The long awaited, much anticipated final class update for Team Fortress 2 seems to be close at hand. The Engineer is the only remaining class without class-specific weapons and achievements of his own. Over at the official TF2 blog, an Engineer-centric comic serves as a harbinger for the upcoming update.
There are several clues within the comic that hint at what might be included in the update. There is a sequence in the comic that explains that all of TF2's sci-fi-esque gadgets (teleporters, cloaking devices, etc.) are the inventions of the Australians (global leaders of the "moustache sciences"). Their technological prowess is a result of their possession of the transformative element Australium, a gold-looking metal that can only be found in Australia. This provides the backstory to the first semi-confirmed weapon in the update: the Australium (or Gold) Wrench. As you can see in the video below, killing an enemy with this wrench turns them into an Australium statue which can be gathered up to replenish your metal supply.
Also within the comic is a lot of talk about Life Extender Machines, the blueprints of which end up in the hands of the Engineer. What will the battlefield applications be for such a machine? An ÜberCharge-capable dispenser? Let us also not forget the new-and-improved shotgun we saw a glimpse of in the trailer for the Mac update. What kind of perks will that provide? All will be revealed (hopefully) soon, so just grab a sandvich and stay tuned.
