Battlefield Play4Free Engineer Guide

Battlefield Play4Free Engineer Guide by Drummernate

Hello soldiers! Here is my guide on how to properly use the Engineer classes along with an overview of the equipment and abilities…

This is basically the most powerful class on the field with the ability to take down infantry, tanks, and even aircraft!

I will start with the weapons overview… (Weapons are color coded based on how highly i recommend them. Green means it is pretty much the most awesome gun ever, Yellow means it is only good for certain play styles, and Red means totally awful.)

Weapons:

The SMG’s:

The PP2000: The standard PP2000 is now nerfed beyond repair… It has only 3, 30 round clips. (What happened to our 44 round mags in Closed Beta? ) with a high rate of fire and totally uncontrollable recoil. Damage is really low compared to the other SMG’s, and long range accuracy is extremely low. Damage typically ranges from a measly 7-9 at long range to a disappointing 17-25 up close. I recommend getting something else as soon as you get enough credits.

The P90: The P90 has the highest magazine capacity of all the SMG’s. Its 50 round clip can dispatch multiple enemies without even requiring a reload. It has a semi-high rate of fire and tolerable recoil. Its damage is surprisingly high at close ranges, but at medium-long ranges it performs worse than the MP7. Aiming at long range can be quite a challenge with this weapon… but if you like close range weapons that still have some mid range punch this might be the gun for you.

The MP7: The MP7 is basically the M-16 of the Engineer kit, it has a high rate of fire and great accuracy although its damage does suffer at extreme range. Small clip size (30) means more frequent reloading, so its not that good Vs. more than 2-3 enemies. It is still pretty good at close range too. It’s probably the most well rounded gun i think.

(Battlefund Only!) The UMP: The UMP’s sights and recoil are hard to get used to, making it difficult to hit long range targets. Damage is high compared to most the other SMG’s at close ranges though, so once you mastered it you could take out targets with reasonable effectiveness. It basically is a nerfed PP2k on mild steroids.

(Battlefund Only!) The MP5: This is by far the best gun i have ever used in my entire life! With hardly any recoil it is basically point and hold down the trigger til the enemy is dead. It has high damage at long ranges and it is a total beast at close range. High fire rate and a 35 round mag make it a almost perfect choice for any Engineer, its only downside is that it has a slightly longer reload speed than the other SMG’s but you barely notice it when you are pwning so much face with it! If you have got the money then this is a must buy!

(Battlefund Only!) The UZI: The UZI is definitely a close quarters weapon. It has VERY high damage at close range (24-31) but it has an extremely low rate of fire for an SMG. Its accuracy at longer ranges is about equal to that of the P90, but the sights on it are easier to adjust to in my opinion. With a 32 round mag it makes killing 2-4 people an easy task if you are close enough and it is has the ability to be fired from the hip with less spread than most other guns. Overall it is a decent gun, but if you need to make a long range shot then this gun is lacking and the slow rate of fire means you might be better off with a good pistol for long ranges.

(Battlefund Only!) The AKS-74U: The AK-U has the highest damage of nearly any gun in the game at close range, it can kill enemies almost instantly with a 2-3 shot burst at close range. I found this gun is best fired from the hip, when aimed down the sights it seems to have more recoil than when you hip fire it for some reason. (Since it is such a close range gun there really is no need to aim anyways in most cases.) It has a relatively small 25 round clip and an acceptable reload time. The accuracy is high but it also has very high recoil, even more so than the UZI, so firing in 2 shot burst is the way to go for long range engagements. This is THE GUN if you like corner to corner fighting because unless they have an Elite gun too.. they are dead.

