Matrix Games Forums

Can someone explain engineering points to me? Do they accumulate? Are they global, or are they division-specific? Are they dependent on number of engineers? Readiness, etc?

Engineering points are somewhat like somewhat like APs, but only for engineer units performing an engineering task. They accumulate within the unit itself and more the engineers you have, the faster they accumulate. It also helps if you keep the unit stationary and in supply of course (and not under any kind of attack). I try to keep my engineer units staffed with between 20-60 engineers depending on what stage of the game I'm in.

Edit: note also that some engineering tasks also require sufficient supply and PPs. The supply doesn't have to be in the unit itself but within its HQ. If all three requirements aren't met, you won't be able to perform that task.

Is there a cap based on the number of engineers?  I.e., do you need a minimum of X engineers to construct a fortress, no matter how long they sit there?

Good question--don't know the answer. Lets just say that a unit of 10 engineers would have to sit around undisturbed for a very long time to build a fortress.

ORIGINAL: phatkarp

Is there a cap based on the number of engineers?  I.e., do you need a minimum of X engineers to construct a fortress, no matter how long they sit there?

The cap is usually about 5 turns of engineering points saved up.

 Ah so for big enginering projects that cost say 160 EP, having a unit of say 10 engineers sitting around won't be enough since they won't accumulate EP indefinitely. For larger engineering projects you would have to mass larger groups of engineers to accomplish them. I was wondering why my unit of 10 ENG never seemed to have enough EP to build that factory
 

I found having 20 engineers in a unit plenty for factory building, this allows for a new factory every other turn. more is difficult to support with pps. When its time to upgrade your resources to tier3, I usually put to of them together, giving the unit one turn to move between builds. I have not experimented with unitsizes for building roads into hostile territory yet but I will have a grasp on that soon enough

Do we need to seek real-world information on the number of man-hours specific tasks take?