It fixes, it dents craniums, it's the wonder tool of the century! The Eureka Effect is a community-created melee weapon for the Engineer. It is a retro-futuristic pipe wrench with a team-colored handle and an atomic symbol etched into the top of it. A spiral antenna, not unlike a Tesla coil, is attached to the head. A switch near the top of the grip is connected to a red wire that is plugged into the bottom of the antenna. By pressing the reload key (default key: R), a menu will appear with options on where to teleport to. Choosing either destination will cause the Engineer to perform a taunt for approximately 2 seconds with the weapon, during which he hoists his wrench into the air and is struck by a bolt of lightning, causing him to be teleported directly to his chosen destination. Choosing the respawn room option moves the Engineer to an active respawn point. Choosing the Teleporter exit option will instantly move the Engineer to his Teleporter's exit, provided one has been fully built.

A Teleporter entrance is not required for this option, and it will not cause the Teleporter system to need to recharge afterwards. Any player too close to an enemy's Teleporter exit as the owner teleports to it will cause a telefrag; if an enemy destroys the exit while the Engineer is teleporting to it, he will instead be teleported to spawn. Neither destination will leave the usual team-colored particle trails at the player's feet. The taunt cannot be activated if the Engineer is in midair or in water. Additionally, the Eureka Effect allows the Engineer to construct and upgrade Teleporters at half the cost (25 metal for building the teleporter and 100 metal for upgrade per level) However, the Eureka Effect is 50% less effective at speeding up construction when striking buildings. The wielder will also receive 20% less metal from ammo pickups and Dispensers. Using the Pip-Boy will change the GUI similar to that of the destroy and build GUI's. Switching from this weapon to the Gunslinger will destroy the Sentry Gun the player has built.

The Eureka Effect was later contributed to the Steam Workshop, at Valve's request. December 15, 2011 Patch (Australian Christmas 2011) The Eureka Effect was added to the game. It allows the user to teleport to spawn via taunting at the expense of the ability to haul buildings. December 16, 2011 Patchkelty 44l backpack Fixed an exploit with The Eureka Effect where the effects could activate without taunting in high-lag situations.samsonite intellio laptop backpack 16 January 11, 2012 Patchbackpack dulfy Added crafting blueprint for the Eureka Effect.targus backpack mumbai March 19, 2013 Patchclare rojas backpack

Fixed the death notice icon for the Eureka Effect. November 12, 2013 Patch June 11, 2014 Patch #1 Can now pickup buildings. Repair and upgrade rates have been decreased (by 50%; now requires double the metal to complete either task). Can teleport to your spawn room or your Teleporter Exit.rd54 backpack June 11, 2014 Patch #2 Updated the materials for The Eureka Effect HUD to support mat_picmip. July 24, 2014 Patch Fixed a bug related to cancelling the Eureka Effect taunt and teleporting immediately. July 2, 2015 Patch #1 (Gun Mettle Update) Previous penalties have been removed. Construction hit speed boost decreased by 50%. 50% less metal from pickups and Dispensers. August 19, 2015 Patch Fixed players being able to carry the jack while taunting. (fixes an exploit with the Eureka Effect) August 27, 2015 Patch Fixed the Engineer losing revenge crits and picked-up weapons after using the Eureka Effect to teleport back to base.

Fixed another case where players could teleport the jack with the Eureka Effect.As a result of the revenge crits fix, the Eureka Effect does no longer replenish health and ammunition. Effects such as fire, Jarate, Mad Milk, etc. are no longer removed. July 7, 2016 Patch (Meet Your Match Update) Reduced "50% less metal from Dispensers and Pickups" to 20% Added "Teleporters cost 50% less metal" August 29, 2016 Patch Fixed players being able to teleport out of the spawn room using the Eureka Effect at the beginning of a round. September 27, 2016 Patch Fixed an exploit related to the Eureka Effect and carrying buildings. The Eureka Effect teleport animation. Steam Workshop thumbnail for the Eureka Effect. Dialogue box to teleport. Dialogue box to teleport with the Pip-boy equipped.It may not have the same image problem HTC does, but it's clearly coming into this project as an underdog. Sales of the G2, its prior flagship, sputtered against expectations despite a new design direction and market-topping components.

The company wasn't able to climb out of the Galaxy S4's shadow, so it turned its focus to beating Samsung. The G3 uses a larger, higher-resolution screen than its rival without making the phone feel unwieldy. It features a larger battery and it boasts a faster autofocus (thanks to its new laser sensor), all while fixing sore spots users had with the G2.After walking through what seemed to be a typical, sterile, cubicle-laden office building, we entered a white-walled, nondescript meeting room in LG's design headquarters in Seoul. On a table, amongst an endless series of office chairs and whiteboards, sat a plethora of G3 mockups. Next to them sat several different variations on back button arrangements and at least two dozen back covers in nearly every color you can imagine. The full lineup was obviously transplanted here from some secret lab in another part of the building. Although none of the mockups functioned -- the front of each one was just a blank plastic face -- they were made to mimic the proper weight and feel of a real phone.

Despite repeated requests, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the mockups because, understandably, any of them could be used for a future device.These design candidates were just a few of the 300 models LG considered, and ultimately rejected, for the final G3 design. Each version had a different texture, color or material. Some were glossy, others ridged and still others built with materials we couldn't quite put a finger on. The back buttons were arranged in ways we'd never seen before; one version even replaced the buttons with a circular apparatus of undisclosed purpose. Not only were we staring directly at LG's past, but we were also likely gazing into its future.The G3 isn't the first phone to feature a Quad HD display, but it's the first from a major manufacturer. Some argue that such high resolution on a small screen doesn't make enough of a difference; naturally, LG believes it does. The company touted blind tests that show people prefer screens with 500 pixels per inch (ppi) over 400 (the G3 sits at 538 ppi), and they found that small text and nighttime scenes were definitely clearer on the higher-res display.

