5 replies to this topic

[OsceeHawk]

Grand Summoner. No Jump Jets on any ?????????????????
For a Summoner no JJs mean no purchase

[pbiggz]

Pretty sure it can run jumpjets champ. There's a Summoner II Omnipod for each torso that fills it with improved jumpjets.

[OsceeHawk]

pbiggz thanks so much! I'd forgotten about the omnipods.
A Summoner must jump!

[BlueDevilspawn]

When I was conceptualizing the Grand Summoner, I wanted a 70 tonner that wasn't slow (NCT), fragile (SNS), or pod space limited (SMN). Using ES to bring the Grand Summoner to life seemed the right approach. However, due to variants with no JJ (e.g., B, C) there was the possibility of building one with just 1 CT JJ which would've made it far superior to the original SMN and maybe even the Timby (same pod space, better hitboxes and survival).
So, the initial decision was to only make non-JJ Grand Summoners as a mobility "cost" of having ground speed, survival, and firepower. Part way through the design process, we discussed using the -E variant's iJJ as a way to provide the option of jumps but force trade offs for that (balance).
If you take one -E torso (4 iJJ, 8 tons and 8 crit slots) you net out 0.5 tons ahead of the original SMN but also 15 crit slots less (7 from ES and 8 from the iJJ). I consciously didn't hardpoint inflate the P/B/C variants so you do have the tonnage to mount big guns as opposed to boating many small ones. This felt like a proper tradeoff in terms of PvP balance.
Tbf, the Talon hero variant is a complete homebrew that did get unique hardpoints with a bit of inflation, but it was meant to entirely showcase the newer weapons from the most recent weapons pass.

[misachii]

BlueDevilspawn, on 23 October 2024 - 09:14 AM, said:

When I was conceptualizing the Grand Summoner, I wanted

a grand wizzard next.

sorry couldnt help myself
still great job on a very disliked mech chassis hopefully this one is good.

[Meep Meep]

The grand summoners seem ok so far from watching streamers run them. Not strong but certainly viable if you play to your loadouts strengths and have some personal skill. Getting the hero for the ballistics spam pods is almost a requirement though if you want to play puzzle omni mechs with the other variants.