Editing Engineer

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{{Infobox Card
 |name = Engineer
 |cost2 = 4
 |set = Empires
 |type1 = Action
 |illustrator = Elisa Cella
 |text = Gain a card costing up to {{Cost|4}}.<br>You may trash this.<br>If you do, gain a card costing up to {{Cost|4}}.
}}

'''Engineer''' is an [[Action]] card from [[Empires]]. It is a [[gainer]] that can [[one-shot|trash itself]] for an extra gain, but has a [[Debt]] cost so it can't gain copies of itself.
== FAQ ==
=== Official FAQ ===
* Engineer cannot gain copies of itself, or any other card with {{Debt}} in the [[cost]]. 
* When you play it, you gain a card, then may trash Engineer to gain a second card (which can be the same as the first or different).

== Strategy ==

There is no strategy article for Engineer, yet. Feel free to add your thoughts below!

== Versions ==
===English versions===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Print !! Digital !! Text !! Release !! Date
|-
| {{CardVersionImage|Engineer|Engineer}} || {{CardVersionImage|EngineerDigital|Engineer from Shuffle iT}} || Gain a card costing up to {{Cost|4}}. You may trash this. If you do, gain a card costing up to {{Cost|4}}. || Empires || June 2016 
|}

===Other language versions===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Language !! Name !! Print !! Digital !! Text !! Notes
|-
!Dutch 
| Ingenieur || || || ||
|-
!Finnish 
| Rakennusmestari (lit. ''contractor/construction foreman'') || || || || 
|-
!French
| Ingénieur || || || ||
|-
!German 
| Ingenieurin<br> (Note: explicitly feminine) || {{CardPNGImage|Engineer_German|German language Engineer 2016 by ASS}} || {{CardLangVersionImage|German|d=1}} || Nimm eine Karte, die bis zu {{Cost|4}} kostet. Du darfst diese Karte entsorgen. Wenn du das tust, nimm eine Karte, die bis zu {{Cost|4}} kostet. || 2.&nbsp;Edition<br>(2021)
|-
!Japanese 
| 技術者 (pron. ''gijutsusha'') || || || コスト{{Cost|4}}以下のカード1枚を獲得する。これを廃棄してもよい。廃棄した場合、追加でコスト{{Cost|4}}以下のカード1枚を獲得する。 || 
|-
!Polish 
| Inżynier || {{CardLangVersionImage|Polish}} || || Dodaj kartę nie droższą niż {{Cost|4}}. <br> Możesz wyrzucić tego Inżyniera na śmietnisko. <br> Jeśli to zrobisz, dodaj kartę nie droższą niż {{Cost|4}}. ||
|-
!Russian 
| Инженер (pron. ''inzhyenyer'') || || || ||
|}

== Trivia ==
[[Image:EngineerArt.jpg|thumb|right|354px|Official card art.]]
=== Secret History ===
{{Quote|Text=For a while there was a different {{Card|Workshop}}: Gain a card costing up to {{Cost|4}}, get +1{{VP}} per empty pile. It seemed reasonable and then I had one too many games that were dominated by it. I tried a lot of replacements, man, like ten other cards, mostly very briefly. Engineer stood out. However it had the issue of being able to trash it to gain something plus another Engineer, to run out the pile. {{Card|Dame Josephine}} suggested having it cost Debt, which fixed that problem while taking no space on the card.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=15660.0 The Secret History of the Empires Cards]
}}
=== Relevant outtakes ===
{{Quote|Text= Ah yes, so many cards tried out for Engineer's slot. Here's an {{Card|Expand}} with on-use {{Debt}} that tried to dodge {{Card|Remodel}}/{{Debt}} issues by doing something different if you had any {{Debt}}. A +{{Cost|1}} {{Card|Remodel}} that had you draw 2 cards when you gained or trashed it; I still like the idea of a {{Card|Remodel}} that does something when gained/trashed. A +{{Cost|1}} {{Card|Remodel}} that, when trashed, gave you a {{Cost|5}}. Yowza. Another one of these, gaining you a copy of a card in play with some limits to try not to go nuts. Another one with different limits, man. Okay here are 3 that involve putting {{VP}} on the pile. One is just a {{Card|Workshop}} that accumulates {{VP}} you can trash it to get; one counts down, it's reset to 5 {{VP}} when a copy is gained, and when played gains a card for the number of {{VP}} on the pile and then gives you a {{VP}} from the pile, that was fun to try; and a {{Card|Workshop}} that adds or takes {{VP}} based on how much the card you gained cost. Finally, the one that held the slot for the longest out of these, a {{Card|Workshop}} that turns into {{Card|Remodel}} if a pile is empty. That seemed okay and like I could live with it if I couldn't do better, but I like Engineer better.
 |Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=15660.0 The Secret History of the Empires Cards]
}}
=== Why was the VP version dominating? ===
{{Quote|Text=
<p>Some players buy some, maybe eager to get copies of some cantrip everyone likes, like {{Card|Caravan}}. The Caravans run out. Now the {{Card|Workshop|workshop}} is making {{nowrap|+1 {{VP}}.}} That's attractive so people start getting more of the workshops. The people who already have them want a 2nd pile to run out and help empty the workshops. Now they make {{nowrap|+2 {{VP}}}} per hit and there are ten of them in decks so players scramble for {{VP}} while the workshops empty the {{Card|Estate|Estates}}.</p>

I had a couple early games that were stupid because of this card. Then for a while the card seemed fine. But we started to see the bad cases more and it was clear that one reason we hadn't been seeing them was because we hadn't realized how good the card was.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5799.msg609316#msg609316 Interview with Donald X.]
}}
=== Why shouldn't Engineer empty itself? ===
{{Quote|Text=
<p>It's not "it's awful that this pile runs out," it's "it's awful that you can choose to run out this pile incidentally." What you want is {{Card|Caravan|Caravans}}. But instead of gaining a Caravan, you trash the {{Card|Workshop|workshop}} and gain a Caravan and another workshop. You're running out the workshops as this random extra thing you're allowed to do on top of what you actually wanted, which was gaining Caravans.</p>

Some players will just automatically do this; they can do it and that's enough for them. They exercise their power. And it sucks. It's anti-fun, so the card doesn't do that.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5799.msg609316#msg609316 Interview with Donald X.]
}}
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