So is Ace Pilot any good?

[WoundedRonin]

Is Ace Pilot any good? I don't think I've read many people mention it in the threads. Thinking about it, it seems less useful than the other abilities you might pick. Does anyone use Ace Pilot in their game?

[Named]

I have tried all skill variants - exhaustively - deliberately trying to avoid Master Tactician. I have tried very hard to justify NOT going down the well-worn Master Tactician pathway.

The other skills are great situationally; so they are good for certain builds in Skirmishes.

In the Campaign, though... You are frequently outnumbered and pretty much required to field an Assault lance to survive long deployments against multiple heavies and assaults. There is no other skill that is as GENERALLY useful for an outnumbered Assault lance than Master Tactician.

I don't bother trying to work around that truth anymore. It's fun to have teams set up for those situational uses... Ace Pilot is cool. Multi-shot Breachers are cool. Bulwark Ace Pilots are very tanky. All good for their particular purposes; which necessarily makes them less suited to general purposes.

[2alphyns]

While I like to have a couple of alternate specialists, my generalists have Ace Pilot. I find it is just too useful. Get it early and keep using it all the way through the game.

[ArcturusRising]

I was completing 5 skull missions against assault lances using light mechs and Ace Pilot. Killing King Crabs and Atlases is trivial when I can use cover, reserve my turn, then jump behind the assault mech, fire into its back, fire into its back again, then jump back behind cover. Even in 5 skull flashpoint missions with multiple mechs and turrets, keeping my evasion up means that my mechs are rarely hit. I used to get Master Tactician, but now I avoid it. I'm finding Ace Pilot to be much more useful.

If you plan on fielding assault lances, then I can see Ace Pilot still being useful, but less so.

[MaDeuce]

Every lance I field have at least has one mechwarrior with this perk.

An example of how powerful it can be; I have a Raven loaded with small lasers. If anything comes into my ECM field they get devastated at close range, and then I move so that they're no longer inside the field. Something you just couldn't do without this perk.

You can make use of any of the perks. The more mixed your bag of tricks is, the more tactics you'll discover.

[KDubya]

Start using a mod like "Better AI" that lets the OPFOR use reserve and Master Tactician loses a lot of its shine.

[Haplo]

So long as you manage your heat, Ace Pilot can be good combined with using reserve action. Reserve till after the target has moved, then run out and attack them, then attack them again and run back into cover. Problem with this is if you have Ace Pilot you can't have the Improved Inititive that makes reserving action easier to use.

[Kel'Ithra]

My pheonix hawk pilot uses it to hit a slower mech from behind then on the next round fires then bugs out.

Its better for when you have a mech that has good movement/jump capacity keeping the pips as high as possible etc and constantly harrassing and minimizing risk.

[Niedersachse_tm]

its good for one taktik


wait to initative 1, jump behind the back of the enemy and fire. if he survives, fire again on ini 4 of the next round and jump or run away to hide.

its nice for a firestarter....but in the endgame i went to use only assaults.. but now with open end eveasive pips and so on it may be interesting again.

[Doctor Kaboom]

Here is an example of how to use it: JJ into a good position (cover, height, etc) then end your turn in guarded or attack. Next turn, take your shot, then jump behind cover to prevent LOS attacks.

Basically, it makes it easier to attack the same target's angle (side, back) twice in a row. The more mobility your ace pilot mech has, the more options they can exploit.

[evilauthor]

Yep. It's mostly works only when you have an intiative advantage.

1) Wait for the enemy to go first.
2) Jump out of cover and then shoot them.
3) In the next turn, shoot them again and jump back into cover before the other guy's initiative turn lets them act.
4) Repeat until the other guy is dead.

Do it right, and you can shoot the other side to pieces without them ever being able to get to return fire. However, this strat does have some weaknesses.

1) It takes alot of patience to pull it off, and it's easy to make a mistake that gets you shot at.
2) Because if the other guy never gets to shoot at you, then he's ALWAYS in a Guarded state, reducing all damage you do to him, thus requiring more attacks - and more ammo if you're using ammo weapons - to kill him.
3) The terrain has to be amenable to not letting the other guy get around your cover to a position where he can attack you.
4) It doesn't work against Assaults because they always move in the last phase, so you can't guarantee that chronic reserving will allow your units to act after the Assaults do.
5) Also doesn't work against Lights with pilots who are ALSO Ace Pilots because they can move in the very first phase too.
6) Doesn't do a thing against a sensor lock, indirect LRM fire combo.

I've tried this tactic a few times and decided it's not worth the trouble, and will only resort to it if I'm desperate.

[danko9696]

evilauthor の投稿を引用：

Do it right, and you can shoot the other side to pieces without them ever being able to get to return fire. However, this strat does have some weaknesses.

1) It takes alot of patience to pull it off, and it's easy to make a mistake that gets you shot at.
2) Because if the other guy never gets to shoot at you, then he's ALWAYS in a Guarded state, reducing all damage you do to him, thus requiring more attacks - and more ammo if you're using ammo weapons - to kill him.
3) The terrain has to be amenable to not letting the other guy get around your cover to a position where he can attack you.
4) It doesn't work against Assaults because they always move in the last phase, so you can't guarantee that chronic reserving will allow your units to act after the Assaults do.
5) Also doesn't work against Lights with pilots who are ALSO Ace Pilots because they can move in the very first phase too.
6) Doesn't do a thing against a sensor lock, indirect LRM fire combo.

About the weaknesses:
2) The guy who doesn't fire at you may Sensor Lock you, you may move your mech to another place you they move as well, trying to get them in an open area. Or just chew through the opfor guard, with two three salvos shouldn't be very difficult to headcap.
3) If you can take your time there is always some terrain features you can use for your advantage. The cost is that time.
4) It's not guaranteed but it can work against assault, but if you're in the same phase you'll have to be careful about the order in which you use your pilots, waiting for the mech you have as a target to act.
6) It does. That Sensor Lock mech will be a much easier target the next turn (unless he's also bulwarked).

The weakness is mostly your first point. You really need that init advantage, the upside is that you don't need it against everything. If you have a heavy you'll act before some heavies and later than others, so to some extent it can be used against them. And you can use it against assaults and vehicles if you coordinate well enough with your other team members and there are not a lot of enemy units.