7 replies to this topic

[Necroledo]

Hi everyone!

I've saved some C-Bills and now I find myself in the difficult dilema of deciding whether to buy a Thunderbolt or a Summoner. The main reason for that is... I just love their offset, disjointed heads... as well as their mobility. Plus they're not much commonly seen: I tend to feel more attracted to the underdogs than the mainstreams.

On one hand, I've been very succesful with the trial Thunderbolt. I like the tremendous amounts of energy hardpoints the T-Bolts usually have, especially those next to the head, most of them hidden in the STs. They've also got some nice missile hardpoints. However, only one of the variants has JJs, and that one doesn't have those super-high mounted energy hardpoints.

On the other hand, all Summoners have JJs, which makes them very interesting to me. They can also mount some good ballistics on the STs, such as Gauss Rifles. With the right onmipods they can bring a terrifying amount of missiles. They also interest me because the vast majority of my 'Mechs are IS ones: my only Clan 'Mech is the Warhawk and I'd like to have more of them. However, they don't seem to be able to wield as many weapons as T-Bolts and most of them would be mounted on the arms, which seem very easy to hit.

So, which one would you go for? How has your experience been with them?

Thanks in advance!

[Bud Crue]

At the moment the Thunderbolt is probably the most common IS mech used in CW. I think T-bolts are one of the most versatile mechs in the game (for everything but Dakka), few mechs are as user friendly and easy to pilot as a T-bolt. Highly recommended mech.

I don't drive clan mechs so I can't advise as to the Summoner but it seems to me that reading through the forums there are an awful lot of clan enthusiasts who consider the Summoner to be a sub-par mech as compared to other clan mechs. I am sure you can find cheerleaders as well.

Good luck. Ya can't go wrong with T-bolts!

[M E X]

Necroledo, on 18 November 2015 - 10:55 AM, said:

Hi everyone!

I've saved some C-Bills and now I find myself in the difficult dilema of deciding whether to buy a Thunderbolt or a Summoner.
...
So, which one would you go for? How has your experience been with them?

Thanks in advance!

The question is WHICH FACTION do you want to join for CW ?

IF you intend to join a Clan faction in the long run, take the SUMMONER.
IF you intend to join a Inner Sphere faction, take the Thunderbolt !

[Night Thastus]

Is that a serious question?

1: Thunderbolt. Decently quirked, very tanky, very weapon-heavy, decent speed, great overall tonnage efficiency. Good hardpoints.

2: Summoner. Very little free tonnage due to hard-locked equipment and lack of endo-steel. Almost no hardpoints.

There is absolutely no question. Any time you *could* bring in a summoner, you could do it better with something else. Maybe after the balance pass, but what it really needs is some hardpoint inflation.

[Black Ivan]

My advice, if you can wait:

Wait until the big rebalancing pass and then see what happens. Since rumors suggest that many weapon quirks will go, the T-Bolt has to be reevaluated

[Necroledo]

M E X, on 18 November 2015 - 11:16 AM, said:

The question is WHICH FACTION do you want to join for CW ?

IF you intend to join a Clan faction in the long run, take the SUMMONER.
IF you intend to join a Inner Sphere faction, take the Thunderbolt !

I honestly don't know. That's one of the reasons I consider the Summoner: to increase my Clan mechbay so that I have enough 'Mechs for both an IS and a Clan decks, and then make a decision. I'd like to try out CW, but I'm kind of scared... seems there's a lot of elitism there. I don't want to be yelled at, neither to handicap my team.

Black Ivan, on 18 November 2015 - 11:42 AM, said:

My advice, if you can wait:

Wait until the big rebalancing pass and then see what happens. Since rumors suggest that many weapon quirks will go, the T-Bolt has to be reevaluated

I see. Any idea when that would be?

To Bud Crue and Night Thastus:

I've seen both praise and booing to the Summoner, and some good builds around the Internet; that's what put me in the dilema, because otherwise I would have just chosen the Thunderbolt.

Edited by Necroledo, 18 November 2015 - 02:18 PM.

[Necroledo]

Well, in the end I took the Summoner (SMN-D)... and I'm having a blast on it It feels very nimble and mobile for its weigh, yet tanky and with enough weapons to be a serious threat, despite being tight to fit loadouts. I'm even considering getting 2 more of them, master them and go CW with them!

[Cabusha]

I'd go with Thunder Thighs. They're just all around good.