There will always be demand for more than what we already have, and LG is anxious to beat the competition in any way possible.LG is confident that if the display doesn't get you interested in the G3, the phone's new laser sensor will -- and the feature almost didn't even make it into the final product. A first in the digital camera industry, the new feature was actually developed by Roboking, the makers of LG's robotic vacuums. Originally, it was intended to measure the distance between the vacuum and obstacles that it may have to maneuver around. Roboking dropped it for a number of reasons, but it told the mobile team about it over a coffee break and the rest is now history: Imaging specialists went to work adding the vacuum's laser beams to the G3, which helped the camera snag an even faster focus lock than its closest competitors (both the One M8 and Galaxy S5 boast 300ms focus times, whereas the G3 claims 276ms). Fortunately for our eyes and sanity, this sensor doesn't double as a laser pointer.

To our surprise, nearly half of the prototypes didn't even feature a spot for the sensor because the team had to prepare for the possibility that it might not be ready in time. The feature was confirmed for the G3 two months ago, just before the final deadline. There was just enough time for Chul Bae Lee, VP of mobile design, and his team to tweak the design to make sure everything fit properly, which involved a few changes to the device's shape. "Any small treatment could affect the shape of the phone," Lee said. "Before, the shape was slightly different; the arc was a bit more flattened."To our amazement, one of the mockups was aluminum. Wait: LG actually considered a metal phone? Like Samsung, LG has historically opted to use polycarbonate plastic for most smartphones. Alas, aluminum was vetoed at some point in the process, in favor of a metallic hairbrush finish that looks and feels like the real deal, but doesn't attract fingerprints or scratches. It's warmer, lighter and offers an anti-scratch coating.

It's also much less slippery, a pain point that frustrated us with the HTC One M8. There's less risk of attenuation issues (as we saw with the iPhone 4 a few years ago), and wireless inductive charging is much more effective on a plastic surface, since it tends to heat up metal surfaces too easily. As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons why so many manufacturers avoid the material.But why not use the same self-healing finish found on the curvaceous G Flex? While its ability to fend off dings and cuts isn't perfect, it was a groundbreaking feature that helped it stand out from the crowd. It's also a few steps ahead of anything LG's competitors have come out with. According to Lee, "We couldn't find a way to adapt self-healing without making it glossy."Users' aversion to glossy plastic was just one of the lessons LG took to heart from the G2. As good as the phone was, it had its share of flaws, and user feedback was critical. The G3 is designed to be more comfortable, simpler (tagline: "Technology, simplified") and easier to hold.

To bolster the support of power users, the rear cover and battery are now removable and a microSD slot sits underneath for expandable storage. And as Dr. Ram-Chan Woo, head of mobile product planning, is quick to point out, "The [G2] back cover is more plasticky and a fingerprint magnet." Indeed, if you liked the G2, the G3 should look incredibly tempting right now.Lee added that only half of G2 users liked the back button setup. It's an acquired taste that grew on us after a while, but it has to grab the attention of buyers from day one. His team changed the shape of the buttons to circles and added more separation between them and the camera in an attempt to make it more difficult to smudge the lens. The designers also added a pointy power key in the center, the highest peak on the phone's chassis, because too many users lose their grip on big phones. The new style, Lee said, stabilizes your thumb to offer a secure grip, despite the device's 5.5-inch frame. This, in addition to the thin sides and arched back cover, also makes the G3 feel smaller than it really is.

The G2's 3,000mAh battery was among the best for flagship smartphones of a similar size (that is, not a "phablet"), so LG chose not to make compromises on its successor by shrinking its size. This was a challenge, thanks to the device's floating arc design; the arched back is the reason why this 5.5-inch phone doesn't feel like a behemoth, but there was too much curvature for LG to fit a standard battery of that size. The solution: an "arc battery." Upon closer inspection, the battery seemed just as flat as any other battery on the market. Not so, according to Woo: "It looks flat, but it isn't. Since the back cover is slightly arched, the battery is also arched in order to fit the cover."But if the battery stays exactly the same size, won't the higher-res Quad HD panel suck up a lot more power? Not if the company's marketing claims speak the truth: The display utilizes something called dynamic frame rate control, which tells the display to stop refreshing if you're on the same screen for long periods of time.

If the content on the screen stays the same, the frame rate drops to 30 fps, which should be a huge aid to battery efficiency.The G3 will come in five colors. White and "titanium" are the obvious go-tos for phone manufacturers. "About 80 percent of actual sales are white and black, so you have to offer [those colors]," Lee said. While we always prefer a choice of colors, it doesn't always equate to success, so the design team chose shades that reflect current trends: Gold, violet and red will also be offered. All of LG's biggest competitors have gold-colored flagships now, and red is starting to surface on more devices. Violet was an unusual choice, but Lee insisted: "Purple seems to be quite the fashion these days." Trendy colors aside, LG can and has brought some innovative solutions to the table. The back buttons, laser sensor and metallic finish are primary examples of that, but it's had a difficult time selling the message that its flagships can hold their own against Samsung, HTC and other competitors.