Quick tip for getting engi ammo

We have all seen them, threads that contain rants about how engineers rarely ever drop ammo, and how the engis arnt really doing there job. Well I just wanted to make a quick thread here, to provide a few tips, and alternative methods, that may yield you more wonderful ammo packs

Pre-note: Engineers drop TONS of ammo, all over the place (In my experience). we need to get rid of the idea that they dont. when you follow the following 3 steps, youll wonder how you never thought of it before, its that easy (i imagine many have, this is for those that have not)

Tip#1:Ask for ammo. Its really that easy. Engineers do not seek out those in need of ammo. Some of us, like myself, will ALWAYS place ammo in areas of congregation, or in areas where i know a defense will be made. If your in need of ammo, use proxy chat, and call out an engineer by name, with a POLITE request for ammo

Tip#2: look down. Many players miss alot of ammo packs simply because they dont look for them. 10 Engineers can drop 10 packs of ammo, but then players will just run around shooting like crazy, and then complain that their out of ammo, when a new pack is sitting no less than 10m away. I see this alot when groups of infantry make pushes from one base to the next. I will drop an ammo pack after our group successfully takes over an area, and announce the drop over proxy chat. I will the proceed to see 10-50 friendlies run forward with ammo indicators over their heads, and NONE of them took the time to re-arm. If your in a group, an engi has PROBABLY dropped ammo for himself, or a team mate. Just look for it

Tip#3. Play with a group, or squad. I feel as though this tip could improve a majority of PS2's problems so i feel the need to add it into the thread, like almost every thread deserves.

Anyways, I just read a few posts/threads complaining about the lack of engineer ammo packs being dropped, and then played a few hours as an engi where I couldnt give ammo to a friendly if they allowed me to shove it down their throat, because noone paid attention. I thought this was warranted.

It's also important that engineers max out their ammo packs--they are very cheap, and the Max radius can cover a single big room, or a couple small ones, and go up and down a floor. I see way too many low-level ammo packs which require you to basically be standing ON the ammo pack to resupply, plus it's bad for you expwise as the game prioritizes higher level ones.

Tip#4:

Like repair ... Don't ask for ammo and then run off expecting the Engi to chase you like a weird future Pizza delivery service ..

Tip#5:

Be prepared to move 5ft to get said ammo .. The Engi is supporting you and your team .. Don't try to get him killed by expecting the ammo to be placed at your feet if you are in a hot area ..
The Engi if he has sense will place it in cover close to you ..

^This, certing into it is highly recommended, even if it's just to have the up-time increased. With a maxed ammo pack you'll only have to throw one down every 6 minutes.

1, Group stops, ammo drops.
2, Group stops, ammo drops.
3, Dropping ammo is free XP so always make sure you have a pack out to keep the free XP pouring in.
4, Drop it in cover, people who drop ammo in stupid positions where you cannot reload in cover deserves a punch in the face.
5, If there is already a pack at a location, adding three more is rather pointless. Put it somewhere else instead.
6, Did I mention that you are supposed to drop ammo as soon as the squad stops?

As a corollary to "drop ammo when the squad stops", if you are lone-wolfing it, after putting an ammo pack down in a good place *don't move it* until it times out. It is extremely frustrating for players who are making a beeline towards your ammo pack to have it vanish because you decided to be a sugar-addled hyperactive and move your ammo pack every 15 seconds.

Engineers have a subtle influence over the battle that is not obvious. For players not being guided by squad waypoints (i.e. all the "greenies"), they will tend to congregate around ammo packs. This means that a smart engineer will place ammo packs in places to draw allies to a better position. Such as on a piece of high ground, 25-50m away on a flank. This helps fix one old adage of warfare "if you are not out-flanking the enemy, they are out-flanking you".

Tip #n+1: check your minimap before asking, ammo packs are displayed on it (small squares with three horizontal lines in it).

SOE should really do some tutorial or anything to clearly explain how the minimap works, how to use it, the fact that you can zomm in/out and enlarge it. It's amazing how many people are not aware of the capabilities of this feature.

A tutorial regarding the minimap would have had much more impact for new players than the deathscreen update.

This is SO TRUE!
As a mostly lone-wolf type infantry player who is very impatient and very aggressive, i should probably play more light assault than engineer. But engineer is still the coolest class in the game so i have hard time to switch it out. I typically run in front and try to flank all the time. When i do this as LA or HEAVY however, i get stuck alone. I overextend and eventually get caugth out alone. So i die. No backup, its not arriving.

But as engie, more people always always seem to catch up and follow me. It must be because of the ammo-drops. It is kind of wierd but it really really works.

Use the ammo-drop to motivate your more lazy team-mates to catch up!

