ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So I've finally got a high level summoner that should hit 40 in the next little while. This class is a TON OF FUN!!!! One on one nothing stands a chance (mostly because it's not one on one for very long). My only complaint is the AI that my character gets when I attempt to control a summon. I've mostly abandoned the idea of using control because of this.

In my ideal setups my summoner is hardly ever in real danger...she's summoning from far away and controlling battle with different types of summons as needed. Occasionally it would be nice to take over a summon to make sure to target specific enemies that I want taken down first. The only issue is that as soon as I do take over the AI for my character is very aggressive and charges into the fight! To compound the difficulty this causes since it is my character she can push past my summons resulting in her being in the line of fire for any talents that I want to use. She'll even push into melee characters moving them out of range of attacking.

When I heard the concept I pictured a summoner not aware of their surroundings controlling another creature, not moving, not doing anything and I think it should go in that direction. With the new graphics there's a constant view of your players life and you can switch back instantly (I think it's instant?) to make use of runes/inscriptions if things didn't go the way you planned.

The old summon control worked with an immobile summoner, but you could not see anything if you moved outside the light.
The new summon control is indeed not usable.
I am not sure if the current mechanics of this skill is intended, but it should be fixed

I believe if you right click your summoner while controlling a summon, you can set him to NOT follow you so you can explore, as well as give him different AI tactics.
I know this is possible for the alchemist, but if the golem leaves your alchemists view for too long you automatically go back to controlling the alchemist.
The move outside the light thing was never an issue for me; I'd have the entire map scouted out with earth's eyes beforehand, and summons can see enemies fine....

Yeah. just order your summoner to not follow, and to use ranged tactics, and (s)he'll sit back from the fight dropping summons as fast as possible and firing off Suppress Summoning whenever it's available.

it'll work in a pinch, but...definitely needs some work.

I guess I'll give that a try. Got back into my body after trying it the first time to find myself with my healing and shielding infusions all used up and in the middle of a battle (unremarkable cave...I don't know why I always try new things in the dumbest places, finally decided to try my nifty artifact's wormhole activation on the bottom of Grushnak pride and ended up right next to a greater multi hued, not the ideal location for a summoner I'd say). A controlled phase door and summoning melee characters behind me to slow things down to get control of the situation and then things got back to normal but it was hectic for a minute or two.

I'm currently playing a lvl 42 summoner on infinite dungeon level 51 or thereabouts. This is how I do it if possible, particularly for all vaults.

I dig an anti-summoning tunnel and then take off Mighty Girdle so I am encumbered. Then I summon a hydra/fire drake and switch control. They get about 40turns and great resist all. Then I go exploring, after casting earth eyes for the whole level.

If I want an extra powerful creature, I level up the summmobed monster and max out con etc. I then switch back, cast healing on summon and then switch back again: this can add 150+ hit points. FOr melee monsters I also max dexterity.

Works a treat! THe hardest part is starting a -evel as there is work to be done first!

THe gear at this level is amazing!