  • The Engineer Robot is the only robot mercenary that can't appear on the main menu.

Gallery