Enemy engineers

Enemy Engineers are the only enemies in Steamlands. They control all Tanks the player fight against, and vary in strategy.

Appearance
Enemy Engineers appear very similar to the Engineer the player controls. They have a white head, and where a black mask and white goggles. The rest of the clothes they wear is all black. The only differences they have from the Engineer the player controls is that the player's Engineer has a different white head and smaller eyes. Steamlands guy.jpg

Game information
Enemy Engineers are the only enemy the player actually encounters in the game (Enemy Saboteurs and Grapplers are not considered enemies). They control all the Tanks the player will ever encounter in the game, other than the player's own tank. They are likely employed and are minions of the Pirate Commander, who is the commander of the Pirate organization who patrol New Britannia. Enemy Engineers are possibly separated into teams to go about the land. All Enemy Engineers know how to use all weapons and Man Blocks, and don't seem to be that different from the player.

They are often not located far from other members. In later levels of Steamlands, more Enemy Engineers are found in Tanks, and are more likely to use better strategies. Enemy Engineers also team up on the player in later levels, having both sides of them under attack. For unexplained reasons, Enemy Engineers in early levels are usually found partly damaged, with damage to there Guns, Engine Room, and Armour. It is possible this is caused by rivalry between to Engineers, or by attacks by inhabitants of Towns.

Attack Settings

 * See also: Dev Mode (Steamlands)

In Steamlands, Enemy Engineers have specific settings for combat with the player. These settings are made known in Dev Mode, a type of program in Steamlands that allows the player to make there own levels. Several settings exist, all which are used in the main game of Steamlands.

Ambush
Ambush is a type of setting that when turned on, will cause two Enemy Tanks to simultaneously attack the player. When this happens, a Tank will move on to the screen from behind the player and in front. For the Health Crate to spawn, or for the battle to be over, the player has to destroy both Tanks. This is harder to do as the player has to act more quickly, as they are receiving more attacks. Only one Ambush is possible per level.

In Dev Mode, Ambush can be set to Off, Wait, or Charge. If Off is selected, no Ambushes will be done. It is not certain what the option Wait does, but from its name it will possibly cause a battle with a Tank in front of the player, then sometime during the fight a Tank from behind will come. When Charge is selected, when an Ambush initiates a Tank will charge from behind the player.

According to the Help file for Dev Mode, a Tank that ambushes the player is beforehand placed under the floor, then when ready to ambush the player, pops out of the floor and is placed on the surface. The Tank is pushed leftwards behind the camera to hid its entrance.

Death Trigger: -
 * Off - Turns Death Trigger off
 * On - Instantly starts the next fight when a Tank is destroyed

Personality: -
 * None - No personality
 * Gung Ho - Charges the player at full speed. Won't retreat even when its guns are all destroyed. Aims randomly.
 * Sniper - Keeps a moderate distance and calculates the easiest to destroy target on the Player of value - it ignores armour, it goes straight for the stuff the Player doesn't want to get hit.
 * Timid - Stays as far as possible from the player. Shoots randomly.
 * Novice - Uses the same distance rules as the Sniper, but shoots randomly. Use this setting for easy levels.

Decision Delay - The time delay the enemy makes before making a decision

Swat Delay - The delay the enemy Engineer has before swatting a Saboteur off his tank