ENGINEER CLASS

The engineer class is one of the most lethal and effective classes in Battlefield 2142.  

The engineer class is ideal for Titan mode.  Most of the maps on Titan mode involve various degrees of vehicle/infantry interaction and combat.  I prefer playing the engineer class when I am trying to turn and defend the silos.

The engineer class takes a long time to develop into reasonable functionality and for that reason, I tend to develop it later than most other classes.  This means I spend a lot of time playing conquest maps during the early soldier ranks and switch to Titan mode for later play.  With the Northern strike unlike, you should have approach a fully functioning soldier, including a suitable engineer class, by the time you reach the rank of Chief petty officer gold, or around 9300 points (though there are still some unlocks which you will want).

A lot of people think that the engineer is the best overall kit to play with.  Too be sure, the engineer is a great kit on Highway Tampa, the NS maps, all titan maps, and vehicle intensive conquest maps, such as Suez Canal.  

I really do like the Engineer kit and feel that mastering this kit is central to become a skilled player of BF2142.

UNLOCKS


The default engineer submachine gun is a very effective weapon once you get to understand it.  I personally find that crouching while firing increases the accuracy and lethality of the smg.  The gun is not as poweful as other weapons in the game but just as deadly.  The chief problem with using the kit early on is the limited number of bullets the gun itself has.  Here my location allows me to rack up some easy kills with the engineer's gun.  

EU begins with a Turcotte Rapid SMG.  The SMG has a very high rate of fire and comes with 4 clips with only 26 bullets.  Given its high rate of fire and extremely small clip size, you need to excercise patience with this weapon.  Research suggests the oversize SMG clip that is a NS unlock is an essential for this kit which increases your ammo to 35.  Unfortunately, it is the top unlock on the right tree, so you are going to have to get good with the gun even with the smaller clip.  Pac begins with a Markov RK11.  Sources indicate that the Markov has a slightly larger clip (30) which does less damage.  Research indicates that the Markov also has a longer reload time than the Turcotte.  However with the clip expansion, it can hold 40 rounds.  This gives you a better chance of reloading.

With either gun, my accuracy remains somewhat lower than the Lambert and much lower than the Voss with this weapon.  Notwithstanding that, the high rate of fire ensures plenty of kills.  It is critical to get the extra clip unlock to have an effective engineer class.

The default rocket launcher is fairly stable.  Research suggests that the load times are extremely long, over 5 seconds for either PAC or EU varieties.  Since it is a single shot and then reload you want to be sure to hit what you are aiming for.  The default rocket launcher works extremely well against walkers but not so well against tanks.  The bullets are steerable to a certain degree.  It is very difficult to knock down transports with it and it is less ideal than the Pilum overall.

CRITICAL UNLOCKS

The most important unlocks to have are the Pilum, the extra clip, the emp mine, and the motion mines.  

The pilum is a VERY VERY LETHAL and effective weapon against all kinds of vehicles and transport devices.  The one problem with the pilum is the straightforward nature of shooting the thing.  It shoots in a straight line, so you better be able to actually hit what you are aiming at.  That being said, you are shooting at rather large objects- gunships, walkers, tanks, and what not.  Your accuracy should be at least 50%.  

The easiest way to kill something is to hit it from behind.  Tanks can usually be blown up in one shot (though sometimes they linger on for a few seconds before blowing up).  Walkers should be shot in the knees whenever possible.  There is a small opening at the bottom of the walker which you can fire up at which is also very susceptible to increases in damage.  Gunships can also be taken down with this unlock.  In fact, hunting gunships with a pilum is extremely fun.  You can also knock out titan guns with the pilum as well as destroy jeeps, rorsch guns, transporters, consoles, and you can do some damage to the titan core.

It takes about 3 shots with the Pilum to do damage to a titan console, so it is not my preferred weapon for Titan assault.  Nevertheless, sometimes I board the titan with the engineer kit because that is what I am playing before the shields go down.  Just keep it in mind.  You can also destroy the titan aerial defense guns with the pilum.  The Pilum comes in handy in all of these situations.  

I like the Pilum alot.  It is my preferred unlock for the engineer class because in a game with a lot of vehicles in it, it comes in handy.

The other unlocks I commonly play with are the emp mines and the motion mines.  By littering a silo with emp mines and motion mines, you can present a very strong defense against would be attackers.  An ideal place for testing out the engineer's strengths and weaknesses is Suez Canal.  The conquest map has so many vehicles, you can get plenty of kills with the emp mine/motion mine combo.  Silo 4, for example, has 2 entrances which vehicles often attack.  Most of the time you get an APC coming from Silo 3 or an FAV/APC/Tank coming from Silo 2.  If you place 2-3 motion mines, followed by 3 emp mines, followed by 2 more motion mines facing the opposite entrance, followed by more emp mines, you can usually sticky even the fastest UAZ/Bandit that tries to enter.  Even if people try to jump out, the radius blast of the motion mines will probably kill them.  It helps to have a support class or a commander supply box to resupply you.

