Hydra vs Neptune

[Terrarius]

After playing a bit more i noticed that both fill a very similar gap....what are in your opinion the pros and cons of each?From my(limited) observations:
*Im counting Deadly Burst as the neptunes base attack because full auto is horrilbe to use on a regular basis thanks to the heat
-Hydra has a stronger base attack unless the enemy has high fire resistance
-Their heat efficiency is about equal (Deadly Burst)
-Hydra has better AOE(neptunes AOE is still good though)
-Both have solid area denial .Overwatch zones much better than fire but fire does not need AP to stick
-Neptunes overwatch is an extremely powerfull ability,easyly able to cause far more damage than any other neptune or hydra ability to a single target while also beeing able to deal tons of damage to larger groups

My conclusion(please tell me if im wrong):Hydras overall kit is better but Neptune is generally more usefull because his overwatch is ridiculously powerfull.Since overwatch does not stack ,already covers a huge area and costs a huge amount of the neptunes powerbudget the second neptune is going to add alot less power to the teams overall strengh than the first.A hydra would be better than a second Neptune.The questions...

-am i right with this?
-is it worth putting requisition points into both to support a 1 neptune 1hydra teamcomp?(is the hydras general superiority if you take the neptunes overwatch away enough to justify the requisition points for him or should i just go for a second neptune?)

[Trese Brothers]

This is a long running debate. In a community challenge held a few years back that scored a series of levels with players choosing one side or the other, Neptunes won out. It was a very small sample.

I've posted this thread to our Discord and you might find some other veteran captains sharing opinions.

[AmongstShadows]

Soldiers > Neptunes + Hydras

Fite me lol.

[Sagil]

I'm in the "Go Hydra" camp.

[JPLRocket]

Ironman NG+ veteran player here.

It really depends on where you are in the game, and above all else it depends on what you're doing with the REST of your squad. The thing hydras *really* have over Neptunes is that for a piddling little requisition investment, you get an armor-piercing AoE machine that can clear out a big spawn of xeno and keep more from coming out. During this time, all you really want your soldier doing is using rallying charge 4 to keep your group moving.

Early in the game, the hydra helps your team more, and it's almost always better to unlock him *first*, but by the end of your first game, you'll have both unlocked and the major skills of each class available.

By that stage, you'll have unlocked many synergy options from the soldier and captain. Neptunes have insane synergy with a fire commander captain and called shots soldier, as they have high base damage and can pull off a massive AoE critical hit. This also pairs well with a headshot sniper, who will similarly want to crit as much as possible, and the soldier as well can be geared up to focus on critical hits, thereby making his overwatch quite potent. It will demand an engineer properly geared for heat reduction since called shots cannot be used when overheated, but the soldier will often not be attacking.

Alternatively, you can gear your soldier with the plasma-mod that the neptune tree contains, and the roar's talon, and turn HIM into your mass-AOE weapon, with an emergency button of a short range overwatch. This has nice synergy with the hydra, as they can deliver an excellent 1-2 punch to large groups of powerful xeno, and the plasma soldier works well 'taking point' for the group and clearing enemies as they are spotted while the hydra can cover the party's tracks with a blanket of napalm that kills trailing xeno before they ever catch up. In this case, the unit support is basically 'extra damage' instead of buffs.

Basically, Neptunes are team synergy units. They work best using their crit-boosting ability after being buffed by the soldier, laying down a round of suppressing fire on a group debuffed by the captain, then activating overwatch (5 points stabilize platform, 5 points suppressing fire, whatever remains in OW). A particularly tough survivor might take a follow-up headshot from the crit sniper, thereby keeping the team safe.

Meanwhile, Hydras are fairly independent units. They don't really require buffs from anyone--fire damage is not multiplied by crits, so there's no reason to stack it on them. But their damage has an upper cap, and what they really want is a teammate who is designed to throw some additional AoE damage on them, like the plasma soldier. Or a ranged fire captain, even.