The Shotguns:

The SPAZ 12: This is my least favorite shotgun, it does less damage than the 870 but its accuracy is somewhat better and it shoots just a tiny bit faster. Its great for Karkand but basically worthless on Oman. (The veteran version on the other hand i like quite a bit! Its one shot kill range is much higher than the normal SPAZ and its mag carries 10 bullets instead of 8)

The 870: This is the best shotgun for people who like to get up close and personal (And my personal weapon of choice!). One shot kills are easier to get compared to the SPAZ, but you really have to make each shot count because by the time you pump it for the next shot the target will usually turn and shoot you. (It also sounds and looks really cool! )

The USAS: Usually my weapon of choice for the Engineer when i want to speed level because it has the most range of the free shotguns and has good damage… also it is FULL AUTO! Yes that’s right full auto shotgun! With a 10 round clip it makes it easy to dispatch 2-3 enemies before reloads. (I know I’m gonna get some hate saying “OMG USAS is for n00bs!” but hey, if it works why not use it?)

(Battlefund Only!) The Saiga: The Saiga is a great alternative for people who want to have a well rounded shotgun that has good power and is not a pump action. Generally you can get a 2 shot kill, but it is possible to get a 1 shot if you manage to get most of the pellets in the head, and with a 14 round magazine it is quite easy to take out multiple enemies. Range is about the same as the USAS.

(Battlefund Only!) The SPAZ 15: The SPAZ 15 does not live up to its description on the weapons menu. Yes it does have a longer range than the other shotguns, but does it actually do enough damage to kill quickly at that range? No. It has a 14 round magazine and a high semi-auto fire rate, but if you actually shoot it as fast as it can shoot you literally end up pointed at the sky by the time you fire the 7th or 8th round. Its close range damage is pretty decent but it is quite hard to get 1 shot kills compared to the Saiga. It is not a bad gun by any means, but it just doesn’t hold up against the USAS or the Saiga.

The Pistols:

The M9: The M9 is a good choice for close ranges such as the alleys of Karkand. Its long range however is not as good as the MP443 and M1911. Usually 5-8 shots will finish off your opponent, but as with all weapons, especially pistols, be sure to hit your target! It is okay for if you sneak up on someone, but in a face to face battle against the other pistols it doesn’t stand much of a chance.

The MP443: The MP443 is a decent pistol for medium-long range and has a medium rate of fire, its damage however is relatively low compared to the M1911 and the REX and it will sometimes take 5-7 shots to kill your opponent. Luckily you have a 17 round magazine to compensate for lack of damage. Recoil is slightly higher than the M9 and M1911 as well, so leave a little more time between your shots for optimal accuracy.

The M1911: This is my 2nd favorite pistol. Great damage, great accuracy, great range, and a great look. 4-5 shots will bring the opposition down, but with a 7 round magazine you have to be sure to hit your target or he will turn and shoot you before you can reload and finish him off.

(Battlefund Only!) The MP412 REX: This pistol packs a serious punch, with damage up to 45-60 per shot at close ranges this is the ultimate weapon for close range encounters but make sure you conserve ammo or reload often because it only holds 6 bullets! The accuracy of this pistol however is mediocre at long ranges, making it primarily a “Round the corner” weapon. This gun has a fire rate that is extremely slow even compared to the M9.

(Battlefund Only!) The P226: This pistol is my new favorite. It does high damage at close-medium range and it is quite accurate despite what some people might tell you. It has some very nice trijicon sights (The glowing red kind) and can shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger. The reload speed on this gun is phenomenal and its 18 round mag means you have plenty of ammo to finish of two or even three enemies before each reload. Perfect addition to any class!

Rocket Launchers:

The RPG: The RPG is the most important tool the Engineer has at his disposal, with it you can totally obliterate pretty much everything. Make sure you use a tracer dart before shooting it or you might have just wasted a valuable rocket. The damage is somewhat high on tanks doing between 200-300 damage and 120-180 on APC’s. This is the best way to gain points when playing on your team, just shoot some tanks and you will see you level bar raising very quickly!

Just think: 300×4 (Minus 200 because it only gives you a max of 1000) = 1000 points + 50 for killing an enemy + 50 for destroying a vehicle. That’s a total of about 1100 points for killing ONE thing on the field. Not to mention if you kill a tank with 2 people you get even more points.

