Vanguard wrote:Engineers Buildpower per factory output - Time to construct 1 Unit Engineer on factory Buildpower ( E/FBP )
260 / 20 = 13
700 / 40 = 17.5
2200 / 90 = 24.4444
So T1 Engineers rule supreme. AFAI understood the balance: Higher level engineers allow you to be more flexible and have less clutter in your base, while T1 supply the most amount of buildpower with the drawback of not being able to navigate your own base anymore. Hives ( at least the unupgraded version, don´t have the costs of higher upgraded versions ) are somewhat in the area of T3 engineers with 14 M/BP.
Updating this then,
260 / 20 = 13
650 / 40 = 16.25
1560 / 90 = 17.33
But that is for an engie, and doesn't factor in build power, a T3 engie has 6 times the build power of a T1 engie and 2.4 times the build power of a T2 engie. Also its not a good comparison to build T1 engies from a T1 factory and comparing it to T3 engies coming out a T3 factory. If you have access to a T3 factory why not build with that factory. So
260 / 90 = 2.8*6 = 17.33
650 / 90 = 7.22*2.4=17.3
1560 / 90 = 17.33
The only advantage of lower tech engies is finer control of build power and if you are spitting out an engie every 2.8s you can throw that build power back into creating more engies faster (the maths for this sounds like something I can't be bothered with), and the fact that you most likely want your T3 factory for something more important.
IMO after build time is below a couple of seconds, roll out time becomes too big a factor to ignore.