Engineer Q&A

[Scapes]

It's seem we Gurus have started to become class advocates of sorts. If I were to advocate any of the six, I think we all know I'd be the Engie one. However, I know I wasn't the only one to play it so if someone else who did has corrections or additions, please post them.

Much like all other classes, my character started off receiving a transmission from Murmur and running through the newbie level where zombies ignore you and walk about aimlessly, even after being attacked. And, like other classes, Engies start out with weapons that grant skills. Started off dual-wielding Vulcan Bolters (16 fire damage, direct) that each added one point in Inhibitor Bots that slow enemies by a percentage.

The skills I managed to get to were Summon Drone, Rocket Bots, and Rapid Fire (stance). As for the weapons used, I opted for two-handed rifles and elemental projectors over dual-wielding pistols. With some aid from Tyler, I got to sample the Viral Lance, Zeus Rifle, and a huge monster-cannon that went KATHOOM and had huge cooldown. I saw that there were some tasty-sounding options later on in the skill tree. Unfortunately, I didn't take Tyler up on the offer to boost my level that I might try them - I wanted to take another class out for a test drive. Drones could be equipped with weaponry: both melee and ranged. Also had the full range of Hunter stances available to me although I didn't get around to really using them.

And...hrm. Will be posting LC26 in which I describe how the class felt to play. But please, ask your questions!
-- Scapes

[Scorpion Raptide]

More of a general question here and you touched it very briefly in your intro: So you start with an item that grants a skill, not 1 point assigned into a skill in the skilltree for some firebolt kinda skill?

Thinking about it, I have a feeling this has already been touched. Even a long time ago ...

[snoboarder38]

what do drones look like and do they get bigger or change shape in any way when either u lvl up or put points into drone skill

[Syl]

I read that you can't boost skill more than +2 max level, so amor with +skill is useless if you have 2 guns +2skills ?
you can equip ranged and melee weapon on drone ? in the video there's 2 drones, what do they do ? (rocket launcher drone and the other with lightning bolt) is it the same ?
come you equip something else, like piece of armor and mods ?
what kind of skill does he have (except spawning drones) ?
what is the difference between marksman and engineer (except drones) ?

[Scapes]

More of a general question here and you touched it very briefly in your intro: So you start with an item that grants a skill, not 1 point assigned into a skill in the skilltree for some firebolt kinda skill?
Correct, there are no preassigned skill points upon creation. Methinks that was just a temporary thing in Mythos that we'll see changed come its beta.

what do drones look like and do they get bigger or change shape in any way when either u lvl up or put points into drone skill
They're the big floating space probe looking thing. Fires an electric bolt as its default attack. Believe it changes to incorporate items attached to it much like weapons with plugged in mods do. I don't believe the size changes any with level at this point.

I read that you can't boost skill more than +2 max level, so amor with +skill is useless if you have 2 guns +2skills ?
you can equip ranged and melee weapon on drone ? in the video there's 2 drones, what do they do ? (rocket launcher drone and the other with lightning bolt) is it the same ?
come you equip something else, like piece of armor and mods ?
what kind of skill does he have (except spawning drones) ?
what is the difference between marksman and engineer (except drones) ?
I wasn't aware of any such limitation. Yes, you can attach ranged and melee weapons, it's called retrofitting. The one launching rockets is a Rocket Bot, the one firing lightning bolts is the drone. All new characters are wearing clothing with no defense rating (think new WoW toons). Other Engie skills beside bot- or drone-related ones include call-downs and stances. Stances are shared between the two Hunter classes. Call-downs are like tactical strikes. We didn't really get to see them in action so I can't go into more detail.
-- Scapes

[Sp3tSnAz]

How many different types of drones and bots are there?

[Syl]

thanks.
I tried to seach where I read you can't boost skills more than +2, but I couldn't find it, sorry :(

on which bot/drone do you equip melee/ranged weapon ?
The rocket bot can only have rocket launcher ?

about piece of armor, my question wasn't really understandable :)
can you equip piece of armor on drones ?

The difference between drones and cabbie's pets is that you can equip drones and pets have skills ?

