Which Pilot do you think is best ?

[Arreghas]

I honestly think it's a very close choice between Mafan and Camilla. Shield every turn means you can tank massive shots like a boss, and never getting Webbed makes for fun times as you watch the Vek go "Wuh?" while you just proceed like they did not exist.

Seriously, I find it hard to take any other pilot than those two except for the Nano-Bot team, which pretty much require Abe.

What's your favorite pilot and why ?

[Fey Dragonette]

Originally posted by CombatMist:

Of normal pilots is say prospero. Flight is the next best mobility to immune to web. It also can save movement by going straight over insteae of around. Also can act while over deep liquid and casyms. Very handy last missio. With all the water and lava. Also hard to get trapped by vek. Gooe on almost any mech. The only robot i have at times turned ability off if wide open map with no pits.. Best because you can sexually identify as an attack helocopter...

[Fey Dragonette]

It varies depending on squad comp.

My personal favourite is Archimedes in a Swap Mech. Kills one Vek per turn if they're not Alpha and you have water/lava/acid. If you have pits, tidal waves, fire balls or whatever one turn death square effect. He is great for those two, and repositions easily thanks to Archimedes

[Galdred]

Mafan obviously, as he is super versatile. That said, I cannot count the number of times I got him to die stupidly because I forgot to take something into consideration (conveyor belt into anything, last mission psy that triggers before environment...). The Mantis whose name I forgot is also superb in squads where one mech doesn't have any damage capability.

Camillia is a pilot you sometimes regret not having when you get mass webbed without an easy way out, but she pales in comparison to the above two.

I also like the 1 armor pilot. He is pretty useful on self damage mechs when you are bored of Mafan.

Isaac is great to find the secret pilots, as you can rewind if you didn't reveal any glowing mountain. But other than that, I'd rather have a pilot that does something useful.

[Giraffasaur]

Personal favorites:
1. Mafan
2. Kazaaakpleth
3. Bethany Jones
4. Henry Kwan
5. Camila Vera
6. Harold Schmidt

I enjoy all these heroes because their passives are immediately usable right out of the gate, no extra power required. Mafan with +1 Move and +1 Power from experience gain is absolutely absurd; starting a new run in a mech that is impervious to a single attack AND gets two bonus power, plus more movement?! GG in every single squad. Incredibly versatile.

I still have to give major credit to Prospero (the "better" Henry Kwan, costing 1 power though), Chen Rong, and Silica (incredible bonus, 2 power is expensive though).

Originally posted by galdred:

Isaac is great to find the secret pilots, as you can rewind if you didn't reveal any glowing mountain. But other than that, I'd rather have a pilot that does something useful.

The mountains with secrets always start cracked with a glow about them. No need to mass destroy mountains to try and find them.

[For_Science!]

The mountains with secrets always start cracked with a glow about them. No need to mass destroy mountains to try and find them.

This isn't true; they often start intact, and the glow appears when you first crack them. For me, only one out of the three bonus pilots was in a mountain which was initially "pre-cracked".

[lolstar64]

IMO the best pilots are:

1. Kazaaakpleth
2. Mafan
3. Archimedes
4. Camila Vera
5(tie). Henry Kwan/Prospero
7. Harold Schmidt

To be clear this is a general ranking taking into a account both the ideal mech/situation for each pilot as well as the most unideal mech/situation and all situations/mechs in between. The choice between Kaz and Mafan was a close one but I ultimately had to give it to Kaz. Both give their unit an early combat effectiveness increase equal to 2 reactors (assuming you have the proper skills on them) which by far makes them the best pilot to carry between timelines since doing well in the early game is very important. However Kaz focuses more on making the weakest member of the team stronger whereas Mafan is better at making a already good member of the team stronger. I find that spreading the strength out between your mechs is better than having 1 really strong member usually which Kaz is the best at especially when it comes to science mechs and "kill 7 enemies" challenges.

Archimedes vs Camila was another tough one but I feel that even having to pay for the ability Archimedes slightly edges Camila out. Camila counters one of the most dangerous situations in the game and can get huge value without trying however it's usually entirely up to luck. When used properly Archimedes can usually guarantee value via controlling enemy spawns. By far the smoothest battles I've had (on hard mode) are ones where I'm able to control the enemy spawn rate effectively (ie getting a good balance between kills and blocks) so that it never gets out of hand and no one does this better than Archimedes. It's this consistent utility as oppose to Camilia's spikes and drops in usefulness that makes me rate him above her.

