KanaxStratz · Aug 28, 2026 · edited Sep 4, 2026 · 10 / 10 from 1 votes Recruit Normal Hard Insane Nightmare Apocalypse | Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Soldier Skills | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Cluster Rockets | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Security | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
 Engineering Skills | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
The Combat Engineer's game, top to bottom. One class has a machine to feed and caves to shut, and both are places on the map, so start with the map.
first
Bring scraps to the City Guard
28 cases of 
scraps lie in three heaps at 0:00. Carry them into Thalim and hand them to the 
City Guard. It counts them above its head.
then
Spend them on add-ons
Class panel, F1 to F7, while you stand inside Thalim. Drones and gate turrets are the ones that shoot.
on the way
Seal the caves
Satchel Charge inside a cave mouth, step back, 
Disarm CE. 30 XP each, and that cave stops rolling its packs.
always
Keep the machines running
Repair (CE) what is dented, 
Refit what is broken, 
Overhaul dead turrets and Predators, 
Reconstruct dead vehicles.
- scraps case on the ground at 0:00 (28)
Case positions are the map's own placed objects; the caves are the regions the satchel trigger tests; the City Guard stands where the script builds it.
Scraps
Where they come from
- 28 cases on the ground at 0:00, in three heaps: the Balaad ruins in the south-west, the RA outpost in the east, the UT motor pool on the west edge. Each holds 3 to 6 scraps.
- A first run that pays: go south from the landing zone into Balaad before anything else. Its heap is the biggest, 15 of the 28 cases, strung out between the landing zone and the ruins. Leave it for the west edge and the bridge by the UT motor pool, 6 more cases, 3 of them next to the generator, then go east into Thalim. You arrive later than the players who walked straight to the city, and the ones who hoped for turrets at once will wait, but 21 cases hold 63 to 126 scraps, so the drones and the gate turrets both go up on arrival in most runs. The RA outpost is the other way, on the far east edge; leave it for later. Cases stack in the inventory, 200 scraps to a slot, so the run fits in the bag.
- One fresh case every 100 s once the City Guard stands, dropped somewhere passable on the map, with 6 to 10 in it.
- The
MULE. Activate it at the City Guard: it walks 50 to 120 units out of Thalim, digs for 20 to 30 s and leaves a case of 40 to 49 where it dug, then walks home. You fetch the case. - Scraps Scanner: 10 scraps, needs
Rory Swann inside Thalim. From then on every case on the map is pinged for the engineers every 3 minutes. 
Computational AI Module, 10 minutes after the guard is built, somewhere on the map. Not scraps: hand it to the City Guard for +15 drone damage and +2 drones.- In Infested a case is credited the moment you pick it up; no walk back.
The City Guard
- Built the moment a Combat Engineer is picked, at Thalim's southern edge, with the MULE beside it. Not in Competitive, Survival, PMC or PMC+, nor with the Classical modifier.
- Hand it a case: drop the case into the City Guard and the count above its head goes up by what the case held.
- Add-ons are bought from the class panel while you are inside Thalim, one at a time; each one names the engineer who paid for it.
- It works until Chapter 3: the hull's arrival breaks it and the scrap drops stop, so spend what you have before then. Reconstruct it afterwards and it hands over its Drones module: 7 drones follow you for the rest of the game.
What the scraps buy
| Key | Add-on | Scraps | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Bullhorn | 30 | Send orders to the civilians in Thalim. |
| F2 | Motion Sensor | 20/25/30 | A motion sensor in the City Guard. Each upgrade widens the radius it scans. |
| F3 |  Militia Drones | 40/50/60 | The control system that builds and runs 8 drones patrolling Thalim and attacking any threat. Each upgrade raises the drones' armor, move speed, attack speed and damage. |
| F4 | Mega Shield | 25/30/35 | A protective shield around every neutral and allied unit. Each upgrade adds 25 shields. |
| F5 | Linked Aim Assist | 20/25/30 | A linked aim assist that connects to the heroes. |
| F6 | Gate Turrets | 30/35/40 | Turrets on Thalim's gates, linked to the City Guard. |
| F7 | ISR module | 30 | An ISR module that should detect the aliens. |
Costs with a slash are per level. Ordering the drones out of Thalim costs 10 more each time; the Scraps Scanner is Swann's own button. Prices and text are the panel's, from the map file.
