MANtisB wrote:A unit tasked with Combat has two jobs: defeating enemy boarders and boarding the enemy ship. Thus, evaluations of combat proficiency should factor in offensive and defensive abilities. The Mantis comes in first; it will win a 1v1 against any non-Mantis, making it the best unit for both offense and defense. That it's the fastest unit helps a lot, as well. Next up is where the split comes in. Rockmen are the next best unit on offense because they win a 1v1 against any non-Mantis non-Rockman unit. However, the Crystal, despite being worse than the Rockman in straightforward combat, gets the edge on defense; its Lockdown ability is key to pinning boarders in a room without a system and killing them before they can do any damage, and its superior movement speed makes it a better defender as well. After the Rockman/Crystal there's Slugs and Humans, edge of course to the Slug slightly; and then rounding out the bottom are Zoltans and Engis. I'm not sure which is worse, only that neither should ever see combat, because they lose to everyone except themselves.
I disagree, I find Crystals to be the best boarders. Of course, you wouldn't want a boarding party of, say, four crystals, you'd want 1-2 crystals and the rest mantis/rockmen.
Lockdown is ridiculously powerful when used offensively. It basically allows you to immediately destroy an unmanned system, or kill the guy manning it, or in some cases both. Using the Crystal B, for example, you can board with two crystal and two mantis, enter the weapon system room, lock it down, kill the gunner, re-lock it down, and destroy the weapon systems. It's unfairly powerful.
Using Mantis in your boarding party is powerful. Using Crystal in the boarding party, however, is like getting a five-power missile with the pre-igniter augment and no chance of missing.