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First up, we'd love to hear from you with regards to what new 'Mech variants you would like to see from the existing chassis already in the game. Have a particular variant that you think worthy? Let us know! Please be as detailed as you can, including the full variant name, suggested hardpoints, and why you think that variant is important and what it would add to the game. Sell us on it, so we can sell it to the team!
I recall the question about what mech Aidan Pryde piloted for the Summoner, and was one of the ones who replied with, "He didn't really have a particular build."
That's true, but there was a complete miscommunication. The reason he didn't have a particular build was because he changed his loadout before each battle, so there was no single loadout that one could attribute to him.
However, his loadouts did have a theme.
He loved his missiles. He spent a lot of time before each battle deciding what his loadout would be, and he talked a lot about his missiles.
Aidan Pryde used both LRM-15 and an SRM-6 in his left shoulder mount, sometimes at the same time!
"The barrage from all Aidan's weapons except the LRM had created many charred and smoking areas in his foe's armor."
"All his weapon systems were ready. When making his systems check [...] the one he piloted had a short-range missile system instead of the LRM in its left torso. He also had an extended-range small laser slung under the PPC in his 'Mech's right arm. Aidan assumed..."
"His primary screen showed an LRM coming toward him, but he blasted it out of the air with his anti-missile system..." (Aidan using AMS. He used AMS too.)
"Aidan had considered going out in a lighter 'Mech, but he did not want to give up the firepower. He had changed the Summoner's primary weapon configuration, removing the right-arm PPC to increase the size of his mounted LRM rack and also mounted a Streak class short-range missile launching system."
"Aidan fired a salvo of the Thunder LRMs at the Warhawk."
THE MAN LOVED HIS MISSILES, especially LRMs.
By an e-copy of the book and do a search for LRM and then a search for SRM. The man loved his missiles!
I recommend putting two missile mounts in the left shoulder of the Pryde Summoner. It would then "look right" with an LRM10 on top, and an SRM6 on the bottom (gotta check the tonnage) for the circular thingy that's on the left where they're usually mounted. Or, of course, it could go in the chest-area under the rack on top.
Aidan loved LRM15s and SRM6s the most. He even gave up his PPC for it, but he used his PPC a lot, in most builds.
I believe what the Summoner Pryde needs, is more hardpoints in general, to match Aidan's constant changing of his loadout to match the situation (or one could say his mood, but really always the situation). Then, people piloting it could have several different builds and get the set-bonus from it, maybe even give it some extra endurance and/or maybe extra damage and speed to his missiles.
Aidan would go double ballistic if he felt the situation called for it, but he tended to prefer energy weapons and missiles, and I can't recall a single battle he went into without missiles.
Honestly, the Summoner-F feels more like what Aidan would pilot than the one MWO calls "Pryde."
Oh, and I'd love it if you did the switching of the two around, and then added an extra missile slot in the left shoulder.
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EDIT: ADD:
Many people may not care, and great, if they don't, they don't have to have an opinion. For me, Aidan was my hero. The book, The Way of the Clans taught me a lot, and was the first book I ever read without being forced to read it. I read it cover to cover without putting it down, literally carrying it with me everywhere I went until I finished it. (I was a poor reader back then, so it took me a while. - There are much better books than it, but it was still my first! Without it, I might not have picked up more books. - It's important to me.)
It's a matter of actual pride and honor (no pun intended, I tried to come up with another word to use) for me, when piloting that mech. It matters to me, not for the game-balance, or because I love missiles (which I do!) but because, I know that Aidan loved missiles.
You could make the current Summoner-Pride be a Summoner-P, and then release the Summoner-Pryde.
However, I believe a proper build would look something like this:
Head: Standard Summoner
Center Torso: Standard Summoner
Right Torso: 1xEnergy;1xAMS
Left Torso: 1xMissile
Right Arm: 2xEnergy;1xMissile
Left Arm: 1xBallistic;1xEnergy
He had a summoner-prime body, so standard summoner engine, standard summoner jump jets (he used jump jets), everything else the same as the what every summoner has. (Omni Mechs, gotta love 'em!)
I'd love to say throw in an energy slot in the head, and an extra missile slot in the left shoulder, and wouldn't think it was wrong if you did. I'd also love ECM, but he never used ECM (I think he didn't have access to it, or he would have used it.)
Edited by Sasuga, 24 February 2021 - 04:23 PM.
