Tell me about...The Summoner

[A. Lurker]

The clans don't have AC/10s so if they want to throw a single low heat slug down range they have to choose between the UAC/10 or the LB10X. The LBX has less heat.

If the designer didn't want pellets then an extra ton of ammo would be an optional extra much like electric windows on your car. Now why the design has so much streak ammo at the same time is less easy to explain but I wouldn't flinch at either of those design conditions by themselves.

Perhaps its just designed for infighting?

Frankly, even if I only wanted to use one type of ammo or the other with an LB10-X, I still wouldn't consider a second ton of ammo an "optional extra". The only kind of autocannon where ten bursts before it turns into so much dead weight might be considered sufficient is the 20-class, and even there I'd rather carry some spares Just In Case.

[Ian Sharpe]

LB-10Xs work just fine for infighting, no min. range and cluster rounds have that nifty -1 TH bonus.  But ammo loads are easily changed. 

[StCptMara]

If the designer didn't want pellets then an extra ton of ammo would be an optional extra much like electric windows on your car. Now why the design has so much streak ammo at the same time is less easy to explain but I wouldn't flinch at either of those design conditions by themselves.

Perhaps its just designed for infighting?

A question: how did missiles work on infantry when those rules were made? Could that, perhaps, be a reason, just like some designs
having machine guns, or SRM/Streak 2's(which, I do remember, were the only things that could fire infernos when they did 1d6 heat,
and burned for 1d6 turns, regardless of how many were fired)

[Kit deSummersville]

The heat level of a BattleMech hit by an inferno is increased by 6 points during the Heat Phase. Because the fluid sticks to the BattleMech's outer armor, this effect lasts for 3 turns, for a total heat build-up of 18 points.

Vehicles hit by an inferno attack must roll 2D6 in the Heat Phase of each of the 3 turns during which the fluid is burning. On a result of 8 or higher, the vehicle remains operational; any lower result means the vehicle is destroyed.

[StCptMara]

That was the BMR, though...and I was specifically asking about non-inferno missiles against infantry.
After all, TRO3050 was done back under the Compendium(or was it the Rules of Warfare hardback era?)
when Infernos could only be launched from the SRM 2/Streak SRM 2

[Kit deSummersville]

They are the same at the RoW, infernos did 6 heat for 3 turns. Additional inferno missiles just added to the duration. That didn't change until TW, where they do 1d62 heat for one turn.

Under RoW, infantry took damage as normal(like a building or 'Mech taking damage), double damage if in the open.

[StCptMara]

They are the same at the RoW, infernos did 6 heat for 3 turns. Additional inferno missiles just added to the duration. That didn't change until TW, where they do 1d6 heat for one turn.

Under RoW, infantry took damage as normal(like a building or 'Mech taking damage), double damage if in the open.

Wait..my copy of TW has them doing 1 heat per missile that hit for 1 turn.  Under BMR, they did that 6 heat, +1 turn p[er missile
that hit(and cumulative heat)..I thought under the Compenium it was 6 heat for 1d6 turns, nothing modified the number of turns
it burned, hence why it could only be fired from SRM/Streak 2's?

[Kit deSummersville]

Whoops, got Plasma Rifles on the brain.

Currently, 2 heat for 1 turn.

Looked at RoW, Compendium, BMR, BMR Revised, all 6 heat for 3 turns. The Compendium added rules for damaging other units. BattleDroids didn't have infernos.

[Diamondshark]

IIRC, now when you use infernos against mechs, they're like switching flamers to heat mode.  They apply damage in exactly the same way they'd normally apply damage.

[StCptMara]

IIRC, now when you use infernos against mechs, they're like switching flamers to heat mode.  They apply damage in exactly the same way they'd normally apply damage.

Yet they were still too complicated for tournament play last year...

[cold1]

Holy Necro-thread!!!

I was going to post this very question.  I left the game for about a decade and remember putting Summoners on the table then but don't remember much about how they performed.  I ran the prime a couple times lately in MM and it is hard to kill.  Unfortunately, it runs out of ammo WAY before it dies and if it takes a crit in the PPC you are done (like the last 2 games I used it).

Maybe it's just my luck but I can't seem to kill other mechs very well with it either, it just doesn't do enough damage quickly enough.  It has 3 main weapons 2 of which don't inflict full damage most the time when they do hit.  Spraying another heavy with a sand blaster only works if the PPC hits alot at range first.

[Scotty]

It's an Omni, and ammo is interchangeable, omni status or not, so go ahead and pull the cluster ammo for regular slugs if you want another hole puncher.  Want more ammo in general?  Downgrade the LRM to a -10, drop down to one ton of ammo for it, and add another ton of LB-10X ammo, along with half a ton of other pod-gear.

In almost all its configurations it's versatile, fast, and durable.  Just don't expect to out-damage a dedicated brawler, or out-range a sniper.