The caves
Sealing one
- Satchel Charge · Engineering 4 · 180 energy, 4 min cooldown. Plant it inside the cave mouth.
- Disarm CE · X · 5 energy. Triggers the fuse. Explosives kill allies: step back first.
- 30 XP per cave, five caves; the map pings each one as it goes.
- The charge has to land inside the cave's region, the marked circle on the guide's map, not the rocks beside it, or it is just a very loud bang.
- Off with the Rifle modifier: the caves cannot be sealed there.
Why it matters
- The five caves are where the undead and the bosses come from: the general spawn also uses the four map edges, the bosses use the caves alone.
- On Hard and above the caves also roll packs: every 60 to 120 s one of the five is picked, and Zerglings,
Pure Hunters, 
Unburied, Risen or Swollen walk out of it. - A sealed cave rolls nothing: the pack timer skips it for the rest of the game.
- Cave 5 is straight north of the landing zone, on the highland you cross to reach the city; cave 2 is east of it by LZ Eagles; cave 3 sits just east of Thalim's walls.
The kit
Holding ground
Barricade · 90 energy · up to 3. The undead go for it before anything near it; place them apart, in the choke, and let the shooters work.
Paralysis Trap CE · 60 energy. Draws whatever sees it, then throws everything in the blast outward, allies and items included.
M1 Sentry Gun · 140 energy · 1, 2 or 3 with Security. Pick its mount (MMG, poison, flamethrower, .50 cal) before it does anything; it runs on its own energy.
Flash · 85 energy · 60 s cooldown. One target, frozen 3.2 s: it cannot move or turn, its abilities are off, and it is revealed while it stands. Cast it as a boss winds up on a barricade or on anything else, and the swing is lost with it, so the freeze buys more than its 3.2 s.
Fixing things
- Repair (CE) · 15 life per 1.5 energy. Right-click a dented mechanical.
- Refit · 75 energy. Clears a machine's malfunctions, and is what a right-click on an undamaged machine does, so mind where you click.
- Overhaul · 111 energy. Brings back a destroyed turret or Predator.
- Reconstruct · 150 energy. Brings back a destroyed vehicle, or the City Guard.
Repair Drone · 100 energy. Repairs at your own rate; the second pair of hands. Its sibling the 
IS Bot shoots on the move.
Arc Cell · 3 charges, one back every 60 s, 50 energy over 10 s each. What pays for all of the above.
Skill order
The order above is Engineering to 4 first, then Security to 4, Soldier Skills 1 and Cluster Rockets. The satchel arrives with the fourth point, at level 4, and the caves nearest Thalim go first: cave 5 on the highland north of the landing zone, cave 2 by LZ Eagles, cave 3 east of the walls. Each one shut stops rolling packs on Hard and above. The three points before it are not wasted: the repairs and the revives come with the first, the Arc Cell with the second, which is what pays a satchel's 180 energy back, and barricades with the third, to pull the undead where you want them.
The wiki's table takes Security a level earlier, at the fourth point, and stops before Engineering 4: barricades by level 3, then the IS Bot and the sentries, Soldier Skills 1 at level 8 for the self-heal when no medic holds Thalim, Cluster Rockets after. Its rule for choosing: with a DPS class holding Thalim, usually an 
SFAAT, set the barricades so the undead walk past the shooters at a comfortable distance from them and the civilians. Without one, the sentries, the city's add-ons and the traps are what you have.
Numbers and positions are read from the map file.