Engineer questions, Bugs

My engineer "ZOGineer" is a level 52 with LE level 13. I thought that based on previous threads that I would get a 2nd sentinel at level 50. I understand that it might not be coded. After waiting between each item I can simultaneously summon....

1 block (small or regular size)
1 vehicle (scorpion, Hellbender or Goliath)
1 sentinel (lightning or standard)
1 turret (Mini, Ball or Energy)

I hopes this helps !

I would have expected in 211 for a level 52 engineer to be able to spawn 1 sentinel, 1 turret, 2 vehicles and 3 blocks. Default for 2nd sentinel was coded at lvl 60, rather than the initially suggested idea of 50.
But the coded defaults can be overriden in the server rpg.ini file, and I don't know what Dru/Shan have got configured there.

I guess I haven't played my Engineer very much since 211 was released.

I can spawn 3 blocks and 2 vehicles!! Thanks for the update!!

2 vehicles is helpful....thou still one sent till 60 ...loong hall..lol....but then again..i guess tis jsut cus i know the fun of sents covering ur back..

...

After getting back from Mississippi today, we played the onion, and I found I had the shield blast artifact; I used shield blast successfully on that map (although it didn't hit anyone, so I cannot confirm whether it healed shields or not). Next map was deck 2004, and I had no shield blast (The artifact did not exist in my inventory). I died and respawned, still no blast. I disconnected and reconnected, still no blast. I have shield healing 3. Packetloss may have been an issue.

Strangely enough, after posting this and logging back on to deck 2004, I had the blast again. Will edit if I have this problem again.

Had this problem again. It seems to be random whether I get the blast or not. Not sure if its random every time I spawn, or only when I connect the first time, or some other interval.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and theorize that the game is "accidentally" giving me shield healing 1 instead of shield healing 3, as each time I don't have blast, my rate of shield healing with link-alt is painfully slow.

ok same as nikola$ i lvl'd today and had the pts logged off went to work came home and logged on and have it say -2 pts when i had it flash'n at me when i logged off that i had stat pts my char is dom60_eng date aug 9 2007

thanx for the time and check out

I have a theory on the negative stat points that engineers are experiencing. A friend of mine has an engineer character that recently leveled to 32. He had previously purchased LE level 11 prior to the class being changed.

Level 32 would now "allow" him to buy LE level 8 which would cost 10 points currently. Immediately after leveling he spent his newly acquired stat points on something unrelated only to find that later that same session he had -10 stat points. Coincidentally that is the amount that LE level 8 would cost.

He is allowed (I believe) to use abilities associated with LE level 11 and I suspect that on every multiple of 4 levels he gains he will experience this same problem. (ie when reaching level 36 he will go to -11)

When we figured this out it helped him to understand what to expect and I hope this helps others. Let me know if you have had the same problem and if it follows this pattern.

I have just recently experienced the negative exp thing for going up a level.

Grizzled_Imposter wrote:

I have just recently experienced the negative exp thing for going up a level.

What is the character name?

EDIT: Never mind - it is in your post

Grizzled,

At level 44, you should have 43*7 = 301 points

You have spent the following:
class = 1
AbilityLoadedEngineer 11 3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13 = 88
DruidShieldRegen 3 = 12
AbilityShieldHealing 2 10+15 = 25
DruidArmorRegen 1 = 15
AbilityVehicleEject 1 = 5
DruidArmorVampire 1 = 10
AbilityConstructionHealthBonus 1 = 2
Weapon Speed 50 = 50
Health Bonus 88 = 44
Max Adrenaline 100 = 0
Attack Bonus 50 = 50
Damage Reduction 0 = 0
AmmoMax 0 = 0
total = 302 points

So -1 points available looks right to me. Hopefully it was just sorting itself out and will not happen again.

dom60 wrote:

ok same as nikola$ i lvl'd today and had the pts logged off went to work came home and logged on and have it say -2 pts when i had it flash'n at me when i logged off that i had stat pts my char is dom60_eng