That is as much as capturing 5 bases, or killing 22 people!

The RPG can also be used for long range sniper-like shots against infantry, be careful though as it has a substantial amount of drop and you will have to adjust accordingly. Once you get used to the drop you can start beating snipers at their own game, and humiliate them at the same time!

The are a few downsides to the RPG though… it takes a long time to reload, has very little splash damage, and it MUST be aimed before shooting or it has a 80% chance of flying right into the ground. Consider the long reload time when in combat, and switch back to your primary weapon until you can find a good spot to reload the RPG while in a safe area.

*Note that the damage Vs. vehicles is based on the standard tank without any armor enhancements from skill points.*

Ok now moving on to the abilities & gadgets…

Abilities can make or break the Engineer, if you have the wrong skillset you could end up regretting putting 5/5 into landmines when everybody is running around as infantry.

This is a guide to help you get the most out of your Engineer and help out your team at the same time! The abilities are color coded for how highly i recommend them, Green being the highest and Red being the lowest.

(Abilities that require another ability to be maxed out will be italicized, and tier 2 abilities will be marked with an *)

Equipment Expertise:

Frag Grenades: Frags are great if you play more on foot than in a vehicle, they allow you to easily clear out camping spots and kill people behind cover. Bounce them off walls before going around a corner and you might kill that medic waiting to mow you down as soon as you round the corner. They also do damage to tanks so you can use them as backup if you need 1 more RPG to take out a tank. Average damage Vs. tanks is about 60-130 and damage Vs. an APC is 80-180.

*Dead Man’s Trigger: If you don’t have a problem with people calling you a noob this can be useful. You can run into someone in close quarters and if they kill you your grenade might drop and kill them. If you are trying to capture a base and someone runs up and kills you to take your spot such as inside the fountain on Karkand the grenade will kill them giving your team more time to retake the base or delay the enemy taking it back.

Vehicle Repair Tool: This is the medic bag of the engineer, with this high-tech tool you can repair any vehicle known to man just by grinding the tip against a vehicle’s side! The upgrades to this ability make it repair MUCH faster than the original version. The original one can take around 1 minute to fully repair a wounded tank, but the fully upgraded one takes less than 30 seconds! This tool is great if you use tanks a lot or like to keep your teams tanks on the field longer.

*Field Repair Vehicle: This ability CAN be useful if you have lots of tank grouped up capturing a base, it repairs slower than the power tool and it only gives you +10 points every few seconds, so i think the skill point is better spent elsewhere. All you have to do is be in a vehicle and get within a few meters of friendly vehicles and this skill will start to slowly repair them. It is great for groups but not so useful when only trying to repair one thing.

Increase RPG Ammo: This is one of my favorite skills, i suggest this being one of the first you spend a skill point on. With this awesome ability you can carry extra RPG ammo into the battle. Fully upgraded this lets you carry a total of 6 (!) RPG’s. That should be PLENTY to let you take out a tank or APC. Even with 2 misses you should still have enough to kill a full health tank.

Tow Missile System: This skill really helps when you are face to face with an enemy tank, but it is not so good against infantry. Im not exactly sure how much damage this does because i have not used it in a while, but i think it does about 150-200 damage to a tank. Spending more than 1 skill point in this area is unwise unless you like the APC more than the tanks. To use this hit Right Mouse Button while in a APC.

Tank Coaxial Machine Gun: This is the best upgrade you can get if you drive tanks a lot. With this upgrade you get a MG with 25 rounds that you can use with RMB (Right Mouse Button). The MG is great Vs. infantry and does considerable damage of about 20-25 per shot, with good accuracy and rate of fire this is almost like having a Veteran PKM attached to the tank. Spending more than 1 skill in this area is only useful if you use tank against infantry more than you do against armor, i think it reloads plenty fast already.