Henry and Prospero are tied. They hit the perfect balance between being a free ability that's useful and being a strictly better upgrade to the free ability that has additional utility but that costs a reactor. Really like both of them. Harold Schmidt is just like Kaz, a useful alternative for mechs who's standard abilities might not be as strong or who have dangerous drawbacks that make them difficult to use in certain situations.

[Galdred]

Originally posted by ambershee:

I'm actually quite fond of Silica - certain mechs can really benefit from being able to make two two actions, particularly the ice artillery, or those whose attacks also move them.

Actually, I got Silica in the Jump mech with the self damaging team. He really became the MVP of the team, as with jump or artillery/siege, you can usually attack twice without moving.
He outperformed Mafan with the same mech in this squad for me.
I don't really like Mafan in the self damaging mech nowadays, as you have to waste his ability every turn if you want to attack, so you lose most of his flexibility(He is still better than most other pilots in these mechs, but I prefer to pick Silica or Kaazaakpleth as my traveller with this squad).

[Pumpkinreaper]

The mantis pilot is probably one of the best due to the versatility it adds to any mech you throw him in. Camila obviously is up there too.

I would say whatshisface whom can pass through vek freely is quite good as well, like prospero but not needing a power investment.

Silica I'd say is actually very poor due to the massive power requirement for its ability and how dependant it is on movement based weapons to use it effectively.


I also think people are rating mafan a little too highly, since if it ever gets hit with a push attack, he's likely dead (attack downs shield then pushed into something else). Mafan isn't bad or anything, but as a result you have one less mech that can be relied upon for blocking or trickier manuevers that will damage your mechs.

[peostall]

Controversial opinion: TLJ was great

Another controversial opinion: Isaac is my favorite pilot, because I find that the ability to reverse and major ♥♥♥♥-up not once but twice to be pretty powerful. All the other abilities are nice, but none of them are a match for a disastrous misclick except for Isaac’s.

Edit: please note that I haven’t unlocked all the pilots yet, so I don’t have much experience with them. Isaac is simply the one I’ve found most useful so far.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by NK SemTex:

Excepting the "Secret" Pilots:

Camilla.

Can NOT be webbed and can fight in smoke. In other words, put her in the front and hope all the web guys waste their turn on her, freeing her to deal with other threats to your grid.

Camilla in Rusting Hulks makes the game a cakewalk.

Exactly this. Except that you don't need to hope, you can very easily abuse the AI and always have one of those web critters target that particular mech. Which usually mean one less enemy per turn to worry about, which make a HUGE difference.

[Mike Haggar]

For me it is the versatility that Kazaakpleth adds to defensive/support mechs. Two of my favorite custom squads are Boulder/Boulder/Boulder and Combat/Rocket/Nano. He really makes the boulder and nano mechs shine.

[Timuroslav]

Initially, I was enamored with Camilla Vera, because she is easy mode in Blitzkrieg and Rusting Hulk mechs. But if you put her in anything aside from a Brute or Prime Mech and her usefulness really subsides.

I like Abe Isamu because you can put him in virtually, any mech and it's a flat damage reduction throughout the game. Each damage taken puts you closer to wasting one round to repairing your mech. If we you have a weak science, brute or support mech you can place him in that tank shots throughout the game and then swap him into a Prime or Brute mech at the end of the game. I actually go out of my way to shield buildings with Isamu from ranged attacks. The damage reduction works through out the game too, effectively doubling his health pool. This means you can ignore normal leaper hits that would 1-hit-K.O. most pilots in the early game. It also means it's less of an emergency when he gets pinned by two Vek.

I think Mafan is fun to use but over rated. If he gets targeted or pinned by more than one enemy he is Vek food. Putting him next to buildings is almost always a mistake. He really only belongs in an Artillery Mech or a Science Mech to block that one random ranged attack. This means if you have a metiocre ranged mech having that shield doesn't really help you, and whatever you do. Don't park on fire!

The movement robots are nice middish game, but I'd rather have a larger health pool and more movement for the core cost than to carry the a semi useless robot halfway through the game until they're useful. A lot of times the first Island can make or break your run.