Some servers now have controversial rules against placing motion mines ontop of the enemy titan's shields to score kills by blowing up their air transit.

By sitting in the silos around Silo 4, for example, you can shoot vehicles/transports/gunships that come into your airspace.

 A well-supplied engineer at a silo can wreak havoc on attacking teams.  

OTHER UNLOCKS

The motion mine bait is a bit more situational.  If you are playing NS and you are on the team with the goliath, having motion mine bait can help clear the path for your Goliath.  As a general rule, I do not carry much motion mine bait with me because I feel it is counterproductive to leave motion mines around when the enemy can simply take my kit and get rid of them.  In a pinch, the motion mines can be used to lure your mines towards an enemy like a make shift grenade.  This is not an easy task, but I have scored kills in desperate situations in which I had no more grenades.  

The AE-Defuser can clear APM mines, RDX, and motion mines.  It does this one at a time.  The process is painful, slow, and risky (in the case of RDX/APM mines).  I cannot ever recommend using this tool, especially as the RDX Clark Shotgun is a safer way to deal with APM mines and RDX while the motion mine bait can handle motion mines.

There is the PDS-vehicle sonar.  Occasionally, I will utilize this if I plan on spending time in a gunship.  Research indicates it detects vehicles within a 50 m radius.  In general, I just prefer to place mines on the roads where I know vehicles will be travelling.  Therefore, I rarely equip it.

SAAW anti-aircraft unlock.  Sources suggest it can be fired either tracking or non-tracking.  I find this unlock to be fairly useless and prefer to blow air transports up with the Pillum.  The pilum is also more effective against ground threats.  Overall, I pretty much never use this unlock and would not recommend spending much time with it.

SPECIAL ROLES FOR THE ENGINEER

There are several roles which the engineer is uniquely suited to playing.  One such role is as commander.  I like playing an engineer when I command in case my assets get destroyed.  Although I can always ask a teammate to repair them, it does not hurt to be able to do it myself.  

In addition to that, motion mines and emp mines provide you with passive combat abilities.  That is to say, as a commander, you can lay the motion mines and the emp mines and then go back to commanding.  You may be able to defend a key road or intersection from attack by a UAZ or other vehicle without leaving your commander screen.  Greedily, you can also send yourself a supply box if you need to resupply yourself.  (Though in situations like Titan Defense, it is better to play a support class and set up a sentry in the hallway for passive defense roles).

The other thing which an engineer can do is repair things.  Once you get the upgraded repair unlock you can repair nearby vehicles.  On an assault lines map like Highway Tampa, the engineer's role in moving near other tanks, walkers, and vehicles will be appreciated.  If a few engineers band together, they essentially function like self-reinforcing medics in an armor column.  

If you have to repair commander assets, remember that the order of importance is UAV, Sat Track, Orbital Strike, Emp Strike.  Repairing titan guns will provide you with a lot of points if people are sitting in the chair.  Just remember, you do not want to get too bogged down in that role.  

I like playing an engineer kit as squad leader on Titan maps prior to the shields going down.

GUNSHIP HUNTING

The Engineer is uniquely situated to handle the gunship threat.  I personally enjoy gunship hunting.  I like to use the Pilum.  An especially effective method of hunting gunships is to try to use an APC to stun them, jump out of the APC and fire a pilum into their listless body.  A single well placed pilum shot to the rear of a gunship is usually enough to destroy it.  Even if they have a few health left, they will probably blow up shortly.  It is also fun to try to lure gunships low enough to strike your mines.  I have found enemy gunships camping on titan decks to be particularly vulnerable to motion mines.  

MAPS

My favorite maps for using the engineer kit are ALL TITAN MAPS.  Suez Canal, in both Titan and Conquest mode, NS maps (especially against Hachimoto's and Goliath's) and assault lines Highway Tampa.

Some maps, like Cerbere landing, Fall of Berlin, or Camp Gibraltar, have limited vehicles but are also very conducive to key placement of mines.  For example, well placed mines in Camp Gibraltar can prevent the assaulting forces from breaking through to Central Camp, Ruins, Eu base or even Toll.  As I stated before, this is an excellent opportunity to help your team and play as commander.  

Since tickets and control points are important in conquest mode, I tend not to play an engineer kit too often preferring an assault kit or a recon kit.

CHEERS!