Helicopter Piloting: This skill should only be purchased if you have experience flying in other Battlefield games. This lets you fly the helicopters that spawn at the main bases on Oman. Very useful skill that i recommend to anyone who is a competent pilot. With the attack chopper you can get insane amounts of EXP from killing tanks and other enemies.

Jet Pilot Training: This skill allows you to pilot the F-35 and MiG that spawn at the main bases on Oman. Not much to say about this one because i never really use it, but some pilots can go 30/0 so if you are good at flying this might just be for you.

*Anti-Vehicle Mine: This is the second best anti-tank gadget you can have, it will severely hurt any vehicle that it explodes on. The best strategy that i have found is to use them like sapper mines and run right in front or behind an enemy tank and lay them down, you may get damaged about 50-70 percent but you usually get the kill. Mines typically do about 450-1000 damage to tanks, depending on where they explode. IF it doesn’t kill it with one mine just pull out the trusty RPG and finish it off! >;D (I’m fairly sure they always kill APC’s in one mine.)

*Tank & APC Armor Enhancements: These upgrades are GREAT if you like to try and have as few deaths as possible in a round. They allow you to take 1 full RPG extra when fully upgraded! This also helps in 1v1 tank battles, if you miss with one of your shots this upgrade might buy you enough time to fire again and finish him off.

Combat Expertise:

Grenade Combat Awareness: This ability lets you see where friendly and enemy grenades are… not really that useful seeing as grenades basically explode as soon as you can see them. If you die from grenades a lot maybe you should put one skill point in this area.

Mortar Strike Awareness: No point in this because they have not even released mortar strikes yet.

*Avoid Trip Wire Basic: This allows you to delay enemy claymore explosions when you WALK in front of them. If you try sprinting they will still explode instantly. Quite useful on servers where there are lots of claymore users, but seeing as it does not work 100% of the time you should still be careful where you walk.

Improved Threat Awareness: The most useful of all the abilities in my opinion. This allows you to reveal the enemies nametags MUCH faster and from further ranges than the non upgraded version, it even allows you to see the tags through the fog! Very useful for seeing how many enemies are in an area from a distance so you can judge whether or not to go running in. Your enemies probably have this as well so don’t go thinking that because you can see them that they can’t see you.

*Sniper Combat Awareness: This upgrade is okay if you don’t like getting sniped, but it is currently buggy and does not function 100% of the time. When active your guy will inhale right before the sniper shoots giving you time to squiggle around and try to find cover. It also reveals their position on the map AFTER they shoot. I don’t use this seeing as most snipers will kill you with a headshot anyways.

*Engineering Damage Assessment: This ability is awesome for a vehicle based Engineer, it allows you too see roughly how much health an enemy vehicle has left. It also shows how much health friendly vehicles have left too, allowing you to repair them accordingly.

Tactical Reflexes: This ability gives you a more accurate direction of damage indicator. Level 1 is Forward or Behind. Level 2 is Forward, Behind, Left, and Right. Level 3 is a circle indicator giving an almost exact position of enemy fire. Useful if you like to retaliate Vs. enemies faster, but since the weapons kill so quickly i spend my skill points elsewhere.

*Combat Resilience: This ability increases the speed you heal from all sources, i usually save this for my medic class because it does not help too much when you are an engineer. It speeds the healing you receive from the helipad repair stations and landing strips as well. If you have it at max level and you have an engineer repairing you with a level 4 repair tool you are basically invincible.

Physical Training Safe Fall: Increases the distance you can fall without getting damaged. Not too useful because you DO have a parachute that works from 10 feet in the air… BUT since they increased fall damage significantly in the latest patches this upgrade has become a more valid option. Especially for jumping from the roofs on Karkand and Sharqui.

