Engies and Spies: An eternal love story. A love story where, you know, the relationship has reached the point at which murder has become perfectly reasonable.
In principle nothing has changed between Spy and Engy with the Engy Update. Yet I feel that circumstances have made the Engy more vulnerable to his arch enemy.
It’s quite obvious in the case of the Wrangler. There you are, holding a remote control, squinting and trying very hard to identify through the bloody shield what’s going on in the area you are covering while also keeping you head low to prevent from being headshot by some sodding Sniper. Yes, you can look around, and when you catch a Spy sneaking up you might even stand a chance using the Wrangler against him. But once there is any action you simply don’t have the opportunity. Not only because you have to bloody aim, but also because – at least from behind the shield – you have to look very carefully what to shoot at [1]. At that point even the worst Spy in the world can backstab an Engy and sap the sentry without any risk and hurry.
But the update also highly increased the mobility of the Engy; in some aspects enabling him to be mobile, in others pretty much forcing him to do so. On a map with dynamic gameplay (A/D, 5-CP) a good Engy pretty much has his hands full all of the time. If he does his job right he will have four buildings he has to build, upgrade, repair and move. So like a squirrel he’s always running around, trying to collect metal, whacking a building here, shooting at an enemy there. And while moving buildings he’s relatively helpless. All that gives a spy a much better chance to sap an unattended building en passant. Also in general the spy checking is more spotty on such maps since the dynamic nature leads to far more diverse movement.
In all fairness one aspect which might put a small obstacle into a Spy’s business is the by-now common presence of mini-sentries on such maps, making it a bit harder for him to backstab people. Unless he carries the Dead Ringer. Or saps the (usually unguarded) mini-sentry first.
Speaking of the Dead Ringer: I maintain that the Dead Ringer (and to a lesser degree the C&D) has in general strengthen the Spy’s basic position against an Engy because he can for one risk more easily to draw him into prolonged fights after sapping (since the Engy will not be able to kill him), and when failing very often can escape for another run shortly afterward.
Since I don’t play Spy I can’t really say how difficult (or easy) it was for a Spy to deal with an Engy before the update. But I think it’s safe to say that it has become easier, at least in some situations. Perhaps I’m just a little touchy to this subject because I’m usually at the receiving end of it. I still think some small anti-Spy measures (with proper trade-off!) wouldn’t have hurt. Maybe that would be a subject worthwhile of a community-weapon.
Stay tuned, there’s more to come ...
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