Silica

Silica is a pilot in Into the Breach.

Location
Silica can be acquired by completing islands.

Background
Silica is a hybrid of Pinnacle and R.S.T. technology, believed to be one of the first (and possibly only) artificial intelligences devoted to terrain architecture. In "his" original timeline, Silica was responsible for first detecting and studying the Vek, and eventually was modified to investigate their hives... this nearly ended catastrophically, and Silica was recovered and his programming altered from terraforming to terraforming-based-combat... the concept of using the existing terrain and shaping it, exploiting it, and using the surrounding region as a weapon against the Vek. When Silica jumped timelines, his original programming was unknown to every subsequent timeline, and they have seen him only in his role as a environmental tactician, designed to help the islands defeat the Vek.

Personality
A relatively calm, pragmatic machine who has adjusted to the change in its original purpose of mineral survey to destruction. It tends to quantify its responses in terms of how actions will affect the environment first, then the individuals second.

Strategy
Silica's Double Shot, while expensive at 2 power points, can drastically alter the playstyle of a given Mech depending on their equipment. Easiest to recommend are the Prime-class Mechs, which will often be placed front and center and frequently contested by the Vek, eliminating the need to reposition before retaliating. Even more directly benefiting from Double Shot is the Flame Behemoths' Flame Mech, which requires your target already be on fire in order to do direct damage.

On the more silly side of strategy, one can get very creative with personal movement "attacks", such as Boosters or Teleport as substitute for standard movement, while also impacting enemy positioning. Further still will be making Silica's Mech a dedicated healer by equipping them with the Repair Field passive, though this can be difficult to maintain given how powerful enemy attacks become late-game.