T2 Field Engineers should be given the opportunity to build T1 Power Generators. Primarily because of the T2 Arty.
UEF T2 Field Engineer (T1 pgens)
T1 pgens aren't essential for T2 arty, it's a 4% reload discount which ends up being a 1.19x effectiveness for fully capped arty, coming to a profit of only 62 mass which is a negligible 2.8% of the total 2200 mass cost of the setup (unitdb).
This marginal adjacency is eclipsed by the idea that sparkies shouldn't build any eco structures so that there is no chance of them not being a combat unit.
This unit is not popular (my subjective perception).
I personally used this unit a few times and always came to the conclusion in combat that the lack of ability to build T1 Pgen (for T2 Arty) is a no go. Because at the stage of the game where this unit could be useful, this is important (every single shot counts).
I only use normal T2 Engis now and have done better against my opponent than with Field Engineers.
I would like to hear from others who actively use this unit, preferably with gameplay.
I use them, but I almost never want to build t2 arti with them (t2 arti generally are very weak), and when I build t2 arti I no longer bother with t1 pgen adjacency (even if im building with t2 engineers) as I usually have better things to focus on than the small efficiency boost provided.
One (admittedly more niche) scenario I regularly use them for is if I inherit a uef t1-t2 base as I can queue up a few sparkies and use them as a low apm way of holding the line, with a much greater tolerance than if I used t2 engis (who die easily if misjudging how quickly the enemy will start to arrive when trying to get the first couple of t2 pd, and can’t be used as aggressively)
M27AI and M28AI developer; Devlogs and more general AI development guide:
https://forum.faforever.com/topic/2373/ai-development-guide-and-m27ai-v71-devlog
https://forum.faforever.com/topic/5331/m28ai-devlog-v130