I do not have the Kaazak so I'm eager to try him and the Rock out.

I find Archimedes to be a great timeline player, he's a robot with a cheap core cost but he basically doubles your move. Put him in any support or Artillery mech and you're solid.

(Ignoring the FTL characters Kaazakpleth, Mafan, and Adriane)

1) Abe Isamu ( you can put him in any mech and then switch him out. No core cost and his ability is a flat rate damage reduction)
2) Archimedes
3) Camilla Vera
4) Chen Rong (that extra side step let's you close the distance on the map or block a hit )
5) Isaac (the extra reset can save your ass when you get sloppy)

[Brosef Iosif]

Originally posted by Timuroslav:

Initially, I was enamored with Camilla Vera, because she is easy mode in Blitzkrieg and Rusting Hulk mechs. But if you put her in anything aside from a Brute or Prime Mech and her usefulness really subsides.

I like Abe Isamu because you can put him in virtually, any mech and it's a flat damage reduction throughout the game. Each damage taken puts you closer to wasting one round to repairing your mech. If we you have a weak science, brute or support mech you can place him in that tank shots throughout the game and then swap him into a Prime or Brute mech at the end of the game. I actually go out of my way to shield buildings with Isamu from ranged attacks. The damage reduction works through out the game too, effectively doubling his health pool. This means you can ignore normal leaper hits that would 1-hit-K.O. most pilots in the early game. It also means it's less of an emergency when he gets pinned by two Vek.

I think Mafan is fun to use but over rated. If he gets targeted or pinned by more than one enemy he is Vek food. Putting him next to buildings is almost always a mistake. He really only belongs in an Artillery Mech or a Science Mech to block that one random ranged attack. This means if you have a metiocre ranged mech having that shield doesn't really help you, and whatever you do. Don't park on fire!

The movement robots are nice middish game, but I'd rather have a larger health pool and more movement for the core cost than to carry the a semi useless robot halfway through the game until they're useful. A lot of times the first Island can make or break your run.

I do not have the Kaazak so I'm eager to try him and the Rock out.

I find Archimedes to be a great timeline player, he's a robot with a cheap core cost but he basically doubles your move. Put him in any support or Artillery mech and you're solid.

Unfortunately, Abe is made pretty much entirely obsolete by Ariadne, who has basically the same tanking role but is infinitely... well more tanky. Abe's armor has a lot of downside, first of which is that it's almost entirely a reactive skill (and not pro-active). Unless you go on your way to tank a damage point, it's only useful if you bother taking the damage in the first place, which is always a bad thing to allow. In hard especially, there's so many alphas by the third island that a 1 damage reduction isn't that potent against just upgrading your life points. It's also useless against collisions meaning he has nothing against emerging veks.

Compared to for instance a character like Harold who can act AND heal 1HP, it's not even that interesting but against one-shot attacks. Harold's skill is even more useful since it's basically a third attack option plus a heal. It's excellent in complicated to use mechs like Judo, Lighting or Jet mechs, very safe on ranged units to prevent them being cornered, etc. It's very good on Mech that can't displace like Beam mech, very good on Charge mech as well. Harold is really fantastic because he can survive (rather than tank) and he adds more options to the table.

As for robots, Archimedes definitely is king but Prospero can be quite strong on primes with limited movement, especially Combat Mech for instance, it makes the very potent attacks basically unavoidable as a flying-4/5 units can get almost anywhere. It's unfortunately balanced by the cost, while Archimedes is very much worth it.

Also Mafan isn't rated high solely because of his perma-shield but because he comes with a 1-core at the start, meaning potentially 2 if you get him from another timeline which is just crazy strong. He is excellent on all the silly self-damaging mechs like Charge mech, Leap or... any mech alongside Lightning Mech incidentally, Unstable mech less so as you lose the collision damage opportunity.
All FTL pilots really are excellent. Kazaak in the Nano mech is so absurdly overpowered it's not even funny.

[BustNcaps]

Harold is my personal favorite with the amount of enemies he can push just by healing in one spot depending on location. Works pretty well with Steel Judoka.

[[いっちゃう~]4nDy:BAdAs5_1.2]

I think it's that guy who only needs 1 power to change any mechs into a flying unit, that's honestly slightly OP since the game balance is all about restricting your mobility