Edit: Also i agree with OP. PPL love to whine about not getting ammo, but i also find that most engineers to take this job seriously. I have more issue with 'part time infiltrators' who dont use the recondarts enough :/

I play an engineer, and I do actively seek out people in need of ammo. In fact I spam the ammo pack everywhere that I go. If I run across a lone sniper while running to an objective, I will drop ammo for them as I run past in case they need it. If I see a MAX with the repair wrench overhead and stop to repair it, I always drop ammo first before I start shooting rep.

Most of my time in big fights is spent running around looking for the biggest blobs I can find near the front lines to get my ammo packs down behind. Gangs of rocket spamming HAs and MAX units are my best customers, and they're always around. And I almost never find a line of more than three people that doesn't already have one or more ammo packs down when I get there.

I've only done this once, but last night I was tromping about in a MAX taking down tanks and HA's assault our base, took a rocket and headed back looking for repairs.

HA's. HA's everywhere.

So after wandering around for about 5 minutes spamming "NEED REPAIRS" voice chat every 15 seconds or so on the off chance one might be nearby, I finally found an engineer. Who promptly proceeded to pause, look at me, and run past.
Obviously I can't outrun him to get into his view again, so I pathetically go chasing him around (Queue benny hill theme) for an additional 4 minutes or so all the while hitting V-4 (iirc) "NEED REPAIRS, NEED REPAIRS, NEED REPAIRS" with my mech-man stomping about directly behind him and the fact that there MUST be a wrench icon on his minimap following him around.

Mind you, we hold the base and are pushing forward, there's no one for him to shoot, repair, or really go to. He even doubles back once or twice trying to get "somewhere" and both times going right past me.

So sitting at 25% hp, this guy being the only engineer and utterly oblivious to every feasible form of communication, I blew him up and ran to one of my squadmates who had been fighting, died, respawned engie, and ran from the spawn in the time I spent trying to flag this guy down. -_-

Exactly. The "radius" of it appears to be either sphere or a cylinder; I'm not exactly sure. And its influence extends through walls as well. Once you get it up to the higher ranks you'll get lots of dings from it when nobody is anywhere in your line of sight.

90% sure that it is a sphere. Unlike the sensor darts, which are a cylinder.

It never fails that the lvl1 ammo pack is smack in the middle of a hot enemy firing lane which leaves me with a choice:
Dance around the ammo pack and hope I live through the bullets or look for ammo elsewhere.

Engineer Pro-Tip #1: Drop ammo packs behind cover.

YES PLEASE. I still don't understand some waypoints and markers. Just yesterday I discovered a new marker (on A point) I've never seen before.

That's your SL assigning that as the priority point with the Q key (allows you to target generators and points).

[quote="ScrapyardBob, post: 2594065, member: 117574"... after putting an ammo pack down in a good place *don't move it* until it times out. It is extremely frustrating for players who are making a beeline towards your ammo pack to have it vanish because you decided to be a sugar-addled hyperactive and move your ammo pack every 15 seconds.

Engineers have a subtle influence over the battle that is not obvious.[/quote]

I can't quite agree with all of this. True, engies have an influence in where the battle is fought by where they drop ammo. But we do have a duty to drop ammo in the most needed areas. If that ammo disappears it means you need to move a little closer to the front, soldier.

When I spawn as an engie at a sunderer I drop ammo so the AA MAXes can get filled up as they protect the sunderer.
I drop ammo as I head for the front lines for those who look like they will need it or at traffic points.
At the front lines I determine where the ammo and repair are needed most and this makes those earlier drops disapear. Sorry, this is where it is needed most. And I may occasionally drop ammo where the squad should advance to next as bait to move their sorry ***** forward a bit.

The thing about dropping ammo is that Engineers have several other things to be concerned with as well. It isn't like playing Medic in which all you have to be concerned with is healing/reviving folks when you aren't shooting. When I play Engi, I often forget to drop ammo packs because I'm so concerned with: Shooting and trying not to get shot, placing and manning turrets, repairing MAXs, vehicles, turrets, and terminals. Those three things alone take up a lot of time and focus, so please forgive Engineers if it slips their minds to drop ammo packs every once in a while. Not to mention, placing ammo packs is still a finicky process which can be frustrating (and even infuriating) in the heat of battle. Usually if you ask Engineers to, though, they'll drop ammo for you unless they simply don't know how.

If I'm not mistaken, the voice macro "I need more ammo" puts the ammo needed icon above your head... I always try and drop an ammo pack when I see those.

I'd put down more ammo but people keep walking past me whenever I try to.

Maybe we need an ammo tool much like the repair tool or even the Medic's healing tool.

After all, we can magically restore health and armor via Ghostbusters-like beams, so why can't we also fill our comrades' pockets with ammunition via similar technology!?

"BEAM ME AMMO, SCOTTY!"