(if a dev can answer these... :) )
call-downs are like air strike ? paladin's fist of heaven ?
do you aim the shot by selecting an enemy or with a weapon (like in UT) ?

[Cyd]

are there any skills that will help the engineer to improve the damage output he is doing himself with his equipped (ranged) weaponry?
what kind of skills are useable by engineer as well as the marksman?
somehow i still dont get all the drones/bots/probes stuff...

is it correct that some are permanent while others have to be recast every 30sec?

did you have the feeling that the "pets" are able to take the frontrow punishment while you are able to shoot from the second row?

is there any way for a hunter to improve the efficiency of their pets, like debuffs, or is that only possible through skillpoint investment?

thanks for answering ^^

[BaronAA]

Were you able to tell if Engineers were as fragile as Marksmen?

How exactly did the melee weapons work/look on drones?

[BryanM]

thanks.
I tried to seach where I read you can't boost skills more than +2, but I couldn't find it, sorry :(

Maybe Flux's mini-post? (http://hellgate.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2343)

[hephaestus12]

any chance we could get a look at the skilltree?

[Sp3tSnAz]

Not till they take it off NDA :p

They however did say they may mail a list of all the skills to HGG, which they can then post up online, however I dont think that they have done it yet and in fact mite choose not to do it at all....

[Blaze]

So the Engineer gets the drones + Call downs, and the Marksman gets grenades and ???

Can you touch on Call Downs, what exactly are they?

[Scapes]

How many different types of drones and bots are there?
There's only the one drone but you can modify it a number of ways. There seemed to be at least three types of bots.

So the Engineer gets the drones + Call downs, and the Marksman gets grenades and ??? Can you touch on Call Downs, what exactly are they?
We didn't get nearly as far down the skill tree as call downs so I don't have an insights into them. As for Marksmen, that's Pyke's department.

They however did say they may mail a list of all the skills to HGG, which they can then post up online, however I dont think that they have done it yet and in fact mite choose not to do it at all....
The skill list hasn't been sent out yet for those wondering.

Were you able to tell if Engineers were as fragile as Marksmen? How exactly did the melee weapons work/look on drones?
They seemed about the same in fragility. We didn't get far enough to try adding weaponry to the drone.

are there any skills that will help the engineer to improve the damage output he is doing himself with his equipped (ranged) weaponry?
what kind of skills are useable by engineer as well as the marksman?
somehow i still dont get all the drones/bots/probes stuff...is it correct that some are permanent while others have to be recast every 30sec? did you have the feeling that the "pets" are able to take the frontrow punishment while you are able to shoot from the second row? is there any way for a hunter to improve the efficiency of their pets, like debuffs, or is that only possible through skillpoint investment?
There are attack and stance skills that boost the Engineer's attack damage, yes. Grenandes, stances, and I belive call downs are available to both Hunter classes. Drones are summoned until they are destroyed. Bots are summoned only for a span of time. The drone could take a lot of punishment, yes. Yes, there are skills in to boost your drone and bot effectiveness.

on which bot/drone do you equip melee/ranged weapon ?
The rocket bot can only have rocket launcher ?
about piece of armor, my question wasn't really understandable :)
can you equip piece of armor on drones ?
The difference between drones and cabbie's pets is that you can equip drones and pets have skills ?
call-downs are like air strike ? paladin's fist of heaven ?
do you aim the shot by selecting an enemy or with a weapon (like in UT) ?
You can only retrofit your drone to equip items. Yes, the rocket bot only can fire rockets to the best of my knowledge. I don't know if you can equip armor on drones anymore. I know that concept was tossed about for a time. Yes, drones can equip weapons but they also have "skills" of sorts. Summoner pets' skills are much more attack-based while drones' are more self-improvement-based. Call downs are like airstrikes, yes. I believe you select your target by way of your weapon.

I hope to have better answers soon.
-- Scapes

[thepaleponi]

1.) Are drones customizable in any way beyond the weapons you give it? For example, are you able to set its coloring scheme (perhaps in the same way player characters can apply one color scheme from a particular item of their choosing) or rename it after creation?