Physical Training Power Climb: Greatly increases the speed you climb ladders. Excellent for both Karkand and Oman because they both have ladders that are very strategically placed. On Karkand this helps get to cover positions on the rooftops much faster giving a much better angle to shoot tanks from, and on oman you can very quickly climb the ladder to the crane allowing you to quickly spot, tag, and shoot down helicopters. Now i don’t know about you but i get shot a lot when i try and climb ladders, this upgrade makes it so much faster that i usually die 70% less when climbing!

*Physical Training Jogging Speed: This upgrade increases the speed at which you walk (Or Jog as they call it.) Good for when you are clearing corners and need to keep your weapon out, but it does not increase your speed enough to where it is as useful as the sprint upgrade.

*Physical Training Sprint Speed: Another one of my favorite upgrades, this allows you to sprint at amazing speeds. Awesome for any circumstances this lets you get from point A to point B and then to point C and D faster than everybody else on the field. There is nothing better than the feeling you get when you pass all your teammates running for B and they like “Whaaaaaat!?!?!?” and you are just like “Woot!” It makes it much easier to get from cover to cover as well, and it makes snipers have a LOT harder time hitting you especially if you zig-zag.

Now for the Tactics section!

Basic Tactics:

Rule #1: MARK THOSE TANKS!

This is extremely important because without marking tanks your RPG has a very low chance of hitting them at long ranges, or if the tank is on the move.

Even if you don’t have enough RPG’s to kill the tank completely marking the tank allows other Engineers across the map to take it out for you saving you the trouble of giving away your position.

Try and save your RPG shots for when you know they will hit your target, because sometimes you won’t have ammo boxes to replenish them. Running out of RPG’s when a tank is almost dead is very frustrating and often leads to your demise.

Also when a tank is marked you can shoot the RPG upwards into the air and kill it around buildings and other obstacles! There is no beep or anything to tell you it is locked on, as long as it is within range it will automatically track the tagged target.

Rule #2: Conserve Ammo!

With the lowest ammo capacity of pretty much all of the classes it is important that you make your shots count. Only shoot in short controlled bursts because if you go full auto and try to pwn the whole universe with your 1 magazine you will end up out of ammo in a hurry.

I recommend sticking around an assault so he can cover you while you reload your RPG’s and to supply you with ammo boxes when you start running low on ammunition.

Rule #3: Repair Stuff!

Make sure you repair all the friendly tanks in your area, even if it only gives you a few points for doing it it could lead you on to victory in the long run.

It is also a good idea to get out and repair your vehicle when it gets below 620 health for tanks and 320 for APC’s. This allows the tank to be able to take an additional RPG and still live for a few seconds to allow you to get out and repair it. Make sure if you are repairing your own tank that you either place a mine in front or behind it, or take it back towards a safe area in the middle of nowhere or near a bunch of friendlies. Otherwise a crafty enemy can sneak up and jack it from you!

Rule #4: Never Leave a Tank!

This is really important! If you leave your tank inside an enemy base they can take it, repair it, and use it against you. This also means your tank won’t respawn again until the tank is killed, so your team will be down 1 tank until that problem is resolved. It would be better to die with the tank then to give it to the enemy and let them kill you with it 10 times.

Rule #5: Don’t Fly Unless You Have Practice!

This is also important, please do not fly an attack heli or a fully loaded transport heli if you have had no practice or very little practice in flying helicopters. They take a long time to respawn and that puts your team at a huge disadvantage!

If you would like to practice wait for the second transport helicopter to spawn at your main base and then take it before anyone else gets in. Fly straight up to get some altitude in case you lose control and then get the feel of the controls. Once you are acquainted to the basic controls try flying to a base and hovering mid-air to capture it.

The Attack-Heli handles slightly differently than the transport chopper, it is much lighter and can make really tight turns in the hands of a master.

Advanced Tactics: (COMING SOON!)

Follow these tips and you can be pwning tanks and taking names in no time at all!

Thank you for reading the guide, and if you would like me to cover something else suggest it via PM or reply to this topic.

*Future updates will include New Weapons & Tier 3 Training!*

– Drummernate