I can't say much about Storm since I've only played it to low levels, but I do have a 50 Bots/Traps and I can tell you that the lower tier bots are anything but useless. Yes, the Assault Bot is your biggest damage dealer, but the Battle Drones dish out significant damage even at high levels. They have AoE cones after the 2nd upgrade, and they also have decent single target blasts.
The main difference between Bots and Thugs is that Thugs get AoEs a lot sooner and do a bit more damage overall, while Bots are tougher and have less resisted damage but are really pretty slow at lower levels. After 32 both are AoE monsters and both have good defense, so you're looking at something like this:
Bots
- Less resisted damage type
- Healing pets
- Defense buff for the Mastermind
- All ranged pets
- Damage concentrated mostly in near-unkillable Assault Bot
Thugs
- More raw damage
- Can slot Achilles' procs to make up for Lethal damage type
- Can slot both Resist and both Defense aura IOs
- Has a melee pet that can tank
- Damage spread out among all pets, and especially in suicidal Arsonist
I consider Bots more low-maintenance and perfect for Tankerminding, but Thugs are actually better if you want the pets to take the aggro since they all get the full defense from the Enforcers while Protector Bots only get one bubble themselves, and the Bruiser is a great tank.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
Wow great help thank you. i know for SOLO storm is nice but in group i am sure Pain is a stronger build. wish the forums were updated. or even the wiki. i would love to compare Storm to Pain. to bad storm just looks so cool.
as for Thugs. that seems a good way to go if it was not for there tank. with storm i like the idea of all my pets staying with me at ranged where with thugs i would need the tank to run in to the thick.
ONE big question though.
Thugs get Knock Down
Bots get Knock back.
Is this truly important in farming and grouping? i know KP pisses some people off but is it a difference worth noting? and also which is more effective (if no one cared)
Pain and Storm are both good in groups. Pain helps the group recover from damage, and Storm helps the group avoid getting damaged in the first place... you don't really need much healing when the enemies are knocked on their butts and to-hit debuffed into the middle of next week. 
As for the knockback in Bots, it's really not that big a deal. The way I look at it, if my Bots knock something back then that something wasn't an EB or higher... and if if it's not an EB or higher it's going to be dead before anyone can get a complaint typed out so who cares? 
You do lose a bit of damage on bosses when you knock them out of burn patches, but Hurricane plus a corner solves that problem just fine, as does the Mu patron AoE immobilize. But really, the knockback is rarely an issue in my experience since anything tough enough to not get steamrolled by a team will generally ignore KB.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
Thank you! Yea Pain looks usefull but also the fun factor is gone. for me anyway. Storm has that LOOK i jjust love.
It seems all of the guides are quite old and i can not find any for Bots/Storm.
I hear a lot of people saying that Thugs is the best of the 2, Last Night i was even told my a vet that had used every mm primary to 50 that the smaller bots at high lvl are useless. This confused me i had always thought bots were a stronger choice then thuds since they have good defense and the healer bots.
Anyway could someone give me a run down of there experience? i Love the STORM secondary and want to be able to choose well between Bots and Thugs.
Any help is Appreciated thank you
SS