2.) I'm a little concerned after seeing the Summoner's vast array of minions that the Engineer's one drone + auxiliary bots won't provide enough firepower to deal with the swarms of enemies featured so far in the game play videos. Could you give us some insight into how the Engineer class plays in terms of balance between offense and survivability? Barring that, could you tell us if you felt the drone was more for damage or for tanking?

3.) Overall, what stood out to you as maybe the most "fun" or "unique" aspects of playing the Engineer? What did you enjoy most about playing the class, and what did you maybe not enjoy so much?

Thanks, and sorry about all the questions!

[Fett]

1. How well do drones work as meat shields? Do you find them to be more effective with a gun or sword?

2. If you wanted to max out your drone skill points to be a badass, what do you think would be the best way of supporting it; a stance? bots? calldowns? or a combination?

[kallenai]

Have to say I remain a tad disappointed that the Drone is a flying weapons platform, I was really hoping it would be ground based on legs ie, spider or tracks. I understand that a ground based Drone was prohibited due to the landscape graphic features in HGL, but still, would have been kinda cool to have a Drone running along with you. :roll:

[Tormalor]

2 things:

1. Are you in alpha? Isn't some of that stuff NDA?
2. Is English your second language?

[kallenai]

Axis I'd remove your post sharpish, I could be wrong but if your referring to your Alpha test experience your breaking the Non-disclosure Agreement which prevents you discussing (talking or writing) about your experiences so far. Just a friendly notice :)

[Sp3tSnAz]

Just use the report post buttons please, I mite have to whinge to Scapes wen he is back to give me ability to delete posts....

Cos the other mods don't seem to be on half the time...

[kallenai]

Sorry, I hadn't noticed the Report Post option till after I'd posted earlier, but I have used the Report Post since. :)

[Sp3tSnAz]

Well it's not so much us, but I wouldn't want FSS to come whinging at either us, or you later about saying NDA stuff, because they pretty much said not to say anything AT ALL about the alpha except that you are in it (which I am), so just to be on the safe side, can you edit the post to just get rid of the stuff about the bug thanks :)

I will edit my post also to not contain your quote :)

Sorry for the effort, but no one who can edit posts is on rite now :p But yeah, FSS has been pretty strict about not saying anything, and while I doubt they would care about anything like this, still it's a good idea not to tempt them ;)

Btw, welcome to the site as it was ur first post in this thread before ;)

[Axis]

well on latest movie my classes u see hunter engi with 6 inhibitor bots around him (they slow enemies movement by >?%)and u have 1x rocket bot(in early movies ul see it fireing 1rocket per round but also in new class movie he fires 3 or 4 rockets per round so im guesin that he get 1 extra or maybe 2 extra rockets per lvl in his skill)and us far us i managed to dig up about drone for i know that he gets bonuses from items that u put on him (guns,rifles,armor)..dunno tho if mele weapon (swords,etc) can be fixed on him..

[Axis]

no problem at all Spetsnaz and thx for welcome i think this soft version will be ok :)

[Axis]

this will give u a clue at what i write earlier better see then read http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ikdha62Tw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQaDBA9nnKo

[Mendax]

I think the only thing you mentioned we didn't already know about anyway was the fact that it was bugged.

[Fattycat]

i wana name my drone ''kill thingy'' ...and i will love it ,and pet it, and keep it for ever george ...er um i mean kill thingy (loony toons ref.) lol

[Fett]

^ originally from "Of mice and Men", little FYI.

[Shokk]

Question, Any idea on limitations with Drone customization? Like will I get a big flying healer/tank/nuker/etc. at the end or will it be some big-ass walker thing that squishes crap?

[Axis]

well u have movies to look at at there u can see how the drone looks like and for the evolving of drone later in game i think no one can answer u on that question maybe alpha testers but they are on NDA so ur gonna have to w8 till they remove nda or if u lucky and get in beta u can see it person there :)

[Fattycat]

i would like to see drones like on anarchy online lol ...you can get a big guy runnin with ya