At level 28, you should have 27*7 = 189 points

You have spent the following:
class = 1
AbilityLoadedEngineer 12 3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14 = 102
DruidShieldRegen 6 = 24
AbilityShieldHealing 2 10+15 = 25
AbilityVehicleEject 1 = 5
AbilityEngineerAwareness = 10
Weapon Speed 50 = 50
Health Bonus 30 = 15
Max Adrenaline 105 = 5
Attack Bonus 11 = 11
Damage Reduction 3 = 3
AmmoMax 0 = 0
total = 251

So you currently should have 189-251 = -62 points

Your stats currently say -2 points. You still have another -60 to go. These will presumably keep adjusting everytime you level, although I thought it was supposed to do it when you joined?
How did you manage to purchase so many things? There was only +12 points added to the cost of LoadedEngineer up to level 12, so you should not have more than -12 under any circumstances.
One for Dru I think.

Here's my friend engineer character name....

Check this one out sometime Szlat

MAC54_ENG currently level 32 and -10 stat points available

I suspect it "charges" him for the LE level he previously bought every 4th level. I suspect he will show a -11 when he reaches level 36.

What do you think?

Z0G wrote:

MAC54_ENG

At level 32, he should have 31*7 = 217 points

He has spent the following:
class = 1
AbilityLoadedEngineer 11 3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13 = 88
AbilityConstructionHealthBonus 3 2+4+6 = 12
AbilityShieldHealing 2 10+15 = 25
DruidShieldRegen 2 = 8
AbilityVehicleEject 1 = 5
Weapon Speed 42 = 42
Health Bonus 20 = 10
Max Adrenaline 110 = 10
Attack Bonus 50 = 50
Damage Reduction 10 = 10
AmmoMax 2 = 2
total = 263

So he currently should have 217-263 = -46 points
So a few to lose yet.

I have just had a thought about what is probably happening.

When you join a server, it checks how many points you have allocated against how many points you should have, and sets your points remaining accordingly.

In the past, whenever points changes have occurred, the next time each person joined, the points remaining would be set correctly. So, for example, if I have Loaded Engineer 12, and we up the cost of LoadedEngineer by one point per level, next time I join I will go from 0 to -12 points. One update, and it is fine from then on.

However, when we did the LoadedEngineer change, we also put a restriction on so that the player level had to be 4 times the ability level in order to purchase it. This is what I think has caused the confusion.

Lets go through an example. Before the change assume I had LoadedEngineer 12 for a cost of 90 points (2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13), and was level 30.
When the change was made, each level costs 1 point more. However, as a level 30 player I can only purchase LE7. So the system works out the cost of the LE skill is now (3+4+5+6+7+8+9) = 42 points. The cost for LE 8-12 I believe comes back as 0 because I cannot buy them. So, instead of telling me I have -12 points, it tells me I have +48 points available (90 - 42).

So, I spend the +48 points.

When I go up to level 32, I get 7 points to spend as normal. Next time I join, the system re-adds up my points, but this time includes the cost of LE8, so I get -10 points available.
Likewise, after getting level 36, I will be charged for LE9, so will be -11 points available.

Does this fit in with everyone's experience? When the points changed, did you all get a points bonus but not mention it? (Strange how I can't remember anyone saying that they have had an unexpected boost in points to spend? Only when it went negative?) This will explain why a lot of you have overspent by a lot more than 15 points.

Read my post from a few days ago. I did not know why it was happening from a coding/programming standpoint but I said almost exactly what you just stated.

My friend MAC54_ENG rec'd 7 points for level 32 which he was able to spend and later the same day he found that he had -10.

Since he "pre-purchased" LE level 11, he will have this occur when he reached levels 36,40 and 44.

Its more than fair for the engineers that have this happen because in the meantime they enjoy the functionality of LE level 11 at player level 32 as in MAC's case.

I just thought knowing what was happening would help folks understand why they see negative points every 4 levels.

Thanks Szlat.