MvM: Beginner Engineer Building Placement

EDIT: I should probably improve this guide at some point. I wrote it a long time ago, and it's kind of lame. Oh, well.

This guide was actually a request. A lot of players have difficulty with good building placement in MvM. They turtle on roofs, hogging their dispenser. They build teleporters facing walls or where robots will easily find them. They put sentries in spots where they mow down Scouts, then get crushed the second something formidable comes along, or they pop Uber Medics relentlessly. That's not a good thing, because the Engineer is supposed to be the cornerstone of an MvM team. If there is any one class that is virtually indispensable, it is the Engineer. He is responsible for keeping his team healed, keeping his teleporters running, and dealing a large amount of damage to the robots. Even the best teams will suffer if the Engineer is bad.

I could just write a guide explaining the basic principles of building placement, but I made some pictures instead. That way, the more intelligent among you can probably just figure out the principles on your own, and the ones who are less so can do their monkey-see-monkey-do thing.

There isn't any significance as to whether I'm wrangling or not in the screenshots. Wrangle when appropriate. Remember, this is a list of "permanent" placements I personally use, ignoring most intermediary positions due to following tanks, falling back, etc. A good engineer moves around a lot and adjusts his positioning based on the wave and his team. These are good standbys to start with. Obviously, I ignore all the dumb spots that only work in easy missions or when your team is too skilled to need to try. Some of the monkeys might be surprised at the total absence of hiding-in-a-corner spots. Your sentry can tank a lot of damage and can deal a lot of damage at long or short range. Hiding in a hole with maximum wrench Swing Speed is not helping anybody.

Be warned that the fallback positions on Mannworks are all kind of arbitrary. I usually just wing it in Mannslaughter.

Decoy

Entrance
One option for the exit. Probably if the robots are taking a left route.
And another.
This one is only if no robots come from the top, except maybe Snipers.
And another.
Good nest location if robots are going left.
Or right.
Block Super Scouts or other melee-wielding robots.
Fallback from that.
Block Super Scouts on high route.
Defending Spawn.
Or the other side.
Wrangle some Snipers or enemy Engineers.

Coaltown

Entrance.

Central Exit.

Left Exit.

Right Exit.

TANK!

Robots are going right.

Robots are going left.

Block Super Scouts going left.

I never actually use this, but it can block things.

Block Super Scouts going top right (I forgot the lower right path screenshot... just put a Sentry in the choke point.).

Use this spot on the last wave of Cataclysm. It keeps the Snipers away.

My favorite spawn-defense setup. You NEED to wrangle at spawn or you will die.

Similar, but I think you're more likely to get shot here.

Wrangling from cover.

This would probably work.

Mannworks

Here's a bunch of random spots. They're not very well thought-through.

Entrance.
Right Exit.
Central Exit.
Left Exit.
Robots are going left side.
Same side, but blocking Super Scouts.
Robots are going right side.
Intermediary.
Improvised intermediary spot.
Defending Spawn.
Defending Spawn.
Still defending Spawn.

Bigrock

Entrance.
Exit outside of the cave. Sometimes you'll want to have it inside, but you'll still have to move it back if you get overrun. Dumb Engineers leave their Teleporter going into the cave behind the robots. Dumb teammates take it.
Other side.
Inside cave.
Probably best all-around placement.
Blocking Super Scouts.
100-Spy wave.
Blocking Super Scouts with Heavy, or just a fallback.
Your Heavy might want the Dispenser over here.
Aggressive fallback. Blocks Super Scouts.
Fallback left side.
Fallback from that.
Fallback other side.
Defending bridge at spawn.
Defending bridge and left flank.

Mannhattan

Entrance.
Exit.
Alternate Exit.
Primary Dispenser.
Point A Dispenser.
Point B Dispenser.
Main Sentry spot.
Blocking non-Gate Crasher Super Scouts.
Another good Sentry spot.
Point A Sentry Spot.
Another Point A Sentry Spot.
Blocking Super Scouts.
Beginner Point B Sentry.
Advanced Point B Sentry.
You and/or several people on your team need to uninstall the game if you got pushed back this far.
Cover all 3 doors, keep Sentry Busters away from Dispenser.

Rottenburg

Entrance.
Exit.
A good Sentry spot.
And another.
Blocking Super Scouts.
The noob Sentry spot. It's fine as long as there are no Uber Medics incoming.
Fallback Dispenser to hold choke point.
If your team gets pushed back but manages to hold the tunnel. Put the Sentry and Dispenser on the other side if the bots are going the other way.
Corner hold for lower path. Clutch Super Scout blocking spot. Also, you can put the Sentry up on the bridge so it shoots robots from behind while your team uses the Dispenser.
Defending the bridge.
Fallback from that.
Defending Spawn.
Things are getting dire.

Disposable Sentry Placement

Nowhere. The Disposable Sentry is for being bad at the game and goofing off. You will almost never be able to afford it, and, when you can, it is just a fifth building you have to worry about. It will most likely not even increase your DPS. If you are currently in the middle of a game and accidentally bought one already, go hide it in a dark corner near spawn where it won't shoot any Medics by accident. Or just don't build it.

Further Reading

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=261322707
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=255962006
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=265347252
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=265956030&tscn=1402333624

[Crispy Pretzel Chicken Fries]

Now that I know where to put my shit I'm ready...for...something.........eh

[Revengineer]

Also, thank you for taking the time to write this. They're always needed.

[Revengineer]

Pretty good guide. The only thing I would add is the importance of ensuring the dispenser is constructed before the sentry when falling back; this almost always gives the team a better chance to regroup.

[Soldier Claus]

Oh, yeah. The reason I don't put it in the center for those is that some people stand there and shoot, and I don't want them taking the tele accidentally.

[Drag]

Yeah, like I said, the oldest maps. I also put the teleporter on the right spawn on bigrock. I also usually use the entrance spot you do on Rottenburg. It's a good spot.

[Soldier Claus]

On teleporter entrances: yes, it should be accessible by both sides of spawn. However, equidistant is not always best. For example, on Bigrock, the right spawn door is closer to the robot spawn, so you should pretty much always leave by that door, anyway. It's a good idea to put the entrance somewhere where people are walking regardless of whether the tele's running or not, so they don't waste a trip backtracking to an entrance that's not there.

[Drag]

I tend to put my teleporter entrace equidistant from each spawn opening, especially on the oldest maps. This way, regardless of which spawn the game put a respawned player into doesn't matter. Even more, the risk of a robot attacking the entrance is pretty low, even if the robots are back at spawn.

And if the robots are back at spawn, you usually have bigger problems than slight dents in the entrance anyway, and the teleporter shouldn't even be used.

[Cymboll]

hey, thanks! Can't wait to use these

[Feetuska]

I love you.

[Soldier Claus]

This guide is a set of simple building placements for new players. If you had read the intro, you might've noticed that I actually encouraged players to use their own spots. And, of course, 90% of the time, placement doesn't even matter. The very idea of "spots" is mostly to keep newbies from putting it somewhere really useless.

I do regret leaving out probably the best primary Mannhattan sentry placement, though. I forgot quite a few things while running around taking screenshots. And, of course, some of these spots are just made up because I never really need to fall back to use them. So those ones probably aren't the best.