In my opinion, there are still tactical roles and niches left unfilled among the current lineup of Pandoran enemy species. I think the Pandorans a missing a heavy assault/pressure unit enemy type, created specifically for attacking heavily defended havens, capable of breaching its way through haven fortifications and buildings to clear a path for other Pandoran enemies, act as a big tough distracting fire magnet to draw haven defender’s fire away from other types of Pandorans, and rampaging it’s way through major concentrations of haven defenders to break them up.
The Juggernaut enemy concept that the developers created but never implemented, could be just the thing to fill those missing roles in the Pandoran enemy type lineup.
The Juggernaut should have the ability to smash through walls and obstacles just by moving through them (just like if it was using the Demolition State ability of the Juggernaut bionic torso). It could have a wide Area-Of-Effect melee attack using its arms, or have a variant with a ranged combat mutation that has many different random guns embedded into its forearms that it can fire inaccurately but simultaneously in a wide cone-shaped arc. There is easy potential to create a whole new set of mutations for Juggernauts that can allow for the creation of different types of Juggernaut variants with many possible combinations of weaponry and abilities that reflect its intended battlefield roles.
I know a lot of players might not be enthusiastic about introducing yet another type of high Hit Point bullet sponge enemy that can deal a lot of damage, but that could be counterbalanced by giving the Juggernaut several different types of small, hard to hit external organs/body parts on the Juggernaut’s body that could act as specific weak spots that debuff the Juggernaut when the weak spot organs are crippled/destroyed.
For example, say if the Juggernaut had a body part/organ that gives the Juggernaut a Rapid Regeneration ability. If the small, hard-to-hit organ that gives the Juggernaut Rapid Regeneration was damaged to the point of being crippled/destroyed, then not only would it remove the Rapid Regeneration ability but also cause high bleed damage over time. Another example might be having a small sensory organ on the Juggernaut’s head that when crippled/destroyed, could daze the Juggernaut for one turn or reduce its perception stat to the point of leaving it almost blind. Yet another example might be an organ that when crippled/destroyed, causes the Juggernaut to have double damage vulnerability to special damage types like acid, poison or fire.
But there’s one thing I’ve always wanted to know about the Juggernaut concept art. Is the Juggernaut supposed to have a maw in it’s chest? Because the concept art makes it look as if the Juggernaut has a giant set of jaws in it’s chest. Can the Juggernaut eat operatives whole using that? Can we free swallowed operatives before they die by killing Juggernauts quickly enough? If so, then that is both horrifying yet awesome. Perfect for Phoenix Point.
TL;DR we need Juggernauts in the game.